Prayer for New Beginners — Overview: A Four-Week Lesson Plan
Overview
Prayer for New Beginners: A Four-Week Lesson Plan
WEEK 1: UNDERSTANDING PRAYER FUNDAMENTALS
Begin by establishing what prayer actually is. Prayer is learned through practice, much like any other skill—just as we talk to other people, so we talk to the Lord. Though prayer begins simply enough that even a child can pray, it represents the highest work humans can undertake, constituting fellowship with God and serving as the very essence of true religion.
Help students grasp prayer's characteristics: Prayer should be definite, daily, and marked by dedication. Introduce the three core struggles beginners face: the need for ideas, words, and faith. Normalize these challenges by explaining that while new Christians may pray with fluency initially, prayer often becomes a difficult struggle as spiritual growth deepens.
WEEK 2: LEARNING THE STRUCTURE OF PRAYER
Jesus responded to His disciples' request to learn prayer by providing the Lord's Prayer as a model that includes the different elements that should be included in our prayers. Guide students through each component:
- Adoration — praising God for His divine characteristics
- Intercession — praying about the needs of the world
- Supplication — asking God for the necessities of life
- Confession — recalling what we've done wrong and asking God for forgiveness
- Protection — asking God to help us overcome temptations we face
WEEK 3: DEVELOPING A PRAYER METHOD
Introduce a practical framework. Begin by reading the Bible, which searches the heart and produces faith. Then guide students through these steps: confession of faults, cleansing through asking God to search your heart, and consecration by offering yourself to God. Enter into God's gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Finally, let your requests be made known to the Lord.
WEEK 4: BUILDING PERSEVERANCE AND TRANSFORMATION
Address the reality that many have been tempted to abandon prayer when answers are delayed, yet this struggle is part of the spiritual discipline through which Christ's followers must pass. Emphasize that prayer makes us strong in the Lord, patient, kind, and helps us grow; prayer changes things and changes people, and no one can remain the same after having daily prayer.
Conclude by encouraging students to not merely study prayer but begin praying as Jesus instructed, cultivating a passion to pray.
Footnotes
[1] Croft M. Pentz, Prayer Meeting Outlines, Dollar Sermon Library Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1970), 15–16.
[2] Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer; Thoughts on Our Training for the Ministry of Intercession (Philadelphia: The Rodgers Company, n.d.), 10.
[3] Alexander Balmain Bruce, The Training of the Twelve; Or, Passages out of the Gospels, Exhibiting the Twelve Disciples of Jesus under Discipline for the Apostleship (New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1889), 54–55.
[4] Dennis Tiger McLuen and Chuck Wysong, The Student Leadership Training Manual for Youth Workers: Everything You Need to Disciple Your Kids in Leadership Skills (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010).
[5] Douglas Connelly, The Lord's Prayer: 8 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders, A LifeGuide Bible Study (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2003), 5.
