Prayer Arrow: Walk

The Arrow Prayers are ©2000 Kay and Steve Morgan-Gurr. 

Art work is by Neil Crook

Walk.

The arrow that points down to your feet. 

Ask Jesus to help you to 'walk with Him' as you live your life. That means asking for the courage and the wisdom to do things His way every day and in every situation.

This arrow is also about needing exercise.
If you could walk, but then chose to sit down all the time and never walk, your legs would eventually become so weak that you wouldn't be able to walk even if you decided to.
We need to 'walk with Jesus' regularly to make our faith 'strong' and help us grow the way Jesus wants us to. 

Psalm 8:2a (TLB)

But grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

This arrow is about discipleship, growing in faith and living out our faith - it speaks for itself!

For the children's personal prayers this is about asking God to help them get closer to Him and understand more about Him, and to have the courage and wisdom to make right choices.

If you're using this arrow as part of a group activity, try having some footprints on the floor that the children can walk on whilst they pray.

Other Prayer Arrows can be found here:

Praise

Thanks

Sorry

Listen

Use Me

More to come!

Prayer Arrows: Use Me

The Arrow Prayers are ©2000 Kay and Steve Morgan-Gurr. 

Art work is by Neil Crook

Use Me.

The Arrow that points around and out. 

God can use you, however old you are - whether you are a brand new Christian or an old and whiskery one... He can use you in many different ways at home, at school or at church.

You will need to ask the Holy Spirit to help you see where you can be used.

James 2:17b (TLB)

Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.

When I do this prayer with children I 

talk through the different ways God can use them. Quite often it's just common sense - begin with doing what you should be doing. Tidying your room and doing your chores without complaining for a start!

Being used by God isn't just about being up front, leading hundreds to Jesus, or leading worship etc. It's also being faithful in other things - shopping for someone who can't get out, helping in the garden for some one who can't do it themselves. The list could go on and on.

Micah 6:8 tells us

The Lord has told you, human, what is good; he has told you what he wants from you: to do what is right to other people, love being kind to others, and live humbly, obeying your God.  (NCV)

That says it all really!

Other Prayer Arrows can be found here:

Praise

Thanks

Sorry

Listen

Walk

More to come!

Prayer Arrows: Listen

The Arrow Prayers are ©2000 Kay and Steve Morgan-Gurr. 

Art work is by Neil Crook

Listen.

Lots of Arrows that point in. 

Prayer isn't just about talking... It's listening too.
We should try to 'hear' what God is saying to us today, and give time for His word (The Bible) to sink in.

1 Samuel 3:8-9 (TLB)

So now the Lord called the third time, and once more Samuel jumped up and ran to Eli.
“Yes?” he asked. “What do you need?”
Then Eli realised it was the Lord who had spoken to the child. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if he calls again, say, ‘Yes, Lord, I’m listening.’”
So Samuel went back to bed.

What we are aiming to do with this arrow is create the habit of being still for a moment, to reflect and give the Holy Spirit a chance to do what He does rather than giving a breathless 'shopping list' and then running away. Stillness is rare in today's world - especially in prayer!

When I do this prayer with children I often joke that this is the bit of prayer that grown ups are not very good at!

It's a scary one to do with children, but you can do it with almost any prayer station, as many of them require the children to think - to meditate.

There is a fashion for emptying the mind and seeing what drops in - personally I think approaching 'listening to God' like this can be dangerous.

I prefer the listening bit of prayer to be in response to something we have learnt, read or heard. Some would say that if we guide we don't give the Holy Spirit room...... Well, I'm please to say that the Holy Spirit is bigger than that and works beyond what is in the human mind. I am convinced it is better and wiser to start with something of God in our minds than with nothing.

Some folk will find this scary - "What if God doesn't speak?"

Well - to start with, we need to be careful in how we explain this. How does God speak? It can be in many ways - it can be in an audible voice, but that is rare. Often it's something that stands out in our minds from what we have heard, and as we meditate on it, we can be comforted or challenged etc

We also need to be careful to teach the children about measuring what we 'hear' alongside the Bible and talking to trusted Christians.

When we do this as a specific activity I make it clear that not everyone will hear something at that moment, but that it's good to take the time to listen. We use music, a phrase from what we have learnt that day, a Bible verse or a specific aspect of God to reflect on. We have been amazed at the response from some of the children - it's worth a go!

How do you do the stillness and listening part of prayer? It's one I'm still trying to master - a fibro brain doesn't lend itself to stillness!

Other Prayer Arrows can be found here:

Praise

Thanks

Sorry

Use Me

Walk

(More coming over the next few days)

Prayer Arrows: Sorry

The Arrow Prayers are ©2000 Kay and Steve Morgan-Gurr. 

Art work is by Neil Crook

Sorry.

The Arrow that points around and in. 

Being truly sorry means:
I know I have done wrong, I will try not to do it again, I will ask for God's help when I am tempted, and I want to forgive others because God has forgiven me

The fantastic news is that because of Jesus - if we truly say sorry to God and mean it,
He will forgive us!

1 John 1:9 (TLB)

But if we confess our sins to him,[a] he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.

Psalm 103:11-13 (TLB)

11) for his mercy toward those who fear and honour him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12) He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13) He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him.

When I do this prayer with children I use different activities - it depends on the age and stage of the children.

Some times I do 'Fizzy Prayers' (Click the link to see what this is)

Sometimes I get the children to write or draw their sorry prayers and we put the prayers through the shredder.

Occasionally we will write them on flash paper, get the children to fold them, and put them in a bowl...... and then I set light to them. (Flash paper does what it says - it disappears in an instant flash when lit). You may need to do a risk assessment on this!

With some children we get them to pin their prayers on a wooden cross - with the promise we won't read them!

Other Prayer Arrows can be found here:

Praise

Thanks

Listen

Use Me

Walk

(More coming over the next few days)

Prayer Arrows: Thanks

The Arrow Prayers are ©2000 Kay and Steve Morgan-Gurr. 

Art work is by Neil Crook

Thanks.

The Arrow That Points Backwards. 

We are supposed to be thankful for everything. Even the things we may not like!
Remember to be especially thankful for Jesus and what He has done to make it possible for us to know God and have the Holy Spirit living inside us

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (TLB)

No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

When I do this prayer with children, I ask them what they are thankful for. The answers usually range from parents to sweets. Sometimes we get named pets or a favourite sport (Usually football)

I then start saying things that may not be on their list of things to be thankful for:  Brussel sprouts, the dentist, little brothers etc.
We then talk through the fact that these can be good things - we can be thankful that sprouts and the dentist are good for us. Sometimes we even look for the nice things about having a little brother!

Sometimes this will lead to a more in depth discussions about bad things that happen where it doesn't feel right to be thankful. Great sensitivity is needed during these time and I often agree with what they are saying - it would be cruel to tell them that they need to be thankful for awful things that may be happening to them, but encourage them to find something within those circumstances to be thankful for. It may just be "Thankyou that there are people who can help me". It can be a huge help to a child to see that they are not alone in the situations they face. (You may want to read a blog I wrote called "God's Will")

I like to use "Sweet wrapper prayers" to re-enforce this:

• Have some bright, flexible but strong paper you can use as sweet wrappers, plus some small square bits of paper.
• Get the child to write/draw what they want to say thankyou for on the square bit of paper
• Scrunch the “prayer” into a ball and wrap it in the bright paper like a sweet

Drop the sweet into a glass/clear plastic bowl and pray/say amen

Other Prayer Arrows can be found here:
Praise
Sorry
Listen
Use Me

Walk
(More coming over the next few days)

Prayer Arrows: Praise

The Arrow Prayers are ©2000 Kay and Steve Morgan-Gurr. 

Art work is by Neil Crook

Praise.

The Arrow that points up. 

Think about who God is, and what He is like

.......and tell Him.

Psalm 8:2 (TLB)

You have taught the little children to praise you perfectly. May their example shame and silence your enemies!

When I do this prayer with children, I do 'Shouting Prayers'.

I ask them to think of a word that describes God and say what it is.

It could be a real word: Big, Awesome, Wonderful, Loving.......

It could be a made up word: Humunginormous, Fandabiedozie, Wonderbig......

We then turn those words into a prayer.

I start with "Dear God, we think you are..." Then all the children shout their word out - lots of different words shouted at the same time. We then close with a "Wind Up" Amen (Something quite difficult to explain here..... but it's fun!)

There's loads of songs out there that can back this up too!

Other Prayer Arrows can be found here:

Thanks

Sorry

Listen

Use Me

Walk

More to come!