Lesson Outline – Page 2 – Karen Gamble Writes

God Sees – Sunday School Outline

When I was a kid my grandmother had this huge closet she used to store clothes, quilts, chairs, and other random items in.

There was this little bench she had in there that I loved.

So, I would sneak in there with a book or some drawing supplies and hide for hours.

One of the main reasons I would do it was to get away from the other kids and have some quiet, alone time.

I would always wait until I thought no one was looking before I snuck in there so that the other kids wouldn’t see where I was going.

It was great! Just me and my thoughts. No noise, no interruptions!

It was probably 2 months of sneaking before any of them ever found out where I was.

Once they knew, of course, it was no longer a secret so they would come and bother me.

But until they found my hiding spot, I was free to do what I wanted and get away with it.

I wonder how many times I’ve had that mentality, thinking I can do something without God seeing or knowing?

How many times did I do something thinking it will be okay, it’s no big deal?

How many times did I not even consider whether God would see or not?
-Just going through life assuming it was okay to do things because if I’m not talking to God or paying Him attention, He probably doesn’t notice me?

Turn to Proverbs 5:21 – For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.(NIV)

This is a great reminder that the Lord can see everything we do

He also looks at our paths

Meaning He pays attention to how we are walking and what we are doing.

He notices whether we are on the right path.

He notices the details of what we’re doing on our path, whether it’s good or bad.

Another verse says it this way –
Psalm 11:4 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; His eyes examine them.

God is in Heaven looking down at everyone on earth and examining them.

I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own lives we forget just how aware of our lives God really is.

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P.R.A.Y. Sheet

I’ve created a handy reference to guide you through the steps of prayer.

It is based on the letters of the word PRAY:

Praise – Praise and thank God for all He has done, is doing, and will do for you and those around you. Praise Him for His goodness, His grace and mercy, His character, anything about Him that is good.

If you want to find phrases to use, look through the book of Psalms. It is full of things to praise God for.

Repent – Confess anything you need to, either that you knew before you started praying, or that comes up as you are praying and praising God.

Repent – to agree with God that the action was wrong, that He is right, to apologize to Him, and to commit to not do it again.

Ask – Make any requests you have for you or for others.

Share with God anything that is on your heart, or that you feel you need to talk to Him about, both good and bad, big or small.

Yes – Commit to doing, changing, improving, stopping anything you feel prompted or led to.

Agree to follow God and His path, and to improve your serve and commitment to Him.

Close with a few words of thanking God for hearing your prayer and for listening to you. Tell Him how you appreciate the gift of being able to come to Him at any time.

I hope the simple explanations this sheet contains will help you in your prayer life.

Feel free to download a copy and tuck it in your Bible or prayer journal.

Free Downloadable/Printable PRAY Sheet PDF

This P.R.A.Y. sheet was written as part of my lesson outline on How to Pray.

Free Downloadable/Printable How to Pray Lesson Outline PDF

A list of all available lessons can be found on my Lessons Outlines page

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Praying Personalized Scripture – Sunday School Outline

Today’s Lesson is part review, part mash-up of previous lessons.

We’ve studied how to pray. (read that post here)

We’ve looked at what Scripture is and how to study it. (Read those posts here and here)

Today we are going to combine the two.

Today we are going to practice praying Scripture.

There are several reasons why we might do this.

It honors God and shows Him we are paying attention to His Word, the Bible, and that we have respect for both it and Him.

It brings us closer to God.
We can better see how the Scriptures were written for us and that He does understand us.
Because Jesus came to earth as a man He knows first hand what it’s like to live in this fallen world.

It helps us see that Scripture does apply to and affect us.
Seeing how relevant to us they are makes obeying them easier.

Because the Scriptures are God’s own Word, we know that if we are praying the Scripture we are asking for things that God has already offered, mentioned, suggested, and instructed us about.
This means we are praying in God’s will!

As you are going through the Scripture you will see that some, especially in the Psalms, are already written first-person.

Those are easy to pray.
You just pray them as they are written.

This exercise will help you with the ones that aren’t.

Here’s how to do it:

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How to Pray – Sunday School Outline

A lot of people have a lot of ideas about what prayer is, so let’s start with the actual definition.

I went to Blue Letter Bible and looked up the original Greek from several places in the New Testament.

There were 2 words in the definitions that kept coming up:

Intercession – to go to or meet a person, esp. for the purpose of conversation, consultation, or supplication
to pray, entreat

Supplication – need, indigence, want, privation, penury
a seeking, asking, entreating, entreaty to God or to man

From this we can see prayer is talking to God about a problem or situation you or someone else has.

It is NOT a one-way transaction or monologue.

It is a conversation.
We don’t just insert a prayer or two and go on our merry way, expecting to receive what we need.

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God’s Timing – Sunday School Outline

The first thing we need to understand is that God’s timing is different than ours.

Turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter 55.

In it God is explaining some of the things He has done for man.

He is encouraging man to turn from his evil ways and to seek after Him.

Look at verses 8 and 9. This is God speaking –

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (NIV)

God’s way of doing things is much different than our ways.

That includes His timing.

Consider 2 Peter 3:8-9 –
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (NIV)

As Creator of the Universe, God created time so He is not bound by it.

Instead He works on a higher level.

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Proverbs 20:22 – Sunday School Outline

Today’s lesson is on Proverbs 20:22:

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong”, wait for the Lord, and He will deliver you. (NIV)

The KJV says, 22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.

Sometimes when people are mistreating us we might be tempted to deal with them, pop our mouth off at them, set them straight, or give them “a piece of our mind”, or maybe even think, “I’ll show them!”.

When we do any of these are trying to handle it.

But there is a verse we need to consider first.

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (NIV)

This does not mean we sit back and grin at what God’s going to do to them because they were mean to us.

This comes from a bigger passage that says:

Romans 12:17-21 – 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NIV)

So in other words, the way we respond to others being mean or evil toward us is with good.

That can be hard!

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The Heart – Sunday School Outline

When we study our heart we also must consider our thoughts and our mouths.

All three of these are interconnected.

Here’s why:

Your thoughts affect what your heart believes.

Your heart affects what your head believes.

Your words are a reflection of what’s in your heart.

Turn to Matthew 15–
Some pharisees and teachers came to see Jesus.
     -they wanted to know why the disciples were breaking the rules.
     -remember by this time the pharisees had made up a bunch of rules, regulations, and traditions they said everyone had to follow to be properly following the law
     – they weren’t actually God’s laws, they were just man’s rules.
     -they said the disciples were eating without washing their hands
     -the Pharisees were pretty offended by this.

Verse 3 – Jesus answers their question with His…
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” (NIV)

Jesus calls them out.
He points out where they are being sinful and manipulates the law.

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