THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE Daniel 6:1-24
BACKGROUND PREPARATION You will need: paper, pens, materials for your challenges and copies of Daniel 6:10 cut into pieces, ready to be assembled.
Low card blow
10 mins
You will need a number of challenges (around four for a ten minute game) written on pieces of paper and folded up so no one can see them. They can be as mean or as nice as you want e.g. eat a piece of chocolate, imitate a chicken and a horse at the same time, drink a can of juice through a dirty sock.
Get everyone to sit in a circle. Take a pack of cards and ask each young person to choose a card from the top or bottom of the pack and then set that card face down in front of them. When everyone has a card, the leader says ‘go’ and each young person takes the card, lifts it without looking at it and places it on their forehead so that everyone else can see it. The loser is the person with the lowest card. The loser then has to choose one of the folded pieces of paper and perform the challenge or dare.
Say: this game is all about choices, from choosing cards to picking a forfeit. Making positive choices is extremely important and this session explores the significance of choosing to pray in order to strengthen our relationship with God.
We don’t just pray , we choose to pray
15 mins
We face choices every day. Read out the following examples of everyday choices, asking your young people to choose their preference: Pepsi or Coke, Adidas or Nike, cats or dogs, Man United or Liverpool, taking risks or playing it safe.
Say: Daniel was a man who had a very important choice to make - to pray or not to pray! You might not think that this is the most difficult choice that you could face, but it was for Daniel. Daniel was aware that if he chose to remain faithful to God and pray as he had been doing, he would be putting himself in immediate danger that could even result in him losing his life. Share Daniel’s story from Daniel 6:1-24.
Take some time to focus on verse ten. Split into small groups, give each group the cut-up verse and ask the young people to try and sort it into the correct order. If you want to mix it up a bit, hide pieces of paper around the room, or turn it into a relay race.
Daniel’s extreme sleepover
15 mins
Ask: What would you do if you were in Daniel’s shoes, if you thought you might face danger or death for praying? Would you still pray?
Make the point that even though Daniel remained faithful to God by praying, he wasn’t spared from spending the night in the lion’s den. Falling to his knees didn’t keep Daniel from falling into danger. You might even begin to ask whether God was listening to Daniel’s prayers at all. Ask:
• How can you compare what happened to Daniel after he prayed, to what happens after you pray? Do things always work out as you had planned?
• Have you ever felt like God hasn’t answered your prayers?
Response
10 mins
Say: when faced with the choice, Daniel chose to pray and although it is unlikely that you will ever have to tackle a den of lions, you will come up against certain barriers to prayer. Ask the young people to suggest some things that stop them from praying to God on a more regular basis.
After the young people have had time to think, hand out some paper and pens and ask them to draw an equilateral triangle to create a hierarchy pyramid. Using their ideas, they should pick out the top five things that stop them from praying - ordering their responses so that the thing that stops them from praying the most sits at the top of the pyramid.
Ready, steady, pray!
15 mins
Encourage your young people to think of prayer as having a conversation with God, but if they struggle to come up with the words I find that the acronym REST can really help. When we pray it is good to:
R – Request
E – Exalt
S – Spill the beans
T – Thank
Ask your young people to take some paper and write down the four words above. Encourage your young people to hold on to their pieces of paper and use them during the week at home. Gather everyone together and pray. Passing something (a ball, a spoon, a pen) around the group from one person to the next often relaxes the situation. If any of them are uncomfortable with praying then encourage them to pray silently or simply take some time in quiet reflection. Our week is usually filled with so much noise that it can be a nice change to the norm.
Close
5 mins
Encourage your young people to try to pray more during the next week. Pray that like Daniel, God will help us make the correct choices when we have to and that those choices will be pleasing to God.
KEY POINT #1
Daniel’s biggest struggle didn’t take place at the door to the lion’s den. Daniel’s biggest struggle took place at the door of his bedroom - he made his choice and remained faithful to God. Daniel took time to pray as he had done previously. He realised his choice may have consequences but his relationship with God was his top priority.
KEY POINT #2
Daniel’s attitude is a great example to us all. He didn’t question where God had gone as he entered the lion’s den, but rather trusts that God will protect him. We can clearly see that God rewards Daniel’s trust by keeping him safe. It is important to remember that God has bigger and better plans for us than we can ever imagine. Our responsibility is not to question God but to trust that he is in complete control of the situation.
