DELIGHT...NOT DUTY!

ALLYSON’S SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

BETHANY BAPTIST CHURCH

SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2013

She wants me to teach about “Prayer being a Delight, not a Duty”!  She learned this at Nana’s Camp.  Her S.S. class has made this their motto.

Her S.S. Teacher, Caleb emailed me their lesson that is on Nehemiah building the walls to Jerusalem.  It is to be a character study.  I’ve asked the Lord to show me how to incorporate the two themes…and to have a visual aid to reinforce and remember.

This was my teaching outline:

BEGIN WITH PRAYER ~ wear red covering

Read Chapter one of Nehemiah and see the primary character of his life was prayer. 

Chapter 2:1-6  note prayer

Chapter 4:4-6; 9; 15; 20 note prayer

Wall completed in 52 days…they celebrate to the Lord…

Chapter 8 Ezra reads the Word of God and the people’s hearts are broken and they weep and repent, then Nehemiah says in verse 10 to rejoice…

Chapter 9 confession of sins; repentance and prayer.

Their memory verse is Isaiah 41:10

  So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

New Testament version:  Hebrews 13:5-6

For He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”   

So that we may boldly say:

   “The Lord is my helper;
   I will not fear what man
   shall do unto me.”

Point out Nehemiah’s relationship with God…and the evidence.

Our relationship with God and the evidence.

How was God with Nehemiah and Isaiah in the Old Testament?

How is God with us today?

Relationship produces confidence in God!

How did God speak in Nehemiah’s day?

How does God speak today?

Visual Aid and Remembrance:  According to today’s memory verse, God says He will hold us with His righteous right hand!  If He is using His right hand to hold our hand; which hand of ours is He holding?  The left! 

Before medical science discovered how the circulatory system functioned, people believed that a vein of blood ran directly from the third finger on the left hand to the heart. Because of the hand-heart connection, they chose to call this the vein of love. Based upon this name, their contemporaries, purported experts in the field of matrimonial etiquette, wrote that it would only be fitting that the wedding ring be worn on this finger. By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other.

My point isn’t about the wedding ring but about the left hand.  In Isaiah 41:10 and Hebrews 13:6 The Lord says not to fear because He will be our Helper.  What is a helper?  One who helps me to do what I can’t do by myself. 

Illustrate using hand without thumb.  The thumb is vital to the hand.  Something else interesting about the thumb…No one else in the whole world has my thumb or your thumb.  It identifies who we are…and God etched it especially on each one of us.  We are you-nique!  One of a kind.  And, made with purpose!  And equipped with the power of God by His Spirit to live out our purpose to His glory.

But The Holy Spirit only works by our asking…this would be prayer!  As we delight in spending time talking to Him and reading His Word, He will give us direction and more…the desires of our heart.

So, I have the idea to remind us to delight in Him in prayer and witness by painting my left thumb white to designate the Presence of the Holy Spirit of God…my Helper…and delight in Him!