Sunday School Lesson Outline

January 25

Lesson 8

POWERFUL PRAYER

DEVOTIONAL READING: Lamentations 3:52–58

BACKGROUND SCRIPTURE: James 5

JAMES 5:13–18

13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

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KEY VERSE
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

—James 5:16

ACTS OF WORSHIP

Unit 2: Learning to Pray

LESSONS 5–8

LESSON AIMS

After participating in this lesson, each learner will be able to:
1. Summarize what James says about prayer, confession, intercession, and faith.
2. Compare and contrast James’s assertion about the power of a righteous person’s prayer with one’s own prayer experience.
3. Commit to greater involvement in praying for others.

LESSON OUTLINE

Introduction
      A.      Timely Prayer
      B.      Lesson Background
          I.      Call for Prayer (JAMES 5:13–15)
      A.      Asking (v. 13a)
      B.      Singing (v. 13b)
      Praise in Prayer
      C.      Healing (vv. 14, 15a)
      D.      Forgiving (v. 15b)
          II.      Sharing in Prayer (JAMES 5:16–18)
      A.      Confessing (v. 16)
      Confession: Good for the Soul?
      B.      Waiting (vv. 17, 18)
Conclusion
      A.      God’s Working Through Prayer
      B.      Prayer
      C.      Thought to Remember

HOW TO SAY IT

Baal

Bay-ul.

Elias

Ee-lye-us.

Elijah

Ee-lye-juh.

Jezebel

Jez-uh-bel.

Zarephath

Zair-uh-fath.

“What examples of powerful prayer in the Bible can you recall?”

Krause, Mark S. et al. “Powerful Prayer.” The KJV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2014–2015. Ed. Ronald L. Nickelson and Jonathan Underwood. Vol. 62. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing, 2014. 180. Print.
Krause, Mark S. et al. “Powerful Prayer.” The KJV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2014–2015. Ed. Ronald L. Nickelson and Jonathan Underwood. Vol. 62. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing, 2014. 180. Print.