Lesson 6: How Mighty a Thing is Prayer

This lesson focuses on prayer-- why we pray, the blessings we receive from prayer, and how to improve our prayers.  This lesson is a bit unusual in that there are only three sections in the text.  Generally, there are 5 or so.  Still, these three sections include enough counsel and guidance to chew on for quite a while.  Also, because the activity is fairly short that I am going to share, I will actually share two activities for this lesson.  They could be used together, but I am conceptualizing them as separate activities.

Activity 1:

1. Pass out some paper and pens/pencils to the class members
2. Ask the class members to think about (no writing for at least 30 seconds, better 1 minute) experiences that they have had with prayer be that tangible answers, feelings, impressions, guidance, revelation, etc.
3. Have the class members write down their experiences.  You could either ask them to make a list of all of the experiences they thought of or you could ask them to write down in more detail one experience.  Do what feels right to you.  Either way will work for this activity.
4. Then, invite the class members to share, as appropriate, their experiences during the course of the rest of the lesson.
5. At the end of the lesson, you may ask them to take a moment and consider who they might share their experience with outside of class.  This could be a family member, neighbor, or anyone for a variety of reasons.  Encourage them to follow through on sharing their experience with the person(s) they have thought of.

Using Activity 1:

This activity feels like a good way to begin the class.  It immerses the class members right at the outset in making connections between what you will talk about and their own lives.  Making connections like this is a valuable way to help us remember what the Lord has done for us.  Repeatedly, in the scriptures we are told to remember what the Lord has done for us.  So, by starting off like this, we are inviting the Spirit to be with our class powerfully. 

Activity 2:

1. Ask the class members to identify a quote from the text that they feel is especially powerful.  Another option here is to provide 3 or 4 quotes from the text and ask the class members to choose the one they find the most powerful.
2. Ask them to think about how they would teach about the idea in this quote to a child.  If they have young children, they could think about how they would teach this in their own Family Home Evening.  If they do not have young children at home, they could simply imagine how that lesson might look.
3. Give the class time to think about how they would do this.
4. Ask class members to share their ideas with a couple of neighbors and to listen to what their neighbors have thought of as well.
5. Ask class members to report on the lesson ideas they found the most interesting.

Using Activity 2:

I don't want this activity to feel like a throw away idea.  Yes, it would work for literally any chapter in the text-- and perhaps I should have saved it for a chapter that did not lend itself easily to a teaching idea :) .  But it is a valuable strategy.  This activity would work for a couple of reasons.  First, in education we research what things help students learn new information (or remember old information).  In the end, there is only one strategy that always shows itself to be effective and that is to teach someone else.  So, by asking the class to imagine how they might teach this to someone else-- especially a child, who will need the idea explained simply and clearly-- we are asking them to begin to think about this concept as a teacher.  This will help them remember.  Also, this activity is good because it asks people to consider alternative ways to see the concept and to explain it.  This type of malleable ways of understanding the gospel can deepen our understanding of the doctrines of the gospel and help us remember them when we need them most.