Together We Pray

1 Kings 8

Our Bible story tells us about a king in Israel. That king’s name was Solomon. Solomon was the son of King David.


For many years, the people of Israel did not have a special building where they could worship God. Sometimes they worshiped in a tent or outside.


God had a special plan for King Solomon. God wanted him to build a special place, or temple, where the people of Israel could worship.


King Solomon told the workers how to build the buildings.


He had special furniture put in the temple to use when the people worshiped God.


King Solomon planned a time for people to come to the new temple to praise God. People came from all over Israel.


King Solomon was happy when he saw so many people. He stood in front of them and spread his arms toward heaven. King Solomon and the people prayed to God.


King Solomon prayed, “God, You are very great. You keep Your promises. Please hear the people when they pray.


“When we ask You to send rain so we have water, please send rain. When we ask You to forgive us for doing bad things, please forgive us. When we are hungry and ask You for food, please send food. When we are sick and need Your help, please help us. Please help us follow Your rules.”

When King Solomon and the people finished praying together, he said, “Praise the Lord! Let’s all love the Lord and do what He says.”


King Solomon and the people prayed together. We can pray together too.


Bible Paraphrase: Worship the LORD. (Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9 NIV)

Text Truth: We can pray together.


Family Devotional

Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month. — 1 Kings 8:1-2

As King Solomon showed in 1 Kings 8, there is a heightened sense of God’s power and encouragement when people pray together. It is a special way Christians can worship God.

Think about prayer in your life. If you don’t have a specific prayer group or prayer partner, consider how you might change that.

Ask the Lord to bring people into your life with whom you can pray for and with. 

If you are already involved in praying for and with others, ask the Lord how you can involve others who might need a group or partner to pray with.




Activities You Can Do at Home


Thank God for the Things He Gives Us

Put some objects, such as a toy car and play food, into a bag. Let family members take turns feeling an object and guessing what it is. Then together thank God for each object. (Thank God for a way to go to church and for the food He gives you to eat.)


We Can Talk to God

Say the memory verse together ("Worship the LORD."), then worship the Lord with this song, sung to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell.”


We can talk to God, 

We can talk to God, 
God listens when we pray to Him, 
That’s why we talk to God. 



Pray For Others

Help your preschooler pray for others. Each day agree with your preschooler on who you will pray for together. Select people your child knows, talk about how you could pray, then pray together.


Prayer in the Bible

Read other Bible stories about times when people prayed to God, such as the Christians praying for Peter in prison (Acts 12:1-19), and Jesus praying in the garden (Matthew 26:36-46; John 17).


Pray Like Solomon

Use Solomon’s prayer as a template for your own prayers.

God, You are very great because. . . 
Please hear us when we ask You to... 
Please forgive us for. . . 
Please hear us when we ask You for...

God is good. Praise the Lord! 

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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