Share this Bible verse rebus puzzle for Psalm 40:1 with your kids to help them learn that they need to wait on God to answer their prayers. Plus check out three other activities all about prayer for your Christian home or classroom.
Below, you will find a fun Bible verse rebus puzzle for Psalm 40:1 that will teach your kids that they must wait upon God to answer their prayers in the best way that only God can.
Introducing prayer to kids does not have to be difficult. In fact, here is the following dialogue that I often include when teaching about prayer in my musical Bible programs:
Today we are going to learn about praying to God.
I’d like you to do something for me. Raise your hand if you have at least one friend in this great big world. (Wait for children to respond.) Good! Put your hands down.
Now raise your hand if you talk to that friend. (Wait for children to respond.) Great! Put your hands down.
Finally raise your hand if you listen to that friend. (Wait for children to respond.) Awesome!
Of course you talk and listen to your friends because that is part of what makes a good friendship – talking and listening to each other.
Well, never forget that Jesus wants to be your friend. He wants to be your very best friend. But a relationship takes two people who are willing to talk and listen to each other. That’s what Jesus wants from you – a relationship. And simply put, prayer is talking and listening to God.
I find that this introduction really brings prayer down to a level where every child can understand the simplicity of prayer.
I like what Ray Stedman says in his article on prayer:
(https://www.raystedman.org/thematic-studies/prayer/the-beginning-of-prayer)
The Bible is full of prayers to God. People who are talking to God and sharing the deepest part of their hearts with Him and waiting for His answers.
Psalm 40:1 is a great verse on prayer for kids, which says this: “I waited patiently for the Lord and He turned to me and heard my cry.” (NIV)
This verse comes from a psalm of David. David knew a thing or two about crying out to God and waiting for Him to answer his prayers.
I especially love how David said that he waited patiently on God. While patience is usually not a virtue of the young, it should be a character trait that we teach our kids as early as possible, especially when it comes to prayer.
The other great point to this verse is how Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe, turned to David and heard his cry.
Your children need to know that God loves them very much. He wants to have a vibrant relationship with them both now on earth and throughout eternity. What a wonderful God we serve!
Here are two fun ways to teach Psalm 40:1 to your kids.
1. Bible Verse Rebus Puzzle for Psalm 40:1
A rebus puzzle uses simple pictures to illustrate each of the words of a phrase or a quote or, in this case, a Bible verse. This activity will be perfect for your elementary readers.
This rebus puzzle for Psalm 40:1 has two pages to it. Just click on each of the pictures below and print them off for your kids.
2. “I Waited” – A Bible Verse Song for Psalm 40:1
Here is a video of a song I wrote for Psalm 40:1 called “I Waited.” Share this with your kids to help them memorize this great verse.
One of my favorite musical Bible programs that I share with elementary kids is called “Let Us PRAY.”
In this program, I took the idea of the “ACTS” of prayer acrostic and revamped it a bit for the older child. I actually take the word “PRAY” and create an acrostic with it to delve a bit deeper into the wonderful world of praying to God.
The acrostic for “PRAY” goes as follows:
P stands for “Praise and Adoration.”
R stands for “Remember to confess your sins.”
A stands for “Always give thanks.”
Y stands for “Yield yourself to God.”
Your kids need to learn that God deserves to receive their praise. Psalm 106:1 says this: “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”
Praise and Adoration: You can teach them early on that their prayer times will be a big blessing when they include a hefty portion of praise and adoration.
Remember to Confess: Your children also need learn the importance of confession during their prayer time. In fact, here is the dialogue that I use in my program “Let Us PRAY” to help teach them about confession in a simple manner:
A Simple Dialogue that Helps Teach Kids About Confession:
Having a relationship with Jesus Christ means having a relationship with God Almighty. As Christians, we believe that God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sin.
If you’ve forgotten what sin is, let me refresh your memory.
Sin is anything you think, anything you say, or anything you do that displeases God.
A person who does not believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior can never be forgiven by God for the wrong things they do.
But a Christian, a person who does believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, needs only to go to Jesus and confess their sin. In other words, they need to tell God that they know they have done what is wrong in His eyes.
For example, let’s say you’re at school and someone gives you a mean look and you give a mean look right back at them. That is wrong. That is a sin. Stop and pray and ask God to forgive you for that mean look.
Or let’s say you are nice and comfortable on your couch at home and Dad asks you to go clean your room. But instead of getting up and obeying, you pretend like you didn’t hear him. That is wrong. That is a sin. Stop and pray and ask God to forgive you for disobeying your dad.
1 John 1:9 is a great Bible verse about how God will always cleanse us and forgive us when we pray to Him and ask Him to forgive us. It says this: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So, remember, as a Christian, make it a habit to confess your sins to Jesus right away. He loves you very much and is always ready to forgive you and help you turn away from sin.
Always Give Thanks: Your children’s prayer time should also include a time of thanksgiving to their great and wonderful Savior. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says this: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Even on our difficult days, we have much to be thankful for.
Yield Yourself to God: Finally, your children’s prayers should be an act of worship where they are yielding or giving themselves over to the will of God for their lives.
As your children get older, they will begin to understand that life has its ups and downs, good days and bad days, and triumphs and trials. Jesus wants them to know that He is by their side through it all if only they would yield their lives to Him and acknowledge Him as their Savior who knows what is best for them.
Their prayer time should reflect supplication that is not only for themselves but also for the world around them.
Here is the “Let Us PRAY” song to help your kids learn more about praying to God.
Wait for this. Wait for that. Doesn’t it always seem like we’re always waiting? Life definitely takes a lot of patience. God uses patience in our lives to grow our faith and trust in Him. He wants us to be patient when we call on Him and wait for His answer. Psalm 40:1 says this: “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.”
Here is the fourth activity I want to share with you for teaching prayer to your kids. It is a Bible memory verse game that I call “Half Off.” You can use this game to help your kids memorize Psalm 40:1 along with becoming more familiar with the books of the Bible.
Here’s what you do:
This game has 2 parts to it. The first part requires you to make a card for each word in Psalm 40:1. Don’t forget to include a card for the reference. Place these in correct verse order on a pocket chart or on a table for all to see. Make sure the cards are not “see through”. The second part of the game will require you to make cards of the various Bible book titles found below showing only half of the book. Include blank spaces as I have written. You will also need a 10 second timer and a scorekeeper.
List of Bible Book Titles
1. _ _ _ _ S I S (GENESIS)
2. _ _ _ B E R S (NUMBERS)
3. _ _ _ G E S (JUDGES)
4. _ _ _ _ M I A H (NEHEMIAH OR JEREMIAH)
5. _ _ _ _ E R B S (PROVERBS)
6. _ _ H U M (NAHUM)
7. _ _ _ _ H E W (MATTHEW)
8. _ _ _ A N S (ROMANS)
9. _ _ _ _ S I A N S (EPHESIANS)
10. _ _ _ _ T H Y (TIMOTHY)
11. _ _ T U S (TITUS)
12. _ _ _ _ _ A T I O N (REVELATION)
How to play:
Divide your class into 2 teams. After going over Psalm 40:1 with your class, scramble 6 cards on your Bible verse display board. A child from team one will come forward. He will be given 10 seconds to put the verse in correct order. If he is successful, you will show the student one of the Bible book cards. He will have 10 seconds to guess the book. If he is successful, he will earn 100 points for his team. If he is not correct, that Bible book card goes to the bottom of the stack and can be used again. Play goes to the next team. The team with the most points after all the Bible book cards have been guessed, wins.
Before playing this game, you might want to introduce the lesson in the following way:
Raise your hand if waiting and being patient is hard sometimes. (Wait for response.) I think if we were all honest, all of us would raise our hands. Life is filled with situations where patience is needed and patience is one of God’s greatest tools for growing our faith. Who would like to read Psalm 40:1? (Wait for response.) So many of us, including myself, do not wait for God’s answers to our prayers. Each of our prayers is important. Shouldn’t we give God the respect He is due by waiting for His answer? Here’s an example. Someday many of you will get married. When you “pop” the question, aren’t you going to wait for the answer, even if it doesn’t come right away? Of course you would! Your requests of God are just as important if not more so. So let’s have some patience right now and take the time to memorize this Bible verse to help us remember to wait for the Lord. Our game is called “Half Off.” Let’s play!
At this point, you should recite Psalm 40:1 several times together for the class to become familiar with it.
Have fun!
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