If your class is meeting online, invite students to bring pens/pencils, index cards, and smartphones with them to class.

Paul was not in a good place when he wrote the letters we studied today. At least he wasn’t in a good place in worldly terms; he was most likely imprisoned. Yet, Paul used his less than ideal circumstance to ask those to whom he was writing to be alert and keep on praying for the Lord’s people.

Instead of focusing on his own needs, as is common of most who request intercessory prayer, Paul reached out to the churches to let them know he was praying for them! Paul didn’t just pray for their physical needs but he lifted up their spiritual needs also.

In Ephesians 6:18, Paul admonishes Christians to pray for the Lord’s people. Sometimes it is hard to know what to pray for people—especially if you don’t know them very well.

• Aside from praying for healing or a resolution to the problem they are facing, what are some other things you might pray for people who are suffering? (Give your students an opportunity to brainstorm; write responses on the whiteboard.)

Direct your students to get into small groups of two or three. (If your class is meeting online, you can use the breakout room feature of your video chat software.) Make sure at least one person in each group has a smartphone they can share. Instruct your teens to pull up the following website on their smartphones:
Lifting Up Those Who Are Suffering

Hand out index cards and pencils/pens (or invite students to have those items ready at home). On the index cards, have students write down prayer requests they’d like to share. If something is confidential, they can write down the words, “unspoken request” and their name. Have students hand their prayer request to another individual in their small group; each student should have someone else’s request. Spend a few minutes in small groups lifting up each other’s prayer requests. If they need prayer prompts, they can use the prayer guide on suffering to direct their prayers along with the ideas written on the whiteboard.

You may want to play this video clip in the background as your students pray [3:42].
When We Pray (Official Music Video)

Encourage your students to take the request they received home and to pray for those needs this week on their own. Remind students to keep the requests confidential and emphasize today’s focus, we are to intercede in prayer for others.