Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

When you need help, who do you usually ask first?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will learn how Jesus teaches people to pray. He also tells a story about asking for help and how God loves to give good things to his children.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Ask — To say that you want something.
2. Bad — Not good; wrong or harmful.
3. Bed — A place to sleep.
4. Borrow — To take something and promise to give it back.
5. Bother — To trouble or disturb someone.
6. Certain — A particular or special one.
7. Children — Boys and girls who have parents.
8. Come — To arrive at a place.
9. Day By Day — Each day, one day at a time.
10. Disciple — A person who follows and learns from a teacher, especially Jesus.
11. Does Us Wrong — Hurts us or treats us badly.
12. Door — A part of a house or room you open to go in and out.
13. Egg — A round, hard thing from a bird that people can eat.
14. Everyone — All people.
15. Father — A man who has children, or a name for God.
16. Fish — An animal that lives in water and people eat.
17. Finished — Done; not doing it anymore.
18. Food — Something people eat.
19. Forgive — To stop being angry when someone does wrong to you.
20. Friend — A person you like and care about.
21. Get Up — To rise from sitting or lying down.
22. Give — To put something into another person’s hand.
23. Good — Nice, kind, or helpful.
24. Hard Testing — A very difficult problem or time.
25. Heaven — The special home of God.
26. Holy — Very special and clean in God’s way.
27. Holy Spirit — God’s Spirit who helps and teaches people.
28. Honored — Respected and treated as very special.
29. House — A place where people live.
30. Kingdom — A land or place ruled by a king or God.
31. Knock — To hit a door to ask to come in.
32. Let — To allow something to happen.
33. Loaves — Whole pieces of bread.
34. Locked — Closed so no one can open it.
35. Lord — A name for God or Jesus, showing honor and respect.
36. May — A word used to ask or wish for something.
37. Midnight — Twelve o’clock in the middle of the night.
38. More — A greater amount.
39. Need — Something very important for living.
40. Not Ashamed — Not afraid or shy to do something.
41. On A Trip — Traveling somewhere.
42. Open — Not closed.
43. Prayer — Talking to God.
44. Receive — To get something.
45. Say — To speak words.
46. Scorpion — A small animal with a stinger on its tail.
47. Seek — To look for something.
48. Snake — A long, thin animal with no legs.
49. Son — A male child.
50. Suppose — Imagine that something could happen.
51. Teach — To help someone learn.
52. Taught — Helped someone learn.

Summary of the Passage

This passage teaches about prayer. Jesus was praying, and one of his followers asked him to teach them how to pray. Jesus gave them simple words to use when talking to God. He taught them to call God their Father and to ask for daily food, forgiveness, and help to stay away from bad things.

Then Jesus told a short story. He said if a man goes to his friend’s house at night and knocks on the door asking for bread, the friend might not want to get up. But if the man keeps knocking, the friend will give him what he needs. Jesus used this story to teach people not to give up when they pray.

Jesus told them to ask, seek, and knock. He said that people who ask will receive, those who look will find, and those who knock will have the door opened for them. Jesus said that fathers give good gifts to their children, and God, who is the best Father, loves to give good things to those who ask him, especially the Holy Spirit.

This passage teaches us that God is a good Father who listens to prayer. It reminds us to pray often, trust God, and ask for what we need.

Read The Passage

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:
‘Father:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come.
3 Give us day by day the food we need.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.
And do not bring us to hard testing.’”
5 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend’s house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread.
6 A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don’t have any food for him!’
7 And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
8 Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.
9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
10 For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks.
11 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish?
12 Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
13 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 11:1-13 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 11:1-13 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 11:1-13 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 11:1-13 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 11:1-13 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 11:1-13 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. What did one of Jesus’ followers ask him to teach?
2. What did Jesus tell people to call God when they pray?
3. What things did Jesus say to ask for in prayer?
4. What happens when a friend keeps knocking on the door at night in Jesus’ story?
5. What three things did Jesus tell people to do when they pray?
6. What kind of gifts do fathers give their children?
7. What good thing does God give to people who ask him?

Application Questions

1. Why do you think Jesus taught people to pray?
2. What is something you can ask God for this week?
3. When you feel worried, how can prayer help you?
4. Who is someone you can pray for today?

Theological Insights

1. God wants people to pray to him.
2. Prayer is talking to God like a child talks to a father.
3. God is kind and gives good things to his children.
4. We should keep praying and never give up.
5. The Holy Spirit is a special gift from God for his people.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for listening when we pray. Help us to trust you and talk to you every day. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

More ELL Resources

You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.