Give Me A Clean Heart: Psalm 51 Bible Lesson

by Amy Brown | Lesson Plans | Print | Email

Here is a Bible lesson for children based on Psalm 51 where David asks God to give him a clean heart. The focus is to help the children be aware and mindful of their sinful heart so they see their need for Jesus. It can be followed up by any craft activity involving a heart to remind them of how Jesus can give them a clean heart. It could be used in Sunday School or in a small children’s church setting.

Bible Passage: Psalm 51
Bible Story Title: Give Me a Clean Heart
Target Age Group: K-6^th graders
Target Time Frame:20 minutes
Original Teaching Context: Children’s Church or Sunday School
Printer Friendly Bible Lesson: Print this lesson plan
You Can Help: Please leave your feedback and suggestions for this lesson plan. Others will benefit from your ideas. Click here to respond

Learning Objective: The children will reflect upon the sinfulness of their heart and how Jesus can give them a clean heart.

Target Age: K-5^th

Time Needed: 20 minutes (without using a craft activity at the end)

Materials Needed: Marker board or poster board to draw a large heart. You might look for extra heart-themed craft activity if you need a longer lesson.

Hook:

Draw a large heart on the board.
Ask the children, “What do you think of when you see a heart like this one?”
Spend time receiving answers and brainstorming with the children.
Ask the children, “What do you think God thinks about when He sees your heart?”

Book:

Today we will look at what the Bible says about our heart in Psalm 51.
Open your Bible to Psalm 51 and I will read the first fifteen verses out loud.
Read aloud the passage while the children follow along.

Look:

“First, let’s look at verses one through six. These verses talk about sin a lot. We see the words transgressions, iniquity, sin and evil.” Point out where each of these words is used to demonstrate to the children how important the subject of sin is in this passage.
“What are some sins that a child could commit?” Take suggestions and ideas from the children and write a list on the board.
“Think to yourself, ‘Have I ever committed one or more of these sins?’”
“Our hearts are full of sin!”
“Now look at verses 7-10.” Read aloud these verses.
“How can we have a clean heart that is washed clean of its sin?”
“If we repent by admitting and turning away from our sins, trust in Jesus’ dying on the cross to wash our sins away and then our heart can be clean.”
Read aloud Psalm 51:13-15.
“In this psalm, David is so happy to have his heart washed clean of his sin that he bursts into praise to God.”
“A person with a clean heart cannot help but praise the Lord for their salvation.”
“If you have repented and trusted in Christ for a clean heart is your heart thankful? Does your heart overflow with praise to God?”

Took:

“Let’s go back to one of my first questions. What does God see when He looks at your heart? Does He see a heart full of sin or a heart which has been washed clean?”
“Psalm 51 teaches us three things: to think about our sinful heart, to see how we need Jesus to wash our hearts clean, and, if our hearts have been washed clean, to have a thankful heart full of praise.”
“How is your heart today? Is it full of sin or full of praise?”

Closing: Lead the children in prayer asking God to you and the kids a clean heart.

Need More Ideas? Browse our free coloring pages for Sunday School or check out these 10 easy Bible memory verses for children.

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

← Previous Comments

Silibaziso Dube January 13, 2012 at 1:42 am

This is wonderful guys you have no idea how helpful this is to me as a sunday schoo teacher. thank you

Sheila Yeboah June 20, 2011 at 8:07 am

The lesson was well prepared and I think it will help the children understand what the Psalmist is saying. However, this is what I have come up with. I hope it will also help. Thank you.

DAVID CONFESSES HIS SIN

MAIN TEXT: Psalm 51

SUPPORTIVE TEXT: 2 Samuel 7; 11 & 12

MEMORY VERSE: 1 John 1: 9

OBJECTIVE: The saved child will respond properly to his sin by claiming the promise of 1John 1:9

CHILD RATED TRUTH: God will forgive your sins when you confess them to Him.

I. INTRODUCTION Have you ever done wrong and tried to cover up? How did you feel? Perhaps later you admitted what you had done may be someone found out and they forgave you. How did you feel then? David had all of these feelings because he sinned and tried to cover it up.

II. PROGRESSION OF EVENTS

1. David, King of Israel, believed in God and loved Him (2Samuel 7:22 – 29)

2. Even though David belonged to God, there was a time when he committed a terrible sin.
(2 Samuel 11)

3. David tried to deal with his sin by covering it up instead of confessing it to God so he could be forgiven. (2 Samuel 11: 6 – 7)

4. David was very miserable for a long time. (Ps 51:1,8,12)

5. God sent a preacher named Nathan to lovingly help David deal with his sin the right way.
(2 Samuel 12)

6. David listened to Nathan and admitted his sin. (Ps. 51: 1 – 4)

III. CLIMAX

God prayed, confessing his sin and asking God to forgive him. (Ps. 51: 5 – 17)

IV. ENDING

A. Conclusion

1. David not only wanted God to forgive him his sin, be wanted God to change him so that he
wouldn’t do the same thing again. (Ps.51:10)
2. When God forgive him, David described it as having his heart washed clean and made white
once again. (Ps 51: 2,7,10)
3. David head peace and joy again, and he praised God. (Ps. 51:15)

B. Invitation (Unsaved)

You cannot have true peace inside until you have realized that you are a sinner and that you need the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour from sin. God hates sin even more than we do. God hates sin so much that he sent His own perfect Son to die on a cross to destroy sin (1John 3;8b). Jesus gave His precious blood for you and for me and for everyone (Romans5:8). Jesus came back to life again, and he is alive today. He wants you to be saved from your sin (Acts 16;31)

C. Challenge (Saved)

You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour only one time from that time on, you belong to Him. But when you sin, you need to confess it to God right away. (1John 1:9) stop now and think about what you have done today. Ask God to show you some sin that you need to confess to Him. Ask God to help you admit that sin to Him right now as you we all have our heads bowed and eyes closed. Agree with God that it was wrong and tell Him you are willing to turn from it. Then you can be sure God will forgive your sins and you can have peace inside because you have a clean conscience. Then the good things you do will please God and others.

Carry-Over Activity

When you are having your prayer time this week, ask God to show you any sins that you have not confessed. Don’t be surprised when God brings to your mind some wrong things that happened a long time ago, things that you had forgotten about. You may be tempted to listen to satan who will tell you to ignore them or to try to cover them up by making an excuse. Resist that temptation. Instead, tell God what you have done and ask Him to forgive you. Claim His promise of 1John 1:9 that He will forgive you when you confess your sins to Him.