A Reminder to Praise!

So, in my last post I said, “Anytime I fall into sinful anger, it is because I have forgotten who is in control of life; my anger is typically the result of feeling as though my rights have been violated or my rule as queen of the Hickey kingdom has been subverted by one of my not so loyal subjects, AKA my children or husband. When I bring my mind back to the reality that any disruption in my plan was the plan of God, my sin becomes evident and  I am left with the choice to continue in sinful rebellion or to TRUST in my loving heavenly Father who only has good things for me.” As I wrote these words I knew them to be true and believed them, but perhaps not at whole heartedly as I thought!

God gave me a chance on Monday to see just how much I believed what I wrote. I planned out my morning to the letter, we were going to go here and then there, and then be back in time for lunch and then naps. I was sure my plan would help me accomplish the things I strongly felt needed to get accomplished! As I was loading Luke, the youngest, in the car Matthew asked if he could peek in the laundry room and say goodbye to our kitten, I said sure. Next thing I knew Matthew was in the car getting buckled; I went to the door to open it only to find it locked! And my keys were in the house, and for at least a few moment I thought my phone was as well. I stood there for a moment in panic, and tried the door again, still a no go! In my head I could hear the words I had written the night before, “disruption in my plan was the plan of God!” I looked at Matthew and fussed for a moment, not a mean fuss, although I felt like being mean. I opened the front door to the car, and there lay my phone. I was able to call my mom to come help me out. As I waited for her, I just kept thinking about how important it was that I get the thing I had planned done. Why was God messing with my plan, it was a good plan! I sat in the front seat of my car, and thought to myself “you have a choice you can trust God and His plan or you can pout about the fact that your plan was messed up.”

My mom arrived short time later, but my perfectly planned out morning was not going to happen. So, I went grocery shopping, got the kids back in time for lunch and a nap, worked on some church business and emailed one of my professors. I had a question about my deadline to finish my last two classes of the Master’s program I am in, which I am not on track to finish, and the reason I needed my timeline to work out.

As I went about my day I kept thinking about how God causes all things, he was the cause of me getting locked out of the house, it was part of his plan. I knew he was up to something, but was really confounded as to what. I thought maybe I would run into someone at the grocery store that needed to talk or would just have an opportunity to bless someone, but alas I just didn’t see any purpose and wanted to so badly!

I was talking about what happened with one of my friends at bible study yesterday, and how I just kept waiting to see the purpose of having my day messed up. She said, “well did you ever figure it out?” I started to say no, but them I remembered the response I received form my professor after emailing back and forth the day before.

In one of his responses my professor asked if I thought I could make the deadline set by the school, or if I needed an extension. I eagerly said yes, that I would need an extension, a pretty significant one, I asked for three extra weeks. My sweet professor granted my request, and asked how if there was any thing he could pray for for me. I almost cried, extensions have not been routinely given without an extensive explanation, and he granted my request will very little explanation as to why I hadn’t been able to finish; not only that he cared enough to ask how he could pray. For the past several weeks, I have stayed up late, gotten up early, all to make a valiant attempt to finish so that I wouldn’t have to pay to retake the classes. I was panicked that morning, because I saw my hopes of finishing fade away with a little boy’s hand turning a lock. I will still have to work hard to finish, but I will not become a sleep deprived crazy lady in the process now. I’m not sure I would have seen God’s hand at work had my friend not asked, “well did you figure it out?” The things I was able to see were that God wanted me to trust in Him to provide the time to get done what needed to get done, He wanted me to have the humility to ask for help, and He provided an opportunity to let me see if I believed the words I wrote. There may be more to what He was doing than that, I suppose this side of heaven I will never know; I am blessed to get a glimpse of Him in action.

I am so thankful that God uses small things to show just how big He is; He is worthy of our trust, He is always at work in our lives, and it is always for our good!

I read the words by Spurgeon at the top of the post and knew I needed to share. I know it’s not profound, but it was an undeserved blessing from the Lord; He is certainly worthy of our praise!

I would love to hear how God has blessed you!

God Keeps His Promises

This week we continued talking about Noah and the flood. As I thought about the flood and the events that followed I was reminded how trustworthy God is, and how fortunate we are to have so many accounts in scripture that we can teach our children, which highlight this reality. God could have given us His Word through a long list of rules, but instead he chose to use narrative, law, wisdom, poetry, prophecy, gospels, epistles, and apocalyptic literature that we can draw much more from than we ever could from a list of rules. As you share accounts from scripture with your children it is important to remind them how fortunate we are to have scripture the way we do, we know how God planned to work out our salvation, something the Israelites didn’t have, and we have so many accounts that reinforce the truth of His power, love, mercy, justice, and immutable (unchangeable) nature!

Lesson:

 Last week we talked about how man became so sinful that God was sorry that He created them, and how He told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth by sending a great flood to kill all living creatures except for Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal. God gave Noah instructions on how to build a great ark, Noah trusted God and obeyed!

 After Noah finished the ark, Noah, his family, and all the animals got on the Ark, and God send the rain. The Bible says that the fountains of the deep burst open (water came from the ground) and the floodgates of the sky were opened, the rain fell for forty days and forty nights.

 After 150 days the water started go down, but it took a long time for all the water to go away. After a while Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had dried up, but the dove found no place to rest so it returned. Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again and it returned with a freshly picked olive leaf. Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again, and it didn’t return, which told Noah that the water was nearly gone.

 When Noah and his family came out of the ark, Noah made a burnt offering to God. The Lord accepted the offering, and made a covenant, a covenant is a promise that can never be broken, that he would never again destroy the earth by water again. Then He placed rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant, and a reminder to us of His promise.

 Remember we’ve been talking about how important it was to trust in God, we cannot have a relationship with Him if we do not trust in Him. Accounts like this one help remind us that when we trust in God we are placing our trust rightly. There is nothing else as sure as the promises God makes to His people; He is the only one worthy of our trust!

 Lesson Recap:

• How long did it rain? (For 40 days and 40 nights)
• Where did the water come from? (From the ground and from the sky)
• How long did the water remain on the earth before it started to go away? (150 days)
• What did Noah send out to see if the water was gone? (A dove)
• How many times did he send the dove out? (3)
• What did Noah do when they got off the Ark? (Make an offering to the Lord)
• What did God do in response to Noah’s offering? (He made a covenant, promise, to never destroy the earth with water again)
• What was the sign of His promise? (A rainbow)
• Is there anything more sure than the promises of God? (No!!)

For mom and dad:

If you’ve read many of my posts you’ve probable a notices the stress on trusting God, and the impact it can have on our actions. I think that there is a reason that this is such a prevalent theme in scripture; sin has left us feeling as though we are autonomously sovereign, essentially the effect of sin on the world is practical atheism. We acknowledge God’s sovereignty, but practically we plan our lives as we see fit. In the book of Judges we find the words that accurately depict life in our culture, “everyone did what was right in his own eye.” Growing in our relationship with God means doing what seems illogical by our fleshly estimation, and trusting in God, His word, and His ways as the guide to our lives.

Anytime I fall into sinful anger, it is because I have forgotten who is in control of life; my anger is typically the result of feeling as though my rights have been violated or my rule as queen of the Hickey kingdom has been subverted by one of my not so loyal subjects, AKA my children or husband. When I bring my mind back to the reality that any disruption in my plan was the plan of God, my sin becomes evident and  I am left with the choice to continue in sinful rebellion or to TRUST in my loving heavenly Father who only has good things for me.

I feel so blessed by the ministry God has called me to in our church, as I study to prepare our lessons and make them kid friendly I find my own understanding deepened. In teaching kids to trust in God, I am challenged to ask God to help me trust him more. There are some prayers I think we are afraid to pray, this may be one of them, because trusting God is only difficult when I face difficulty. When life is smooth sailing trusting God is oh so easy, but when the storm of life hits trusting in the things that are unseen is a real struggle. If I ask God to help me trust Him more I am inevitable going to face some difficulty, which means that to ask God to help me trust Him more I must first trust in His love and care.

I can tell you that God has certainly shown himself to be merciful and good to his word, Matthew 7:7,11 say “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…if you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” So, I have asked God to help me to trust Him more. I have some very dear family members who have been taken captive by false teaching, I have talked with them before about the error in what they believe, but they continue to assure me, despite my assertion of the danger they are in, that they are fine. They continue to talk with me as though we believe the same things, almost as though they can convince me that orthodoxy is really not that big of a deal. I have been reluctant to continue this important conversation with them, because I want a relationship with them, I want their love, and I fear that instead of them coming to Christ I will end up losing them for good. The truth is that my fear is a legitimate fear, but it reveals just how much I TRUST in me and not God. Recently I decided that it was time to once again to broach this topic with my loved ones, I was scared, in fact instead of going to them in person I decided to email them, but then I got scared and couldn’t send the email. However, God in His faithfulness provided an opportunity to have these discussions in person, while they did not go as well as I would like, I can say with certainty that God strengthened me and has been a great comfort since. It’s the gospel that saves, not my ability to communicate it perfectly. I have to trust in God to work through our conversations, and be willing to face difficulty if I hope to see those I love brought to a saving faith. It hurt to have people you love angry with you, but it hurts more to know they were in danger and you did nothing to warn them!

Because of the nature of sin, I know that I am not alone in my struggle to trust in God. My encouragement to you is this, as you study scripture either for your own growth or to teach it to your children take time to stand back and look at the big picture. Observe the faithful nature of our God who promised to save Noah and delivered, who promised a Messiah and delivered, and who promised to return in glory and bring us home and will deliver! Ask God to show you the areas of life where you are holding back because you struggle to trust in Him to deliver, and seek His help to trust Him more. It is a difficult request, but it will lead you to a closer relationship with Him! Remember we can trust in God because He always keeps His promises!

As always I pray that this has been encouraging as you seek to lead your children to the cross!

I would love to hear your thought, so please leave me a comment!

The Fall of Man

This week we taught the kids about Adam and Eve’s disobedience and it’s consequences. Teaching our children about the fall of man is very important. Our children need to understand that when sin entered the world it had devastating consequences. The break in our relationship with God that resulted from this sin is immeasurable, not a small rift, which God could overlook. It left our hearts twisted and self-focused, but God in His mercy promised Adam and Eve that He would defeat sin and crush the serpent who lead them down the path of sin. Helping our children understand the fall of man and the depth of their sin will help them to see their position before God, and their need for a savior!

Lesson:

Last week we talked about how God made everything! God created Adam and Eve on day six; He placed them in a beautiful garden filled with wonderful food. God told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the garden except for one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, a serpent tricked Eve; he told Eve that God didn’t want them to eat the fruit from the tree, because it would open her eyes and that she and Adam would become like God. She was believed the serpent and ate from the tree; then she gave the fruit to Adam. Their eyes were opened to good and evil and they became afraid of God, hiding when He returned to the garden.

 When they came out God ask what they had done; Adam blamed his sin on God because God gave him Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent that tricked her. Their sin brought the cursed of sin into the world, but God promised Adam and Eve that He would make a way for things to be made right, He promised them a savior. One who would save the man from the curse of sin, and offer a way for man to be made right before God. Adam and Eve did not know God plan, but they trusted Him.

 You and I are very blessed because we know how God fulfilled His promise. He sent Jesus to live the life none of us can live, a life free from sin, and then He took the punishment due to us for our sins. If we will repent, turn from sin, and trust in the good works of Jesus God will forgive our sins and we will spend eternity with God in heaven!

Lesson Recap:

• Where did God let Adam and Eve live? (In a beautiful garden)
• What were Adam and Eve told they could eat? (Anything from the trees, except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil)
• What did the serpent tell Eve? (The Serpent told Eve that the fruit was good and it would make her have the same knowledge as God)
• What did Eve do? (She ate the fruit, and gave it to Adam)
• What happened when God returned to the garden? (Adam and Eve were scared and they hid)
• Who did Adam blame for His sin? (Adam blamed God for giving him Eve.)
• Who did Eve blame? (Eve blamed the serpent)
• What happened because Adam and Eve sinned? (The world was cursed by sin, bringing death to all)
• Even though the world is cursed because of sin, what did God promise to do? (to send a savior.)

I mentioned in the beginning of this post that sin caused a break in our relationship with God, Adam and Eve were created to be dependent on God, to trust Him and His wisdom as He revealed it to them. However, instead they trusted in the wisdom that the fruit from the forbidden tree would bring. This is the heart of ALL sin, it is a failure to trust in the God and His ability to provide for our best interest that results from a false sense of autonomy. Sin has blinded us to reality, that is we are dependent of God at every moment whether we believe in Him and trust in Him or not. Growing in a relationship with God starts with a firm understanding of His character that fosters trust, as we come to a clearer understanding of Him nature and character we will find our trust in Him deepens stimulating growth in holiness. When we understand that He NEVER asks us to do something to our ultimate detriment we will trust in Him and follow His commands,  “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29).

As you work with your children make sure that you are helping them to have a complete picture of God, help them understand His holiness, His love, His mercy, and finally His justice. Having a complete picture of who God is will help point them to the cross for salvation. When they see that God is holy, righteous, and just they will understand that he has to punish law breakers. Further, understanding His character and nature can also help them see how great a gap sin has brought between them.  A complete understanding of God makes the cross so precious, a sober understanding of all these things can be the tools God uses to lead your children to a saving faith.

Growing up I never understood the depth of my own sin, I knew Jesus came to save sinners. While I knew that I had sinned, I felt like I was a pretty good person compared to others. I was never taught about God’s holiness or His righteous anger, I didn’t know that God demanded perfection. So, I went on sinning, feeling secure in my salvation, because I could check all the right boxes. God was gracious and brought people into my life who shared the truth, who were faithful to minister even when I clearly didn’t like what they had to say. I do not want any of our children to be like I was, I want to know that I presented God’s character as faithfully as I could!

I love what Alistair Begg says, “It is only because God’s wrath is real, that His mercy is relevant.” (You can’t hear it when you read it, but there are a lot of rolling r’s)

Remember sin is deceptive, it always promises something good, but ultimately it leads to somewhere terrible. The forbidden fruit promised wisdom, but instead produced a profound distrust for our creator and a desire to live for our own glory! I hope this has been helpful as you labor to lead your children to the cross!

I would love to hear from you, if you liked the post or if you just have some feedback in general please leave a comment!

Paul Bitten by a Snake

This week we continued to teach the kids at our church about Paul’s journey to Rome, and the trouble that he encountered along the way. After Paul was shipwrecked, a venomous snake bit him; the islanders who saw what happened assumed that he must have been a criminal, and that god sent the snake to kill Paul as just punishment. However, Paul simply shook the snake off his hand into the fire and was unharmed. It is hard to say why exactly this account is in scripture, except it reveals to us God’s faithfulness. God said that Paul was to be his witness to Rome, if Paul died in route than he would not accomplish what God sent him to do. However, given all of the obstacles Paul faced it becomes apparent that the ONLY reason he made it to Rome was because of God’s work behind the sense. When God asks us to do something He is right there with us working to accomplish His goal, He does the hard work all we have to do is trust and obey! Accounts like this one help strengthen us by reminding us of this truth especially when things don’t look like they are going the way we would like!

Lesson: 

After every one made it safely to shore they discovered they were on a little island called Malta. The people on the island showed the shipwrecked men kindness; they gathered wood and made a fire so that the men could warm themselves. Paul helped gather wood to keep the fire going; as he threw some wood on the fire a snake came out of the wood and bit his arm. Paul shook the snake off into the fire. All the natives thought God must have been punishing Paul for some terrible crime he had committed, and they expected him to fall down dead at any moment. However, when Paul was unaffected by the venom the men then began to say Paul must be a god.

 Paul made quite a first impression on the people of Malta! While the Bible does not tell us in this account how Paul responded to the people saying he was a god, we know from other account that this did not please Paul. When others said similar things Paul responded by telling them about the One True God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the way of salvation; I think it is safe to assume that is how he responded here.

 What we do know for sure is that God proved himself faithful. God told Paul that he must go to Rome and be a witness to the men there, telling them about Jesus and the way of salvation. God will never ask us to do something and then leave us to do it on our own. He is always with us, working behind the scene so that everything works out according to His plan. Paul faced many challenges on his way to Rome; he was shipped wrecked and bitten by a poisonous snake, but God was always with him and He is the one who kept Paul safe.

We should trust God because he is God, but he knows that is hard for us. He gave us His word to help us know just how trust worthy He is; we can obey and know He is the one who will do the hard work to get things done!

 I am continually amazed at how slow to catch on I am, it seems every account in scripture points to our need to trust God; yet I still find it instinctive to trust in my own judgment rather than God’s. I have to work at trusting God; I remind myself constantly that He knows better than I do, and that He does not have to run His plans by me before I accept them. I know my children have the same struggle, they often disobey because they don’t trust that I know better than they do.  I think this is why so much of the Bible points us to the importance of trusting God, because the flesh naturally trusts in itself rather than God. If you think back to the garden not trusting God is what got Adam and Eve (as well as the entire human race) in such trouble; they didn’t trust that God was looking our for their best interest, and so they took matters into their own hands. God never holds out on his children, He always provided what we need (what we actually need, not what we think we need).  As parents it’s important that our walks with God are consistent just like Paul’s was; our children watch us they believe what our actions tell them more than our words. In other words if we do not trust God, we cannot expect our children to either.

I am thankful that as I teach my children about God they are not the only ones who are changed, God has been very gracious to show me where I need to repent, especially of prideful self-reliance, and trust in Him. I pray that this is helpful as you labor to lead your children to the cross!

Paul Shipwrecked

This week we taught the kids about Paul’s journey to Rome, and how he was shipwrecked along the way. We continued to talk about being lights in the world, and how people look at how well our words and actions match up. We can’t simply proclaim Jesus with our mouth; we must walk in a manner that is glorifying to Him if we want others to come to know His goodness. Paul is an amazing example for us; because of His great trust in the Lord he was able to love those who held him in captivity. He ministered to those on the ship, giving them hope, even after they ignored his counsel. As a result of Paul’s faithfulness to God those on the ship trusted Paul, and in the end they all lived!

Lesson:

The time came for Paul to go to Rome to make his appeal to Caesar; he was to travel by ship along with some other prisoners. Even though Paul was a prisoner all who had authority over him respected him. Paul had proven himself faithful to his words by always following the standards he gave to others. Do you know what that means? It means if he said it was wrong to act a certain way or talk a certain way, he didn’t act that way or talk that way. He showed his belief to be true by his actions; he showed love to those who held him in captivity by sharing the gospel patiently and remained peaceful always trusting in God in very hard situations.

The trip was going to be very long by ship, and it was not a good time of year to travel by sea. It was fall, and the seas become more dangerous the closer it gets to winter. As time passed and the seas became more difficult, Paul told the Centurion, who was in charge of the transport of Paul and the other prisoners, that he sensed great danger if they continued. However, the ships captain and the ships pilot thought that it was best to continue to the next port and stay there until the end of winter when it would be safer to proceed on their journey.

The Centurion agreed with the majority, and they continued on their journey. However, it was not long before they were caught in a terrible storm, the men on the ship fought for weeks to keep moving in the right direction. As they were losing hope that any would survive Paul encouraged them. He reminded them that He had told them that lay danger ahead if they continued, but they decided to go anyway. He wasn’t reminding them to be prideful, but so that they would listen to him. He told them that the Lord had told him that they would all survive if everyone stayed on the ship. He encouraged them to eat, and after they all ate they ran the ship into the ground near an island; everyone on board made it safe to land.

Remember that last week we talked about being a light in the world, and that Paul was a light to the Romans because he shared the truth of God’s word with them. We can shine like lights thought more than just our words, although our words are very important. People look at our actions and compare them to our words to see if they match up. We need to show people who God is through our words and our actions. We must be kind and loving even when we are in a difficult situation, like Paul was. The Romans respected and listened to Paul because his words and actions matched, and as a result all the passengers were saved.

Tips for daily devotional time with kids:

I think that it is always best review the lesson for several days with the kids, especially if they are younger. Asking questions about the story will help the kids internalize what they heard. At church we give stickers to whoever answers the question correctly, kids love stickers, and at home sometimes I give out Skittles or Jelly beans. I certainly do not do that at home all the time, but the kids really love when I do! We have an older son,  I’ll let him read the story one night or try to tell it  the best he can from memory to the little boys. If your kids are older you could let them act out the story.

Summer is a unique time in that there seems to be more time to fill, you could search online for craft ideas, and do a craft together. Use the time to talk about the story again, see if your child can tell you the principle taught in the story not just what happened. You could play a game in the dark using a flashlight, and talk about what it means to be lights in the world.

I don’t think that every devotional time should be action packed fun, because studying the bible is not always fun. Serious bible study is work, and we should teach our kids that. However, adding something fun here and there will help to engage them, and hopefully they will catch more of what you are trying to teach them.

I hope this is helpful! Please leave a comment telling how you share bible stories at home with your kids!

Let Your Light Shine

We continued to work our way through book of Acts this week, teaching the kids about how Paul continued to share the gospel with the Romans while he was imprisoned. The overriding theme of this week’s lesson continues to be our need to trust in God, His wisdom, and power to accomplish his plans. We discussed what it meant to be a light in the world, like Paul was a light to the Romans. When people do not know the truth of who God is or who they really are (sinners) they are in the dark, they do whatever they think is right, because they don’t have a source of wisdom to tell them otherwise. Paul was trying to bring light, truth, to the Romans so that God and His word would light their way. Without God’s word we are left to fumble around and reason for ourselves why things are the way they are, but God’s word, His truth, gives light to the eyes and life to the heart!

This was the lesson, we did a recap of last weeks lesson at the beginning of class to refresh their memories before adding on to Paul’s story:

Felix’s time as governor was over and he was replaced by Festus, and when Festus took office the Jews persuaded him to hear Paul’s case. Festus listened, but just like Felix he couldn’t understand why the Jews wanted Paul put to death. Festus gave Paul two options to go and face trial by the Jews or to make an appeal to Caesar. Paul knew that death was certain if he went before the Jews, but he also knew that Caesar was know to kill followers of Christ. While it seemed he had no good option, he decided to go before Caesar, knowing that he had not broken any Roman laws and that it would give him the opportunity to share the gospel with the most powerful man in Rome.

 Before Paul was sent to Rome King Agrippa came to visit; Festus thought the king might enjoy hearing Paul’s case so he called for Paul and let Paul give his defense before King Agrippa. King Agrippa knew a lot about the Jews, and he listened to Paul carefully; however, when Paul finished King Agrippa told him he thought he had gone mad. Paul assured him that he had not, and that his words were true. King Agrippa did not believe Paul, but he did have a chance to listen. Paul told the men that he would pray that they would come to believe.

 After listening to Paul, Agrippa told Festus that he saw no reason for Paul to remain imprisoned except that he wanted to make his appeal to Caesar. It would not be long before Paul was taken to make his appeal.

 The Apostle Paul knew what it meant to be a light in a dark world; the Romans lived in darkness, they did not have the Bible, God’s Holy Word to show them the way, and so they did whatever seemed right to them. They could have mistreated Paul or put him to death with very little consequence, but instead of being scared Paul was brave and shared the gospel with them. Paul wanted them to know God, and let Him guide their lives. Do you remember how angry the gospel made the Jews? They are not the only ones who got angry when they heard about repentance and faith, a lot of other people get upset when they find out that on their own that they are not good enough to go to heaven. Paul fearlessly proclaimed that on our own we deserve punishment, but if we repent (turn from sin) and trust in Jesus (trust in his good works, not our own) than we can spend eternity in heaven with God. We must be like Paul and shine like lights in a dark world, sharing the gospel with others, as an act of love, trusting God to accomplish His goal, because God is in charge of everything!

Sharing the gospel is not the only way that we can shine as light sin the world. The principle introduced in todays lesson also applies to our behavior as well. Just as our kids are more influenced by our action than our words, unbelievers are influenced by our actions more than our words. If our words and actions do not align than the message that is remembered is the one we acted out. Our children need to be taught that the world will look at us, and determine by our behavior whether the words we say are true. We need to serve God in our words and actions if we want others to come to know the love and mercy of our savior!

There are lots of fun things you can do at home to continue the conversation about Paul and what it means to be a light in the world. Kids love playing with flashlights, take you kids in a dark room and ask them to tell you what things look like (this may be a good bedtime game). Then shine the light on the things that they thought they saw, and let them see how much different the light makes those things look. I can remember thinking there was an alligator in my room when I was a kid, because one of my toys looked so different in the dark. This offers an opportunity to talk about how different things seem when we walk closely with God, he lights our path and we can see what right and wrong more clearly. Then you can transition to talk about Paul and how he wanted everyone to come and walk in the light of God’s word. Think of other activities and share them in the comment section, I would love to hear other ideas (I am not really all that creative)!

Please remember that though it is hard these principles start at home. Is there a disparity between what you teach your kids and how you treat them? When you mess up are you quick to excuse your behavior to them or do you openly repent, confess your sin and seek forgiveness? I have to admit that I fail often in my endeavor to love my children as God has loved me. However, my failure offers an amazing life giving opportunity to talk with my kids about the true character of God, and the chance to model to them what repentance really looks like. If we want our children to be lights in this world for the Lord, we have to be lights in our home to them!

I pray that this is helpful to you as you seek to disciple your kids at home!

Paul Imprisoned

We continued to work our way through book of Acts this week, teaching the kids about Paul’s arrest in the temple and how God worked through Paul to minister to many despite the fact that he was imprisoned. This lesson covered Acts 21-24 it was greatly abridged to highlight the key points of the narrative.

The lesson was slightly longer than usual but still under 5 Min:

Lesson: After many years of travel Paul decided it was time to return to Jerusalem, he returned to many cities on his way, checking on the believers and the churches that were being built in those cities. As he went his fellow believers in Christ begged him not to go to Jerusalem, because they knew that the Jews who try to kill him if he went. However, Paul being led by the Spirit would not change his mind, he knew that the cause of Christ was of more value than His own life and that he had to trust God to accomplish His plan.

 When Paul finally arrived in Jerusalem he met with the elders of the church, he told them all that the Lord had been doing through his ministry, and they all rejoiced. After a few days Paul had gone to the temple to worship, and some of the Jews from Asia saw him they began to stir up the crowd against him. The Jews in the crowed wanted to kill Paul, but the Roman officials heard all the commotion and came and arrested Paul. The officials tried to understand why the Jews wanted to kill Paul, they were willing to help settle the matter, but they could not find any fault with Paul. Instead of turning Paul over to the Jews the officials decided to let the governor determine the case. Paul was sent to Caesarea so that the governor could hear the charges of the Jews and listen to Paul’s defense. The Jews were plotting to attack the transport and kill Paul, but the Romans found out about the plan and moved Paul during the night to keep him safe.

 Felix the governor heard the charges against Paul, but he too found no reason to put him to death or turn him over to the Jews. Felix liked to listen to Paul, and listened to him often. Felix allowed Paul to have an apartment, and receive visitors, all while he was being held in Roman custody. Felix kept Paul in his custody for two years, during which Paul had the opportunity to share the gospel with many times.

 What happened to Paul doesn’t seem fair to us, he didn’t sin against God or break any laws, but he was arrested and kept in custody for more than two years. However, God was not surprised by what happened to Paul, in fact it was part of His plan all along. You see Paul was safe as long as he was in the custody of the Romans, because the Jews could not get to him to kill him. Even though the Romans were not know to be kind to Christians, Paul found favor with the Roman men who had the power to kill him. Had Paul been a free man he would not have been able to share the gospel with powerful men like Felix. Paul trusted God in very scary situations, he obeyed God regardless of the danger, and God was glorified as a result. If we want to make a difference to the kingdom of God we must follow Paul’s example and trust and obey God, because He will always do what it takes to accomplish His plans!

I encourage you to share the account from scripture with older kids, even if you then have to use this lesson to help them understand what all happened. There are several accounts in these chapter which could have been covered individually, but because of the age span of the kids in our program the over arching story of Paul’s journey to Jerusalem and the circumstances around his imprisonment seemed most fitting.

As I studied the text in preparation to write the lesson I found myself asking “What is the point of all this?” I do not want the lessons we teach to simply be stories, they need to teach the kids something about God and something about themselves. While it is by no means an original theme, trusting God and walking in obedience to Him stood out as most important less our kids could glean from the account. Paul’s life was not easy, he had to fight his flesh every day to obey God as he did, but he would not have had the strength to fight if he had not been able to rest in the fact that God was at work in every situation he encountered.

My relationship with my children helps me to understand my relationship with God so much better. There are time I ask my son to do something, but he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t see the benefit and so he will often argue with me trying to convince me that he should not have to do what I have asked of him. He doesn’t trust that I have his best interest at heart or that I am wiser and have a better grasp of the big picture. How often are you and I the same way with God? He asks us to obey, he has given us his word to guide our action, but we see what he asks and we rationalize why we shouldn’t have to do certain things. We reveal that we do not trust Him or think He is wiser able to see the big picture, which is hidden from our view. Further unlike me as a mom, God actually works the situation out to His end, an end that will always work out to my good and His glory (Ro 8:28-29). When I look at Paul who blindly trusted God, and walked in obedience without a through knowledge of what lay ahead of him, I am encouraged to do the same. God gives us His word to reveal his character, He used imprisonment to keep Paul alive, he gave Paul favor with the Roman officials who could have easily turned Him over to the Jews to kill, and He used Paul’s obedience to show us that He is worthy of our trust. In life our kids will face circumstances that do not look favorable, obeying in those circumstances may seem as though it will only make the situation worse, but our kids need to know that they can walk in obedience trusting that no matter what happens that God is working out a bigger plan and that he never asks us to do anything without giving us the grace to face what lies ahead!

I hope this is helpful and encouraging as you seek to disciple your children! Please let me know your thoughts, and how you have been able to use this material at home! I pray that it is a blessing as you minister in your home!

Trusting God

We continued teaching the kids from the book of Acts; this week we discussed the account from Acts 16:13-40 where Paul and Silas exercises the demon from the slave girl, end up in jail, convert the jailer, and ultimately walk away with the apologies of the chief magistrate. It is a great story to introduce the concept that obedience will not always bring the blessing that we may expect. Generally it is true that when you obey things go well for you, but sometime we encounter situations like Paul and Silas did, we do what’s right and things don’t immediately go well. Our kids need to learn to trust God and obey even when they do not see the immediate blessing from their obedience. They need to know that their Heavenly Father is in control of all things, He will make sure their needs are met, and that they can show Him love by obeying Him.

Here is the lesson it is a little longer than some of our other lessons, but still only takes about 3 min to read out loud:

Lesson: After Lydia was converted Paul and Silas continued to teach about Jesus in Philippi, however they were being followed by a demon possessed slave girl who made money for her master by tell people’s future. She continued to call out loudly that “These men are bond-servants of the most God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” After several days of this Paul became annoyed. (Do you guys know what it is to be annoyed? – It is when someone is doing something that really bothers you.) Finally Paul was so annoyed that he turned to the spirit and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her” and the demon left the girl.

The man who owned the slave was angry with Paul when he realized that he could no longer use the girl to make money. So he drug Paul and Silas before the ruling authority of the town, and made false claims against them. The crowed rose up against Paul and Silas, the authorities beat them, and put them in prison with chains on their ankles.

That night Paul and Silas were singing, praying, and praising God while all the prisoners listened. All of a sudden there was a great earthquake, and all the doors to the prison were opened and all of the chains were unlocked. The jailer woke up, and saw all the open doors thought the prisoners had escaped. He knew he would be in big trouble, so he was about to take his own life, but Paul called out to him do not harm yourself we are all still here.

The guard called for the lights, and rushed into where Paul and Silas were. He brought them out and immediately asked, “what must I do to be saved.” They told him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. They spoke the words of the Lord to the jailer and to his entire house. That very hour they washed Paul and Silas’s wounds, were baptized, and eat together, all rejoiced greatly having believed in God. The next day word was brought to the jailer that Paul and Silas were to be set free.

Two things happened in the story first Paul did the right thing and called the demon out of the girl, but he suffered for doing what was right. Then Paul called out to the jailer and kept him from killing himself once he saw all the doors to the prison were open. In the second part of the story Paul was blessed because he did what was right. Had Paul not trusted God, he would have kept silent and let the jailer kill himself so they could escape. However, Paul got a double blessing he save the slave girl from demon possession and in the end the jailer and his whole house believed Jesus. Our God is in charge of everything, we need to trust Him to take care of us, and show Him our love by obeying His word.

We ask the following questions during snack time not only to see what the kids understood from the lesson, but it offers them a chance to interact with the retelling of the account helping them retain more of what was taught.

• Who was following Paul and Silas around as they tried to teach the people of Philippi about Jesus? (A demon possessed girl)
• What did Paul do when the girl annoyed him? (He called the demon out of her in Christ’s name, and it left her)
• Was the girl’s master happy or angry? (Angry)
• What did he do to Paul and Silas? (Brought them before the town officials and made false claims against them)
• What did the officials do to Paul and Silas? (Beat them and put them in jail)
• What did Paul and Silas do while they were in jail? (Sang hymns of praise and prayed while the other prisoners listened)
• What happened in the middle of the night? (There was a great earth quake, all the doors in the jail opened, and all the chains were unlocked)
• What stopped the jailer from taking his own life when he thought the prisoners escaped? (Paul called out to him and told him they were all still in the prison)
• What question did the jailer ask Paul? (What must I do to be saved?)
• What did Paul and Silas tell him? (They told him to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then explained exactly what that meant)
• What happened to the jailer? (He and his whole house believed and were saved!)

It seems that there is no greater lesson that we can teach our children than to trust God and His word. I dare say that every sin has its root in a failure to trust God. Had Adam and Eve just trusted God, their creator, to provide what was best for them they would not have fallen into sin. Living in a sin stained world makes trusting God even harder, one repercussion of the fall is our desire to operate as autonomous creatures who possess the power to rule our own domain. However, we must teach our children that they are not all powerful rules of their destine, they are created by God and their greatest good is only found when they seek after Him, trusting Him as they walk in obedience. I know that I find myself in sin most often, because I don’t believe that God is going to take care of me. I may not ever say those words out loud or even think those thoughts conscientiously, but my sin reveals that I think my way of accomplishing something is better than God’s. Trust in God is the path to obedience, but it only comes as we understand the character of our Creator, the unchanging God (James 1:17, Mal 3:6) who created all things and who works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Ro 8:28-29). As parents we must work very hard to teach our children to trust God, we must work at pointing out His character traits revealed through scripture. This task will take years, but we must prayerfully labor to honor God and raise our children to know Him and trust Him!

Devotional with Kids Made Easy! (Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance)

So this week our three year old decided he wanted to sit with me in at church instead of going to children’s church. First of all I should know better than to listen to a whiny three year old, it wasn’t that he wanted to sit with me, he just didn’t want to have to sit still and mind someone other than me. Lesson learned (one I should know after nearly three years of coordinating a children’s ministry) three year olds often protest going to children’s church, but once mom or dad are out of sight they are fine. Rest assured, next week he will not be sitting with me! Anyhow, come bedtime Monday evening I decided we would do the lesson for Sunday since it was handy on my computer, and he missed out on it due to his shenanigans. I keep our lessons short for children’s church, but try to keep as much meat in them as I can. Just because the kids have a short attention span doesn’t mean they can’t understand important lessons. When I teach I have noticed that while the six year olds gets it, but the three year olds have a hard time; however, when I taught the lesson at home our little Matthew really got it. Not only did Matthew get it, it held the attention of our oldest (who has aged out of our children’s church program). Everyday this week at bedtime we have talked about the same lesson: we have played games, I had our oldest read it to his younger brother, I have had them summarize the story and the lessons to me and then stress the important points. Certainly our eight year old understands it better then the three year old, but I am able to use one story to teach both of them at the same time, something I have never really done at home before. We usually talk about God during different times of the day, and address them both separately; however, it has been really fun doing it together and seeing our older son teach the younger is very precious. So, I have decided that I would make home devotions easy, and share our entire lesson. The lesson is short, but you can dig deeper dependent on your child’s age and ability to grasp various concepts.

Lesson:

The followers of Jesus continued to spread the gospel, and many were being saved. However, they angered the Jewish leaders, and they found no favor with King Herod. The king disliked them so much that he put them in jail, and even killed one of the disciples. When the king saw how much this pleased the Jewish people he decided to arrest Peter, and put him to death as well. Peter had already escaped prison once, so the king assigned 16 guards to keep him locked up and they used extra chains so that he would not be able to get free. Peter prayed to God, and the other believers who heard what had happened were dedicating themselves to prayer also. Despite all this Peter was not afraid; he knew that God was going to save him. Peter was so confident in God’s ability to rescue him from Herod’s evil plan that even all chained up he was able to sleep soundly.

He was awakened in the night by two angles, and found all 16 guards asleep. The angles told him to get up and follow them; his chains fell off of him and he was able to follow the angles. As they came to a gate, the gate opened on its own. It was such a strange thing that Peter though he was just having a vision; however, once he was out of the prison he realized that what had just happened was real.

The angles disappeared and Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of Mark. When he arrived he knocked on the door, and a servant realized who it was. The servant girl called to everyone that Peter was at the door, but ut no one believed her; she called to them again “it is Peter at the door”, and again they didn’t believe her. Finally, she let Peter in, and they were all amazed. Peter told them everything that happened, and instructed them to report it all to James, the brother of Jesus then he left to find safety and to share the gospel. Herod searched for Peter, but could not find him.

Have you ever faced a tough situation like Peter? No probable not, but I bet you have had times when you were scared right? What are some things that have scared you? (give them some time to answer- if they don’t give some good answers you may ask if they have ever been afraid of the dark or if they have ever been afraid of getting into trouble for telling the truth about something they did wrong?) Do you know that God is always with you? Peter was not scared because he knew that God was going to use him life to spread the gospel, and that no matter what God was with him. Peter trusted in God and the fact that God always keeps his word. We serve a good God; He alone is worthy of our love, trust, and worship!

 Recap:

• Did the Jewish leaders like the disciples and their message? (No)
• Did Herod like the followers of Jesus? (No)
• Why did Herod want to kill Peter? (Because he knew the Jewish leaders would like it)
• How many guards were there to keep Peter in the jail? (16)
• Peter knew that Herod planned to have him killed, was Peter scared? (No)
• What did Peter do while he was in Jail? (Prayed, slept)
• What happened in the middle of the night? (Some angles appeared to Peter and helped him escape the prison)
• Why was Peter so brave? (He trusted in God to keep his promises)

 Suggestions for devotional time:

On the first night read through the lesson, then ask the recap questions giving some kind of reward for getting the answers right (I used Skittles).

On the second night have an older sibling read it to a younger sibling.

On the third night have each child tell you the story, help them by filling in any big details they miss.

On the forth night read them the lesson again, and this time dig deeper pointing out the greater meaning. (The reality of trusting God is a hard one, because on some level we all fail every day. It was lack of trust in their creator that lead Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of good and evil in the garden. They didn’t trust God to look out for their best interest, and they brought great calamity into the world through their disobedience. Peter’s trust in God is astounding, I lose sleep if I think I have put my foot in may mouth and no one is going to kill me over that. He was facing his own death, he was chained up, clearly his was physically uncomfortable, yet he slept. If we do not trust God we will not obey him; our kids need to learn this young. As our kids grow they will face unpleasant circumstances, they need to be able to obey God whether they think their obedience result in a positive temporal outcome or not.)

On the fifth day you may have them act out the narrative the best they can, and then have them explain the deeper meaning.

Other fun activities are to have them make a paper chain, and talk about how Peters chains fell off. Have them draw a picture of from the narrative and let them explain it to you, or search for coloring sheets online (you can find a lot of free recourses if you just look for them).

You may think this is awfully repetitious, and it is. That’s because it typically takes hearing something 7 times before you remember it. That’s why it is important to change your method of teaching, it will help keep them excited about what they are learning. You may not be able to hang with one passage or narative for 5 days, that’s alright. I would encourage you to move slowly through scripture with your kids, and as they get older read the narrative straight from the bible before you paraphrase it for them. It is not a race to get to the end, it’s a rich journey as you fulfill the call to raise your child/children in the fear of the Lord.

Think prayerfully about the passages through your week, not only will it give you more to share with the kids this will likely help you come to a better understanding of your own heart and the heart of the God we serve! As you teach your children they are not the only ones who change in the process.

I hope this has been helpful, feedback is always appreciated. Until next time go serve your King!!

Lessons from the Conversion of Saul for kids (and parents too)

This past week I wrote a lesson for our children’s church on the conversion of Saul, as usually the kids were not the only ones who learned a lesson. The following is a condensed version of the account given in Acts 9:1-22 it takes one minute and fifty seconds to say (Yes, I times it! I have learned that kids 3-6 have a crazy short attention span) :

Not everyone who heard the message of the disciples liked it or was very happy about what it meant. There were even some people, like a man named Saul, a religious Jew, who thought that the apostles and their followers should be put in jail or killed for the things they were saying about God. Because of this follower of Jesus fled Jerusalem for fear they would be arrested or killed. Saul sought papers from the high priest so that he could go and arrest the followers of Jesus who fled, his request was granted.

Saul was on his way to a town called Damascus when he was suddenly surrounded by a bright light, he fell to the ground and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why are persecuting Me?” Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” And the voice answered, “I am Jesus who you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood speechless, they heard the voice but saw nothing. Saul got up from the ground, but was no longer able to see anything. His friends helped him, leading him by the hand to Damascus where Saul neither ate nor drank for three days, but prayed continually.

Jesus appeared to a disciple, Ananias, who lived in Damascus, telling him to go and find Saul, lay his hands on him and heal him, so that he may regain his sight. Ananias was scared, he knew who Saul was, but the Lord reassured Ananias that He was going to work in Saul; all Ananias had to do was obey. Ananias did as the Lord instructed, he went to Saul laying hands on him; he told Saul that Jesus had sent him so that he may regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. As Ananias spoke something like scaled fell from Saul’s eyes and he regained his sight; then Saul got up and was baptized. Immediately following his conversion, Saul began preaching Christ in the synagogues. Later Saul also became know as Paul, he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. 

 

There are so many themes in this account it was hard to decide which one to emphasize to the kids.  The themes that jump out to me are God’s ability to soften the hardest heart; that in God’s wisdom He knows exactly what it will take to open our eyes to His truth; our need to walk in obedience because it is God who works in people’s hearts; and how genuine faith radically changes the direction of our life’s.  For our kids I decided that I obedience was a good focus, and encouraged parents to address the other themes dependent on the kids maturity.

We stressed that Ananias must have been terrified, he knew that going to Saul could mean prison or death, but he obeyed Jesus anyway. As a lesson for the kids I was thinking about how they need to obey mom, dad, and ultimately God regardless of whether they want to or not. They need to know that God has a plan that they may not always understand, but that they must learn to trust that He is always at work. However, the implications of just this one theme from this passage hit me slowly over the corse of a few days. I thought of all of the opportunities I had to witness to people yet failed to, because I just knew that the message of Christ wouldn’t be well received. I also thought of all of the conflicts I slunk away from for fear that addressing differences in perspective or confronting the sin of another in love would ruin a relationship. I though of all the time friends have expressed frustration with a fellow sister in Christ over a sin or difference in perspective, yet they swore up and down that a confrontation would mean the end of a treasured friendship. How often do we fail to obey for fear of something so much less severe than prison or death?

It seems when God is teaching me something He always gives me a situation where I can put what I have learned to work, and this week He did just that. It just so happened that I ran into conflict with my most treasured friend, my husband, on Sunday. I knew I had two options, let the issue go despite the fact it needed to be addressed or deal with it despite the fact I hate, hate, hate to disagree with my husband (he is my absolute favorite person)! It would have been easy to merely wait out the situation, but I knew in my heart that wasn’t right. I needed to be faithful to God, and be willing to listen to what my husband had to say trusting that God would work in both our hearts to bring resolution. I would love to say that we each did everything right, and resolution came easily; however, that is not the case. Initially we really butted heads; however, the next day God really brought resolution. We both walked away softened toward one another, and closer than before the conflict began. I know that if I had not trusted in God to work in the situation the conflict would have eventually faded into our memories, but it would have caused a rift in our unity as a married couple. Our unity is one of the ways we, as a Christian couple, honor God and show an unbelieving world that we truly are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Failing to address our differences in this case would have diminished God’s glory, simply because I was scared making the situation worse instead of trusting the master planner to work his plan out through a small act of obedience. I am so thankful for God’s word, and His work in my life.

I encourage you as you labor to teach God’s word to your children, let it work on your heart too! God used lots of narrative in scripture to reveal his character for a reason, it is far more interesting than a list of rules and we can continually come into a deeper understanding of the principles being taught through the different accounts. Our kids do not learn simply by listening to our words; they watch our lives play out over the years, and they see the nature of our faith. If our lives are not changed by the truths of God’s word, so that we look different than the world around them, they are likely to walk away unchanged by the words we spoke. Pray God would help your children see growth in your walk with the Lord, confess your failures to them, and seek their forgiveness when you sin against them. Remember it is God that does the work in their hearts, all you have to do is walk in obedience!