At our church we have a preschool. As one of the pastors, I go in about twice a month and lead a chapel time, where I share a teaching with them. In the past few years, I have found a list of verses to bring a focus for the entire year. For example, I've done the Fruit of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13, and one year I told them many stories of Jesus interacting with people. Each year, we work on memorizing several verses along the way.
And even though these kids are all age 2 through age 5, they can do a great job.
This year, I've decided to go through the Armor of God with them, found in Ephesians 6:10-18. I'll post them here, or at least some printable version of what I say here.
That's where we started. I came in, complete with sweatbands around my head and wrists, and told the kids I was getting swole for Jesus, because the Bible said to be strong in the Lord.
As the silliness subsided, I talked to them about depending on God for their strength. It struck me that this age group might not struggle with this teaching, since they depend on stronger people all the time to do basically everything. Those stronger people are usually family members, teachers, older siblings.
They are used to depending on others to accomplish anything, so I wasn't expecting a huge response or an altar call. Really, it's we adults who assume we can do whatever needs to be done. We have meetings, to-do lists, and if we're parents, we have people depending on our strength.
So, I shared it with the kids, but I'm sharing it here as well, because I think we all need to be reminded of where our real power to accomplish anything of worth is really to be found.
Here's the rest of what I said to the kids...
How do we show that we depend on God? If we are in a car and we’re going super fast, do we say we’re able to run that fast? No, we say the car can go that fast. And we just to get to go along for the ride.
If our dads lift us up and we touch the ceiling, do we say we can jump high enough to touch the ceiling? No, we say our dad is tall enough to help us reach.
The same is true of God. He gives us lots of things, like power. But God doesn’t give us that stuff so we can brag about ourselves. When we see beautiful things in the world, we don’t say that we created those things. We thank God for creating those things. So when we can do good things for someone, we know that power also comes from God.
I believe that God supplies power for all of us to good things, to accomplish all He wants us to do. And we’re going to learn all about how we can depend on His power this year in chapel.
And even though these kids are all age 2 through age 5, they can do a great job.
This year, I've decided to go through the Armor of God with them, found in Ephesians 6:10-18. I'll post them here, or at least some printable version of what I say here.
Be strong in the Lord.
That's where we started. I came in, complete with sweatbands around my head and wrists, and told the kids I was getting swole for Jesus, because the Bible said to be strong in the Lord.
As the silliness subsided, I talked to them about depending on God for their strength. It struck me that this age group might not struggle with this teaching, since they depend on stronger people all the time to do basically everything. Those stronger people are usually family members, teachers, older siblings.
They are used to depending on others to accomplish anything, so I wasn't expecting a huge response or an altar call. Really, it's we adults who assume we can do whatever needs to be done. We have meetings, to-do lists, and if we're parents, we have people depending on our strength.
So, I shared it with the kids, but I'm sharing it here as well, because I think we all need to be reminded of where our real power to accomplish anything of worth is really to be found.
"Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power."
Here's the rest of what I said to the kids...
How do we show that we depend on God? If we are in a car and we’re going super fast, do we say we’re able to run that fast? No, we say the car can go that fast. And we just to get to go along for the ride.
If our dads lift us up and we touch the ceiling, do we say we can jump high enough to touch the ceiling? No, we say our dad is tall enough to help us reach.
The same is true of God. He gives us lots of things, like power. But God doesn’t give us that stuff so we can brag about ourselves. When we see beautiful things in the world, we don’t say that we created those things. We thank God for creating those things. So when we can do good things for someone, we know that power also comes from God.
I believe that God supplies power for all of us to good things, to accomplish all He wants us to do. And we’re going to learn all about how we can depend on His power this year in chapel.
‘Be strong in the Lord.’
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