Praise Him!
Items Needed:
- Construction or copy paper
- Markers
- Stickers
- Yarn
- Tape
Make a praise banner. Encourage everyone to think of ways God has taken care of you in hard times and make a banner to thank Him.
Cut the construction paper into pennant shapes or just leave them as whole pieces. Ask each person to draw a picture of something God did for them during a hard time and write thank you beside it. They can draw more than one picture on other pieces of paper. Tape the pictures to the yarn and hang it up for all to see! Play some praise music while you are creating your banner.
Follow the Leader
Pair up family members (or friends who are visiting) and appoint one as the leader and the other as the follower. Ask them to stand facing one another and the follower must see how quickly he can do exactly what the leader does (make a face, raise an arm, lift a leg, make a noise, run in place, etc.). After a minute or so, swap roles.
Did you like being the leader or the follower?
What did the follower have to do so he could follow the leader? (He had to watch, He had to pay attention, He had to do what the leader did, etc.)
Jesus is our leader, and He is always near. He is with us in good times and in suffering. If we are to be like Jesus, we must follow Him. How can we do this? (We must look at His example in the Bible, We must do what He did, We must trust God’s plan, etc.)
Get Ready…It’s Coming!
Tell or read the following story:
Carlos and his family went camping and as soon as the car stopped, Carlos jumped out and ran to the back of the van to grab his fishing poles.
“Hold on a minute, Carlos. We’ve got to put the tent up first,” his dad said.
“Ah, come on, Dad. Can’t we put the tent up later? I’ve been waiting to go fishing for weeks,” Carlos begged.
“We need to be prepared if a storm comes up.”
“A storm? Look at the sky, it’s sunny and bright,” Carlos added.
Carlos’ dad would not give in to his begging and they put the tent up as fast as they could. They pounded the stakes tightly into the ground and made sure everything was secure.
Finally, Carlos ran off to go fishing.
Later that evening, Carlos felt a drop of rain on his hand. Before they could gather everything inside the tent, it was pouring rain. As Carlos lay dry and warm in his sleeping bag, he was glad his dad made them put up the tent first. They were protected from the storm.
Ask:
Trouble is a part of our world. How can we be prepared for trouble when it comes? (We can know important truths about God and what He is like, We can trust God to take care of us, etc.) We can compare trouble to a storm. Jesus promised we would have trouble while living on earth (John 16:33). We may not always know when or what trouble is coming, but we can be ready by knowing important truths about God.
Here are some important truths we need to know about God:
- God can be trusted (Proverbs 3:5).
- God will always love me (Romans 8:39).
- God will never leave me (Hebrews 13:5b).
- God is powerful (Jeremiah 32:17).
- God will do what is best for me (Romans 8:28).
The more we know about our great God, the more we will trust Him.