Release Your Worries To God

Laura Walters shared this devotion at our last meeting, and it is one that everyone (children and adults) can benefit from.

Materials Needed:

A Bible
balloon
small piece of paper
pencil/pen

Words written in bold are when you, the parent, are speaking.

Do you ever worry about things? What kinds of things do you worry about? Do you think the Bible has anything to say about worrying?

Look up any/all of these verses:
Matthew 6:25
Matthew 6:27
Matthew 6:34
Philippians 4:6
Psalm 55:22

God wants us to give our worries, fears and concerns to Him.

Take this piece of paper, and write down one or more things you are worried about today.

Now fold it up several times, and put it in the opening of the balloon.

Blow up the balloon, and let the piece of paper fall down into it.

Let's pray, and you can repeat after me, "Lord, I give you my cares and concerns right now. Please take them away, so I don't have to carry them anymore. In Jesus' name, Amen."


Now hold up the balloon and let go of it! (The balloon will zip away as the air pours out of it.) Talk about how this is like God taking our worries away.

Close in prayer together, thanking God for loving us enough to answer our prayers and take our worries away.

Chocolate Milk Devotion

Here is another great devotion to do with your children. Thanks to Laura Walters for sharing this with us during our May meeting.

Teaching Point: We can ask Jesus to be our forever friend, and he will be with us--forever!

Scripture: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son; that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Materials Needed:

clear cup for each child filled 3/4 full with milk
chocolate syrup
spoon
red paper heart-laid on top of the cup of milk

*Words written in bold are when you, the parent, are speaking.

Read the verse written above. Explain-God loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus to die for us, so that our sins can be forgotten and we can live with Him in heaven someday!

Explain-Let's pretend that the cup of milk is us, and the chocolate syrup is Jesus. What is keeping Jesus (the chocolate syrup) from getting inside of us (the milk)? The heart is keeping the chocolate from getting in. What do we have to do to have Jesus come in? (Open our hearts and pray and ask Him to come in!) That's right! Jesus loves us so much, and He died-or got into big trouble-for the bad stuff that WE do. He did that so that we can ask him to be our forever friend, and then when we sin (do things that make God sad) we can ask for forgiveness-and God will forgive us! That means that God washes our sins away! But to do that, we have to open our hearts and pray to Jesus-telling Him that we make mistakes and we are sorry, and that we need His forgiveness. We also ask Jesus to be our forever friend so we can be with Him in heaven someday.

There may be kids who haven't accepted Jesus as their savior. If so, stop right now and ask them if they would like to pray with you. Pray this prayer (can be in your own words)
Dear Jesus, I know that I do things that make you sad. I believe that you died so that the bad things I do can be washed away. Please forgive me for things I've done wrong, and come into my heart and be my forever friend. In Jesus' name, Amen!

If your child accepts Jesus as their Savior, take a minute to celebrate! Tell them that angels in heaven celebrate when one person comes to Jesus!

Next-demonstrate what happens when we ask Jesus to be our forever friend. When we open our hearts and invite Jesus in (remove heart from cup), He comes in right away (pour some chocolate in).

But, Jesus wants to be our best friend. What do we do with someone who is our best friend? (talk, laugh, play, etc.)

God Will Vacuum Up Your Sins!

Here is a fun devotion to do with your kids. Laura Walters shared this with us during her talk in May.

Materials Needed:

A Bible
A piece of paper
A pen or pencil
Vacuum cleaner

Words written in bold are when you, the parent, are speaking.

Do you remember what the Bible calls it when we do bad things? (sin)

Right! Let's look up Romans 3:23 to see what it says about sin.
So everybody sins...and we have talked before about how we can ask for forgiveness of our sins, because Jesus died on the cross so we could be forgiven...remember?

But what happens to our sins when we confess them? Does God keep them all in a big "sin box" that He can pull out someday and show to us?

Let's see what His Word--the Bible tells us about that.

Look up Psalm 103:12

So God totally takes away our sins! Pretty cool! To help us remember that, let's do a little exercise together. I want you to take this piece of paper and write down one or more sins that you have committed lately. (give a few minutes for this)

So these are things you've done wrong, huh? Have you asked God to forgive you for those? If you have--great! If you haven't, let's stop and do that right now.

Remember, the Bible says that God removes our sins from us, "as far as the east is from the west."

Now I want you to tear up that piece of paper, and vacuum it up with the vacuum cleaner.

After vacuuming, remind your child that this can remind them of how God removes our sins from us when we confess them. They are totally gone!

Pray together, thanking God for Jesus' death on the cross and for removing our sins from us completely when we ask! Amen!