Kids of the King, Arise!

Christmas is coming!  I’m amazed that some people have already finished their Christmas shopping, I haven’t even started.  Many of my friends are like me and haven’t bought any gifts yet.  Most of my friends are relaxed about it and are confident they’ll get everything purchased before Christmas.  I also know a few people who are already worried that they might not be able to finish buying everything they need before Christmas.  God gave His Son, Jesus, to us as a gift that very first Christmas.  He did this because His love for us is so great, and because of that we also want to show our love to people by giving them a gift. 

You might not get worried about finding someone the right Christmas gift, but do you get worried about other things?  Do you worry about going to a new class where you don’t know anyone else?  Do you worry about not having the right answer to a question at school?  Well, not only is Jesus Himself a gift to us, but Jesus also gives us gifts.  One of these gifts is ‘PEACE’, so that our minds and hearts don’t need to worry.  You might ask, “How do you get Jesus’ peace inside my mind?”  I’m glad you asked, this is what Jesus says:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 (NLT)
 

Wow, that is so cool . . . I believe that you want Jesus’ peace to guard your mind just as I want Jesus’ peace to guard my mind!  So when you are at home, school or at a park, and you find a worry thought going through your mind, stop right there and talk to God about it. 

1.     Tell Him that you feel worried. 

2.     Then, remind yourself about how BIG God is.  Remember a time when God performed a miracle (either in your own life or from a story in the Bible) and thank Him that nothing is too difficult for Him.  

3.     Ask Jesus to take care of whatever you are worried about, then continue on with whatever you were doing and trust Jesus to sort everything out. 

You will find the amount of peace in your heart and mind growing!

Activity

• To be able to believe God and do what He says, we need to be aware of our thoughts.  This activity will help you see which thoughts are good to keep and which thoughts are not healthy for you.
• The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (English Standard Version):

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

  On slips of paper, get your mom or dad to write down thoughts that they have had today, both good and bad.

• Get a large glass jar with a lid and put the slips of paper with their thoughts in it.  This glass jar is kind of like our mind.  When a thought comes into our mind we can decide what to do with it.  One at a time, take out a slip from the jar.  Read it out loud.  What kind of thoughts and feelings does this thought produce in you?  Are they happy or worrisome thoughts?  If you want to keep that thought, put it back in the jar, if not tear it up into little pieces.
• Continue until all of the thoughts that cause you to worry are torn up.
• Thank Jesus for His peace.
  

Remember that we are on a treasure hunt to try and figure out what the Kindgom of Heaven is like.  We were going to see if we could find out 

-what the King liked, 

-how to get into the kingdom,      

-how to walk in kingdom power, 

-what the citizens of the kingdom were like,

-how the king runs the kingdom,

-How to walk as sons and daughters of the king,

-and so on

Doris is going to tell us all about what the citizens of the kingdom were like. She is going to talk about their character, or the fruit of the spirit it is called in the Bible. These are very important keys so lets listen carefully to what she shares…

Jesus’ Joy By Doris Przybylski

Have you ever had a day when everything was going really well and you felt quite happy . . . and then your brother or sister was mean to you or you hurt yourself, like falling off your skateboard while practicing a jump that caused you to scrape both knees . . . and all that happiness just went away?

Happiness can come and go because of circumstances; circumstances are events that take place in our lives.  The Holy Spirit wants to grow Jesus’ Joy in our hearts because His Joy won’t go away when difficult circumstances happen to us.

In Galatians 5:22-23 God tells us about different things that the Holy Spirit wants to grow in our lives,
 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”

One of the awesome things about God is that when He tells us that we need to be a certain way, and we know we are not like that, that He is the one that changes us, we can’t change ourselves.  It takes all the pressure to perform of off us, because Jesus doesn’t want us to ‘perform for Him’; He just wants us to be ‘us’.

Something that God asked the nation of Israel to do that would help them grow closer to Him was to make altars.  In the book of Joshua, chapters 3 & 4, the nation of Israel needed get to the other side of the Jordan River, but the river was at flood stage and they were not able to get safely across the river on their own.  Well, God made the river waters stop flowing and the Israelites crossed the river on dry ground, just like when they crossed the Red Sea!  God instructed them to get stones and pile them together to make an altar, then when they walked past the altar, they would remember the awesome thing that God had done for them. 

Jesus loves to show Himself to be strong in our lives.  When we take the time to remember the things that God has done for us and for others, His joy in us has a chance to grow.

ACTIVITY:  

You can make your own altar! 
Ask your mom or dad for a BIG piece of paper, find a space on a wall and stick it up.  Then stop and think.  What has God done for you?  You can also go to members in your family and to your friends and ask them what God has done for them.  The things that God has done for us are what you put on the piece of paper.  For example, if someone needed money and God gave them money from an unexpected place, get a dime or quarter and tape it on the paper and write that person’s name beside it.  Or, if God healed someone draw a picture of the body part that God healed and write that person’s name beside it.  Then, when you walk by the altar, remember what God has done and thank Him for it.  You will find God’s JOY growing in your life!

Alter “To the one true God” built by Ben in Hawaii. Ben lives in Winnipeg.