My Heart Unit 2: "Writing on Our Heart."

My Heart Unit 2: “Writing On Our Heart”

Objectives:
Practice listening to the voice of God.
Recognize God's voice in your heart and in dreams.
Describe why scriptural meditation is important.
Describe writing, persuading, planting and watering seeds in your heart.
Recognize how emotions are warning lights for things in our hearts.
Explain what it means: Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.

Memory Verse:
Psalms 119:11 “I write your word in my heart so I won’t sin against you.“

(What you say to the kids is italicized.)

Teaching Point #1: Meditation

Props/Materials:
1.“Meditation” printed out. .
2.Mirror
3.Trash in a container
4.Cool writing utensil. (examples: A giant crayon, a feather pen, etc.)

Hold up the sign, “Meditation.” What is this word? What is meditation? Meditation is when you just think about something. You focus on it or ponder it. Let's meditate on the word “Meditation.” Pretend to really concentrate on it. Make it funny. The Bible says to think about good, perfect, lovely, true things (Phil 4:7-8) It also says to Meditate day and night. What are some good things to think or Meditate about?

What you focus on is what you Meditate on. That means what you think about is what you Meditate on. If you think about something over and over for a long time, then it gets written on your heart. You think about what you treasure or what you love the most. The Bible says that where your treasure is, that is where your heart is. Whatever is treasure to you in your life, that is what your heart focuses on to. You want to make sure you treasure good things.

The thing about meditation is that it is not weird. It’s a special quiet time that you spend just with God. You can go down into your own heart and visit with God there and see what is written on your heart and let God talk to you about what is written on your heart. It’s a secret hiding place that only you and God go to meet, and visit, and play. God loves you and he is always with you, but sometimes we forget about him if we don’t spend time thinking about him. God is always waiting for you in your secret place. He loves to play and spend time with you. Where does God live? In your heart. Where is our heart? It’s on the inside of us. If we are too focused on our outside, then it can make our heart hard of hearing. Sometimes to have a quiet time or go to your secret place with God, you have to quiet your body. Adults have so much in their minds that sometimes it takes a long time to forget about the outside world and go into the secret place. You kids are lucky because it won’t take you long to see what is in your heart. We are going to practice being quiet and visiting with God inside our own hearts.

Something neat that God does is he opens up our hearts just before we go to sleep and just when we are about to wake up. I think he does that because our bodies are so still, but we are still awake enough to see into our hearts. That is a very special time you can spend with God. I usually pray that my eyes of my heart be enlighten and that I hear God’s voice as I sleep. I pray, “God, help me to hear what you are saying to me tonight.” Because that is such an easy time to write on your heart, you should be extra careful with what you are around when you are sleepy or sleeping. If I watch a movie just before I go to sleep or read a book before I go to sleep, I dream about that movie or book all night long. What if I watched a scary movie? I might have bad dreams. What if I ask God to show me a special movie or tell me something special from his word? I might dream about God’s word all night. (Share a personal dream. Here is an example: I used to dream that I was in a war zone and there were people shooting guns and bullets flying everywhere and right in the middle of this was a couple of little kids. I ran out there to get them and I could see all the bullets coming right toward me. I wasn’t afraid in my dream. I just started saying, “no weapon formed against me will prosper.” And all those bullets started bouncing off of me. That was a good dream. But you know what? I used to listen to this CD and there was a song in it that says, “no weapon formed against me will prosper.” That song wrote God's word on my heart and so I had that dream all the time.

Three things that meditation does for us:
Helps you to see the real you. Show mirror
Helps you get trash out of your heart (hurts out.) Show trash
Helps rewrite things on your heart. Show the writing utensil.


Teaching point #2: Your focus takes you there.

Props/Materials:
1.Bicycle
2.A line in the floor out of tape
3.Baseball and bad
4.Good items like a box of candy or a ten dollar bill or an A+ report card
5.Bad or not as good items like a rock or piece of trash or an F on the report card

How many of you like to ride bicycles? Have a child volunteer to ride the bicycle down a line. After they do that, have them ride the bike again except have them focus their attention on an object to the side of the starting point. Their bike will veer where they are focusing. What you focus on is where you will go.

How many of you play baseball? One thing a coach will tell you when you are up to bat, is to keep your eye on the ball. Pop the ball up in the air with the bat. Why will a coach tell you that? Coaches are really smart. They know that if your attention and focus is on the ball, then you will hit the ball. That is the goal isn't it?

What we mediate or focus our thoughts on drive us to those thoughts. When we think on something so long, it gets written on our heart. Then when it is written on our heart, it comes out in our life. The Bible teaches us that the issues of life flow from our heart. It is really important to think about what you are thinking about. Choose to think on things the Lord thinks about instead of thinking on things of this world. God wants us to focus on things that are lovely, good, pure, (Phil . 4:7-8)

Put one good item on one side of the room or have a child hold it. Put a not-so-good item on the other side. Stand in the middle. Think out loud about the item. Walk toward it as you “mediate” aloud on it. Also do a negative thought like, “I won't make an F on my report card. I won't make an F.” and all ow that focus on the F to draw you to the F report card, for example. Use this to illustrate how what you think about or mediate on drives you to that thing in your life. Give some real life examples. Here is an example: A girl I knew when she was little had a mother who yelled at her a lot. The girl always hated this and thought, I will never grow up and yell at my kids. She mediated on this for a long long time. Then one day she grew up and guess what? She yelled at her kids. Another friend of my had a grandmother who was very kind and always loved to cook and clean for her family. She loved this about her grandmother very much and thought of this often. She is grown up now and loves on her family the same way as her grandmother.


Teaching Point #3: Information + Emotion

Props/Materials:
1.None

It takes two things to write things on your heart. It takes information and emotion. What is information? It’s what our brain thinks. What is emotion? It is how we feel. What are some emotions that we have? I want to tell you two of the things that I have written on my heart, one is good and one is bad.

Give personal example. Here is one that might help: I have a friend that I don’t like to be around much because I know this person to be very dangerous and irresponsible. I just don’t trust this person. That is the information. Well, one time she bought a motorcycle and wanted me to ride on the back of it while she drove. I already didn’t want to because of the information I knew about her. My mind told me she was dangerous and irresponsible and I didn’t trust her. But I got on anyway. Well, nothing happened to us, but I was so scared when I rode it with her. Scared is an emotion. So the information I had about her being dangerous and irresponsible, plus being so scared while I rode the motorcycle BAM wrote something on my heart.

Our hearts only record the information, but it can’t think or reason. When I started to write that on my heart, my heart didn’t say, “You are about to write something bad on your heart. You better not write that on me!” Nope, your heart doesn’t reason or think like that.

Personal example: Now every time I even see someone riding a motorcycle, those scared feelings come up and I still feel that way. My heart tells me that motorcycles are scary and dangerous. That is something bad that is written on my heart and it’s not really the truth. If you are responsible and safe, motorcycles are a lot of fun. But that is not what my heart tells me because I wrote on it with information and emotion. Do you know that I am going to have to go down inside my heart during mediation and repair where I wrote that because my husband really likes motorcycles and wants one. I know that he is responsible and safe, so I don’t want that bad thing written on my heart so I can have fun with him and we can ride together.

That is why it is so important to guard your heart. You guard your heart in your head. When those thought come up in your mind, you need to say, “No, I don’t believe that. It is not going to get written in my heart.” You mind is where your war zone is. Your mind is where you put your guards. You can’t let bad things go past your mind into your heart.

Another thing written on my heart is a good thing. Give an example like this: Ever since I was little, I was taught that God will give me everything I need and more. That is the information. Well, every time he gave me what I needed it made me happy. Happy is an emotion. The information that I was taught plus my happy emotion wrote that on my heart. Remember I told you that if it is written on your heart it comes out in your life? Well, when I grew up, I was going to go on a big long trip to Germany. It was going to be expensive and I didn’t have much money. Did you know that God talks to us in our heart? The offering plate at church would pass by and I would put my money in, and God would talk to me in my heart. I would hear him say, “all of your needs are met.” And then he would bring up the trip I was fixing to take. And I knew in my head that I didn’t have enough money to go, but I knew in my heart that God always gives me everything I need and more. Your heart is stronger than any other sense you have. You know I never, ever worried about going on that trip. I knew so strongly in my heart that God was going to take care of me even though I didn’t know how. I didn’t even try to guess how he would take care of me. I just knew that things were going to be fine. I knew it so much in my heart, that I felt like I already had enough money to go. Well, the day for me to leave came and I only had about fifty dollars. That was not enough money at all to go because I was going to be gone a long time. That wasn’t even enough money to live there the first day. Well, I got ready to leave and my parents were going to drive me to the airport. I was all packed to go. All of the sudden all these different people started driving up to see me and they gave me money. Then people started calling me and telling me they wanted to give me money before I left. I went to pick up my pay check from work, and my employer wrote my check for almost double what I was supposed to get. I saw a patient at my work and she pulled out money and handed it to me. None of these people knew that I didn’t have enough money to go. I went to Germany with so much money that I actually brought back some.

Teaching Point #4: Planting and Watering Seeds

Props/Materials:
1. seed

Show a seed and ask what it is. Inside this little seed is not only a tree, but forest. What needs to happen for this seed to grow into a forest? Everything we put in our hearts is like seeds in our hearts. For it to grow, you water it, just like you have to do this seed for it to grow after it is planted. How do you water things in your heart? You focus on it. Let’s say you plant a seed in your heart that says, “Jesus loves you.” How do you water that seed? You focus on it. You spend time with Jesus letting him tell you how much he loves you. You come to church to hear us tell you how much he loves you. You read it in the Bible. All that waters the seed and it grows and grows and grows in your life until you have a forest of “Jesus loves you” trees in your heart. The same is for things that aren’t so good too. What if you plant a seed in your heart that says, “You are not good.” If you think about how terrible you are, then that will also water a seed. Everyone say, “I will only water the good seeds!” That means you have to guard that heart and not let any bad seeds get in and not water them. That means you have to watch what you let in your mind and come out your mouth.

Teaching Point #5: Listening to the voice of God

Props/Materials:
None

When we have our quiet time or meditation time, practice hearing God’s voice. The Bible talks about how the sheep know their shepherds voice and Jesus is our good shepherd. Do you know that if you were in a room of a bunch of kids and parents and you yelled out, “Mom.” Your mom would probably know it was you that needed her even though their were so many people there. Why would that be? It’s because you spend time with her and she LISTENS to you. You can know God’s voice in your heart even if the world is loud around you. Do you want to be able to hear God’s voice in your heart? Then you need to spend time with him and focus on listening to him. Any time you open up your heart, you can hear God speaking. How do you open up your heart to hear him? You focus on him. What are some ways or times that you can hear your Father's voice?

Teaching Point #6: Heart Box

Props/Materials:
Heart Box (Or use the felt heart.)
Pictures that represent emotions, dreams, patterns, etc. that fit into the box (or attach to the felt heart.)

Get a heart box. In it put pictures that represent emotions, dreams, patterns.
Pull out the pictures and talk about each.

What are emotions? Talk about kinds of emotions. God gave us emotions and they are a good thing. You should be mindful of your emotions or how you are feeling because emotions are like warning lights for our heart. If someone does something to you and it makes you mad, you should stop and recognize, “I am mad. This might be a warning light for something in my heart.” If your heart is not happy, then you should ask God why it isn’t happy. The Bible says “a happy heart does good like a medicine.” If your heart is not happy, then that is a warning sign that something is written on your heart.
Sometimes when you dream, it might be because of something in your heart. If you have the same dream over and over, it is probably something in your heart.

Give personal example of a dream. Here is one that might help: When I was little, I watched a scary movie about sharks. I wasn’t guarding my heart and I let myself gets scared. For years and years I dreamed I was in my grandmother’s swimming pool and there was a shark that was going to attack me. I could never get out of the swimming pool fast enough, but someone on the side of the pool would say, “scream and the shark will go away.” So every night that I had that dream, I would wake up screaming to try to make the shark go away. It took a long time to get over that dream. That dream was a sign of something in my heart which was, that I wrote fear in my heart.

Another thing that might be a sign of something in your heart is patterns.
Sometimes you have things in your life that keep happening to you. Maybe you are late for school everyday. Maybe no matter how much you want to keep your room clean, it is always mess. Maybe you get mad really easy and throw fits too much. Well, if things keep happening to you, you might have something written on your heart that you would want to rewrite.

Teaching Point #7: Heart Is Like lungs

Props/Materials:
optional: picture of lungs and/or cigarettes

Sometimes you have something written on your heart and you may not believe it for a long time. It might be like a Math example. Maybe you used to believe you were bad at Math, but then you wrote on your heart that you have the mind of Christ and you are so smart at Math. But years later when you are in high school, you might be in Math class and the thought come up from your heart that tells you “I’m bad at Math.” Well, where did that come from? You haven’t thought you were bad at Math in years and years. Well I think it’s like our lungs. A man started smoking when he was a little boy. When he was in the military, he quit smoking. He hadn’t smoked in fifty years and started coughing one day and he coughed up cigarette tar. Even though he quit smoking and his lungs had repaired, there was still some of that old bad stuff in there, but didn’t come up for fifty years. Well, when you heart reminds you something old and bad that was written on it, you just persuade your heart of your new good beliefs. Say the good beliefs with your mouth and focus or think about the good thoughts so that you change the writing on your heart.

Teaching Point #8: Jelly Beans

Props/Materials:
Red and White Jelly Beans (or just two different colors of jelly beans)

Having a quiet time or meditating is what you can do to see what is written there. You first recognize that there is an issue in your life. Then you quiet your mind and your body and visit with the Lord. Just ask him to show you what might be written there on your heart. It will be the reason that certain things happen to you all time (good or bad.) Then you can ask God to help you write over that. When I was young I went to a church that made me feel bad if I wasn’t working hard enough for the Lord. They would ask me, “What are you doing for the Lord, lately?” Well, it got written on my heart that I have to “do” something in order for God to be happy with me. Well is that the truth? No.

This jar is my heart and I wrote in it that God won’t be happy with me unless I am working for him. That is the red jelly beans. Drop red jelly beans in the jar. For a while, the red jelly beans are the only thing. The truth is that God is always happy with me and he made me just because he wants to spend time with me. He is my dad and my friend, not by boss. These white jelly beans represent the truth which is what God says. Add white jelly beans. I keep telling my head with my words that God just loves me and is happy with me. And I believe that with my mind, so it starts writing that on my heart. I Meditate on that. I come to church and I hear that. I focus my thought and attention on the truth that God is never ever upset with me. I don’t think about, “What are you doing for the Lord lately?” I write on the truth on my heart. Put in more and more white jelly beans. Are the red jelly beans still in there? Yes, but you can’t see them. Pretty soon, I Meditated so much on the truth that God loves me no matter what. I wrote that on my heart and persuaded my heart so much about the truth, that you can’t see the bad thing written on my heart anymore. It might still be in there, but it’s been diluted by the truth that I wrote on my heart.

Review: To rewrite your heart”
1.Notice patterns, dreams, or emotions in your life.
2.Open up your heart by focusing on God. (Meditate. Quiet Time)
3.Ask God to show you the root of what is in your heart causing you to keep doing that pattern or making you feel that way.
4.find out the truth. Ask God and read your Bible. What does the Bible say about that?

Review Questions
1.Whys is it important to meditate or have quiet time?
2.How do you write something on your heart?
3.How do you persuade your heart or make your heart believe something?
4.How are emotions warning signs for things in your heart?
5.What does it mean, “Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.”

Quiet Times
See “Quiet Times” section

Add this to the quiet time to go with “My Heart” Unit.

Ask God to show you some fruit or patterns in your life. Maybe you can’t keep your room clean. Maybe you scream really loud when you get mad. Maybe you hit when you don’t get your way. Maybe you keep having the same dream over and over again. Travel down into your heart to your secret place with God. Look around and See what is written inside you that causes you to do those things. Ask God to show the truth to rewrite those things.

My Heart Unit 1: "What Is My Heart?"

My Heart Unit 1: What is My Heart?

Objectives:
1) Define what the heart is.
2) State why it is important to guard your heart and identify what you guard your heart from.
3) Describe how the heart sees what it believes and creates the world around it to justify those beliefs.
4) Describe how your words and thoughts affect your heart.
5) Explain how your heart has senses that are more potent than our real senses.
6) Explain that man looks on the outside, but only God can see the hearts, (but there is fruit. ---The mouth lets us see a little peak of the heart.)

Memory Verse:
Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life.

(What you say to the kids is italicized.)

Introduction to this unit: What Is My Heart?

Who can tell me what your heart is? Why is it important? The Bible talks a lot about our hearts. Our hearts are like the brains for our whole lives. We will learn about the heart and how important it is to guard our hearts. God talks to us in our hearts and we will learn how to hear his voice. Raise your hand if you want to have a happy life. Well this week we will learn how our hearts tell our lives how to be happy. It is one of the most important things you will ever learn. Aren’t you glad you are hear?

Teaching Point #1: My Heart Is Like a Well

Props/Materials:
1)Well made from a cardboard. (Possibly a well picture on a projector.)
The well should have a bucket and a spout or hose coming from it.
2) Picture of a mouth with an arrow to your brain with an arrow to your heart with an arrow back to the mouth so it shows a cycle.
3) Trash (ex. Rocks, crumpled paper, tin cans, etc.)
4) See “Guard your heart game” from previous post.

You can’t see your heart with your eyes. It is hidden deep inside you. To help you understand, I have this well here. (Have a well on stage. Also possibly a picture of it on the big screen.) What is a well? Imagine with me an underground river deep down inside the earth. We need water so the way to get it out is by building a well. We see the top part of the well like this one, but really only a small part of the well is on top of the ground. Most of it lies underneath the surface until it gets to the water. Your heart is like a well and the river of water under the well is like The Spirit of God. When you get saved or born again or ask Jesus to come into your heart, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you just like a river lives underground and gives you a brand new clean heart like this well.

Now, if you had a well, how would you get water out of it? You would stand here and maybe lower a bucket down, or you might turn a faucet and the water would come up from way underneath the ground and out of the well. The Holy Spirit in us, is like the water in this well. To let God shine through your lives, he comes through your heart just like water comes through the well to get in the bucket or out the faucet.

Our thoughts and feelings are like the opening to his well and our mouths are like the faucets on the side of this well. (Show cycle illustrations.) You can’t see in someone’s well---you can’t see someone’s heart, but you have an idea of what might be in there because it comes out there faucet or their mouth. Our brains (have the kids point to their heads), and our mouth (kids point to their mouths) and our hearts (kids put their hands on their hearts) work together. Your mouth says what is in your heart. When your brain hears what your mouth says, it drops it down into your heart again. It’s like a circle (show illustration.) It is like you have water in this well, but you turn on the faucet to get water out and fill up your bucket, then you dump the water back in the well.

Did you know in our own hearts, God is not the only thing that can be in there? The Holy Spirit is the river and it is perfect. Our spirit is perfect. Everyone say, “My Spirit is perfect!” But we can make our heart dirty just like you could make a well dirty. You can do things to contaminate your heart or in other words make your heart hard. I can drop this trash inside the well. It doesn’t get in the water. It just makes your well dirty or clogged or harder to get the water out.

How does it get inside the well? I drop in it this opening. Remember, this opening is like our brains. How do you get things inside your heart? You might start believing some trash with your mind (point to your brain) Trash for our hearts is something other than what God says. You believe the trash with your mind, then PLOP (throw rocks/trash in the well) You start believing it with your mind, then it goes straight to your heart. It doesn’t make your spirit dirty, but it might clog up you heart and make it harder to get the spirit out or harder to hear what God is saying to you. Believing trash makes your heart hard.

When you believe something with your mind, it writes it on your heart. To get your mind to believe something, you use your words. So when your mouth says things, your mind starts to believe it and when your mind believes it, you write it on your heart. If it’s in your heart, where might it come out? Your words! Your thoughts too, actually. (Refer to the cycle illustration.)
You don’t want trash in your heart. That is why the Bible tells us to guard that heart just like in our guard you heart game from things that are not Godly. If you put a bunch of trash in your heart, it makes your heart hard.

Teaching Point #2: My Heart Is Like A Recorder or Computer.

Props/Materials:
1) An object that records your voice (ex: Toy telephone)

Your heart is like your brain because it is the control center for your life, but it is not like your brain because it cannot think. We think in our mind. Your heart is more like a recorder or a computer. Can a computer think? Nope. But you can write or store things in it, and a computer can control other things like video games or printers. That is the same with our heart. Whatever is written on our heart is what we believe and it comes out in every area of our life.

Your heart is like a recorder. It records things that you think. If you think it and you have emotions, it will record or write it on your heart. This is a toy telephone. Can this toy think? No, but it can record. (Record something on the phone.) When something is recorded in your heart, it plays out in your life even if it is not the truth. (Play the recording on the toy.) Sometimes your heart records things that not true. The only true thing is what God says about you. That is why it is so important to guard your heart because you don’t want bad things being recording your heart. If it is in your heart, it will come out in your life. (Record something negative like “I am not smart.” then have it play back. Record something positive like, “I have the mind of Christ.” then have it play back. And discuss how each might play out in your life.)

Teaching Point #3: Heart like a Mirror and a Magnet

Props/Materials:
Mirror
Magnet

The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart so is he. (Prov. 23: 7.) Your heart is like a mirror. The way you see in your heart is the way your life will go. It’s so important to guard your heart from bad images in your heart. If you looked in a mirror and you saw dirt on your face, you would wash it. Well, if you see dirt in your heart, you need to wash it too.

Your heart is like a magnet. Your heart attracts like things to it. So if you have a pure heart, then you will attract pure things and people to your life. If you have a crooked heart, then you will attract crooked things to your heart.

Teaching Point #4: My Heart Is Like A Filter

Props/Materials:
1) A coffee filter
2) Pitcher of water
3) Glass
4) Cocoa powder

Your heart is like a filter. It filters information. If your heart is pure or clean like this filter, then (pour the water through the filter) your life will come out pure and clean. But what if your filter is dirty? If you don’t guard your heart or if you let your heart get hard (dip the filter in cocoa powder,) then it makes your heart dirty. (Pour the water through the filter.) A dirty heart makes your life dirty.

Teaching Point #5: My Heart Can Wear Tinted Sun Glasses:

Props/Materials:
1)Red or color-tinted glasses (make sure you look through and you see things in that color. Blue-tinted sunglasses sometimes looks clear.)

Have a kid volunteer wear the glasses. The kid puts on the glasses. Hold up a white object and ask: What color is this object? We can all stand here and say that this object is white, but you will never see it that way because you have on red glasses. That is the way our heart is. Our hearts can’t think, it just sees what it believes. The things you have written on your heart is like red sunglasses for your heart.

Will God ever be mad at you? No way! But some people actually have it written on their heart that God is mad at them. Their heart believes that God is mad, so every time a storm comes, they think “Oh God’s mad.” Every time they read the Bible, all they can see is that God is mad. Isn’t that sad? Even if we tell them the truth that God is never mad at them, they might still think he is because that is the way their heart sees it.

Something might happen that writes something on your heart. This is a true story. Something happened to a girl at our church that wrote on her heart that the other girls at church don’t like her and are mean to her. See, your heart can’t reason, it is like a recorder and sometimes it writes things that aren’t true. Other girls really did like this girl, but she couldn’t see that. For some reason a wrong message got written on her heart. After that bad thing was written on her heart, every time the other girls would even talk to her, she couldn’t hear what they were really saying. She always interpreted it that “they don’t like me.” Even when the girls did really nice things for her she always thought, “they are just being nice to me because the teacher made them.” But what was really true is that the other girls just were trying to be nice because they liked her. This girl had colored sunglasses on the eyes of her heart. She couldn’t see the real thing because her heart told her something different.

Can you see what is in someone’s heart? Nope. Who is the only person who can see in someone’s heart? Sometimes we think we can know what in someone’s heart. Anytime you think you know the reason why someone acts a certain way, you are saying you can see in their heart, but really you can’t.

A friend saw another friend at a big store. She was waving and thought he looked right at her, but was ignoring her. She told him later that she thought he was mad at her. But the truth was, he just didn’t have his glasses on. He just didn’t see her. If he had seen her, he would have run up and given her a hug. She judged his actions by her own heart. In her heart she thought if she ignored someone it would be because she was mad. Because she would have done that, she thought that is what he was doing.

You see people the way your heart sees yourself. Tutus 1:15 says “to the pure all things are pure, but to the crooked all things are crooked.” That means if you have these pure glasses on your heart, then you see everything as pure. Just like when you have these red glasses on and it makes everything red. If someone thinks that everything is bad, then they probably have a bunch of bad things written on their heart. You think things the way it’s written on your heart. Can you see why it is so important to guard what is written on your heart?

Teaching Point #6: My Heart Is Like A Bobo Doll

Props/Materials:
1) Bobo doll. (an inflatable toy that when you knock it down, it comes right back up.)

Your heart wants to make your world around you the way it believes. If it is written in your heart, you might pretend that you believe something else, but it always makes you come back to the level your heart is. It is like this Bobo Doll. This doll wants to be standing like this (straight up), but I want it to lay on the floor. (Knock it over) but it automatically comes right back to where it wants to be. That is just like your heart. If you have it written in your heart that you are not good at math, but you say, “When school starts back, I’m going to make an A in math.” (Hold down the doll) Well, even if you are smart and good at Math, but your heart tells you that you are not good at Math, you will be nervous in Math class and your heart won’t let you do your best. (Let the doll go back up.) You have to go down into your heart and fix it so that you start believing “I have the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit helps me remember everything, so I am so smart at Math.” You have to write that on your heart instead.

Teaching Point #7: My Heart Has Senses Just Like I do(Heart Head)

Props/Materials:
1) Large felt heart (or use the one in the “Guard Your Heart Game”)
2) The following Body parts for the heart that are made out of felt: eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands.
3) Piece of blue paper
4) Picture of a piece of pie
5) Picture of a mouth with an arrow to your brain with an arrow to your heart with an arrow back to the mouth so it shows a cycle.

Our heart has senses just like our bodies do. What are our five senses? Our heart is more sensitive to things than our bodies are, but sometimes we focus on the outside rather than the inside and it makes us lose sensitivity in our heart senses. You should trust your heart more than your senses. (Hold up a blue piece of paper.) What color is this paper? Your eyes in your body see that it is blue, but if God tells that this paper is green inside your heart, then it is green.

(Show a picture of a piece of pie on the projector.) This pie looks yummy. Our eyes in our body see that it looks so good. Our nose in our body sees that it smells so sweet. Our mouth in our body starts watering for it and we taste it and it IS so yummy. But what if you go to take a bite and you hear with your heart ears inside your heart and God says “Don’t eat it.” The thought from your heart comes again. “Don’t eat it.” Your body senses is telling you to eat it, but your heart senses is telling you not to eat it. What should you do? DON’T EAT IT! There is a story of a family who went to eat at a restaurant. The food looked so yummy and everyone was so hungry, but when the dad looked at his food, his heart was sensitive enough and he heard with his heart ears “don’t eat it.” So he didn’t take one bite. That night everyone in his family got sick from the food except for him because he paid attention and listened to what God said to him in his heart. We will talk about how to strengthen the senses in your heart more later.

Your heart has eyes. (Put the eyes on the felt heart.) We can see things with our heart. We sing that song “Open the eyes of my heart.” Sometimes when God shows pictures with the eyes of our heart. (Give an example of pictures God showed you in your heart. Here is an example:) Once I was focusing or meditating on God things and he showed me a picture of my friend standing on top of a waterfall. I couldn’t figure out in this picture how she was doing that. I saw a big bolder on top of the waterfall, but I couldn’t figure out how she got there. I called her and told her on the phone and she said she got cold chills because just the day before she looked at a picture in her e-mail and it was a waterfall with a bolder on it and when the people stood on the bolder it looked like they were standing right on the waterfall. It was a dad and his kids standing on it looking over the edge. When she saw the picture, she said to herself, “I would never be able to do that. I am afraid. My kids would miss out on something beautiful because I could never stand on the waterfall. “ Well God wanted me to tell her that picture I saw with my heart because he wanted her to know that she COULD do that and that she doesn’t have to be afraid. He is with her even if she stood on top of a waterfall!

Your heart has ears. (Put the ears on the heart.) You can hear God with the ears of your heart. You may not be able to hear with your ears on your body, but you can listen with your heart. Although, some people do actually hear with their physical ears, most of the time God speaks in your heart. It is very important for you to practice listening to your father’s voice. He is talking to you all the time. He cares about little things and big things. (Give an example of a time you heard God's voice in your heart. Here is an example:) When I was packing for vacation, I kept getting this thought in my head to pack a certain thing. But I kept dismissing that thought thinking, “I won’t need that, it will take up space.” But that item kept coming back up. Those thoughts were God talking to me in my heart, but I wasn’t listening with my heart ears. Boy, I wish I had. That very day and almost the whole trip I needed it. I needed it so much that we had to go to the store to buy it. It was a lot of trouble for us because I didn’t pack it. God even cares about those little things and if you listen, you can hear him talking to you.

Your heart can smell and feel. (Put the nose and hands on the heart)
(Give a personal example of feeling or smelling with your heart. Here are examples:)
One time I was very very sad for a whole year because of something that happened. That was a very long time to be sad. Remember sad is an emotion so it was a warning light of something in my heart. I prayed to God to help me not be sad anymore. After a long long time, I was praising and worshiping/focusing on God and my heart began to open. It was opening so much that it became very sensitive and God took me on a tour of something very special. I was standing on a mountain and I could feel the wind in my heart and I could smell the mountain air with the nose of my heart. God showed me all kinds of neat things and it was the answer to my prayer. I couldn’t stop crying, not because I was sad anymore, but because I was so happy that God would do that just for me. It was very special.

You can also feel with your heart the way someone else might be feeling. One time a child came to me to pray for him about something. When I put my hand on him, my heart felt the same way that he was feeling. He was very sad. God let me feel what he was feeling so that I would know how to pray for him.

Your heart also has a mouth (put the mouth up.) Your heart tells your mouth and your mind things. Remember we talked about how your mind and your mouth and your heart work together? (Show illustration.) Your physical mouth talks and put thoughts in your mind. When you believe those thoughts, it drops down in your heart and writes it there. When something is written on your heart, it comes out of your mouth again. It’s like a cycle.

Your heart can even taste! The Bible says to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Ps. 34:8) It also says that God’s word is sweet tasting. (Ps. 119) Really that means to experience and enjoy him just like you would if you were really into your favorite candy. He is the most yummy thing ever!

Review Questions
1.What is the memory verse?
2.What is your heart?
3.Why is it important to guard your heart?
4.What kinds of things should you guard your heart from?
5.If your heart believes something will it come out of your mouth?
6.If your heart believes something will it play out in your life?
7.How can you change what your heart believes?
8.How does God talk to us or show us things?
9.Can you see what is in another person's heart?
10.Who is the only person that can see in your heart?

Quiet Times
See “Quiet Times” section

Add this into your quiet time to go along with this Unit #1.

Picture the heart. See how you got a new heart when Jesus came in. Everything that Jesus is you became. Jesus gave you his perfection and goodness for anything bad that was in there. You are a new creature. Everything about you is new. Your spirit is perfect. God sees you just like he sees Jesus.
Invitation

"My Heart" Series Introduction and VBS

I believe one of the most important truths we could ever teach, is understanding our heart. Our entire life is directed by what is written on our hearts. Even though the “heart” is a conceptual concept, children can understand it. Even if they cannot grasp all the concepts with their minds, I believe they will catch it with their hearts. Because of its importance, this is a series of lessons that should be reviewed often.

(What you say to the kids is italicized in the lessons.)

Guard Your Heart Game

The “Guard Your Heart” Game is fun to play with this unit. It is also necessary to illustrate the concept of guarding our hearts and is referred to in some mini-lessons.

Materials:
1) a Very large felt-covered heart either mounted on the wall, or covering something stiff like cardboard.
2) Styrofoam balls wrapped in Velcro or Velcro balls.
3) People to be the Hard-hearted Pirates.
4) 4 Shields of Faith made of cardboard cut in the shape of a shield and covered in felt. Add twine handles so the kids can hold on to it easily.
5) 4 Breastplates of Righteousness made of felt for the kids to wear. (24x24” inch or so rectangle of felt with a hole cut for the neck is fine.)

Teaching Points From the Game:
1) Guard your heart because out of it flows the issues of life.
2) Guard your heart with the breastplate of righteousness and the shield of faith.

Rules:
Choose 4 guards to guard the big felt-covered heart on the stage. At random times during the night, music will cue the entry of the Hardhearted pirates who will attack the heart. They will throw Styrofoam balls wrapped in Velcro at the heart for a brief period of time (30 seconds or so).
The 4 guards will wear the felt breastplates of righteousness and be ready to grab their shields of faith. When the hardhearted pirates attack they will assume their positions in front of the heart to block any fiery darts (velcro balls) coming toward their heart. The guards must always be ready because they never know when the Hardhearted pirates will try to come damage the heart.
The object is to keep their hearts pure---free from any fiery darts (velcro balls).

Extra Little Goodies (VBS and Such)

The “My Heart” unit was originally written for a three-night vacation bible school called “Raiders of the Lost Heart.”

décor
The room was decorated with “Indianan Jones” series in mind and included ancient pillars, archaeological finds, treasure chest, spider webbs, sand, dirt, etc. We also decorated with a pirate theme, maps, ships, etc. It was one of the easiest and most cool Bible school we ever had.

Characters:
The main character was called “Tennessee Travis,” and he dressed in khakis, a white button up shirt, a leather, over-the-shoulder bag, hat and whip. He interacted with the kids throughout the nights as well as participated in skits.
Captain Tenderheart is a good pirate who gets treasure maps stolen from him. He looks like the hardhearted pirates, but is good teaching the kids that man looks on the outside, but God looks on the heart.
Hardhearted pirates are mean pirates who attack the heart in the Guard Your Heart game and steal treasure maps from Captain Tenderheart.

Memory Verse Maps:
Each night had a treasure map that corresponded with nightly theme. Day 1: Guard Your Heart. Day 2: Meditate Day and Night. Day 3: Don't be a meathead. Captain Tenderheart would do a pre-recorded video message about the theme which was a mini-lesson on the memory verse for each night. He teaches the kids that where their treasure is, that is where their heart is.

Then the VBS characters would do a skit (that was pre-recorded) where the hard-hearted pirates steal that night's map from Captain Tenderheart, but then Tennessee Travis rescues it and runs in the actual map to the kids. Travis unrolls the map and reads the map again (memory verse.)

Treasures from Tennessee Travis
Travis would pop in periodically throughout the night carrying a “treasure” in his leather pouch. We would draw a seat number, then that child would receive the treasure in his pouch.

The big event of the night: The Heart Zone.
We had what was called a heart zone that was a pit full of balloons and candy and a key hidden inside. Capitan Tenderheart would do a little monologue (pre-corded) thanking the kids and Tennessee Travis for rescuing the map. And because they rescued the map, he would tell them he hid a key in the heartzone. The key opened up a treasure chest that was on stage. We would choose four kids to enter the heart zone. With loud pumping music, they would search for the key while grabbing candy. The key unlocked the treasure chest on the stage which had a very large prize in it such as video game system or something like it.

The Small Group
The Small Groups were divided up into grades and called campfire chats. We made fires from cardboard and paint. They would sit around their “fires” and do their small groups as indicated in the lessons.

Filler activities:

1) Tennessee Twister
Tennessee Twister is a group warm-up activity. Suddenly, storm sounds would play and a tornado would appear on the big screen. The kids were instructed to hug as many people as they could until the storm stopped.

2)Secret Handshake
Periodically throughout the night, we would have them shake 3-5 people's hands with the handshake we created specifically for this VBS. This is possibly the best idea ever to keep up the momentum in a service to have a few extra seconds to prepare for the next thing on the agenda. This prevents "dead air," if you know what I mean.

3)Trash or Treasure
On the big screen, we would read off slides that had a description of a negative or positive thing that would indicate a way of thinking. The kids would shout out “Trash” if it was a negative way of thinking or “treasure” if it was a positive way of thinking. Of course we would reiterate that we only want to hide the treasures in our heart and keep out the trash.

Contents of a Kid's Service

The following is a description of contents in a Kid's church service and why each is important.

Giving
Giving is recommended at the beginning of the service for children so they do not have to keep up with their money for long periods of time. Children love to serve as ushers to take up the money. Make sure you have a policy of how and where their offering will go to keep it safe. I recommend only teaching them that we give as the Spirit in us directs us, and because Our Father is a giver so we are because he lives in us. You don't have to make a big deal out of this. In my experience, kids give more at the times I've just said, "There's a bucket over there. If anybody wants to give something, just go put it in."

Praise and Worship
Although disrespect and disruption is never acceptable, Children should be allowed to respond to God in their own way which is true worship. It would be ideal to have a praise and worship team for children just as the adults do. Since this is often not feasible, the next best thing would be to have a consistent praise and worship leader. Children also love to help lead worship. Develop and train them to lead worship. The more comfortable children feel, the more they can freely express themselves and respond to the Lord. Children need easily singable songs. Repetition and easy words are important. Lead them. Do not force them. Remember to instruct on “why” worship and not so much on the “How.” Children may not “look” like they are responding to God, but they respond in their hears. Be sure to guide them, but not teach them to fake it. It is also important to remember that children will go no further in worship than their leader/s. The worship leader should feel free to respond to the Holy Spirit and do so. It can also be important to be conscientious of the children's level of worship as to not leave them behind. The worship leader, being sensitive to the Holy Spirit in worship, will lead the kids perfectly every time without too much focus on what worship state the kids are in. Basically, the worship leader's job is to provide the atmosphere for worship. The Holy Spirit does the rest.

Discipleship
The discipleship portion of the service is designed to train and equip the little saints. It is recommended to recruit church members who have strong gifts in the discipleship lessons to help equip the kids. For example, a church member who normally doesn't work with children, but has a great evangelistic gifting in his life could be recruited to disciple the children on evangelism and outreach or maybe even start a children's evangelism team.

Secret Handshake
The purpose of the secret handshake is threefold. 1) It makes the children feel they are accepted and a part of something bigger. 2) It allows the children to interact with each other and meet new children. 3) It keeps up the flow of service when a teacher needs a few extra seconds to get ready for the next activity. Anytime there is downtime, have the children do the secret handshake with five or so others. The handshake can be as simple as a bump and fun noise with their mouth, or a pretty elaborate little hand dance.

Bible Verse Game
The purpose of the Bible Verse Game is to make learning scripture fun. If it is fun, they do not know they are learning it. I'll try to post some Bible verse games soon.

Lesson
The more senses a child can use to learn, the better it will be learned. Object lessons are great because children can see what they are learning. It is important to remember and to teach them that the Holy Spirit is their teacher. He can teach them more about what the teacher is saying, than the teacher can say. Even if a child seems like he/she does not get it, it does not mean anything. The Holy Spirit can still be working in their hearts even if they don't “look” like it.

Invitation
It is always important to give an invitation each service. It's a time when the children can be guided into salvation. A child should NEVER be turned away from receiving the Lord. Even if a child responds to the invitation every week, it is important to allow them to although gentle instruction could be given to those frequent repeaters that once Jesus lives in them, he doesn't leave.

There are several ways to give an invitation. One way is to have everyone close their eyes. Have them raise their hands if they have asked Jesus in their heart. Then have them raise their hands if they have not asked Jesus in their heart. Then have them raise their hands if they want to ask Jesus in their heart. Then lead them in a prayer.

Quiet Time
See the previous post about Quiet Times. These are great to tag onto the invitation because the kids are already calm and quiet.

Review Game
Review Game is important to reiterate the lesson. I've got some review questions with some of the lesson plans I intend to share.

Game and Activity
Games are fun and encourage fellowship. Fun helps engage children in the children's ministry. Get you a good game book and you will never forget it. I'll also post some of my favorites as I remember them.

Quiet Time: The Hands-Down Best Thing Ever For Kid's Ministry!

In my opinion, apart from just basically loving on Kids, this is the best thing ever to do in Kid's ministry. It is definitely my most favorite part! We do this at home with our three little boys very often.

Quiet Time is meditation. Meditation is something that God designed. It simply means to focus or think about. I've adapted this for kids from Dr. Jim Richard's Heart Physics. I call it "Quiet Time" so it won't freak out parents.

Quiet Time is a special time where the children practice being still, find there secret place, build their relationship with Jesus, and listen to and practice learning their heavenly father's voice. Meditation writes Biblical principles on their hearts because they are focusing and thinking about the word of God. The younger a child is, the easier it is for him or her to enter their heart zone because they have not been contaminated with the world system or hardened their hearts. “Heart Zone” is basically the state where one is still enough to focus on their heart rather than the natural world. It is kind of like that state when you are almost asleep or just barely waking up. It is in this heart zone that one writes and rewrites things in the heart.

Children under age six actually live in their heart zone all the time. Because of this, Preschoolers may appear that they are not paying attention or interested. This is seldom the case. They are automatically listening, receiving, and writing on their hearts just because they live in their heart zone all the time. You can have quiet time with preschoolers that doesn't seem very quiet at all, yet they will tell you the most profound revelation of something Jesus told them while they were flip-flopping on the floor.

When we have quiet time for babies or toddlers, we just allow them to play around while putting on a CD that speaks Word over them. There is no need (and no way) for them to sit still for even one minute to "listen." They are in their heart zone already. Let them experience His Word in their hearts right where they are! There are even good quality children CDs that sing actual scriptures without any commentary-type lyrics. Triple love! You could even record a quiet time CD for them yourself. Or you can just speak over them yourself very easily. Play a soft CD and just calmly read Psalms 139 over them from the message Bible. Or say things as the Spirit leads. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Here is an example of things to speak over them:

You are healthy and whole. Every part of you is blessed. You have the mind of Jesus. You are wonderfully made. No matter where you go, your Good Daddy will be there with you. You are righteous, pure, and lovely. You can even actually say the child's name in there. Yes!

...you get the idea.

For school-age kids, it is easy to go into a quiet time after an invitation because the children should already be still and have their eyes closed. Meditation for kids does not have to be long. No more than one minute per age (or five minutes total) should be plenty. Be sensitive. There do not have to be rules to this. During a Fitness Day Camp once, the kids were begging for quiet time. They actually laid their in silence for like 20 or 25 minutes and still didn't want it to be over.

Lead them to relax. Maybe even play a soft CD and dim the lights. (Example of Quiet Time Relaxation below.) You could have them inhale and exhale slowly and imagine themselves giving Jesus things that have been bothering them.

One of my favorite things we do with our three little preschool boys at home is have them lay down and put a toy boat on their bellies. We have them inhale and exhale so they can watch the boat sail on the "ocean." Then we proceed with a quiet time for maybe 1-2 minutes or however long they can stand it. At home, I really try to get them to practice being still just for discipline sake, but I do not believe it is necessary to experience their Father. They love the boat thing, and they also recall their quiet time as they play with the boats throughout the day. I have also had experience doing the boat on the belly thing with our preschoolers at church. It is especially cool if the lesson happened to be on a story involving a boat. We have actually made a simple boat for the story, and watched it sail on their bellies during quiet time. They loved it.

It is fun to ask the children if they would like to share what they did with Jesus or what they heard him say in their quiet times. It is powerful, and I mean powerful to hear the pure revelation of Father from the heart of a child.

Talking them Through the Quiet Time is no big deal. Really you would just tell them to, "Be quiet, still, and listen to your Father's voice." That is good enough. The Holy Spirit will take over, but they might need some assistance if you are introducing quiet time to them. Here is a general example, but be sensitive to things the Holy Spirit might prompt you to say. (Oh and I usually say all this fairly slowly and calmly. I try to give them actual time for silence.)

Close your eyes. Breathe in and our of your nose. Relax your head. Relax your arms. Relax your legs. Relax your toes. Relax your belly button. As you breathe in and out imagine that you hear the waves of the ocean. You feel very safe and comfortable. Now go to your very special secret place. It can be anywhere. It can be in your bedroom, a cave, a mountain, the ocean, a tree house, a cloud, an airplane, a fishing boat, or wherever you want. See yourself in your secret place. What are you doing there? You see Jesus there. It is a special time for just you and Jesus. What is he saying to you? Listen to the voice of God there in your heart and talk with Jesus.

I usually add a Word of God nugget in there depending on what I might be teaching like...

God is your Good Daddy and Jesus is your big brother. He said he would always be with you and never leave you. He loves you. You can't hide from him, because he'll just hide there with you. He said even if you make your bed in hell, he's going with you.

Hopefully soon I can post some testimonials of Quiet Times. No joke this is the most amazing ministry tool ever if for no other reason than it allows the teacher to "see" into little hearts. When we get to see the fruit of our labors, it is pretty rockin'!!!!!

Building A Children's Ministry----How to get started.

Many grace-teaching churches are just beginning children's ministries. Structural examples and ideas are provided that might help in designing a ministry for your kids.

The first step in building your ministry is to determine your need. Ask yourself practical questions such as:
1) How many children do we have?
2) What ages will we minister to?
3) Will the children's ministers rotate on a schedule or will the same ones teach each service?
4) How often will we meet?
5) How long is each service?
6) What types of things will engage them? Do we need lots of flash and flair, a simple snack, games, puppets, etc.
7)What is our vision and goals for our children's ministry? (Although this is unique to the Children's Ministry, the vision will fall within the vision of the Pastor for the entire ministry.)

Answering these questions will determine the design of your program. Children's ministry should be thought of as a church within a church. There are many types and structures of children's ministry. Instead of patterning yours after another one, seek the Lord in what would best meet the needs of your children.

To get you started on some ideas and to show an example of the structure of a children's church, Living Hope Church's R.E.A.L. Church program is outlined as follows:

R.E.A.L. Church

Moto: “Big Church for Little People”

Vision and Goals:
Revealing the Goodness of God
Engaging, Relevant and Safe for Children
Agape Ministering
Laying a Foundation for Life

Mission Statement:
To age-appropriately teach children of the goodness of God in a safe, fun, engaging, and unconditionally loving environment that will serve as a foundation for life and to provide leadership, ministry, and character development opportunities for children as well as those who minister to them.

Class Demographics:
Infants: Each church service. Provides basic infant care. Minister in praise and worship songs and quiet time. (More on "Quiet Time" to come.) Report cards indicating diaper changes and any other issues provided to parents. Rotating teacher and helper schedule.

Toddlers: Each church service. Provides social atmosphere and introduction to church concepts. Minister with praise and worship, prayer and laying on of hands, quiet times, age appropriate games and activities, snack and play time. Lessons include basic Bible stories and concepts of God such as “God made animals.” Can grasp God's love with their hearts. Rotating helper schedule. Consistent teacher to help children of this age have an easier transition away from parents.

Preschool: Each church service. Provides snack and some play time. Praise and worship, prayer ministry time with laying on of hands, giving time, quiet time, Bible lessons and a deeper understanding of God and Jesus. Age-appropriate lesson games and activities. Can grasp concepts of God's grace, love, peace and righteousness even though may not verbally be able to reiterate. Rotating teacher and helper schedule.

School-Age on Sundays Service: Sunday morning service. Kid-sized church. Children taught to serve each other in helps and prayer ministry. Praise and worship, giving time, prayer ministry with laying on of hands, quiet time, Biblical lesson with object lessons. Fellowship and fun with games and activities. Can grasp concepts just as adults can especially if broken down for them. Rotating teacher and helper schedule.

School-Age for Midweek Service (We called this Club Hope): Mid-week service. Leadership, Life Skills and Biblical Lessons. Each year, children vote on their club officers; president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, activity leader, service leaders. Each office has a specific job. Club meeting at the beginning of each class then followed up by a lesson with the purpose of teaching God in everyday life. Lesson might include sewing and reaping/gardening, characters development, public speaking, etc. Club does service projects such as church maintenance or raising money for missions, and fund raisers such as selling produce grown in their garden. Consistent Club Leaders. End of year award ceremony where the officers demonstrate their leadership abilities to the church then adult leader gives awards for skills such as leadership, service, sportsmanship, etc.

Developing Policy and Procedures:
It is important to have written policies and procedures for children's church. This provides structure and serves as an instructional guide for teachers and helpers in the children's church. Structure and consistency is important to children to help them feel safe and secure. This security allows for comfort in learning and freedom in worshiping. Policies might include:
1) background checks/application process for adults working with children.
2) What to do in case of fire.
3) The order of the service.
4) How to take up their giving.
5) Filling out Accident Forms.
6) No Cry Policy.
7) Disciplinary Action.
8) Bathroom policy.
9) The vision and mission statement for the children's church,
etc. etc.

Policies should be approved by the Pastor. After all, this is ultimately his or her responsibility. Don't ever forget to honor that.

Picking a Pastor for Kids

How do you pick a children’s minister?

Well it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway....Pray About It!!! Someone can seem to be the most perfect on the outside, but only really Father knows who will be the best shepherd for your ministries greatest treasures! Listen to him! Actually, I believe 95% of the time his pick WILL BE your pick, but better ask him just to make sure. Once I had a coordinator position I so longed to fill to take some of the workload off of me. Two equally fantastic people were interested. The one I wanted would have been perfect (and easier for me to work with), but I felt very deeply that it was the other who was the Lord's pick. Both would have been wonderful. I actually still do not know why God had me place her in that position, but he knows. My only job is to listen to him. Being a Pastor especially to children makes it tripley important to listen to Father's voice seeing as how He knows all things, and we will never. The other choice (my choice) did eventually fill a spot for me and it worked out PERFECTLY! Imagine that! God's way usually does!

Trust that still small voice, but the following are criteria that will most likely be found in HIS/your choice:

1. The number one (and really only) requirement: LOVE. “By this you know my disciples, that you love one another.” Nuff said. But just in case you didn’t get it, here is another one: “Beloved, let us love one another. Love comes from God and anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. If someone doesn’t love, then he doesn’t know God.”

2. Someone who loves people. (This is the only true evidence of spiritual maturity.) If people they supposedly love don’t know they love them, then it doesn’t count. Oh and they must even love the peeps that don’t love them back…. That’s how you know.

3. Someone who knows God's love for them is more important than their love for God.

4. They should be the best ministers you can find. (Ministers adults could receive from too. Don’t give your kids a good babysitter. Give them someone with a grace to minister to them.)

5. Someone willing to learn from kids. (VERY Important!)

6. Someone who knows they don’t have all the answer thus relying on the Holy Spirit to get them through each ministry opportunity. A person with a meek heart will also usually avoid sowing little seeds of “doctrine.”

7. Someone who desires to minister to them. (You can also bet that a person who is willing to “feed my lambs” has a true ministry calling on their life. People who do not value these little ones likely are in it for self glory, although assuming that is judgmental. So don't assume that.) Okay, I feel the need for a disclaimer: Some people know they do not have the grace or calling for little ones, but they still value them. They see them as valued members of a congregation. They choose quality adult leaders for them. They spend money on them. They do not think of them as little distractions that need to be taken out of the service so the adults can be ministered too properly.

8. Someone who has the regular more practical attributes of a person in a position of influence: Faithful, Responsible, Honorable, Has Integrity....you know all those practicalities. :)

Introduction to Curriculum

The lessons I will post were written with the belief that children can “eat” the same spiritual goodness as adults especially if the message is served to them in age-appropriate bites. There are all kinds of curricula available, but often times the message behind the fun and flair is what Apostle Paul might call, “dung.” Too often children's curriculum is filled with lessons that at best might teach them good citizenship or worse breed self righteousness or hopelessness in their hearts. As a children's pastor, I knew our kids desired spiritual meat and began teaching them the same principles we were learning as adults. Because some children were unfamiliar with basic Bible knowledge, we often taught them gospel principles in the midst of a basic Biblical story. This curriculum is written with the idea that some children's facilities have limited resources. The goal is to maximize spiritual impact whether or not resources are available.

The purpose of this curriculum is to lay a foundation of grace, peace, righteousness, and the love of God. Although some lessons and object lessons might seem more conceptual than a usual lesson for children, I have seen fruit from those lessons in children who seemed too young at the time we taught it. They may not be able to communicate with their thoughts and words, but they can still catch the message with their hearts. Children have the same size God as adults and because their hearts are generally more sensitive, they can often receive and experience more than adults. Don't underestimate the power of God in their hearts just because they don't appear to be understanding, worshiping or participating. Children respond to God even if they don't look like it. They are hungry for grace-filled teaching, and the fruit of what is planted in their hearts at their age will be evident in eternity.

Grace Base

At first the name "Grace Base" meant that this would be a reference place to supply much-needed grace "curriculum" with children's ministers. When I looked up "base" in the dictionary, I was touched that this is the first name that popped into my mind when Father put it in my heart to share my lesson plans with the world. There are lots of meanings, but these were the most meaningful to me:

Base: (n)
1. A foundation
2. The fundamental principle or underlying concepts.
3. A fundamental ingredient; a chief constituent.
4. The fact, observation, or premise from which a reasoning process is begun.
5. A starting point, safety area, or goal.
6. A center of organization, supply, or activity; a headquarters.
7. A fortified center of operations.
8. A supply center.

Yes, I hope this can be a useful "supply center" for ideas and revelation, but "base" means so much more. Grace is the influence of Jesus manifesting our hearts and lives. There is no other message than the message of Grace. This IS the only gospel. The revelation of Father's love must be the "fundamental principle" in our hearts. It is the main ingredient in every area of our life. This foundational "fact" is the most important concept. Every thought can only be processed properly if we have an underlying confidence of his love for us, his righteousness in us, his peace we walk in, and his rest we were created to live in. This is the starting point AND the goal. The beginning AND the end. This is the place of safety. There is nothing beyond "God in us." Grace is The Base and only base to build. Grace is Father's intended "fortified center of operation" in our hearts.

Base is also, "the fundamental ingredient and chief constituent." These lessons are "based" on grace and that's it. Although I have much to learn and do not claim to have all the answers, I consider myself hardcore grace. I believe the grace message is the only message. To bring what some would call "balance" to this message is to pollute it with leaven. You will not find any law-based lessons in this curriculum.

"Grace" is not a hard concept to get. As I've always heard it taught, "You have to have help to misunderstand it." The problem is that we have a lot of help out there. Doctrines should never be taught to kids. Doctrines are walls. A foundation is a steady platform to build a life without walls. Building a Grace Base is to help the child to experience a relationship with his Good Daddy in an atmosphere of freedom. I'm not saying there should not be structure in Kid's church. (Lord, rescue those who don't have structure in kid's church!) I am saying that in their hearts and Spiritual atmosphere of your ministry, there should be freedom. Freedom to fail, freedom to love, freedom to grow, etc. Every kid likes to be like their dad. If you tell them who their Daddy is, how to meet Him, and their rights as His children, you will start to see the manifestation of His influence in their lives. He abides in their heart. Help them to experience a relationship with him there. Please don't teach them how to wall him in with a bunch of "milky" doctrines. These babies desire meat. Let's feed them the real stuff!