I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
The Church! But who or what is the church? And how do you get in? These are all questions that are answered in this month’s Family Time Training Activity called God’s House. (Download it for free during the month of June or sign up for unlimited access to all their materials.)
You have probably heard someone say, “I’m going to church!”
Although not a bad thing to say because we know what they mean, my husband and I have chosen to reiterate with our kids that we don’t go to church because we are the church. Instead we say, “We are going to worship.” or “We are going to the church building.”
We chose to do this for two different reasons:
I did not realize growing up that the church in the Bible was actually referring to those who believed and followed Christ!
One of my husband’s favorite a Capella groups called AVB had a song called “U Can’t Go to Church.” He almost always starts singing this song when our children say, “Let’s go to church.” It’s really funny, but it’s a good way to remember that we are the church.
God’s House Activity
Our family has 5 kids ages 9 years old to newborn. As we sat down to do this activity, I wondered how each of them would process it. I wondered if they would grasp the main concepts of
How we become part of God’s house &
Who all is a part of God’s house
Using the model of a house was a brilliant way to help explain these two concepts. A paper template is included with this activity that your older children can fill in as you discuss these concepts with them and your younger children can color and cut while you are talking.
Becoming Part of God’s House
God in his infinite mercy uses the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) when it comes to salvation and this Family Time Training activity reinforces that idea.
I was excited how this activity explained that Jesus is the “door/gate” and we enter the house of God only through him. I made all my children find the door and explained that the only way to enter God’s house is through Jesus.
So Jesus said again, “I am telling you the truth: I am the gate for the sheep. All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Those who come in by me will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness. – John 10:7-10
Question: But how do we go through Jesus to enter the house?
Answer: We must believe that Jesus is the son of God and choose to obey him!
Obeying and disobeying is something children understand. We are constantly teaching them this. Explaining that Jesus is the only way into the house and we have to obey him to get in, makes crystal clear sense even to our 3 year old.
Who is a Part of God’s House?
This honestly is probably my favorite part of this activity. Why? Because I love Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
In this passage, we see that those who believed and obeyed God in the past are cheering us on in the present. So there is a clear representation of the body of Christ (God’s House) past and present together.
By writing out the apostles, the prophets, christian leaders from the past to present, our family, friends and future Christians, we start to see God’s House as more than just what we see sitting in the worship service. We see God’s House as an eternal legacy of Christ, one that is filled with people from the past, present, and the future. It reminds us that our calling is not just to enter into God’s House through Jesus Christ but to call others to joyfully enter it as well! We can be praying for our friends, family, and those who don’t know Christ yet but will be our brothers and sisters in Christ one day.
It’s a great way to help our children see that God’s House is filled with people we’ve read about as Bible heroes and reminds us that we can become present day heroes for Christ, too!
Taking this Idea a step further!
There are just so many great ways to use this house template to encourage our kids in their faith. Here are a few extras I thought about:
1. Grab a Cardboard Box
My kids have been playing with cardboard boxes all week, making rocket ships and other contraptions. You could easily use this small template and turn it into a cardboard box sized template that allowed them to walk into the house and write on the walls and roof. Keep this in the house or on the porch for a week or so. Every so often stop, gather around the house and pray. Pray over your kids, their current church family, their brothers and sisters around the world, and those who will become their brothers and sisters in God’s House.
2. Learn more about Christian Leaders from 100 AD – 2,000 AD
Watch the great animated Torch Lighters Series and learn about St. Augustine, Corrie Ten Boom, and many others who are considered heroes of the faith! Or grab a kid friendly biography about them and make family reading time a time to bolster their faith and courage.
3. Read about Bible Leaders and Prophets
Let each child pick their favorite Bible leaders or prophet and read about them over dinner. Talk about why they like them so much. What characteristics would be good to imitate or foster in their own lives? What draws them to that particular Bible character? Remind them that these people are in God’s House, too!
How have you explained God’s House or who makes us the church to others?
I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
Isn’t it amazing how God created us? There are so many things to be in awe about but one of them is our need for relationships and community.
There are many wonderful reasons why God created marriage, families, friends, and the church body. He knew what a blessing it would be to have others rejoice with us and also help us during difficult times.
This month’s Family Time Training Activity called Cord of Three Strands emphasizes the great gift God has given us by creating a need in us to have relationships with others. This activity shows so well why living in isolation isn’t beneficial.
The kids and I were able to enjoy this activity even while we were at the lake. (I like that I can just click on the website for a digital version of the Bible activities and I don’t have to print them off unless I want to. It’s definitely a lighter way to pack when going on vacation!)
Cord of Three Strands Activity
For this activity, all you need is:
Access to the Family Time Training Activity Script either via your phone or download it and print it off. Access the monthly activity here. (The free activities change every month so if you missed this one, enjoy doing the next one OR sign up for the extremely affordable unlimited access to all of their activities.)
Your Bible, a Bible app, or you can read the verses straight from the Family Time Training Script
3 steak knives or other knives that are the same length (use caution if using sharp knives with small children)
4 cups
Water or dirt–fill one of the four cups with either water or dirt.
That’s it!
The Activity:
Read the verses listed from The Cord of Three Strands Activity script. One, of course, is Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
The Cup of Water
We chose to use water instead of a cup of dirt. The water represents the tears we shed during troubled times.
She couldn’t help but smile while holding the cup of tears! This was taken right before she “shared” her cup of tears with others. She was skeptical if others could hold her tears.
The Lone Knife
Each knife represents a person (aka one of the three strands). By putting our burdens/cup of troubled tears onto just one lone knife (ourselves), we quickly see that it become impossible to carry our burdens alone. We often try to do this, but that is not how God created us. We all too often collapse under the weight of these unshared burdens.
Supporting Knives
Again each knife represents a person. Now we know that God created us to allow others to help carry our burdens but are we willing to do it? Do we believe others are willing to share the burden of our troubles, or are we skeptical that they will let us down? It’s easy to be skeptical, but God has created marriage, families, friendship, and the church body to hold us up and help carry us as Jesus would during our good times and difficulties.
Will the knives be able to support the tears and burdens?
Just as my children were shocked that these three knives were able to hold up a cup full of water, often times we are overwhelmed by the grace and love that we feel when others hold us up during times we are barely able to stand.
Prayer Over Our Hearts
Lord, we praise your name for knowing that this life would be difficult and we would need help not only from you but from others on this Earth. Thank you for creating relationships and encouraging us to rejoice with each other, mourn with each other, and live life together instead of in isolation. May we be willing to allow others to come alongside us. May we also be willing to walk with others during their time of need. In your son’s precious name we pray – Amen!
I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
When we read the story of the woman at the well, there are so many different beautiful points we can pull from this story. But we are going to focus on one that we often hit and then jump off of really quickly. Why? I’m not sure why we jump off of it so quickly. Maybe it’s because sometimes we have a difficult time understanding it ourselves or maybe it’s because it makes us uncomfortable to question whether or not we are filling our heart with what is true. Whatever it is, Jesus makes a powerful statement and it’s ones we need to not jump over but to rejoice in completely so we can let the living water flow!
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
– Jesus, John 4:13-14
What is the Living Water?
Have you seen this month’s Family Time Training Activity? My son called it “epic!” Why? Because in a fun way it helped explain what Jesus meant by “living water.”
Much like the woman at the well, we may initially question, “Where can I get this living water?” “What is it?”
In chapter 4 of John, Jesus uses the term living water to signify eternal life and then a few chapters later, Jesus goes on to describe living water as the Holy Spirit. These two things are intertwined. Those who accept the Holy Spirit and the eternal life Jesus offers will have this living water flowing within them!
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. – John 7:37-39
Teaching this lesson to our kids
From the moment we are born we are crying out. We have needs. At some point we start recognizing that we have an emptiness in our hearts that needs filling. Some call it a God sized hole. Whatever we call it, the truth is God put it there so we would search for Him. Of course, because he is our maker and creator, we long to know him whether we realize this or not. Filling this God sized hole with anything other than him will leave us with an empty feeling still.
Emptiness in our Hearts
The kids discussed what some might fill their hearts with and so we filled up one jar with items representing with these things:
Money
TV
Video Games
Job
Friends/Relationships
Feeling Important
Food
Looking into the jar, it became obvious that even if we tried to cram all these items in there as tight as we could, empty spaces were still present.
The Family Time Training scripts allow all the family members to get involved. Our oldest read the included Scriptures, then we presented the “Living Water” activity to the kids.
Filling our Hearts with Christ
On the other hand, when we fill our lives with Christ’s living water, there is no empty space any where in our hearts. Our hearts are completely filled up! Praise the Lord for filling our God sized hole with His eternal hope and Holy Spirit!
This idea was represented by a second jar with an akla-seltzer tablet in the bottom then filled with water. Our kids were fascinated with this visual of “living water.” We let them each add a tablet to the water jar individually and then allowed them to add a tablet all at the same time. Adding 4 tablets to the water jar at once, caused the water to overflow onto the porch and then run down onto the stone patio. It was a great example of water welling up and flowing from the heart! (Get this full Living Water Activity and script here or check out there current month’s free activity, if you missed this one.)
Adding 4 tablets at one time , showed us how the “living water” wells up and overflows from our hearts!
Prayer Over Our Hearts
Oh, Lord, how amazing you are! Not only have you gifted us an amazing relationship with you, the Creator of the Universe, but you have gifted us a living water so we will never be spiritually thirsty! Praise you, Lord, for all your blessings. Let us never trade this fullness we have in Christ for physical things that only lead to emptiness. When we are allowing you to fill our hearts, you truly create a hope and living water that spills over our hearts and refreshes others in the process. Help us through your Holy Spirit to whet the thirst of others when they come in contact with us, so that we can point them to you and they can have their thirst satisfied as well. We pray this especially for our children! May they see Christ’s living water in us and want their thirst to be quenched too! In the One who is the Messiah, our Savior – Amen!
I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
Teaching children how to be gentle in words, actions and thoughts is imperative so that they can reach out to others in love.
What do you think of when you hear the word “gentleness?”
Our children answered this in all different ways:
Soft
Kind
Like a warm blanket.
Like snow. (I’m assuming powdery snow and not a rock hard snowball!)
I think of my 3 year old son, putting his hand on my cheek, ever so softly, then caressing it down to my chin. He usually does this when he is trying to get something he wants. Sometimes, he does it to show me affection and love. It’s the sweetest thing ever! Reading over this month’s Family Time Training Activity called “Gentleness”, I couldn’t help but think about my son’s actions and wanting that same gentleness to take root in all of our family’s hearts so that we can reach more people for Christ.
Christ was bold, courageous and gentle!
Those descriptions do not always flow together well in our modern day minds. However, we see that it is possible to live this out. It is one of many things we are called to be. We are called to be strong and courageous but also have the Fruit of the Spirit:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-Control
(This is a fun song to help your kids remember all the fruits of the spirit.)
Our youngest son trying to gently blow this “jumping” paper ball into a jar. Blow too forcefully and it will jump straight out of the jar! This ball much like people does not like to be forced to do anything.
How do we see gentleness, boldness, and courage in Jesus’ life?
There are many instances, where Jesus is bold, but at the same time seems to display gentleness in his thoughts, words and deeds.
In speaking to the woman at the well, Jesus calls her to confront her current reality while sharing with her a hope she has never known and showing her a better way.
When facing the soldiers who came to arrest him with swords drawn, Jesus told them he was the man they were looking for, then after Peter cut off Marcus’ ear, Jesus gently picked it up and healed him.
Gentleness isn’t instinctive. It’s definitely something that our children will not learn from this social media enraged age. It’s one of those traits that the Spirit really has to help us hone (well, maybe some more than others) and remind us of constantly.
Do you remember once your children started to move how often you would say be gentle? Whether it was their excitement at trying to pet a dog and nearly slapping the poor thing to death, or a toddler trying to hug a younger sibling but accidentally putting the younger in a choke hold, the reminder of being gentle seems to constantly be escaping our lips.
What age is this activity for & a Tip!
This activity is great for kids of all ages including moms & dads!
If you are thinking “I don’t have time for an extra devotional activity”, I’ll share a tip. Read the devotional part together over dinner and then do the activity after a quick clean up. Paper plates aid in clean up time and the kids move faster when they know there is a fun activity coming.
Gentle in Thoughts, Words, & Deeds
Many times, we relate being gentle to our actions that’s why I appreciate how the Family Time Training devotional activity relates it to our thoughts and words as well!
Our whole family had so much fun with this activity! It was hilarious, frustrating and gave us PLENTY of opportunity to practice being gentle with each other and the paper ball. (Get it while it’s free during the month of March. If you’re reading this after, March click on the previous link to find the current month’s free devotional activity.)
It took us a little while to figure out that we couldn’t forcefully blow the paper ball into the jar because it causes them to jump out!
My gang is pretty competitive. We have been working for a while on not getting upset when we don’t do something perfectly the first time. After reading through the activities and seeing that the first part of the activity was designed to be impossible to accomplish, I warned them that even if they get frustrated to do their best to maintain gentleness and self-control. We had to remind them a couple of times but overall, they did a great job.
The second part of the activity, which is blowing a paper ball into a pop bottle or in our case a glass jar, is possible but it’s all in the approach.Can you guess what kind of approach we must take? A gentle one!
Gentle blows work best, but we also learned that sometimes a more forceful blow depending on the angle will work as well. In the end, it’s all in the approach and as long as we are approaching each situation in a loving way, that we ourselves would appreciate, then we will be displaying gentleness and the fruit of the Spirit.
Prayer over our heart
Lord, you say whatever we ask in your name you will give us. We simply ask today that you will help us to let gentleness take root in our hearts. It’s much easier said than done. Instead of letting anger and our frustrations overcome us, help us to breathe and remember that gentleness draws people in instead of pushing them away. Help us to become more like you and grow into your shinning lights. In learning gentleness, we will be able to reach more people for you. In the One who was bold and gentle at the same time – Amen!
I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
One of the things I love most is finding ways to help explain concepts to our children that even we adults can have a difficult time grasping. I’ve mentioned before that Family Time Training’s lessons are such a resource to our family and this month’s free activity is no exception. It’s all about what the kingdom of God is like–a mustard seed!
Again [Jesus] said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
So here is why I love using Family Time Training’s lessons so much: They use interactive visuals to get the point across and they script the whole lesson out! Sometimes, I’m rocking the analogies with my kids but other times, when pregnancy brain kicks in, I have a difficult time making a coherent sentence. Being able to read the bolded words and follow the script is helpful! (Of course, you can always ad lib if you want.)
This activity is good for all ages because it gets all the kids involved, and honestly, it even made my husband and I think about this parable in a different way, a way that made every day practical sense. Isn’t that what we need to be able to live out Biblical truths–practical applications?
Needed Supplies
Family Time Training “Mustard Seed: Kingdom of God” Printout (Print it out now! It’s only available for free this month – Feb. 2017. If you missed it for free, no worries. They have a great activity available every month AND the option to have a monthly membership which gives you access to all their activities! Go ahead and click on the link to see their current activity.)
A large glass or clear container like a mason jar or vase.
Dark food coloring
Water
Tablespoon
1 cup measuring cup
dropper
mustard seeds or picture of a mustard seed
picture of a mustard seed tree
The Activity
I mentioned even my husband and I learned to look at Jesus’ parable about the kingdom of God in a different way when we did this bible study and hands-on activity. We started this study by describing what earthy kingdoms are typically like then compared that to what the Bible has to say. One of the kids read the corresponding verse. Then we handed out mustard seeds to everyone so they could see how small they are. Next we moved on to the activity, which includes some math. But don’t worry, even the little ones can participate in it!
We began by filling a dropper and counting how many drops it takes to fill up a tablespoon.
What’s your guess?
It took us around 300 drops of water to fill this tablespoon! That was way more than we imagined! Now, just imagine how many thousands are in an eight-cup jar! No, we did not use the dropper to fill the big glass jar. Oh my, that would have taken forever. Thankfully, in the script they point out how many tablespoons it takes to make a cup. The script recommends that you allow your older kids (or parents) to calculate about how many drops are in the big glass jar based on how many cups you put in the jar.
It took us around 300 drops of water to fill this tablespoon! Now just imagine how many thousands are in an eight-cup jar!
From this point, we watched how just a handful of drops of food coloring can make an enormous impact on those thousands of water droplets. At the end of the lesson, we showed them how big a mustard tree grows and how it is able to protect many animals. Once again it reiterated the point that God can use small acts for big purposes!
Lessons Learned
We started talking about how God makes small things big and weak things strong! This is actually one of my favorite points in the entire Bible. We all want to be super heroes in some way. Yet we need to realize that even our smallest actions done for the glory of God can have a huge impact! It doesn’t matter that we are just one humble, unfamous person. God can use anyone if they are seeking His will! It doesn’t matter that we might not be a king or queen, we are the children of the King! He uses the weak to do powerful things!
So what small act can you do today that God may use in a big way? Maybe it’s simply doing a fun Bible activity with your kids! Or maybe it’s passing this activity onto another family. Perhaps it’s passing on a smile or praying over someone. Don’t underestimate what God can use to impact generations!
Check out some of the other Family Time Training Activities we have done and be sure to follow their Facebook page to get future activities!
