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When the Sun Stood Still

2/28/2017

Beginning Activity: On whatever day you do your devotional, help your children look up the times of that day’s sunrise and sunset. Use this to talk about how God make the earth to rotate/spin every 24 hours while it also goes around the sun every 365 days. Express to them how beautiful and amazing God’s creation is that each day can be a little different from the next.

Read Deuteronomy 34:9-12

Background: The great leader Moses dies at the end of Deuteronomy. Israel will now be led by Joshua, another great man who had served as Moses’ assistant throughout the Wilderness. It was Joshua - along with Caleb - who told the Israelites in Numbers 13 that God would help them take the land of Canaan and defeat all of God’s enemies there. Now it is up to Joshua, Caleb, and the next generation of Israelites to enter Canaan and battle those enemies. The book of Joshua records many of the battles.

Devotional: In the times of Joshua, there was one day and one battle that was unlike any other. It took place while Joshua and the Israelites were warring against a group of God’s enemies known as the Amorites.

Read Joshua 10:12-14

We do not know exactly how God accomplished this great miracle, but it was obviously a special day for the Israelites. Time after time after time, God worked in special ways to make sure that Israel defeated people who appeared to be stronger than them. Moses promised as much to Joshua.

Read Deuteronomy 31:7-8

Because Joshua and the people of Israel trusted God’s promises and obeyed His word, they were able to enter Canaan and enjoy life in their new home.

DISCUSSION: What are some ways God can help us fight our battles today? Possible answers: We keep God’s word in our hearts and run away from sin when we are tempted. We pray and ask God for His help and direction.

Prayer: In your prayer, ask God to help you fight against sin and to lead you to make choices that allow you to enjoy life as He designed it.

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We Are Like Grasshoppers!

2/21/2017

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Beginning Discussion: Was there ever a time when you felt like you were too small in size or too small in number to do the right thing? Why is it sometimes hard to say or do the right thing when it seems like everyone is against you?

Devotional: In less than two years, the Israelites had traveled from Egypt and were now close to entering Canaan - the land God had always promised to give them. Before the Israelites could live in Canaan, they would need to go to battle against the Canaanites. So Moses chose twelve spies - one from each of the tribes - to check out the enemies. After forty days of spying out Canaan, the twelve men returned to Moses and all of Israel to give their report.

Read Numbers 13:25-33

Even though God had promised Israel that He would give them the land of Canaan, the size and strength of the Canaanites made ten of the spies afraid. They were so afraid that they told the Israelites “we are not able to go up against the people” (Numbers 13:31). They even said that the Canaanites were so big that they felt like grasshoppers. These ten spies had already forgotten God’s promises and all the good things He had already done for them. Two of the spies, however, trusted in God and his promises.

Read Numbers 14:6-9

Out of twelve spies, Joshua and Caleb were the only two who had faith that God would do what He promised. Sadly, the people of Israel listened to the other ten spies instead of believing Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb did not allow the attitudes of everyone else to change their faith in God. As a result, Joshua and Caleb were the only two people their age to get to go into the Promised Land nearly forty years later. God rewarded their faith, even though they were outnumbered. God still rewards our faith in Him today.

DISCUSSION: How can you be like Joshua and Caleb and make good decisions even when many other people might make bad decisions?

Prayer: In your prayer, ask God to give you courage to make right choices and to always put your faith in His word, regardless of who agrees with you.

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Laws to Live By

2/13/2017

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Beginning Discussion: What are some rules for driving on the road? Why are there laws against doing certain things on the road?

Devotional: After the children of Israel escape from the Egyptians, they continue on their journey to the land God always promised them - Canaan. They sometimes took breaks on their travels and set up their tents. They only traveled when God’s presence - a cloud by day and a fire by night - led them. When it moved, they moved. When it stopped, they stopped. After a few months of traveling, they came to a mountain in the wilderness of Sinai.

Read Exodus 19:1-6

When Moses gets to the top of Mount Sinai, God gives him a set of laws for the Israelites to live by. These commands are not just for them, but they are to be told to their children, their grandchildren, and every Israelite that comes after them. They are called “The Ten Commandments,” and they gave the Israelites instructions for how they were to live for God and how they were to treat one another.

Read Matthew 22:35-40

When Jesus was on earth, He said people could fulfill the Ten Commandments by living out the two commands of loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. These two commands help everyone to live the kind of lives that God has designed for us. Just like the rules for driving, God’s rules for living are to give us the best life of all.

DISCUSSION: What does it mean to love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind? What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Are there ever times when following these commands is not easy?

Prayer: In your prayer, thank God for giving us His laws so that we can enjoy the best life possible and ask for His help as we seek to love Him and love everyone around us.

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No Excuses

2/5/2017

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Beginning Discussion: Have you ever been asked to do something good that you thought you weren’t able to do? God sometimes gives us challenges like that so that we put our faith in Him. There are times when God has called upon certain people to use the abilities He has given them so that great things can be done for His glory. What special abilities has God given you?

Devotional: When God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, Moses learned that God expected him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The first thing that came to Moses’s mind were excuses - all of the reasons why he couldn’t lead Israel.

Read Exodus 3:10-14

Moses’s first excuse was “Who am I?” That was his way of saying that he wasn’t an important enough person to do this great work. God simply tells Moses, “I will be with you.” When we want to make the excuse that we are not good enough to do something for God, we need to remember that He has promised to always be with us. It’s not about us. It is about Him. When we give the excuse “Who am I,” God tells us “I AM WHO I AM.”

Read Exodus 4:10-12

Another excuse Moses gives is that he is not good enough at talking to people. Have you ever thought this about yourself? The Bible tells us that we are to tell others about God, but sometimes we (even adults) get scared and nervous. That is how Moses felt in Exodus 4. Just like with the other excuses, God perfectly answers Moses. He says, “Moses, who made your mouth?” That was God’s way of saying that he only asks us to do those things that we have been made to do. We all have been made to tell people about God, and God has promised to help us when we do.

DISCUSSION: What are some ways we can talk to people about God and Jesus? What do people need to hear from us? Why do we get nervous talking to people about God? How can we overcome our nervousness?

Prayer: In your prayer, thank God for the abilities He has given you and ask for His help in using them to His glory.

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When the Sun Stood Still

We Are Like Grasshoppers!

Laws to Live By

No Excuses

Blaine Kelly

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