Family
Challenge 9/16/25
There are simply ideas. Use these, modify them, make your own. The idea is to create space and to cultivate a family culture where talking about the things of God is modeled and encouraged.
· Memorize Mark 10:14b-15, as much or
as little as seems right for your children.
Find the story in your Storybook Bible. Have your children retell the
story. Have them act it out. Post it somewhere prominent in your home. Talk
about it. Help them to understand how much Jesus cares for children and how
much simpler it is for kids to understand the kingdom. Ask questions, ask the
why. Help the story come alive. Use the declaration to help your children speak
TRUTH over themselves (consider posting it in a place where they can see this
daily; I just heard someone say it takes 60 days for these truths to firmly
plant in us). Consider writing the declaration, or a family variation of it, on
a bathroom mirror in a dry-erase marker .
He did not like his followers telling the children not to
come. So he said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them,
because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little
children. The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child
accepts things, or you will never enter it.”
-Mark 10:14b-15 ERV (Easier for kids to memorize part or all,
but I love the visual story “painted” in the MSG version, v. 13-16)
DECLARATION: I AM A CHILD OF GOD. I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE. I
AM MADE TO CARRY THE KINGDOM WHEREVER I GO.
· Share a God story with your children. Read a God story (some of my favorite ones can be found in Increase Kids). Share your own story of when you knew God was communicating with you and how it made a difference in your life. While “hearing” God’s voice can seem like an abstract concept, we will work together to take out the mystery and create ample opportunities to practice
· Discuss why having a relationship with God is vital to learning to hear His voice. How does the following verse amplify this (see also John 15:14-15)? Don’t be bothered if there seems to be a wrestling in this. Allow space if your children communicate doubt (if that’s brought up), let them wrestle, give them opportunities to ask questions, remind them that the Bible says God does not lie (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18), and then ask if you can pray for them, that God would make Himself very real to them (or for all of you). Ask your kids to share with you the different “friends of God” we talked about at FBA (Abraham, Enoch, David, Noah, Moses, disciples).
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My sheep hear my voice and I know them… They will not listen to the voice
of a stranger (John
10:4-5, 27).
· Use suggested questions for journals
(use any or all or have them journal about something you think is more relevant
to them).