Family Challenge 9/23/25
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.
· How can we shift an environment with worship? What did we do in class before we sang “Goodness of God”? (verses we referenced last week: Ps. 100:4, 8:2. 22:3 and Rom. 1:21)
· Consider “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6. How does this verse relate to how important it is to seek God’s voice in our lives?
· After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice… My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” –John 10:4-5 NLT. Talk about the importance of learning how to “hear God’s voice”. Do we hear Him with our natural ears? How do you think He talks to us today? Have you “heard” God speak to you? Share stories with one another. Then pray the above passage over you and your family – “Thank you Lord that we are your sheep and know your voice. We will not listen to the voice of a stranger; in fact, we will run from it. Teach us Lord more about you so that we might learn to clearly discern between your voice and that of a stranger. Grow us to become hearers AND doers of your Word.”
· The Bible says we are to live in this world but not be of this world (John 17:15,16). It also says we are citizens of another world – the kingdom of heaven (Philippians 3:20). Discuss the tension in this. What does it mean? Try to brainstorm some examples or share your own.
· Use suggested questions for journals (use any or all or have them journal about something you think is more relevant to them).
Questions for Journals:
Illustrate John 10:4-5 OR Proverbs 3:5-6 in your journals. Write the verse next to it or paraphrase it.
Today we talked about different ways to hear God’s voice. Write down as many as you can remember. Circle all the ways you feel God has “spoken to you”. Write down any other ways you have experienced Him.
Write out your desire to hear God’s voice. Make it a prayer. “Lord, I want to _____________________________________________________________________.
Practice soaking this week, simply sit with quiet worship music. Ask questions if you want, but it’s also just as powerful to sit in the quiet and just be content in it. He’s glad to be with you. There doesn’t need to be an agenda