Power!

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Lisa Nagle

Exercise:

1. (Parent & Child ) S – Pray together

Ask God to fill you with His spiritual wisdom and understanding.

2. (Parent & Child) S/I - Read Galatians 5:22-23

Ask: Based on these verses, what is our goal as Christians?

Ask: What are some ways that we can be like Jesus?

Ask: What are the characteristics and attitudes that we should imitate? The child may respond like this: “Don’t push the kids at school.” So the parent would write down: “kindness”.

Ask: How hard is it to be kind, gentle, patient, etc?

 Parent Responds: But God has NOT left us alone!

3. (Parent & Child) E – Activity

Take the bowl of water and place it in front of the child. Ask the child to go and get a small object that can float and place it in the water.

Ask: Parents tell the child to move the object without touching it. (The child may pick up the bowl and swish the water around. Or the child may splash the water around the object.

Demonstration: Parent will blow on the object and hopefully it will move across the water.

Ask: What moved the object. (Child answers that it was the air from the parent’s breath.) Yes! That’s right!

4. (Parent & Child) S/I – Read Acts 1:8

Ask: What did Jesus say the disciples would receive when the Holy Spirit came on them? Answer: Power!

Ask: Power to do what?Just as the object floating in the water could not move until we blew on it, neither can we do anything of spiritual value unless God’s Spirit moves and directs us. It is only by His Holy Spirit that we can be gentle, kind, patient, have self-control, joy, peace and so on.

5. (Parent Teach) I – Teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit

What is God’s aim in our lives? To transform us into the image of Jesus Christ! There are three ways the Holy Spirit works in our lives to change us into the image of Jesus. They include:

a. Our fellowship and dependence on God.

b. The circumstances and events in our lives

c. God’s discipline of us.

Let’s look in the bible and find some examples of how God transformed peoples' lives by the work of the Holy Spirit. Parents can look at the lives of Paul, Peter, the disciples and Jesus. Example: For Paul, look at Phil 4:13. For Peter, look at Acts 10.

6. (Parent & Child) E - Application

Think about the circumstances that happened in your life this past year. Can you see how God changed you because of those circumstances? How did you respond to those circumstances? How did they change you? Do you “look” more like Jesus? How can you develop a deeper inward fellowship with Jesus Christ this week?

7. Pray together for God’s transforming work to continue!