What Does God Promise Us?
Advertisers make a plethora of promises to you and your family every day. Buy this car and be the cool carpool mom …play with this toy and swim in a sea of happiness…eat at this restaurant and be satisfied beyond belief. You get the picture! Ads work because we all have aspirations — and the ads (directly or indirectly) promise to fulfill these aspirations. We all know a new car, the latest toy, and a good meal bring temporary happiness, but not lasting joy. So how do we, as parents, anchor our children in lasting joy that can only be found in Christ?
Unlike advertisements, God’s Word points our children to something greater than temporary happiness — a relationship with God! How do we have a relationship with someone? First, we must get to know them. Once we learn WHO they are, we can build trust in them. This is exactly how we build a relationship with God — we read His Word to learn WHO He is and then we learn to trust Him and His promises.
God has given us an abundance of promises. In fact, the Bible contains 8,810 promises — and 7,487 of them are God’s promises made to humankind. Whoa! In this blog, we explore three main promises from God to teach kids. Since kids learn best through application, we’ve also identified activities for each of the 3 promises!
Promise #1
God promises that if we search for Him, we will find Him. And when He is found, there is a great reward for us. Fortunately, God does not play hard-to-get. In fact, He is waiting patiently for us. The best way to find Him and be close to Him is through prayer! This simple, yet powerful, form of worship is how we grow a deep relationship with God.
Bring It Home
Play a game of hide and seek. Talk with your child about their strategies for finding the people who were hiding. Read Deuteronomy 4:29 and discuss how we seek God through reading the Bible and praying. Then go for a prayer walk and seek time with God together. Curious what a prayer walk is? Check out this podcast episode!
Promise #2
God promises that His love will never fail and that He is faithful in every way. No matter what happens in our lives, His love for us is unending and unbreakable. Since God is eternal, His love for us will last for eternity. With this promise, we can trust that God will carry us through any situation we might encounter.
Bring It Home
Use this simple pretzel stick activity as a visual to teach your children that once a promise is broken, it’s impossible to repair! Fortunately for us, we serve a God who will NEVER break His promise and we can be confident about putting our trust in Him.
Promise #3
God promised us the greatest gift of all — salvation! There is no greater blessing than the free gift of God’s salvation, if we believe in His Son. Through salvation — saving us from our sins — God has promised us a new life in Christ.
Bring It Home
The next time your child needs a reminder or consequence about behavior, follow the consequence with a discussion filled with God’s grace! When they are a follower of Christ, they can ask and receive forgiveness for their sin. And, you can share with them that they have the Holy Spirit to help them make better choices in the future. Model this behavior for your children by admitting your own sins and praying aloud for forgiveness.
By fully embracing and believing these three life-changing promises, you can truly walk by faith and not by sight. We can count on God’s Word, and His promises, always and forever.
Relevant Bible Verses
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
– Deuteronomy 4:29
“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?”
– Deuteronomy 4:7
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”
– 1 Chronicles 16:34
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
– Romans 1:16–17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:17
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