Biblical reference: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs (3:5-6)
Purpose of the meeting: we are going to teach the pre-teens about TRUST, what does it really mean to trust? What does it mean to lean on your own understanding? How can they benefit from placing their trust in God and what does it mean to trust in God, the juniors should leave with a clear understanding of trust – and should be able to make a decision that if they trust in God and consider Him in everything they do, then surely He will guide them in everything and He will help them to build up a relationship with Him.
Initiating the meeting: Start of with an opening prayer – lets really ask the Holy Spirit to take control of our meetings and that through us He may speak directly inside of the hearts of each junior.
Activity: for them to understand what we will speak about you will start off with the following tasks so that you can better explain the message and that they can have a clearer understanding of what we will speak about.
The classic trust game: Get the juniors to pair up into two’s if there is not enough of them then they can get into a group of three and take it in turns, try to make them to pair up with someone they do not usually speak to regularly as this will make the game more effective, your going to need a bit of space for this. Ask them to face their partners and one will need to shut their eyes, then the person with their eyes opened will ask their partner “do you trust me?” and if the other one says yes then the one with their eyes open will slowly spin the person with their eyes closed round three times and then the person with their eyes open will stand a reasonable distance away from the one with their eyes closed then the one with their eyes open will say to the one with their eyes closed “if you trust me, fall back and I will catch you” then depending on if they trust the person then fall either reluctantly or will fall freely, let them swap round for the other person to have a turn also.
Spiritual Message: Ask them about the activity how they found it? Who found it hard to fall back? Who fell back easily? Ask them why? Those who were reluctant to fall was because they did not trust the person behind them and those who fell freely was because they had a trust in the person, ask them what they think the words trust means? As we see from the simple passage in proverbs, trust is very important especially trusting in God, but the sad reality is that nowadays many people are deciding not to trust in God or they are beginning to loose their trust in Him, just like the example there are some who are willing to fall backwards with their eyes closed because they know God will catch them and others are scared or don’t feel comfortable to do this and this is down to trust!
God promised to not only takes care of us but also guides us, this passage talks about leaning on your own understanding and not acknowledging Him in everything we do, these are the ways we show lack of trust in God and when we begin to do this at times we do not realise it but we begin to trust more in ourselves then in God, when we think we know it all and that we do not need God then we make decisions on our own, you can ask them how many times have you decided to do or say something and later on regretted it and thought “oh my! Why did I do say or do that?” this was because we were leaning on our own understanding, and this is one of the ways we show that we do not trust in God, (give other examples of leaning on your own understanding) Another way as we said is not acknowledging Him in ALL our ways meaning remembering God in everything we do and through out our day, you can ask them, who here has ever decided not to pray for their food at lunch time because they were in the lunch hall in front of so many people/friends and they were scared of what people would say if they closed their eyes to pray (that is a classic example of not acknowledging God) or asking God for help before an exam or test, asking God to help you to understand the work you are given at school, or to give you the right words to say to your friend who is feeling upset, this is to acknowledge God in all your ways, and when we do this we show that we trust in Him. Trust is a very important thing, your parents trust in you and that’s why many times they give you money, they allow you to go out to certain places on your own, why do they do that? Because they believe in you, or better still, you all trust in your parents? that’s why you ask them for things, That’s why you obey them, that’s why you do what they tell you to do, why? Because you trust that everything that they are doing and telling you is for your own good, this is exactly how we should trust in God, because everything that He says and does is for our best interest and He loves us and would never do or say anything to harm us.
Conclusion: Are you willing to trust in God? It is not wrong to trust our family and friends but above everyone and everything God invites us to trust Him with ALL of our hearts, why should we not put all of our hearts into trusting others because like us they are humans and sometimes we humans can disappoint each other, but God will never disappoint us. So there are two important ways that we can show that we trust in God with all of our hearts
1) leaning not on our own understanding – i.e. Not thinking we are Mr or Mrs know it all and that we do not need guidance or advice &
2) acknowledge Him in ALL our ways – Try to remember God during your day, e.g. – praying before you have a lesson asking God to help you, praying for God to bless your food before you eat, if your friend is down or upset you can ask God to give you the words to help them. As a result of this God will do His part which is to take care of you and to direct your paths always.
Invite the juniors to seek the Holy Spirit with you, invite those who want to begin to trust in God, those who already trust Him should ask God to help them to keep their trust in Him.
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| TRUST |
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| TRUST |
