It may alarm you or it could cause you to burst out laughing, but listening to kids in your ministry will always educate you. What do the kids you teach care about most? What are they excited to share with you each week? For the kids you lead it may be their sports teams, a new app on their phones, their friends, or the latest video on YouTube™. Kids reveal what they love most through what they talk about regularly.
And so do you.
We all set our affections and our attention—our worship—on something or someone. We may have a thousand things we like or care about, but the passion of our hearts is to love God and worship Him. When our interests supercede our worship of God and our love for others, we have a problem. However, when we cultivate genuine worship in our hearts and teach our students that the overwhelming passion within us is to love and obey God, they will see it.
Worship is our response to what we love most. It is recognizing and responding to God as worthy, deserving of all honor and praise. (Psalm 29:2) True worship overflows from a heart that is satisfied in God and wants to glorify Him, and it affects every part of our lives.
Wouldn’t it be exciting if what captured your kids’ hearts, minds, and attention spans was true worship of God? It can!
When the kids you lead trust in Jesus for salvation, He makes them new and begins to mold or shape their lives more into the image of Jesus. As they grow in their faith, the truth of God’s Word shapes their minds and hearts and changes their actions to look more like Jesus.
This month as you celebrate Valentine’s Day, help your kids remember that their hearts can praise God no matter where they are—on their way to school, riding a bike, or even posting on social media. Anytime we set our minds and hearts on God and choose to value Him above all else, we worship Him.
For deeper Bible study resources from Lifeway Kids on worship, check out the latest volume of the preteen series Forged: Faith Refined at lifeway.com/forged.
Consider using this free craft with the kids you teach this Valentine’s Day. As you do, discuss these questions about worship:
● What words come to mind when you hear the word worship?
● What do you know about God that makes you want to worship Him?
● How should knowing who God is lead you to value Him most?
● What do you think it looks like to love God with all of our hearts?
● How does knowing and loving God fuel our worship of Him?
Paper Plate Heart Craft (click here to download instructions)
You will need:
Small paper plates
Scissors
Pencil
Single hole punch
Tape
Colorful yarn
Guide kids to fold a paper plate in half and cut out a heart shape from the middle of the paper plate, making a template. Next, instruct them to open the heart template and place it on top of a second plate. Explain that they will trace the heart template onto the center of the second plate with a pencil. Then, they will cut out a heart shape in the center.
Use a single hole punch to punch holes around the entire perimeter of the heart shape.
Select various colors of yarn and guide kids to tape the ends so they don’t fray. Lead kids to thread the yarn through different holes of the heart and tape the yarn in place on the back of the paper plate. Continue threading the yarn around different holes choosing a variety of colors until each hole has been used. Encourage kids to place their craft in their rooms. When they see it, they can stop and remember that God wants their whole hearts to worship Him.
Kayla Stevens is the Content Editor for Lifeway Kids Discipleship. She is a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and William Carey University. Kayla lives in Nashville, Tennessee and has served in Kids ministry for over 10 years.
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