Objective:
To teach children that as children of God, we have the power to bless ourselves and others, and that we please God when we do so.
God’s Word:
“”I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you. I will put a curse on anyone who calls down a curse on you. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you.” So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.
Abram traveled through the land. He went as far as the large tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the people of Canaan were living in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram at Shechem. He said, “I will give this land to your children after you.” So Abram built an altar there to honor the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there, Abram went on toward the hills east of Bethel. He set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. Abram built an altar there and worshiped the Lord.”
Genesis 12:2-4, 6-8 NIRV
Memory Verse:
Don’t forget to do good. Don’t forget to share with others. God is pleased with those kinds of offerings.
Hebrews 13:16 NIRV
Key Points:
1 Holy Blessing
2 Happy Blessing
Video:
Teaching Slides:
Link to Google slides
Teaching:
Good morning kids! Another week, another lesson about Jesus. Are you ready? If you’re ready, let’s start!
This month we will be following up on what we learned last time about our identity in Christ.
Now, we will continue with learning what we can do because we have those characteristics. And this week our lesson is all about blessings.
Because we are children of God, we have the power to bless.
I will make you into a great nation.
Genesis 12:2
And I will bless you.
I will make your name great.
You will be a blessing to others.
But have you ever thought about that word in detail? As Christians, we use it all the time. Sometimes to the point that it loses its meaning!
# Teacher Charades!
Let’s see if you can guess the following situations. These are the times when we are using to saying, God bless you.
(Call on several teacher pairs to make the kids guess the following)
– someone leaving
– someone talking on the phone then saying goodbye
– before having a meal
– when someone sneezes
– as a sign of respect to elders”
It’s just such common word. And the danger with common words is that if you don’t watch out, they lose their meaning.
So let’s find out what blessing means exactly.
The word bless actually came from the Latin word for blood. In olden times, people used to relate blood with very important things. Life or death sort of things, because blood is life, so to speak. That’s why one of the meanings of blessing is to consecrate or to make something holy.
Eventually, the word also made its way to meaning “to praise” or “to worship”.
Interesting enough, the word “bliss” also made its appearance in the etymology tree of the word bless. And that word means happiness. So you know, a lot blessings mean a lot of happiness!
I am blessed to be a blessing!
Our main idea this week is I Can Bless. And you can do that because God gave you the ability to be blessed. And when you exercise that ability towards others, he will bless you in return.
1. Holy blessing
To bless others is to exercise holiness. It is to acknowledge that we are spiritual beings, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
And God is able to shower all kinds of blessings on you. So in all things and at all times you will have everything you need. You will do more and more good works.
2 Corinthians 9:8
God bless you!
Therefore when we invoke these words, for us Christians it means so much more than just a throwaway expression! It means that we are actually invoking the power of God upon the person we are blessing, speaking God’s promises into their lives. Sometimes we even hold out our hands like this, because the Spirit is just so powerful that we can’t help it.
To bless someone is pleasing to that person, and also pleasing to God, which leads us to our second key point.
2. Happy blessing
Blessing is blissful. It inspires happiness. It brings to mind good things.
Blessings can be a spiritual feeling, but they can also refer to things that we can see, hear, touch, or taste. What are the blessings that you see in this picture?
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the person who goes to him for safety.
Psalm 34:8
This is an awesome verse. It tells us to experience God in the way that He wants us to experience Him — fully, with all of our senses.
God’s goodness is very real. It doesn’t just exist in the heavenly realm. We experience His blessings everyday here on earth, in all its various forms.
So then, when we bless, we should also bless in a way that other people will know God’s goodness. Think of how you can make it so that you can help others to feel, see, hear, touch, or taste goodness. Can you think of some things right now?
Remember that to bless also means to praise or worship. This is telling us that, blessing is pleasing to God. When we bless others, it’s as if we are blessing Him, worshiping Him.
So why don’t we do that right now? Bless the Lord oh my soul, and worship Your Holy Name!