OBJECTIVES
God prepare my heart for what is to come ahead, for any challenges where I will need your strength and guidance.
God’s Word
Esther 4:1-172
Memory Verse
When you look for me with all your heart, you will find me.
Jeremiah 29: 13 NIRV
PRAISE
New Start – Elevation Youth
Teaching
Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to those who are new to JAM service, and welcome back to those who have been with us for a long time!
Today, you’re attending the first ever JAM Kids service for 2019, can we give a loud cheer for that! It’s amazing that we are all here, the builders, the technical people, the worship team — together will all of you children. It will be another awesome year of worshipping and serving the Lord.
We start off the year with this theme: GOD PREPARE MY HEART
It’s a good theme with which to start the year. Before you do anything, you pray right? The best way to start your day is by reading the Bible, and doing your devotions. We thank God for His blessings, remember His goodness, ask God to be with us throughout the day and help us in everything that we are going to do.
Because we all need help. Specifically, we all need God’s help. Life can be hard or hurtful at times. Or we may be asked to do difficult things, things which we don’t think we can ever do.So today we are going to learn about heart preparation. What does it mean when we say God prepare my heart? And how do we do it?
The Bible story we will use today to help us in our lesson comes from the Book of Esther, about Esther herself. She was a queen, and descendant of Jesus. She went through many hardships in her life, and she had to do a lot of difficult things. And all throughout, she remained faithful and obedient to His commands. And she was able to do everything that was asked of her with the help of God.Before we dive in, let’s watch the video.
Queen Esther was a woman chosen by God to do some very difficult things in her life. She’s a heroine, for sure, but if you read her entire book in the Old Testament, you’ll see that at first she was a) reluctant, and b) scared of the position she was in. Let’s talk about her worries for a bit.
She didn’t want to reveal her faith
When she and her uncle Mordecai came to Persia, they were Jews, or foreigners in a land full of unbelievers. They would have been persecuted for their faith, at the very worst killed even. Can you imagine someone wanting to kill you just because you read the Bible and pray to God? It’s terrible, to say the least.
She didn’t want to be queen
At the time when they came to Persia, the king was looking for a new queen, and held a sort of pageant to find one. Esther was very beautiful, but very shy. She didn’t want to join the ladies who were trying out to be queen. Remember her faith as a Jew? It’s like saying, you don’t want people to be looking at you, and then being asked to join something like America’s Got Talent and being on television.
She didn’t want to represent her people
When she became queen, Mordecai asked Esther to tell the King about the wicked Haman, who were plotting to kill all the Jews. Again, was like, this is just so so much for me. First her uncle told her they have to be discreet about their faith, then he asked her to become queen, then now he’s asking her to speak to the king on behalf of all the Jewish people.But you know what, she prayed about it. And in praying, God gave her courage.
If I have to die, I die.
Esther 4:16b NIRV
These were her words. “Die-die” must follow God. Like Queen Esther, in our own life we will have many victories, many times when we will experience the love of God and, and be showered with His blessings. But together with that, sometimes, we will also experience difficult things. Scary things. Things that we might be reluctant to try, or things that we don’t thing we will ever ever be able to do. But because of Jesus, we have an answer to that
God Prepare My Heart
Our keypoint today is also the title of our teaching. It’s what we want to remember always, for when difficult times come. It’s a humble acknowledgement that we can’t do anything without God’s blessing. It’s a faithful declaration that in all things, we can do better and be better when we are empowered by God. It’s an enduring statement of hope in God, of a strong belief in Him, and in the wisdom and strength that He brings to any situation.
Queen Esther prepared her heart by praying and fasting. But you know what, she didn’t just stop at prayer. She asked Jesus to be in her situation, then she actually put God’s Words in her situation. She put God’s Words to work, activating their power by applying them to her problem. That’s how she found the bravery to risk her own life for her people, the courage to obey.This is our prayer for today. For God to be in our hearts, for God to prepare us for what’s to come ahead, for God to bring us strength and courage like He did with Queen Esther. Why don’t we put God’s Word into action right now by standing up to worship Him.
DISCUSSION
Read the entire passage as a group. Try to do a dramatic reading if the kids are into it.
Bible Studies
You can do this as a game, first to answer, etc. Let them look through the book of Esther to find the answers:
- What is name of Esther’s uncle?
- What is the country where Esther became queen?
- What is the name of her husband the king?
- What is the name of the one who wanted to kill all the Jews
- What were the three things that Esther was afraid to do?
LG Questions:
- What are you most excited for this year a) in school b) in your family c) in church?
- What are you most apprehensive/scared about this year a) in school b) in your family c) in church?
- Apart from praying, what are the things that you can do for every item in number 3 so that they won’t be as scary? (Lead them in this, to let them realise that faith without action is dead.)
- Say a prayer to declare success over all the things that they mentioned in the questions.
TEACHING SLIDES here
