Listen to God

Joshua 3 and 6

Something to say

Recap the story. Ask the children what the first thing Joshua did was? He listened to God! Ask the children what else could Joshua have done? He could have made a bomb, got scared and ran away, decide to fight....there are endless answers. Reinforce that Joshua chose to listen to God. God gave Joshua a very odd battle plan but Joshua trusted God and led the Israelites round the walls. God's plan worked!

Something to show

Ask for 4 volunteers. Split them into pairs and give one child in each pair a piece of paper with a simple sentence on it like 'listen to the voice of God'. Send one pair into a quiet corner of the room. With the other pair, keep one child next to you and send the other child (the one with the piece of paper) as far away as possible. Explain that on the count of three you want both the children with the pieces of paper to read out the sentence so their partner can hear the message. Get the rest of Kids Church to also shout really loudly at the same time! After the challenge ask the pair who were next to each other whether they successfully passed on the message. they should have done as even over Kids Church shouting they were right next to each other! Now ask the child who is stood next to you whether they heard their partner reading out the message. They shouldn't have heard it as the partner was too far away and Kids Church were shouting.
Explain this is what listening to God is like. The further away we are from God the harder it is to hear him. We need to be in a relationship with him, get close to him, know him so we can hear his voice.

Something to pray

Get the children to practice listening to God by asking God a question such as 'how much do you love me?'. Then ask them to think of a problem they have like Joshua had a problem. Explain that they can choose to do what Joshua did and listen to what God says about it. Listen to God again asking him what he wants them to do. Pray God would speak to them and that he would help them.

A verse to remember

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105