Jacob and Esau

 


Jacob and Esau

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Read the chapters about Jacob and Esau in your Bible. (Gen. 25-35) Then find the stories in your children’s Bible and share them with your children

Jacob and Esau were twins born to Isaac and Rebekah.  They were very different. Jacob was fair-skinned; Esau was hairy. Jacob grew up to love cooking; Esau grew up to love hunting.

Esau was a few minutes older than Jacob so the blessing of the father would go to him, but Jacob tricked Esau into giving him the birthright and he lied to his father to get the blessing from him.  Talk about sibling rivalry!!  Ephesians  4:25

Joseph had to leave town to get away from his angry brother.  On his journey, when stopped to rest, he had a dream – God told him that He was going to bless him with more children than the sand, just as He had told Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, that He would bless him with more children than the stars

Isn’t it amazing to think about the fact that after Jacob had just lied to his dad and stolen the blessing from his brother, God still promised him blessings and His presence wherever he went.  Wow – what love, grace, and forgiveness! Nothing we can do will stop God from blessing and loving us, just as nothing your children can do will destroy your love and care for them.  Please emphasize this fact with your little ones.

Jacob worked 7 years for a wife only to be deceived by Rachel’s father when he gave him his daughter Leah instead.   He then had to work another 7 years to get Rachel.

Interesting that Jacob deceived his father and then he was deceived by his father-in-law and later by his sons Galatians 6:7

After many years Jacob cautiously traveled back to see Esau who lovingly welcomed his brother home Ephesians 4:32

This website has some Jacob and Essau activities to do: http://www.dltk-bible.com/old_testament/jacob_and_esau-index.htm

Act out the story.  Here’s what I did with our grandsons on my last visit with them. I used what yarn that was available to make Esau hairy 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbasyoZ7yIg

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Talking to Children About the Election

He determines the course of world events;
he removes kings and sets others on the throne.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.
Daniel 2:21

1 Tim. 6:15 tells us that God is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords. However, God gives us opportunity to seek out people to lead us.  This week we have the privilege to vote for wise leaders.

In 1 Samuel 16. God gave Samuel the job to seek out a king for his people. This is what He told Samuel,

“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7

Samuel annointed David to be the new king.  God was very pleased – look what He said about David!!!!

After removing Saul, he made David their king.
He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart;
he will do everything I want him to do.’
Acts 13:22

Talk with your children about this and lead them to pray with you that our nation will vote for people with good hearts.

Take your children with you to vote if possible.  Never miss a teaching moment; take advantage of every opportunity to establish God’s Word in them as you apply it to every situation.

For fun on Election Day:

– March and wave flags as our nation exercises the freedom to help choose our leaders

– Make a red, white, and blue dessert.

– Go here for a fun way to learn about when David was chosen to be king

 

 

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Let’s Learn About the Life of Moses

Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Josua 1:9

Just as the verse promises, God was with Moses wherever he went throughout his life and He will be with us wherever we go.  Have fun teaching the life of Moses and this wonderful promise to your children.  I recently spent a week doing this with my grandsons and we had a blast!!

Read the Scripture passages and retell the stories in your own words.  Also read the stories to your children from a children’s Bible.  Share  Joshua 1:9 often as you do the following activities.

Moses is born
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10

(Make a basket out of paper and put a baby in it.  Hide in real grass or make paper grass)

God Calls Moses
Exodus 3

(Put bits of yellow, orange, and red construction paper in a bush to represent the burning bush)

Crossing the Red Sea
Exodus 14

(Take blue construction paper and fold the ends to the center.  Glue sand or brown construction paper in the center)
(Use toy figures and don’t forget the army men)

Eating and Drinking in the Wilderness
Exodus 16:1 – 17:7

(Let manna fall from heaven (soda crackers or popcorn cake or any kind of white wafer)

(Run a hose pipe under a rock and have someone turn on the water as the child strikes the rock)
(Notice the backpacks packed for their trip in the Wilderness)

Here’s a song with motions to help memorize the verse:

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Teaching Preschoolers Contentment

Giving thanks produces contentment.  Read the suggested passages for Bible stories or thoughts and tell them in your own words.   Do one each day along with a suggested activities.  Put the Bible verse on the fridge and repeat it often.

 


(Choosing to be happy with what you have)


Bible Verse: In everything give thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Bible Stories:
Hebrews 1:15 – God wants us to give Him thanks more than anything. He would rather us tell Him “thank you” than to give Him money. He would rather us tell Him “thank you” than give Him presents. God likes to hear “thank you”.

Psalm 119:1 – David thanked God for everything God did. He thanked him for the good things. He even thanked God for the bad things that happened. David thanked God even when he was hurt because it helped him to learn God’s Word. The bad things that happen to us can help us learn more about God when we go through the hurtful things. God wants us to thank Him when good things happen and not so good things happen.

John 6:1-13 – One day Jesus was teaching a lot of people and they were all hungry. Jesus took what food was given to him by a little boy and thanked God for the food. God made enough food from that to feed all the people. Jesus gave thanks for His food and so should we.

Luke 17:11-19 – One day 10 sick men came to see Jesus. They asked Jesus to help make them well. He told them how to be healed. When they obeyed him, they were healed. All 10 were healed but only 1 came back to thank Jesus.

Psalm 139:14 David thanked God for making him. He said, “I will thank God for making me wonderfully” David thanked God for making all of his body – eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, feet, stomach, etc. Thank God for making all of you.

Prayer: Help us focus on things we do have, not on the things we don’t have

Activities:
Thank God for someone special and make a card for them.
Make a ‘thank you box’ and find pictures of things to put in it.
Paste picture of foods (favorite and not so favorite) on a paper plate and write the Bible verse on it. (John 6:1-13)
Make paper cut outs of the 10 sick men and act out the story. (Luke 17:11-19)
Play ball together and thank God for each part of the body as you use them. (Psalm 139:14)

 

A Thankful Song

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Trust

(This is a lesson from Here a Little, There a Little, a compilation of Bible activities I created to use with my preschool children. It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through Bible lessons and activities.)

 

Trust

Bible Verse: What time I am afraid I will trust in God.  Psalm 56:3


Bible Stories:

Psalm 56 Some mean men were fighting against David.  They wanted to hurt him.  David became afraid, but he remembered that when he was afraid he could trust God.  So David said, “What time I am afraid I will trust in God..”  Then David knew that it didn’t matter what men tried to do to him because God was protecting him.

Luke 2:8-14 Remember the shepherds watching the sheep the night Jesus was born?  The Bible said that they were afraid when they saw the angel that appeared to them.  The angel said, “Don’t be afraid for I bring you good news about Jesus.”  The shepherds learned what time they were afraid to trust in God.

2 Corinthians 11 – 12:10 Paul went through many problems.  He was in prison; he was beaten; he had a wreck in a boat 3 times; some men took all he had and hurt him.  Paul had times of being hungry, thirsty, and cold.  But through all that, even though he was afraid many times, he knew to trust God to make him strong in the midst of all these problems.  Paul learned what time he was afraid to trust in God.

Genesis 14 A bad king had taken Abraham’s nephew, Lot.  Abraham knew he must do something to help Lot.  The bad king had many, many men to help him, but Abraham had only a few to help him.   However, Abraham received a promise from God that He would take care of his enemies.  Abraham didn’t have to be afraid of all those men who were going to help the bad king,  he could trust God to take care of him and his family.

Daniel 6:7-23 The king gave an order that no one was to pray to anyone but him or they would be put in the lions den.  Daniel loved God very much and he knew that the Bible said to always pray to God and only God – no one else.  So Daniel continued to pray to God and the king threw him into the lions den.  Daniel knew that when he was afraid he could trust in God, so he trusted God right there in the lions den and do you know what happened?  Instead of the lions biting Daniel like the king thought they would, God shut the mouths of the lions so they couldn’t hurt Daniel!!!


Prayer:
Thank you, God,  that we can trust in You at all times in every situation.


Activities:

Make a clock face out of a paper plate and a brad to hold the clock hands on.  Write the Bible verse on the clock and hang it in a prominent place like on the refrigerator door.

Pretend together with toys, dolls, stuffed animals and that one of them is afraid. Talk about trusting in God whenever he’s afraid.

Spend time all week talking to God about a problem the child or family has. (ex. going to potty, finances, afraid of the dark, etc)  Talk about trusting God to take care of the problem.  Talk about trusting God anytime, anywhere, and with any problem.

Act out Genesis 14 with army men using many to represent king’s army and only a few for David’s.

Act out Daniel 6:7-23 in the lions den.  You could use stuffed animals for lions or make lion masks out of paper plates and yarn for the manes.

 

Songs:

Put the verse to music for easy memorizing.  Compose your own tune or use a familiar one.  Here’s mine to the tune of  ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’: What Time I Am Afraid

You can find cd’s of scripture put to music.  Steve Green has some especially for children:
Hide ’em in Your Heart Vol. 1 (This volume has Psalm 56:3 on it)
Hide ’em in Your Heart Vol. 2
Steve Green: Hide ’em in Your Heart: 13 Bible Memory Music Videos for Children of All Ages [VHS]

Books:

Find these stories in a children’s Bible.  If you don’t have one, check here or here for some good ones.  Below are two of my favorites:
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes
Read and Share Bible

Arch Books has a book about many, many Bible stories.  Begin building your library with these colorfully illustrated paperbacks
Daniel in the Lions Den: Daniel 6 for Children (Arch Books)

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