My Sunday school class taught me....

I taught Sunday School yesterday to a group of kids ages four to seven. We talked about anger and feeling sad, and how those are feelings that are normal to have, but how they can lead us to make bad choices (sin). As an example, I had the kids act out a few different scenarios and show me exactly how they would act in each one....I told them to be real, kick and scream...stomp..lay on the ground and cry. Surprisingly, they were very open to this and they all really enjoyed it! They laughed at each other seeing how crazy we look sometimes when things do not go our way.

My intentions was for this to lead to self control, and how we can have strong feelings, but we have to control our actions! We redid the skits and instead of laughing at the "temper tantrum" kid, the plan was to talk as a group about how self control could have been used, and what we as friends could have done to help.  To my amazement, one kid at a time (on their own) would go up and ask if the troubled temper tantrum needed to pray. They all played right along as if this were scripted. The upset kiddo said yes, and so the rest of the class gathered around him and prayed out loud for peace and self control, and joy and happiness. So, without my "teaching".....the kids just took over and finished the lesson. Seeing that two of the kids are my sons, it was beautiful to see them all so willing to help a friend in need. It is simple to see what visible needs a person might have....but the ability to discern somebodies emotional needs is much farther than I had planned on taking this lesson.

I am blessed to be a part of a wonderful ministry, it was good to see the kids following the unction of the Holy Spirit. We are raising up the next generation of the church, the leaders and preachers!! They really got into this. They had absolutely no idea the depth of what they had just learned, but there was a seed planted there that will grow.

I can only pray that as they go into their elementary classrooms, that the Spirit would still nudge them when their emotions try to take over. I pray that they can learn at an early age to stop and just pray when they get overwhelmed. This is as much for me as it is for the five year olds! The kiddos grasped this so quickly, without deep over thought questions, but just at face value. That is what we need to see in our current church. We need to take the Word of God at face value.

So, my prayer for each of you today is this:

Lord, I pray that as we begin our day Lord that you would stir in our spirits the fact that you have gone before us! I thank you Lord that our hearts and minds can stay focused on you today, and not on our surroundings. Teach us Lord not to live off of our emotions, using our feelings to make decisions. God I pray that as our minds get overwhelmed from being pulled in one thousand directions, that we could find a calm in You! I pray conviction Lord, show us what we as individuals need to do so that our emotions are not controlling us!! Thank You Lord for your renewed mercy.....