This free devotional is designed to prepare the heart of the kids for “yet another” year of school. The whole family is invited to join in on this devotional so that you can learn together about God and His heart for wisdom!
Devotional Reinforcements: Give each child a backpack and a Bible.
Pre-Devotional Questions:
- Why do you go to school?
- What types of things do you learn at school?
- Does God want you to be in school?
Back to School Devotional for Children
School can be scary, you are learning new things and becoming familiar with new ideas. There will be new students in your class, you will have a new teacher, and the material will be more challenging than the year before. So why go back? (give them time to answer).
God wants us to be full of wisdom. Do you know what wisdom means? (give them time to answer). Wisdom is having quality in what you know, it is having the best of the best knowledge. Let’s see what the Bible says about wisdom.
Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:5-7)
Let’s break this down, the first sentence is explaining that we should increase what we are learning, we should ask God for more wisdom and more guidance so that we can understand.
The second sentence says, “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Do you think this means that we should be scared of God? (give them time to answer). Of course we should not be scared of God, what this sentence means is that we should honor God. Those who honor God have wisdom, but those who do not choose to honor God are fools.
We should always desire to learn and grow in wisdom, but above all of our classes and above all of our studies, we should desire to learn who God is first! Here is a Bible, this is the most important book you will ever own. Keep your Bible in your backpack at school so that you can always take it out and study God’s Word so that you can grow in wisdom.
Questions:
- What is the beginning of knowledge? (Answer: The fear of the LORD)
- What is the fear of the LORD? (Answer: Honoring God)
- What is the most important book you will ever own? (Answer: The Bible)
Prayer: Dear God, thank you that we get to go back to school and be filled with knowledge and wisdom. We pray that our hearts can always be yours, and as we learn our reading and math, let us also learn to study your Word. We love you and we honor you! Amen
Activity: Look up these passages with your kids so that they become familiar with how to navigate their Bibles.
- John 3:16
- Acts 16:31
- Numbers 6:24
- Psalm 145:9
- Matthew 28:20
Bonus Ideas:
- Download our Back to School Coloring Pages
- Teach our Back to School Sunday School Lesson
- Share our children’s sermons for kids starting school (Pencils Object Lesson & School Supplies Object Lesson)
- Don’t miss our New School Year Event ideas for Children’s Ministry
Share Your Devotion Ideas for Back to School
Leave a comment below and share how you are encouraging kids to stay close to Jesus as they return to the school year schedule.