Faith in God is the turnkey to His miracle-working power manifesting in our lives; a truth kids need to understand. And God isn’t just looking to perform the big, showy miracles like parting the Red Sea but the everyday ones too, like crossing the Jordan. Regardless of the need or nature of the miracle, it requires faith to receive it.
Matthew 9:22 gives a picture of the importance of faith. “Jesus turned and saw her, ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed from that moment.”
A good example of negative faith is found in Matthew 13:58. “And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”
As teachers know, believing in God is easy when everything goes right but during times of crisis, belief and faith in God is paramount. Help your children understand faith with these faith object lessons.
1. Flip the switch. Black out the windows with garbage bags or aluminum foil. Limit the lighting to one light that you can control with a switch. If your kids are very young, don’t make it completely dark. (That can scare some children.) Ask kids what they think will happen when you flip the switch. They will answer the room will go dark. Give a demonstration. Explain to kids that they had faith that the lights would go out and come back on. It takes faith that the light will work. If you didn’t have faith you wouldn’t flip the switch!
2. Float the beach ball. Set up a fan to tilt upwards. I like the kind that swivels around; these work great. You’ll also need an inflated beach ball to demonstrate the moving of the air. Ask the kids what will happen when the fan is turned on. They’ll tell you that the air will move. I explain to the kids that although they can’t see it, the air is real. Tell kids that their faith is like the air. Human eyes see it but God can. Faith is real and it moves the invisible world.
3. Fall backwards. For this object lesson, we demonstrate faith by asking volunteers to fall backwards into the arms of their friends. Tell kids that trusting God is sometimes like closing your eyes and falling into His arms. I always use adult volunteers to catch the kids. It’s a fun, interactive demonstration.
4. Pour the water. For this faith object lesson, you need two clear glasses and two types of water — regular and sparkling. Pour one glass half full of regular water and the other with sparkling water. Ask kids to tell you what the obvious differences are. I tell kids that the bubbles in the sparkling water are like a person’s faith. It bubbles up inside us and makes our lives sweeter.
Faith is such an important part of our Christian faith. Reinforce the object lessons with regular lessons and teachings on this powerful subject.
What does “faith” mean?
The dictionary defines faith as “completed trust” and “confidence.” The Bible takes it one step further and describes faith as a strong belief based on something beyond proof. This is the work of the Spirit, to give assurance beyond what we can see.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV
How can you define “faith” for a child?
Faith means trusting what God says, even when it’s hard to understand.
When we put our faith in Jesus – that means we accept what he said about eternal life and decide to make our life’s focus obeying him. It’s both the attitude of trust and action of choosing to follow him.