Your Hand of Blessing - Preschool Lesson on Psalm 139

Today, during my preschool chapel time, I decided it was time to take out the Big Kid Bible. Usually, I’ll read the students stories from the Children’s Bible, however, during my personal devotion time, the words to Psalm 139 read as a personal love letter and I just had to share it with my little ones.

As I read through God’s Word this morning, one phrase from the Psalm really touched my heart:

“You place Your hand of blessing on my head.”

When I read that, I suddenly got an image of God’s gentle hand resting on my head, comforting me like a Father. It reminded me of a sermon I heard last Sunday from Pastor Ray Bentley. Pastor Ray said, “The Lord has given us authority to bless others.”

"The person who blesses others will prosper; he who satisfies others will be satisfied himself." Proverbs 11:25

Pastor Ray talked about how Joshua blessed the tribes of Israel, speaking words of blessing over them as they left for their assigned allotments of land. Joshua told them, “Love the LORD your God, walk in His ways, keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul…Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing.” (Joshua 22:6, 8) Joshua's words of exhortation were prayers for their future prosperity and outpouring of God's blessings because of their faithful dedication to the LORD.

The pastor encouraged us to exercise our right and authority to bless people in the Name of Jesus. He said to get specific in our blessing, praying blessing on our children, spouse, friends, and even our enemies. I started to think about my daughter, how I should lay hands on her head and speak blessing over her daily. Speaking aloud blessings for her future plans, academic and sport achievements, her spiritual walk with Jesus, and her relationships. Be encouraged and watch Pastor Ray's sermon, Victory - Joshua 22.

I also got the feeling that the LORD was asking me to read this passage of scripture to my preschoolers, blessing them in His Name, and sharing with them His love letter.

Here’s my preschool version of Psalm 139:
O LORD, You look into our hearts and you know everything about us.
You know when we’re sitting here on the carpet or when we’re standing up.
You know everything we’re thinking.
You see us when we go on a trip or when we stay home.
You know everything we do.
You know everything we’re going to say even before we say it, LORD.
You go before us and you follow us.
You place Your hand of blessing on our head.
[Then, I stood up and placed my hand gently on the head of some of my little ones, making them giggle.]
We can never escape from Your Spirit!
We can never get away from Your Presence!
[Then I reminded them that when we invite Jesus to live in our hearts, His Spirit lives in our hearts forever.]
You made every part of our body. Thank you for making us so wonderful!
You watched us as we were being formed in our mommy’s bellies.
[That really made them laugh]
You saw us before we were even born!
Every day of our life is written down in Your book, God.
[I explained how God is writing down everything we do in His book, and when we do something that doesn’t please the LORD, we ask for forgiveness, and Jesus erases that page. So every morning, we get a fresh clean page for God to write on. And when He sees us doing something pleasing to Him, He writes it down, “Saying, good job, My child.” And one day, He’ll read it back to us and place a crown on our head.]

I ended my little Bible time, praying God’s Word with my little ones and told them praying God’s Word is powerful! One of the students remembered a declaration that I’m teaching them this summer and said, “Jesus Power?”

“Yes,” I said, “Jesus Power helps us do what is pleasing in God’s eyes.”

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know all the things I’m worried about.
Point out anything in me that doesn’t please You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
In Jesus Name. Amen.

It’s amazing how receptive preschool children are to the Word of God. They get it, even when using Miss Yolanda’s Big Girl Bible. That’s why Jesus said, “Anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15)

We must be receptive and hungry for God's Word. When we neglect to read it, we are missing out on the greatest love letter ever written. Do you want to know how much God loves you? Open up His Word and He'll tell you.

Love,
Miss Yolanda

Wonder Woman in Training

I recently watched the Wonder Woman movie and I’m obsessed!
I literally want to be Wonder Woman.
I may have to buy a Wonder Woman costume for my preschool dress-up parties. One of the awesome things about working with preschoolers is they don’t judge you for wearing superhero costumes or pajamas.

I absolutely love when a movie inspires me. Wonder Woman is strong, beautiful, loyal, courageous, honest, and a kick-butt awesome fighter. She's a great role model for young, and not so young women, to be warriors - standing for what is right when the world wants us to sit down and let evil triumph.

But, beyond that, my favorite part of the movie was one very specific line spoken by Wonder Woman:

“It’s not about what we deserve but about what we believe. And I believe in love.”

For writers, one line can make or break a book or a movie. One line can grip your heart. That line spoken by Wonder Woman is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a nutshell. It’s a beautiful explanation of the unconditional love of God and the salvation message.

This summer, I started a Bible Study for teens. Everyone says to start with the book of John, so I wrote a 2-page study on Chapter 1. Verse one says, “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  I explained how Jesus is called the Word of God (Revelation 19:13). I traced Jesus all the way back to Genesis 1:3, explaining in great detail, how Jesus has always been, He was not created by God. Jesus is God, and Jesus was involved in the creation process. Simple, right? Wrong. Between verse 1 and verse 2, I lost them. Teens are easily distracted.

So, I basically said, “OK, put down your Bibles and just ask me questions." Wow, teens can ask some pretty tough questions when given a safe place and freedom from judgment. After sweating through my shirt, I basically went back to the basics. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that who ever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” And, because God is a miracle worker, He took my complicated attempt at sharing the simplicity of the Gospel, and spoke to their hearts, and they prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior.

However, after seeing the Wonder Woman movie, I realized that I should have just have let her explain it to them. One line was all it took.

“It’s not about what we deserve. It’s about what we believe. And I believe in love.”

You see, that's the question God is asking humanity, "What do you believe in?"

God says of Himself, "I am love. I’m the very definition of love. Not human love that is conditional on your actions but true love that is unconditional." God's love cannot be earned which is why we don't deserve it.

There is only one thing God asks of us.
Not to earn His love. He already loves us.
This ONE thing allows us to live with Him for eternity.
He asks us to BELIEVE.
Not just in Him, because many people claim to believe in some form of god. They call their gods by all sorts of names.
However, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Old and New Testament, the One True God (Isaiah 45:5), requires one thing for us to be saved from judgment and gain eternal life: belief in His Son, Jesus.

God is a holy God. He cannot be in the presence of sin. Our sin separates us from Him even though He loves us. That is why God sent His only Son to die on the cross. Our sin makes us deserving of judgment but Jesus took that judgment on Himself. Jesus took upon Himself what He DID NOT deserve – our punishment - to give us what we DO NOT deserve – victory over death and eternal life with Him in Heaven.

 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)
He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

Psalm 103:10-13 (NLT)
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

It’s all about WHO we believe in. Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  That is the question God wants us to answer. Our answer is what determines our eternal destiny - heaven or hell.

God’s Word says, “To those who receive Jesus, my Son, as their Savior, to those who believe in His Name, I give the right to become My children, children of God. And because you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved.” John 1:12; Romans 10:9

That’s it! That’s all God desires from us. Belief in His Son.
God sacrificed His greatest treasure on the cross in order to make us His greatest treasure in heaven.
Forever called, Children of God, co-heirs with Christ.

So, Wonder Woman was right. It’s not what we deserve but what we believe that matters.

Wonder Woman learns that mankind has both good and evil in them – light and darkness. And even with all her supernatural abilities, she’s not able to defeat the darkness.
She says, “Inside each of them is light and dark and no superhero can defeat that. Only love can defeat that.”

That was such a profound statement. Each and every one of us has darkness in our heart. For all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) There is no superhero that can defeat the darkness, only love can bring light to the darkness. God is love (1 John 4:8) and God is Light (1 John 1:5) and God's love and light are manifested and glorified in Jesus. That is why Jesus called Himself the Light of the world (John 8:12) and said that anyone who followed Him would not walk in darkness. It’s only through the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that mankind is able to overcome darkness.

I'd like to end with a conversation I had with one of my teens. She was trying to make herself feel better by taking selfie after selfie, attempting to find her self-worth in her outward appearance:

Me: “What makes you special?”
Teen: “I look cute?”
Me: “No. You look cute, but that doesn’t make you special.”
Teen: “Because I’m me?”
Me: “God made you in His image, but what makes you special?”
Teen: With doubt in her eyes, she answered, “Because God loves me?”
Me: “YES! YES! YES! That’s it! You got it!”

I was rewarded with a huge smile that lit up her eyes.
I may not have a cool glowing rope or metal armbands that stop bullets, but I believe in LOVE! I believe God’s love conquers all. And that makes me a Wonder Woman in God’s eyes!

How about you? Are you willing to share God’s love with someone who’s lost in darkness? That’s all it takes to be a superhero for Jesus, a willing heart. He’ll supply the superpower!

Love,
Yolanda aka Wonder Woman in training

A Preschool Tale of God's Love and Captain America

This summer in preschool, I’m teaching the morning Bible lesson. I’m very excited!
When thinking about what theme I should share, I felt like the LORD wanted me to concentrate on His love. All week, I’ve emphasized that from the very beginning God formed us in His image. His whole purpose for creating us was to share His amazing love with us.  From the moment He created Adam and Eve, He looked upon them with a Father's love. And every one of us, from the time He knits us together in our mother's womb, are made in His image. He looks upon us through the eyes of a Father's unconditional love.

1 John 3:1 (MSG)
What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.

Today, because my little guys love superheroes, I decided to tell a preschool tale using my favorite superhero, Captain America, action figure. Yes, I have my own Captain America action figure. Don't judge me.

I showed the class a picture of Captain America before he turned into a superhero. You see, Steve Rogers was a skinny, small, weak kid but he had a very big heart. He wanted to be strong and brave and to defend his country but people would not let him because they told him he was too small. He was ridiculed because he was so small, even his helmet would not fit right. So, as all his friends joined the army, he was left behind.

My preschool boys were not happy to discover that Captain America used to be a scrawny little guy. I could see the denial in the eyes of one of my very devout superhero followers. He looked down at the superhero image of Captain America on his t-shirt and at that picture of Steve Rogers, and I could almost hear him thinking, “No way!!”

Here was how my tale unfolded….
(And yes, I know it’s not really how it happened but it’s my preschool tale and I’m sticking with it.)

Captain America was so sad about being small and rejected, until he remembered the story of David and Goliath from the Bible. David was very small boy when he defeated the giant Goliath with just 5 stones. David defeated Goliath because David believed that God would make him strong and give him victory. It was David’s faith in God that made him big and brave.

So, Captain America decided to open up the Bible and pray to God.

Prayer from Portions of Psalm 118 (CEV)

I love you, LORD God, and you make me strong.

You are my mighty rock, my protector, my shield, and my powerful weapon.

I praise you, LORD!

I prayed, and you rescued me from the bad guys.

The bad guys tried to tie me up in ropes and set a trap for me. 

I was in terrible trouble when I called out to you, God.

God you heard me and answered my prayer.

You, God, scattered my enemies with arrows of lightning.

You reached down from heaven, and you lifted me up!

You rescued me from enemies, who were mean and too powerful for me.

When they attacked, you defended me.

When I was fenced in, you freed and rescued me, because you love me.

You are good to me, LORD, because I do right, 

and You reward me because I am innocent.

I do what you want and never turn to do evil.

I keep your Word in mind so I won’t sin against you.

I try to do right;

You are always loyal to Your loyal people, 

and You are faithful to the faithful.

You, the LORD God, keep my lamp burning and turn darkness to light.

You help me defeat armies.

Your way is perfect, LORD, and Your Word is correct.

You, GOD, are a shield for those who run to you for help.

You alone are God!

Only you are a mighty rock.

 You give me strength and guide me right.

You make my feet run fast and you help me stand strong.

 You alone are my shield.

Your right hand supports me, and by coming to help me,

you have made me famous.

You helped me win against the bad guys. 

You are the living LORD! I will praise you.

You are a mighty rock. I will honor You for keeping me safe.

You protected me from the bad guys

and made me much greater than all of them.

I will praise you, LORD, and tell everyone about you.

You made me a Superhero for Jesus and I’m in the Lord’s Army.

Your faithful love for me will never end.

Thank you, Jesus.

As I came to the end of my preschool tale, I told my little ones, “And that is how Captain America went from a small little guy to a big, brave superhero for Jesus. And you can be a superhero for Jesus too, by hiding God's Word in your heart, praying like David prayed, and having faith in God like David. When you invite Jesus to come live in your heart, Jesus comes in and His Spirit makes you brave, strong, kind, loving, and faithful. He fills your heart with His love and with Jesus on your side, you can defeat any giant in our life.”

When I asked my kiddos, "Who wants to be a superhero for Jesus?", they all raised their hands and prayed. So, I think Captain America will forgive me for embellishing his tale a bit for the sake of happy little hearts filled with the love of God. And I pray God smiles down at me for my crazy preschool tales. They are told in love by a daughter who loves her Heavenly dad.

How about you? Are you ready to be a Superhero for Jesus? I hope so because the God of Angel Armies is looking for a few good men and women.

Love,
Miss Yolanda