During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Let the Holy Spirit guide and help you when you pray. And by doing these things, remain in God’s love as you wait. You are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.
Jude 1:20–21
The Holy Spirit is a guide to those who believe in God. He was sent to help and guide us in our lives. With faith comes the guide who comes to live in us. What He says to us is always true. We can trust Him to lead us toward that which is good.
Do you ever hear the Holy Spirit asking you to do something? Perhaps He guides you away from danger. Or maybe He guides you to do the right thing when it would otherwise be difficult. The Holy Spirit is given to you to lead and guide you. As you pray each day, ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your thoughts and actions. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His power to do what is right. He is with you, always!
Encourage families to talk about how to listen carefully. Ask them to share things that may distract them from listening to someone else.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Welcome students to class and direct all of them to one end of your space. Ask them to find a partner. Have them share with their partners what they remember about who the Holy Spirit is. Ask them to stay with their partners.
The last couple of weeks we have learned about the Holy Spirit. Today, we will talk about how the Holy Spirit can guide you. Let’s start with a game to help you understand this idea!
I will choose several people to come to the middle of our space. The children in the middle are stuck in the mud and cannot move their feet. They will wave their arms around while they stand still.
Pick about 10 children to spread out around the middle of the space. These children will not remain with their partners.
The rest of you will work with your partners. One of you will be the guide. The other will close her eyes and listen to the guidance of her partner. The guide cannot touch his partner. The goal is to get the person with closed eyes from where she is to the other side of our space. The challenge is to make it across the space without bumping into anyone.
Ask each pair to select 1 guide and 1 child to walk with closed eyes. Explain that the guide cannot touch the child with closed eyes. Allow 3–5 minutes for the pairs to walk to the other side of the space. If there is time, ask the children to switch roles and return to the opposite side of the space.
Optional: Use strips of cloth or blindfolds to cover the eyes of the partners being led.
Great job guiding and listening! Those of you in the middle of the space, thank you for creating a challenge for the walking pairs! You may all come and sit in a circle with me.
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
Today we will learn about the ways the Holy Spirit can guide us through life. Life can be like our game. There are things that can bump into us, hurt us, or even stop us. In our game, the guides helped their partners walk safely across our space. Much like these guides, the Holy Spirit can guide us through life.
Think about a time when it was difficult to pay attention to someone who was talking with you. You may have been distracted by others or by the situation around you. For example, it may be difficult to listen to your teacher in class when you are hungry. It can be difficult to listen well all the time. Even if you know that the information and advice someone is giving you is important, other things that are happening around you can make it difficult to listen.
Give the children an example from your life of something that has distracted you by taking some of your attention away from what was happening.
Allow 3–4 children to respond.
There are many things that can distract us. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us, He wants to guide us. But what happens if we are not paying attention to Him? Will we hear what He says? No!
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
Here are a few ideas that can help. First, if possible, find a quiet place that is away from things that distract you. When you pray, you set aside time to talk to God. But you can also take time to listen to Him as you pray. The Bible tells us about the ways the Holy Spirit can guide our thoughts and our words.
Read these verses directly from your Bible.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak. We don’t know what we should pray for. But the Spirit himself prays for us. He prays through groans too deep for words. God, who looks into our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit. And the Spirit prays for God’s people just as God wants him to pray.
Romans 8:26–27
These Bible verses explain that the Holy Spirit can guide you when you pray. The Holy Spirit can also talk to you at any time. However, when you take away the things that distract you, it is easier to hear what He wants to tell you.
Answers may include: I can ask Him for help. I can ask Him to help me to listen to what He wants to tell me.
When the Holy Spirit speaks, we may not hear real words. Sometimes you can “hear” what He wants to tell you by paying attention to the way you feel. It is important to remember that when the Holy Spirit speaks, it will always agree with what is in the Bible. If what you hear does not agree with the Bible, it is not from God.
Optional: If you are using The Action Bible, show the children the pictures on pages 671–672 as you read the story. If possible, show The Action Bible images as you read.
Listen to this true story from the Bible about a time when the Holy Spirit guided Philip. Philip was 1 of Jesus’ disciples. An angel told him to travel along a certain road. Philip walked down this road in Jerusalem. At the same time, an Ethiopian man was on the road. The man had come to Jerusalem to worship. The man was reading a Scripture— which is a book of the Bible. The man was reading in his chariot when the Holy Spirit spoke to Philip.
The Holy Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot. Stay near it.”
Acts 8:29
Allow 2–3 children to answer.
Let’s find out what happened next. Philip followed the Holy Spirit’s guidance and went to the man. When he heard the Ethiopian man reading, Philip helped him to understand what the Scripture meant. Philip told the man about Jesus. The 2 men took a walk.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water. The official said, “Look! Here is water! What can stop me from being baptized?”
Acts 8:36–37
The man from Ethiopia wanted to be baptised after hearing about Jesus! The Holy Spirit guided Philip to the man so that he would be there at the right time to teach the man about Jesus. The Ethiopian man believed in Jesus! The Bible tells us that Philip baptised the man and the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away.
The Holy Spirit wanted Philip to help the Ethiopian man.
He taught the man about Jesus and baptised him.
This is the role of the Holy Spirit. He guides us, and when we listen to Him, He will help us to live a life that pleases God. The Holy Spirit helps us know God the Father and Jesus more and remind us of the truth in the Bible. Even if we cannot hear exactly what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us, He sometimes gives us feelings and does other things in our lives to help guide our actions.
However, it is very important that you understand that we do not know everything about the Holy Spirit. We do not always know when or why the Holy Spirit guides us. We only know that the Holy Spirit wants to give us wisdom and guide our lives.
If something bad happens, that does not necessarily mean that someone was not listening to the Holy Spirit. We live in a world filled with sin and painful things where bad things happen, even to Christians who are listening to the Holy Spirit. He is with us even when we do experience difficult things. The Holy Spirit is a friend and a guide.
We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can hear Him. Let me give you an example to help you better understand the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a little like the wind. When the wind blows, it moves things. We can see trees swaying and dust blowing, and we may feel the air moving across our bodies. But we cannot see the wind. In a similar way, we may feel the Holy Spirit help us and we may hear Him guide us, but we cannot see Him.
To help us remember how the Holy Spirit can guide us, let’s do something fun with the wind! Each of you will hold up a large leaf to see where the wind will guide it.
Give each child a leaf. Ask the children to hold the stems of their leaves and to hold the leaves high above their heads. Ask the children to run while holding their leaves above their heads. Give them 1 minute to feel how the wind—created by their running—moves their leaves. After a couple minutes, ask the children to sit where they are to finish the lesson.
Optional: If you are using Student Pages, give the children crayons and allow them 2 minutes to colour their rectangles. Once they are done colouring, give the children each a stick and help them follow the directions to make wind socks.
Did you see the air move the leaf? Did you feel the leaf move in your hand? The wind moved the air around the leaf to guide its movements. This is a little like the way the Holy Spirit guides us.
Optional: If you have a kite and string, lead the class outside. Fly the kite to show how the wind guides it.
I can pray.
Let us take a moment to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to guide our lives.
Pause briefly after each statement to allow the children time to listen to what the Holy Spirit may want to say to them. Remind them that the Holy Spirit will always say things that agree with the Bible.
When you ask the Holy Spirit for His power to say and do the right things, His perfect peace will guide you. The power of Holy Spirit will fill you and guide you in life. Our memory verse today says.
May the God who gives hope fill you with great joy. May you have perfect peace as you trust in him. May the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.
Romans 15:13
If you are using the Memory Verse poster, show it to the students now.
As you read the verse, do the following motions with the children. Repeat the memory verse and motions 3 times.
End class by praying this blessing, based on Romans 8:26–27, over the children.
Blessing: May the Holy Spirit be your helper and guide you. May you let Him guide your thoughts and your words as you pray, and as you live your daily life.
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
