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.
Before class, place the wood or rope in the middle of the teaching space. If you are using wood, secure it in place so it will not slip out from under the children as they walk across it. As the children enter, they will sit about 1 meter away from the wood.
Here is what I am commanding you to do. Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. I am the Lord your God. I will be with you everywhere you go.
Joshua 1:9
The world can be a scary place. At times, our circumstances may overwhelm us and make us feel hopeless. As we see in the story of Joshua, God is the source of courage. God is always with us in every situation. God is more powerful and stronger than anything we encounter on this earth. That is why we can overcome our fears and show courage.
God gives you courage to do the things your fears and doubts tell you cannot be done. What do you doubt about yourself? God created you and loves you. When you doubt your abilities, remember who created you. When you focus on God’s purpose for you, He will help you to have courage. When you fill your thoughts with God’s mighty power and strength, He will help you through life’s challenges. Have courage, and ask God to help!
Encourage families to talk to their children about their fears. Have the families ask the children why they are afraid of these things. Then encourage them to pray for God to give them courage.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Greet the children as they come to class. Ask them to form 2 lines at 1 end of the space. Ask that they sit in their lines. Before beginning the activity, move some children from the longer line to the shorter one until both lines have about the same number of children.
Let’s do something fun! For this activity, you will need to do something that takes courage.
What is courage?
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
When you do something that is scary or difficult, you show courage. For our game, this will be our balance log.
Point to the log, piece of wood, or rope on the ground.
The children in the line I choose to go first will walk across the log. You will close your eyes as you walk, so you will not be able to see. The children in the other line will guide you as you walk.
Guide the first child across the length of the log to show the children what to do. Have the child stand at 1 end of the log and close his eyes. Help the child walking on the log by telling him to place 1 foot in front of the other. Stabilize him if he gets off-balance. Then allow the children to take turns walking across the log as the children from the other team guide them. Continue for about 5 minutes. If time allows, have the children switch roles to allow all the children to guide and all to walk the log.
Have each child stay with the partner she walks the log with. Ask the children to sit with their partners on the other side of the log.
Think to yourself about whether you were afraid as you walked across the log with your eyes closed. Talk with your partner about your answers to the following questions.
Give the children about 2 minutes to talk with their partners. Then allow 2–3 children to respond to the following question.
If you are afraid of something, can you still show courage? Why or why not?
Having courage does not mean you are not afraid of anything. In fact, the more afraid you are of something, the more courage you need in order to face it. When you do something you are afraid to do you show courage.
Ask the children to return to their normal places.
Let’s listen to a true story from the Bible about a time God’s people—the Israelites—showed courage because they knew God was with them. God had asked the leader of the Israelites—Joshua—to prepare his people to cross a very big river into the land God had promised them. God told Joshua that He would never leave him. Listen to what God said to Joshua:
If possible, read this verse directly from your Bible.
Be strong and brave. You will lead these people. They will take the land as their very own. It is the land I promised to give their people of long ago.
Joshua 1:6
Why do you think Joshua needed to be brave?
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
Pretend there is a large river in front of us. Look at all of that water! I can hardly see the other side!
How would you feel if you were asked to cross this river? Show me on your face and with your actions.
Allow the children to show how they would feel if they were asked to cross the big river.
Joshua may have been afraid of crossing the river. The people he was leading may have been afraid too. Joshua may also have been afraid of the responsibility of leading God’s people. God knew what Joshua was feeling and thinking. Listen to what God said:
Here is what I am commanding you to do. Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. I am the Lord your God. I will be with you everywhere you go.
Joshua 1:9
Joshua did as God said. He led the people to the very big river. Then God made the water in the river stay away from the place where God asked them to cross. Joshua
led the people across the river where there was no water. Let’s pretend to cross the big river.
Have the children walk in place and pretend to look around to see that there is not any water around them.
Optional: If possible, share the image from The Action Bible.
After all the Israelites had crossed the river, they prepared to go to the big city of Jericho. The city was surrounded by high walls and had about 40,000 people! The Israelites would need to go to battle with Jericho in order to go to the land God had promised them. What God asked the Israelites to do might surprise you. God told them to:
March around the city once with all your fighting men. In fact, do it for six days. Have seven priests get trumpets made out of rams’ horns. They must carry them in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times. Tell the priests to blow the trumpets as you march.
Joshua 6:3–4
The ark of the covenant was a box that held the covenant law God gave the Israelites. Some of the priests were supposed to carry the ark and 7 priests were asked to carry 7 trumpets. I will choose 7 volunteers.
Select 7 children to pretend to blow trumpets. They will go in the middle of the line of children.
Let’s pretend we are the Israelites. Everyone stand up. March around the outside of our space with me. We will march around 1 time and then stop. We will do this 6 times.
March around with the children. Encourage the 7 volunteers to pretend to blow their trumpets and make trumpet noises. After you have marched around the teaching space once, stop where you are. Then march around another time. Continue doing this until you have marched around the space with the children 6 times.
Raise your hand if marching around a city you wanted to take control of would scare you.
Do you think the Israelites were scared? Why or why not?
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
Marching around Jericho took courage. The people living in the city had heard about the Israelites and could have easily tried to fight them. This is not what happened, though.
On the seventh day, the Israelites marched around Jericho 7 times, just as God had instructed Joshua. After marching 7 times, the priests were to blow their trumpets and the army was to give 1 loud shout. Let’s do that as if we were the Israelites. Stand up and march around our space 7 times with me.
March around the space with the children 7 times. After the seventh time, ask the “priests” to blow their trumpets. Then ask the rest of the children to give a loud shout.
Listen to what happened next:
The priests blew the trumpets. As soon as the army heard the sound, they gave a loud shout. Then the wall fell down. Everyone charged straight in. So they took the city.
Joshua 6:20
The Israelites won the battle! They trusted God, listened to what He told them, and obeyed what He said. God gave His people the city and helped them to reach the land He had promised them.
Ask the children to sit in their normal places.
How did God’s people show courage?
They trusted God. They marched around Jericho. They took down the walls of Jericho without weapons.
If the Israelites had not obeyed what God asked them to do, do you think they would have won the battle? Why do you think this?
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
You may think the Israelites may have shown courage by charging into Jericho with weapons or entering the city walls and fighting, but this would have been foolish. Instead, they followed what God told them to do and spent many days marching around the city without attacking it. God had already told them how to win the battle. They just needed to have courage and trust God.
When you are in a scary or difficult situation, there are many ways you can choose to show courage. Some suggestions are:
Let’s play a game to help us understand when something takes courage and when something may be foolish. In a moment, I will read a few situations. If you think the situation takes courage, you will stand and make a trumpeting noise like in today’s story. If you think the situation is foolish, you will stay seated.
Good job deciding which situations required courage and which were foolish. Now, find a partner. Together, share your answers to the following questions.
Optional: If you are using the Student Pages, give the children crayons and allow 2–3 minutes for them to draw a way they might show courage.
We all face situations that make us scared. God can give us courage because He is with us. Our memory verse today reminds us that God is with us and will give us courage when we need it.
If you are using the Memory Verse Poster, show it to the students.
So do not be afraid. I am with you. Do not be terrified. I am your God. I will make you strong and help you. I will hold you safe in my hands. I always do what is right.
Isaiah 41:10
Have the children sing or chant with you. Repeat the words to the memory verse 3 times.
End class by saying this blessing, based on Joshua 1:9, over the children.
Blessing: May God help you to be strong and brave. May He help you to not be afraid or lose hope. May you trust that God will be with you everywhere you go.
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.
