Bible Games for Kids: Sword Drill

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Bible games for kids are great, but you need to make sure that each game is teaching a point or a lesson that will help them grow closer to God and/or learn more about his word. A great game that can be used in Sunday School, Church Youth Groups, bible bowls, Christian schools, or even in a church service, is called a sword drill.

What is this crazy sounding game? No, you don't actually use a metal or wooden sword. You use God's word - the bible.

Hebrews 4:12 KJV says... 

¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

and Ephesians 6:17 KJV says...

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 

Sword Drills for Learning the Word of God

Doing regular sword drills with your Sunday school class, youth groups at church, or Christian school will help the kids learn the word of God. 

How does it work?

Have all the kids hold their bibles above their heads in one hand. The bibles should be all soft back as the hard back bibles can be tougher to turn the pages. When every one is ready and not cheating by putting a finger inside the pages, call out a bible verse for them to find, say go, and see who can find the verse first!

You can have specific verses ready for the sword drill before the class starts or just do it randomly. Either way, the kids will begin learning where the books of the bible are. 

Don't forget to let the kids read the verse when they find it. This will not only ensure they really found the verse, but will get them used to reading God's word. 

For smaller kids, call out books of the bible that are easier to find then work you way up to the harder ones. Some examples of beginner verses for sword drills would be verses found in Genesis, Psalm, Proverbs, Matthew, and Revelation. 

May God bless you in your effort to teach kids about the word of God.

Visit our website Christian Magazine Today for more great stuff and check our our latest post about walking with God.

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Fun Youth Group Games | Bible Lessons for Youth

When you are in charge of a church youth group, you may often find yourself at a loss for new youth group games or a bible lesson for youth that applies to their daily lives.

If you will just look all around, God has given us hundreds of thousands of ideas for teaching kids about him.

Bible Lessons for Youth (and me)

A few weeks ago, I was asked, at the last minute, to come up with some bible lessons for the youth group at church. I wondered what in the world I would come up with to teach the kids that would help them learn about God and still keep today's world in mind.

My second concern was the ages of kids in our church youth group as they range from 5 to 19. How could I keep all of them interested and still teach them a life lesson?

I began by doing sword drills. If you don't know what sword drills are then you definitely need to learn about it and incorporate it in your teachings. First, I let the teenagers race against each other. This not only helped them, but it let the younger kids see how it was played.

I learned a lot from this one youth group game - kids have no idea where the books of the bible are.

This told me that we needed to work on finding books of the bible along with a lesson. If a child doesn't know how to use the bible or where the books of the bible are, then they certainly are not reading the bible at home.

A youth bible lesson doesn't always have to consist of standing in front of the group and talking the entire time. More often than not, letting the kids have some hands on activities will probably teach them more than you could realize.

Fun Youth Group Games

Along with using sword drills as a game and a bible lesson, you can also use everyday common items to teach. For example, a cotton ball, a spoon, and a plastic cup can teach the kids about following God, striving to become closer to him, and teaching the kids to be careful with their life. 

Sounds a little out there, right?

Here is the game:

Divide the kids up into teams. Give the first child in each line a spoon and a cotton ball. Place the cup 10, 20, or even 50 feet in front of each line. 

The kids will have to balance the cotton ball in the spoon while walking toward the cup. When they reach the cup, they must drop the cotton ball into the cup and race back to the next player. Whichever team gets all their cotton balls inside the cup first - wins. If the cotton ball is dropped, the child must pick it up, race back to the starting point and try again.

How will this teach the kids?

The cotton ball is white. This represents our life as Christians. When the cotton ball is dropped during the game, it begins to get dirty just like when we mess up in our lives and sin starts to corrupt us. The child must pick up the cotton ball and start over. When we mess up (sin) in our lives, we must ask God for forgiveness and start the next day over with a clean slate. 

As the kids are balancing the cotton ball on the spoon, they must be careful not to drop it. We have to be careful in our lives, as well. If we are not, we may find ourselves sinning more and more and like the cotton ball becoming dirtier and dirtier. 

The cup represents God. The kids are working toward a goal - to get the cotton ball inside the cup. In life, we also work for a goal - to get to heaven to be with God. 

A Final Note

Pray before each lesson and ask God to help you teach and explain things in a way the kids can understand, but most importantly, to teach the way He wants you to. 

Visit our website Christian Magazine Today for more ways to teach kids the bible.

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Bible Verses About Worry | Why Worry?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

There isn't a day that goes by that you don't worry about something, is there? Did you know that the bible says not to worry?

(See bible verses about worry below.)

Worrying means you don't trust God. I know, it can be hard to give your worries to God and then leave them there. Sometimes we pray and tell God we are giving our troubles to him, but the next day we wake up with the same worry all over again.

Why?

Our human nature is to worry and it can be nearly impossible to not worry about something we are worried about, am I right?

God says we are to give all our cares to him and He will take care of us. So, why can't we do it?

Bible Verses About Worry

Psalm 55:22 KJV
22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee:

1 Peter 5:7 KJV
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Visit our website, Christian Magazine Today, to read more bible verses about worry.

Why Worry?

If God wanted us to worry, he wouldn't have so many bible verses about worry in the bible. For example, he devoted most of one chapter to this very subject.

In Matthew 6, he lets us know that he made the birds and they don't worry where their next meal will come from. He made the flowers, and yet they don't worry. So, why worry?

God also made us. 

He flat out tells us in Matthew 6:34 (KJV), 

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

We are not to worry about tomorrow, because it will take care of itself. How? When we trust in Him, he will provide. Giving all your cares to Him is something you will have to work at. Each time you are worried about something, pray and do your best to give it to Him. When you find that worry creeping back up, pray and give it back to Him. He knows we are not strong enough to take care of things ourselves. That is why He is willing to take it from us. 

Praise the Lord we don't have to do it on our own!

Read more bible verses about worry here.

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Growing Kids God's Way | Christian Parenting

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

As my kids are growing at an alarming rate, I realize that each day becomes crucial for Christian parenting. I can't teach my kids about God fast enough. Even though not a single day goes by in our home that God isn't mentioned, there is still so much more time for 'teaching'. Growing kids God's way is a goal that needs to be set by all Christian parents.

I just added a new post at our website Christian Magazine Today.

The post was centered on youth group lessons for church youth groups. The more I typed about how teaching kids to pray to God and not repeat prayers and how doing the right thing shouldn't just be done because mommy and daddy told them too, but to do it because they love God, I realized that I needed to incorporate these same principals at home as a Christian parent.

After thinking so more, I realized that most adults don't practice these very important aspects of a Christian life either.

Ask yourself these questions...

Do I sit in church listening to the preacher or am I counting the minutes until the service is over?
Do I go to church because it is a routine or because I want to learn all I can about God and the bible?
Do I pray because it's a habit or do I use this time to 'talk' to God?
Do I tell people about God because I love Him and that person or because I think I am suppose to?

What should the answers to these questions be?

I do EVERYTHING because I LOVE God.

When you do everything you do out of love for our heavenly father, a new perspective will begin to grow in your life and your children's lives. Think about growing kids God's way and keep it in the front of your mind as you continue your Christian parenting journey.

I pray that today you will begin doing everything you do because you love God, instead of doing it because it is the 'right' thing to do. Even though that doing it because it is right, it isn't the only reason.

God bless you!

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