September 26, 2021

Parents, just follow the instructions and have a great time with your kids worshipping God and learning from His Word together!

Lesson: Sail 3 (Fasting)

First watch this lesson video:

After the video…

Explore together

Talk about the lesson with your family…

1. See if your child understood what fasting is by asking them to tell you what it involves. (Fasting is when we give something up that we don’t need for a time to make room for God – to spend more time with Him or think about Him more.)

2. Ask your child how fasting helps us grow by completing this sentence: Fasting helps us _____________ (Answer: Focus)

3. In the story of Esther, what did she need courage to do? (She needed courage to enter the King’s court to help save the Jewish people.)

4. Why did Esther want everyone to fast? (Everyone needed to put aside distractions and look to God.)

5. Practice the memory verse together and explain that this verse reminds us to keep our focus on God:

Look to the Lord and to His strength. Always look to Him. – Psalm 105:4

Putting it into practice… Make your own Give-up/Fill-up cups as shown in the video.

Label two cups – one that says “Give up” and one that says “Fill up.”
- – The “Give up” cup will contain ideas for things you can fast from.
- – The “Fill up” cup will contain ideas for things you can do in the place of what you give up to focus on God.
You can come up with your own ideas as a family, or you can print this sheet of ideas and cut out the slips of paper for the cups.

You can use the cups individually whenever a family member wants to fast. You can also use the cups to fast together as a family.

Seek God together

Close with this prayer for your family:

Lord, You are the most important one in our lives. You fill us up with Your amazing love each day. We love You, God. We ask that you help us to focus on You. Help us to make time for You. Bring us closer to You this week. Remind us of your awesome never-ending love, and help us grow more like You. We ask this in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

Celebrate together

This is a song of worship about looking to God.