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Jun 07, 2022 18:00pm

Faith TALK: Stepping Up to the Fight

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(The following is a family devotional guide with suggested questions and scriptures.)

Focus Verse: I can do all things because Christ gives me the strength. – Philippians 4:13 (NLV)

T-Talk About It Topic

When is the last time you really gave something 110% effort? How was the outcome?

Faith can be really hard to live out, but it can also be the most rewarding when we choose to trust God, not with our eyes, but with our heart. Like anything you want to improve, we have to be willing to “fight” for our faith – not a physical fight but an internal determination to trust God, no matter what. Just imagine: What if you trusted God 100% with some of the adversity going on in your life? What could happen? Well, let’s see what God did for a few men below…

A-Anchor To The Bible

In the Bible, there was a certain man who was very emotional about stepping up to the “fight”. In fact, he asked God to spare him from this adversity. He was in so much agony, distress, and pain (Luke 22:44) about having to face this problem, that he was sweating blood! To make matters even worse, all his friends abandoned him right at the moment he needed them most. I just wonder…have any of you ever felt this way? Well, if you did, then Jesus can certainly relate because he is the man we are talking about! Though he was God’s Son, he was also very human and experienced emotions, just like we all do.

What was it that God was having him face?

Jesus had a main purpose in his life: to ultimately die for our sins. However, when the time came for him to face the reality of dying on the cross, it was almost too much for him to bear. So, he did what many of us would do: beg God to spare him from this fight. But something happened as he prayed…his prayer started to change. Though it began with “Save me, Lord!”, it ended with “Your will be done…not mine.” How did this happen? God has a supernatural ability to change our hearts and wills to align with His heart and will when we willingly lean in closer to him. In that moment, Jesus entered the fight by surrendering to God’s will and not his. Not only did that give him the power to face the cross, trusting God, but it also had an eternal blessing for all of us: His death saved us from our sins. We can now go to Heaven if we accept Jesus as Our Savior. When Jesus stepped up to the fight by trusting God, we all were rewarded! That is the best news of all!

There was another man who stepped up to the fight and trusted God by facing a giant of a problem. David, a young shepherd boy, took some food to his brothers who were fighting for King Saul. King Saul’s army was in a stand-off with the Philistines. The Israelite army was too scared to step up to this fight because of the 9 foot Goliath stood in their way. Every day, Goliath challenged them to fight…and though King Saul was taller than anyone else in the Israelite army, he, too, was scared. Upon hearing about everyone’s fear of this giant, David stepped up to the fight by being the only man willing to face Goliath. David had trust in God – he knew that God had protected him in the past and would protect him now. Though he took 5 stones to use in his sling, he only needed one. God worked through David and empowered him to hit Goliath right in his forehead, knocking him out long enough for David to kill him. Because David stepped up to the fight, God supernaturally fought through him, giving the Israelites victory over the Philistines.

L-Learn God’s Word

So, anytime you are faced with a giant of a problem or any emotion that comes your way, step up to the fight. You never know what God can do in, around, or through you when you are willing to trust Him. That is why Philippians 4:13 will be our focus verse this week. When Jesus surrendered, he was empowered to face his very painful death with strength. When David faced his giant, he was empowered with strength to throw a rock that would take down his giant.

Good things happen when we step up to the fight of faith and trust Him!

K-Keep Each Other Accountable

Here are a few ideas to keep everyone in check with this week’s TALK:

So, how can we step up our fight?

We can pray more! Remember what happened to Jesus’ heart as he was praying about avoiding the cross – God changed his heart to accept his mission. Because of that, we are all blessed! So, praying more would be key! Praying God’s will is even better: “God, if you are allowing me to face this for a reason, help me face this with your strength and bring good out of it.”
Talk with your people about their answered prayers. What prayers has God answered of theirs? Another way of keeping track of answered prayers is by journaling. A prayer journal helps us to reflect back on all the answered prayers we receive over time. If He did it for us in the past, He will do it for us again in the future.

Keep this week’s focus verse in your kiddos’ lunches each day this week; talk about how they can use it in their daily lives – especially at school!

Motivate each other to memorize our focus verse this week. Write the memory verse on a chalkboard and display it by the door. Have them say the verse each morning and initial they did so.