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NOTE TO PARENTS: Each of the main points can be taught/discussed over different days throughout the week.
MORE FROM THIS LESSON:
POINT # 1 – STAND STRONG
POINT #3 – PERSUASION
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POINT #2 – SERVITUDE, CONFINEMENT, OPPRESSION
When we know Jesus, and we make Him the Lord of our life and we ask His Holy Spirit to come live inside of us, He gives us freedom. We have so much freedom made available to us for every area of our lives. Just because we have that freedom available to us, doesn’t mean we have applied that freedom to our lives. What does the APPLY mean? (Allow your child to answer: put it to use, put it to work) We have a broom/mop available to us for our floors to be clean, but unless we USE it, or put it to work, our floors will still be dirty. Right? It’s the same way with our freedom in Jesus, He gives it to us, but we have to apply it to our life.
There are 3 areas in our life that Jesus has given us freedom in that we need to stand strong and keep our freedom. Those areas are SERVITUDE, CONFINEMENT, and OPPRESSION.
What do you think SERVITUDE means? (Allow your child to answer: being a slave or not being able to make our own choices for our life) God’s people used to be slaves to other people a long time ago. The Israelites were slaves to Egypt and Pharaoh. God sent Moses to speak to His people and to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites to freedom of slavery. Today, we are not slaves to other people like the Israelites were, but the enemy can try to tell us lies in our mind that make us slaves to him in what we think. He can tell us that we don’t have a choice, but we know that the enemy lies and that’s just a lie from him. With Jesus, we can be free to make choices for our life of how we want to live.
Another area we have freedom in is the freedom of CONFINEMENT. That’s a big word! What do you think that word means? (Allow your child to answer: to keep within limits or a certain area, to keep indoors) So, if we are confined, we are not able to leave the place we are in. It’s like if you were confined to your house and were never able to leave it. That’s confinement. It limits us where we want or need to go that is outside of our house. The enemy will try to confine us in our mind. He will tell us that we can’t do that, we can’t go talk to that person. He will tell us that we can say this or that. He will also tell us that we will never go here or there. He tries to limit us in our thoughts and dreams. But, we know that Jesus tells us that NOTHING is impossible with God!
The last area of freedom we will talk about is our freedom of OPPRESSION. What does OPPRESSION mean? (Allow your child to answer: cruel, mean, wrong, and unjust use of power or authority) The Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians and were treated very mean and wrong. They Egyptians would hit and hurt the Israelites. That is an example of oppression. The enemy will try to do the same thing to us in our mind. He will try to tell us that we are not good, that no one loves us, that we deserve to hurt and be sad. These are all lies of the enemy. Those thoughts are cruel, mean, wrong and unjust to our mind and heart. Jesus says we are free from the authority of the enemy and darkness. He tells us that ALL authority has been given to Him and because His Holy Spirit lives in us, in our heart, we too have the same authority over the enemy. We just have to use it.
Discussion Questions
- Have you ever felt like a slave in some ways? Maybe you have had someone telling you choices to make all of the time (other than your parents)? How did that make you feel? How did you handle that?
- Why do our parents tell us or help us with what choices to make a lot of the time?
- Have you ever been confined to a place where you couldn’t leave? Explain. Did you like that? How did you feel when you were able to leave and not be confined anymore?
- Have you ever had someone treat you mean and wrong? Explain. How did that make you feel? What did you do about it?
- Has the enemy ever told you mean and wrong thoughts about yourself? What were those thoughts? Do you still have those thoughts? If not, did you do something to make those thoughts stop? What did you do? Did Jesus help you? How?
Prayer
Jesus, thank you giving us freedom from SERVITUDE, CONFINEMENT, and OPPRESSION. We are so thankful that you have ALL authority in heaven and on earth. Thank you for sharing that power and authority over darkness with us. We are so thankful that we do not have to be slaves or confined or oppressed because we have the Holy Spirit and your authority inside of us. Holy Spirit, we ask you to help us to know when the enemy tries to lie to us. Help us to immediately tell him no and ask you to fill us up with your Spirit and your truth. We want to be so full of Your truth that the lies are easy to recognize and easy to say “no” to. Help us to be strong and not believe the lies that the enemy tries to speak to us. Help us to apply the freedom You have given us. We pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Scripture Memory Verse
“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6 (NLT)
Application/Activity
Worship Song
“No Longer Slaves”