Operation Faith Challenge: 3 Preteen Devotions for Spiritual Growth
Use these three Operation Faith Challenge devotions to foster spiritual growth and development in your preteen kids.
Operation Faith Challenge: Heal What’s Broken
Directive: Give others grace and forgiveness.
Armor: Matthew 5:23-24
You’ll need:
Basic Training
Say: When people go through tough times in their relationships, they look for peace, compromise, or healing. We all have broken relationships that need forgiveness and restoration. It can help to remember that because God’s grace saves us, we can show grace to others.
Read aloud Matthew 5:23-24 from a Bible.
Show kids a scrap of fabric and tell them it’s like a relationship. Then rip the fabric.
Ask:
- What are some things that rip up a relationship?
Have kids try to put the fabric back together. Hold up the ripped fabric.
Say: The consequences of ripped relationships are sometimes like this fabric—very hard to put back together. Thankfully, we have Jesus. He can help us mend broken relationships when we ask him.
Covert Ops Challenge
Say: Think of a relationship you need to mend. Sometime this week, go to that person and offer forgiveness, an apology, or whatever is needed to bring peace between you.
Encourage kids to journal about their experiences this week.
Mission Accomplished
The next week, follow up with any returning kids and invite them to tell about ways they’ve started mending any broken friendships or hard feelings with family members.
Operation Faith Challenge: Mouth Guard
Directive: Control what you say.
Armor: Matthew 15:10-20
You’ll need:
Basic Training
Say: Many of the conflicts we face are the result of things we say. We have to learn to control our tongues so our words don’t hurt others.
Read aloud Matthew 15:10-20 from a Bible.
Tell about a time someone’s words hurt you. Then have kids share times they’ve been hurt by words. Have kids write the words on separate sheets of paper and wad them up. Each person will need three paper wads. Have kids each try to juggle their words.
Afterward, discuss:
- How easy or difficult was it to keep control of these words in the air?
- How easy or difficult is it to control our words?
Covert Ops Challenge
Say: Use the “Kind, Necessary, and True” filter for what you say this week. Before you say something, ask yourself, “Is it kind? Is it necessary? and “Is it true?” Whenever you’re tempted to say something questionable, I encourage you to guard your mouth, making sure everything that comes from it is true, kind, and necessary.
Invite kids to journal about their experiences this week.
Mission Accomplished
The next week, follow up on the mission by covering an entire wall with paper. Give kids markers and tell them that their goal is to cover it with words that are true, kind, and necessary. Afterward, have kids step back and thank God that he’s given us so many words to make one another’s lives better.
Operation Faith Challenge: Walk the Talk
Directive: Pray continually.
Armor: Ephesians 6:18-20
Basic Training
Say: Prayer is one of the most powerful tools we have as Christians. Most struggles we face aren’t physical battles—they’re struggles in our lives, relationships, and hearts. Prayer is the first thing we can turn to when we face struggles.
- Have kids find the heaviest object in your room that they can pick up together.
- The twist is that kids can only lift using their pinky fingers! (Kids will struggle, but that’s part of the experience!)
- Start with the smallest object in the room, and then move up to larger items.
Say: Prayer is God’s way of helping us when we struggle with heavy things in our lives. Answered prayer may not always come the way we expect it to. If that’s the case, God may have answered the prayer in a different way. Or he has something even better for us.
Covert Ops Challenge
Have kids think about a recent struggle in their life.
Say: Ask God for guidance and wisdom in the situation every day this week.
Encourage kids to create a list of people they can pray daily for in their journals.
Mission Accomplished
When kids return, invite them to report on any answered prayers. Then have them share prayer requests with one another and write them down to take home. Encourage them to help each other carry heavy burdens by praying for one another this coming week.
Check out the Be Bold Preteen Curriculum for even more lessons and activities for your preteen kids.
Looking for more children’s messages? Check out these posts!
