Peace and Patience

OBJECTIVE

We hope to teach children that by planting their lives in Jesus and trying to be like Him, they will develop the same characteristics as Him. These characteristics are called the fruit of the Spirit. In this lesson, we will try to teach the fruits of the spirit, specifically peace and patience, through the story of Abraham.

INTRODUCTION - 10 Minutes

Recap the Fruit of the Spirit.

  • Who remembers the fruit of the spirit that we talked about last week?
  • Who remembers what chapter and verse of the Bible are the fruits of the spirit in? (Galatians 5: 22 - 23)
  • What are the Fruit of the Spirit? (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.)

Remember these are characteristics of God and if we plant our life in God and keep Him as the center and source of our life, He will give us these same characteristics in us.

Last week, we talked about love, kindness and goodness. Today we are going to talk about two more fruits of the spirit: peace and patience

What is patience? Patience is waiting calmly even when things are not going the way I want them to go. Sometimes we want things a certain way or in a certain time frame, but patience is relying on God's timing and knowing that God is faithful in everything He promises. What does it mean when I say God is faithful? That means He keeps His promises without fail. Any promise God makes, He keeps - maybe not at the time we expect and maybe not in the way we expect, but He always, always keeps his promises.

What is peace? God's peace is a calmness that comes from knowing God is with us and for us. It is knowing that, whatever happens, even if something really horrible happens, we know that God is taking care of us and will make everything work out for our good.

God's peace means we can be content in any circumstance because you know God is with you. If we have peace, we will not have any fear because we will know God will take care of everything. Also, if we have God's peace, we can be peace-makers. Being a peace-maker includes not fighting with others, even if someone does something bad to us or hurts us and also helping calm situations where others are fighting.

God can grow the fruit of the spirit in us. He can give us patience and He can give us His peace, but we have to ask for patience and peace when we pray.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 10 Minutes

Memory Verse - "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37:7)

"Be patient with all." 1 Thessalonians 5:14

The Story of Abraham - Genesis 12-24

CONTENT (KEY POINTS)- 10 Minutes

Let's take a look at a story in the Bible and see if we can see the fruits of peace and patience.

Almost 2000 years before Jesus was born, there was a man named Abram. God made a promise to Abram that, if he left the land where he grew up, a land called Haran, and moved to a new land, called Canaan, God would give that land to him and his children and to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

At the time God made this promise, Abram was 75 years old and he was married to a woman named Sarai, who was 65 years old. They didn't have any children yet, but God had promised them children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Can you imagine a man who is 75 years old becoming a dad or a woman who is 65 years old becoming a mom? It's hard to imagine, but Abram believed God and knew that He could do anything so he moved with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot to the land of Canaan.

If God promised you a baby and you are 75 years old and your wife is 65 years old, how long do you think would be a fair amount of time to wait for God to give you the baby? 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? 15 years? If God promised he would give you a baby and he hadn't given you a baby after 15 years, would you still believe that God was going to give you a baby or would you give up? Most people would give up and maybe even get mad at God for not giving them the baby he promised. But that's not what Abram did. Abram was so patient. He didn't demand that God do things in the timeframe that he wanted or in the way that he wanted. He knew God would be faithful and do what He promised at the right time. Do you know how long Abram waited? 25 years He was so patient during this time and he felt peace because He knew God would do what was good for him and his family and that God would take care of Him no matter what.

So when Abram is 99 years old, the Lord appears to him and changes his name to Abraham and changes Sarai's name to Sarah. He promises Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son whose name will be called Isaac and through Isaac, he will have many descendants (grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and all of their children). Why is this important? Because everyone is waiting for the Messiah, the savior of the world, and they want the Messiah to be born from their lineage. God is really promising Abraham that the Messiah will come from the lineage of Isaac. This is the reward for Abraham's faith in God and for his peace and patience during all the long years of believing God would keep his promise. Abraham waited calmly for 25 years, even though it wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want to wait until he and his wife were old to have a baby. He wanted a baby right away, but he trusted God knew what was best for him and so he waited to be patient until the time that God felt it was right to give him a baby.

When Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, even though it should have been impossible for Sarah to have a child, God did the impossible and Sarah had a baby. They called his name Isaac, just like God told them. Even though they had to wait for 25 years, because they were so patient during that time, God made the impossible happen and a 90 year old woman had a baby and, through that baby, God made them the ancestors of the Messiah.

Now something even more amazing happens, when Isaac is grown (maybe a teenager or a young adult), God asks Abraham to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. That means Abraham would have to kill his own son, the son he waited so patiently for, and he would have to do it with his own hands What a very difficult thing God asked him to do and most people would lose their peace if God asked them to do something so hard. But Abraham trusted in God. He trusted that God had promised him descendants through Isaac and that even if he killed him as a sacrifice to God, God would be able to raise him from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19). Abraham had peace because He knew that God was with him and would take care of him. He knew God could do the impossible and so he never lost his peace. He took Isaac to sacrifice him and when he had tied him to the altar and lifted up his knife to kill him, the angel of the Lord called to him and stopped him. He must have had so much peace and patience to have not done what he wanted (keep his son alive) and follow the instruction of God (to kill his own son). Because Abraham was willing to give up his own son for God, God was willing to give up His only son Jesus for us.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes

  • Can you think of a time when things didn't go your way and you got really upset? Can you imagine how things would have gone if you had been patient?
  • Can you think of a time when you feel unhappy or get scared? Imagine if instead of feeling unhappy or scared, you reminded yourself that everything is in God's hands and that he will take care of you because He loves you more than anything?

APPLICATION (Action) - 10 Minutes

  • Let's make a promise that during this next week, even when things don't go our way or don't happen in the time we want them to happen, we will ask God to give us patience.
  • Let's make a promise that during this next week, when we feel unhappy or scared, we will pray to God to give us His peace. Try to ask God to make you feel content with the situation even though it's not what you want. Try to remind yourself that God knows everything that will happen and He will make everything turn out okay for you, even if it doesn't feel that way in that moment.
  • Can you pray every night to ask God to fill your heart with patience and peace?
  • Try to keep count during the Divine Liturgy of how many times the priest says, "Irini Pasi/Peace be with all," or how many times we ask for peace and how the congregation responds. Think about why we repeat it so much.

ACTIVITY - 10 minutes

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

  • Consider buying Philo and the Superholies by Mireille Mishriky, illustrated by S. Violette Palumbo and reading it with your child.
  • During the week, pay attention to times when your child is feeling impatient or is not content (either unhappy with something or afraid of something) and speak to them about what their behavior might look like if they were being patient or peaceful. Remind them to pray for patience and peace every night.

LESSON ATTACHMENTS

Grade 3 Week 2 Activity (Spirituality).pdf