As a kid, I was afraid of the dark.

I went through a phase when I cried every night and begged to keep the light on.

So my parents taught me a great Bible verse for a scared child, and used the word of God to overcome my fear.

I had a shirt with John 3:16 on it. So my parents sat down and talked to me about the meaning of John 3:16. They reminded me that God loved me and that He could and would protect me. Then we hung that shirt on the wall across from my bed.

When I laid my head on my pillow at night, I could see that message from God’s Word hanging on the wall.

When I started to cry and beg to keep the light on, my parents pointed at the T-shirt and reminded me of God’s truth.

They used God’s Word to teach me and to remind me that I didn’t have to be afraid.

In Isaiah, God commands us not to fear. Plus, He tells us why we don’t have to be afraid—because He is with us! He promises to strengthen us and help us.

Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

(Isaiah 41:10 NKJV)

Psalm 23 repeats the same idea:

…I will fear no evil;

For you are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

(Psalm 23:4b NKJV)

And again in Joshua, God says the same thing:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

(Joshua 1:9 NKJV)

When you teach your kids from God’s Word about fear, you’ll help them realize that:

1. God can handle the things they are afraid of.

2. They can trust God to handle the things they are afraid of.

3. If they trust God to handle the things they are afraid of, they don’t have to be afraid anymore!

That truth is not just for kids.

If you can successfully teach these Bible lessons on fear for children, then you set them up for a lifetime of trusting the Lord and living without fear.

That is huge.

Directions

1.Give each child a piece of brown construction paper and have them cut out a "staff" shape. Tell them it is kinda like a candy cane shape.

2. They can decorate one side of the staff however they please, but on one side they need to write Psalms 23:4!

**Connect this to the lesson by asking kids what this scripture and the rod/staff should bring comfort and ease our fears.

Directions:

1. Watch the YouTube video for directions.

• Give each child 9 sticks and have them decorate the front of each stick with the following lines

^{Stick 1} The Lord is my shepherd

^{Stick 2} I shall not want

^{Stick 3} He makes me lie down in green pastures

^{Stick 4} He leads me beside still waters

^{Stick 5} He restores my soul.

^{Stick 6} He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.

^{Stick 7} Even though I walk through the darkest valley

^{Stick 8} I will fear no evil for you are with me

^{Stick 9} Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

• The kids should turn all the popsicles over and line them up in order. Then, the kids can cut a piece of paper to the size of the popsicle sticks and glue it to the back of the sticks.

• Lastly, the kids can take some string and create a hanger on the top stick so that they can hang it up at their house and in their room if they want.

Preparation:

1. Cut one side of a box out, so that all your youth can see what’s in the box

2. On the opposite side of the box, cut a hole into the cardboard, big enough for a hand to fit through.

3. Tape a plastic bag over the “hand-hole”, and make a horizontal and vertical slit in the plastic so that you can stick your hand through, but can’t see what’s inside the box.

How to play:

1. Send one person from each team out of the room. Place something inside the box so that the rest of the youth can see what it is.

2. Call the three players back into the room. Tell them they have to stick their hands through the hole and feel whatever is inside. They should think to themselves what it is, but don’t say what they think it is until all three players have had a chance to feel.

3. Once all three have felt the insides of the box, ask each of them what they think it is.

4. I gave points according to who got closest (for example, 1 full point if they got it right, 1/2 point if they got close) – I’m pretty lenient on points

5. Then we revealed what they’d been touching and I had them go wash their hands. I also made them use hand sanitizer after they washed!

6. We played three rounds of this game, each time sending a different 3 “feelers” out of the room.

Directions

HIDE AND SEEK SHEEP: Tell all the children to run and hide in a designated area. ONE child will be the Shepherd and as the Shepherd finds each "sheep", he will bring him to a gated area for the sheep to stay until the end of the game. When the "sheep" are found, they can "baa baa" while waiting for other "sheep" to be found and put in the gate (the "gate" can be formed with chairs or even colored tape on the floor, etc).

CIRCLE OF SHEEP: One child can be the Shepherd who will stand in the middle of the circle of sheep. The teacher will walk around the outside edge of the sheep circle and pat each sheep on the back and will "secretly" place a sticker on the back of one child without anyone knowing who she picked for the ONE SHEEP that the Shepherd will find. Then the "Shepherd" will guess who has the sticker - that "sheep" will turn around and let the shepherd see if the sticker is on his back; if not, the Shepherd will continue to look for his "sheep" with the sticker. IF the sheep with the sticker is found by the Shepherd, then that sheep will become the new Shepherd and that Shepherd will go back into the circle of sheep. The teacher can continue to place a sticker on different children as time allows. (Make sure to take the used sticker off before continuing to play the game).

COUNTING SHEEP: Divide the children into 2 teams. Give each team a poster board and markers. Teacher will say START. ...or BEGIN and each team will see who can draw 99 sheep in the quickest time. (Provide some M & M's or something small for all their hard work)!

SHEEP GAME: Put a little Vaseline on each child's nose and let them see how many cotton balls they can get stuck on their face and nose in the allotted time that the teacher gives them. Make sure to take a class picture of all the "sheep"! If time allows, the children can then see if they can run back and forth to get cotton balls from their noses to stick on an outlined picture of a SHEEP on the other side of the room. The teacher can have some Vaseline smeared on the outline of the sheep on the poster board for children to stick their cotton balls from their noses on the board -- no hands allowed!

COTTON BALL SHEEP: Give each child an outline of a sheep or the older children could draw a sheep on their own. Glue pieces of cotton on their sheep. Children can then use markers to draw grass, sky, sun, etc and write JESUS NEVER GIVES UP ON A LOST SHEEP.

SHEEP SKIT: Let children act out a skit of today's lesson - some children being the sheep (down on all fours) and one child to be the shepherd and one child as the LOST sheep - hiding somewhere for the Shepherd to find it at that part of the Bible story.