Flashlights and Fireflies: Devotions for Kids and FamiliesSample

Ask Everyone:

• Where would be the best hiding place in the space you’re in right now?
• What objects are easy to hide? What is harder to hide?
• What if you hid a flashlight that was turned off? How difficult would it be to hide a flashlight that is turned on? (Try it and see!)

Devotional:

Josiah looked like any other eight-year-old boy, if that eight-year-old boy lived in a palace and had a crown on his head! When he was just a kid, he was made king of his whole country!

Would you like to be the king or queen of your country?
What would you tell everyone to do if they HAD to listen to you?

Josiah was king of a country called Judah; they were once a part of Israel, the family nation that belonged to God, but now they were off on their own — and they had forgotten about God and did terrible things.

Josiah didn’t want to be a king of a place like that. He decided to be a different kind of king that trusts in God and follows His way!

After a few years, Josiah made a rule that the temple where people came to worship God had to be fixed up. It was broken and no one was using it anymore. But Josiah had faith that God cared about him, and he wanted to show everyone how great God was. And the first part of doing that was fixing up the place where people came to learn about God and worship Him.

Being a king while he was just a kid wasn’t the only amazing thing that happened to Josiah. He also found an incredible treasure that had been hidden away for many years!

What would you hope to find if you found treasure?

In the broken-down ruins of the temple, under all the dust and rubble, was something that no one expected to find. At first it seemed like just an ordinary book, but as Josiah and his helpers read the secret book, they discovered that this was a part of God’s book—part of what we call the Bible today! No wonder people forgot about following God! But now that Josiah had found this amazing treasure, he made sure everyone heard what was in it!

Josiah’s faith in God spread to other people too, and while he was king, nothing bad happened to his country and many grown-ups had faith in God! You know — even though fireflies are little, they get a lot of attention! They aren’t all that great at hide and seek, but they aren’t trying to hide at all.

When we let our faith in God shine like Josiah, we can also discover amazing things. The Bible tells us that God’s words to us are like lamps (or flashlights!). God’s Word helps us know God. Through it, we can hear about all He has done, and that helps us to trust Him and put our faith in Him.

Activity:

Play a few rounds of a game where you take turns hiding an object nearby and trying to find it. If you can, try hiding a flashlight or an object that glows in the dark if you have it. Light in the dark is hard to hide!

Discussion Questions:

• What do you think would happen if people today forgot all about God and his love for them and all about God’s Word, the Bible?
• What do you like best about God? Do you know where we learn that in the Bible?
• What can you do to remember what’s in the Bible? How can you help others remember God’s love for them?

Prayer:

Dear God, thank you for Your Word, the Bible! Thank you that in it we learn who you are, how you love us, and how we are your children and can follow your ways. Help us to have faith in you even when things are dark. Help us to let our light shine in the darkness. Amen.