Confidence
For children who enjoy spirited play, this lesson about bodyguards is a fun way to help them find confidence in God's protection. Discussion point: We are highly valued by God, like precious princes and princesses.
Begin by explaining to your children that some people are considered so important that they need special “babysitters” who travel with them everywhere to make sure that they stay safe from harm.
Next, use the discussion questions to explore the pro and cons of having a bodyguard. After your discussion, read all or part of Psalm 91, then play a game with your children where their toys have bodyguards watching over them.
Create a scenario where all the bodyguards are too weak to overcome a danger (perhaps a doll has fallen into a river and is being carried over a waterfall), then have an “angel” step in to save the day.
Questions for discussion
- Who do you think would need a bodyguard?
- Why do you think these people pay other people to protect them?
- What are the benefits of having a bodyguard?
- How would it be a bother to have a bodyguard?
- Do you think you would like to have one?
- Did you know that you do have a bodyguard who is stronger, wiser and more powerful than any human bodyguard you could hire?
Read Psalm 91:9-12 aloud and tell your children about times when God protected you in a significant way.
Key concepts
Examples of people who hire bodyguards include royalty (kings, queens, princes and princesses), movie stars, high-level politicians, well-known musicians and many other rich and famous people.
These people think that they need the extra protection because they are worried that other people may want to harm them or take them captive to get money. Having a bodyguard may protect you from harm, but it would be a bother to have to arrange to have a person go with you every time you went somewhere.
Most people don’t have bodyguards, but those who love and follow God have something way better than human bodyguards: God and His angels watch over us! In the Bible we read that God sends His angels to watch over all the people who love Him (Psalm 91:14). The way God sees it, we are His children and we are highly valued and precious, like princes and princesses. As children of the King, we have God as our bodyguard.
Note: To add a craft component to this activity, decorate strips cut from cereal boxes and staple the ends together, making crowns to illustrate the royalty status we enjoy as God’s children.
Relevant Scripture
Psalm 91:9-12 “If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the Lord, who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
Psalm 91:14 “ ‘Because he loves Me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.”
Hebrews 1:14 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
John 1:12-13 “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God . . .”
1 John 4:4 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
- Acceptance
- Adaptability
- Attentiveness
- Christmas
- Compassion
- Confidence
- Consideration
- Contentedness
- Cooperation
- Courage
- Courtesy
- Discernment
- Easter
- Faithfulness
- Forgiveness
- Generosity
- Gentleness
- Gratitude
- Harmony
- Honesty
- Humility
- Joy
- Kindness
- Obedience
- Patience
- Perseverance
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Reverence
- Righteousness
- Self-control
- Thanksgiving
