Character

I'm going to reach back a bit and fill in some gaps.  With my 3rd grade son this year I decided to study various character aspects of God.

What you think of God will have a big impact upon your life.  What does God's Word have to say about His character?

I sat down and listed all the character qualities I could think of and then researched each one.  We spent a few weeks on each one.

I had my son take certain notes so that it would help the information stick in his mind.  If kids are doing something with the information they are learning it will help them retain it better.  Now he has that notebook to refer back to, also, and refresh his memory.

For each character quality I had him copy the definition out of the dictionary (one day) and then copy down a theme verse (separate day).  Then each day I would read him a Bible story that illustrated that quality, he then kept a list of the stories on his notebook page.

Our first character aspect was faithful.  The theme verse was Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful."  I found various stories of God making a promise to someone and keeping that promise.  The ones we read were -  Noah (promised to preserve from the flood), Abraham (promised a son), Peter & John, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; Paul (God promised him he would go to Rome, we read all the stories of how God kept him from harm so he could get to Rome, including a shipwreck).

Then I thought we would cover some of the promises in God's Word that He is faithful to perform (Jer. 1:12 & Is. 55:11).  I looked up various verses about - protection, provision, strength, healing, joy, wisdom, and peace.

I know there are many more that I didn't find.  Each day we covered a separate promise and I had my son list all the scripture references in his notebook so that he could use it as a reference whenever he needed.

Next we learned that God is our Healer.  Our theme verse was Ex. 15:26 "I am the Lord who heals you."  We went through all four gospels (and the beginning of Acts) and picked out every single story on healing that we found.  I had my son write down each reference each day so that he could have it as a reference.

Next was God our Deliverer.  Theme verses were Psalm 91:14-15 "Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.  He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him."  We read stories of deliverance - Gideon, Jacob & Esau, Moses in the basket, the Israelites from Egypt, Deborah the Judge, Rahab in Jericho, Israel from Balaam's curse, Samson, David from Goliath, David from Saul, Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-Nego, and Daniel in the lion's den.

Next was God our Provider.  Theme verse Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  Story of creation (order of importance, man was created last so that everything he needed was already here), Elijah and the ravens, Elijah and the widow, manna, water from the rock, Book of Ruth, feeding the thousands (loaves and fishes), consider the sparrows and the lillies/do not worry passage, tax money from a fish, David provided with the showbread to eat, Goliath's sword for a weapon, and a hiding place for his family, when on the run from Saul; and Joseph and his family during famine.

This brings us up to date (we did character qualities from July through October).  We have taken a bit of a detour (because I was lazy and didn't research a new character quality) and read through some Psalms and Proverbs (month of November) and are now on a prophecy kick.  See later posts for details.