I’m Thankful that I Know God and Have the Bible
Victor enjoyed spending time with Uncle Dan. Being near him made him feel so much love. Whether it was for his fascinating stories or for his exciting games, Victor knew that he had to visit Uncle Dan each day after school. When the bell rang, he ran from his classroom, through the school yard, out the gate, and into the busy street. Uncle Dan’s church was just on the next street corner.
Upon entering the church Victor could see that several of his friends who attend other schools had already assembled, but Uncle Dan hadn’t started. They cheered upon seeing Victor, which made him smile from ear to ear. “It’s always good to be here,” He thought. Uncle Dan greeted Victor, and they began their meeting by talking about the prayer requests from the days before.
The children were impressed to hear how God had healed John’s grandmother, how Thomas’ father got a job to work every day for the rest of the week, and how Peter was given a chicken for helping his neighbor carry the 25 kg sack of mealie all the way home.
“Maybe God IS really real. I have never heard of God caring for me and the people that I know like this before. If He really does care about my friends, He might care for me, too.” thought Victor. “When Uncle Dan tells us that story about Jesus again, I think today I might accept the gift of salvation.”
As Uncle Dan went through the Bible lesson for the day, Victor couldn’t help but think about the answered prayers and Jesus who loves him so much that He died for each of them. The lesson ended with the verse that the boys had been memorizing from John 14:6. “Jesus said, I am the way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
“Oh, I get it!” Victor blurted out. He was a little embarrassed by his outburst, but for the first time he realized that JESUS was the only Way to get to God, JESUS was the only source of Truth, and JESUS was the only One who could give real life.
“But what will this mean for me? My parents are Muslim. I can’t become a Christian or they will not allow me to live at home,” Victor asked his teacher.
“I know that this is a hard decision for you, Victor. Following Jesus will cost you a lot. It may even cost you your family. Jesus says in Luke 14:25-33,
“Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it? Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’
Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand? And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.
In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.”
“You see, Victor, there is a cost to following Jesus, asking Him to be your Savior. You need to decide in your own heart if you are ready to do that, knowing what that might mean for you. The other boys and I have been praying for you. In fact, we have been coming to club early each day so we could pray together for your salvation.”
Victor blushed. “They have been praying for me?” he thought. “I don’t think I have ever had someone pray for me like this before!”
“I know that Jesus is the Way, and I want to accept Him as my Savior. What I have been taught before is wrong. Allah is not the true God. He is only an idol like you talked about in the story of Daniel, Uncle Dan. But if I tell my parents this, I am afraid about what they will say or what they will do. But even if they disown me, I CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS. Can we pray together right now? I don’t want to wait another minute to ask Jesus to be my Savior and forgive my sin.”
All the boys cheered and hugged Victor, and then he bowed his head and prayed out loud.
“We all can see what a hard decision this is. We have been praying that you would make the choice to follow Jesus no matter what your family says. These boys have prayed that your family would come to Jesus, too. In fact, Victor, I have been secretly meeting with your dad for a few weeks. We have been talking about the God of the Bible. I think he is close to choosing Jesus, too!”
The boys all cheered again and hugged each other.
“This is such good news! Can we pray right now for my father and my whole family to accept Jesus?”
“We would love to! We know our God can do anything!”
THANKSGIVING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What does this story make you thankful for?
Luke 14 talks about the cost of following Jesus. What did Victor risk by becoming a Christian?
If you were in his situation, would you choose Jesus even if that meant losing your family and your home?
What does following Jesus cost you in your life? Do people around you even know that you are a Christian? How can they tell?
ACTION ITEMS:
~ Pray for the persecuted Christians all over the world. Some who will lose their lives because they say the name of Jesus and claim He is their God. Pray that they would be strong in their faith.
~ Giving a donation to Gideon’s International. You will donate Bibles around the world to people who need them in their own language. Then they can hear about Jesus and salvation. It would be a great way for your family to share Jesus this holiday.
~ Decide as a family who you will invite to church for Christmas or for your Christmas program. Keep each other accountable to actually inviting them. Pray for the ones who you will invite.
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
(Psalm 100 is a classic portion of Scripture for our families to memorize during this Thanksgiving season. While some families are accustomed to memorizing verses, this may be your family’s first time. Pick either a verse or two or the whole chapter to memorize before Thanksgiving. It will be a sweet memory from this holiday with your family. You may even want to challenge your family to memorize these verses and then say them together on Thanksgiving. Download a free printable of Psalm 100 HERE. If you need ideas on how to memorize Scripture with your family, click here to see some of my favorites.)
(If you have already memorized Psalm 100, try Psalm 95 instead.)
PRAYER TIME:
Thank God for the freedom you have to worship God, for the parents you have who encourage you to know God, and for the opportunity to know God and the Truth at all. Thank God that you have the Bible (even several Bibles) in your home so you can know God better.
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