Tag Archives: Listening to God

Time

15-20 minutes

Description

This object lesson teaches about how both God and the devil are competing for our attention. It uses the metaphor of radio towers sending signals to a radio.

Materials

• Old radio (doesn’t need to work)
• Two wire hangers
• Aluminum foil
• Printouts from “Radio Waves Construction” slides (see “Lesson and Material Downloads” page.)
• Tape

Preparation

· Make radio tower headpieces for two children. (Directions are in the “Radio Waves Construction” file on the “Lesson and Material Downloads” page.)

· Practice the script.

Procedure

Use the following script (or modify to suit your needs):

• “Hey! I found this old radio at the house, and I thought I would see if it still works.” (Pretend to find a station while making a static sound effect.)
• “Have you ever had this problem? You can’t find a clear station on the radio.” (Listen for responses.)
• “It’s frustrating, right?”
• “That reminds me of how we communicate with God.”
• “A lot of people say that they have a difficult time hearing God speak to them. Do you ever have a hard time hearing God speak to you?” (Listen for responses.)
• “I understand what you mean, because I have a hard time, too, sometimes.”
• “Let’s explore what causes this.” (Ask for two volunteers to come up. Place one of the radio tower headpieces on each one of them. Then place them at either end of the stage or teaching area so that one is on your left, and one is on your right. Ask them to make hand motions toward you like they are sending you signals.)
• “Let’s pretend that these two people are different radio station towers and that I’m a radio.”
• “This one is W-I-A-M, which are the call letters for Yahweh Broadcasting. In other words, this is God.”
• “This one is K-L-I-E, which are the call letters for Lucifer Radio. In other words, this is the devil.”
• “Now, the way a regular radio works is that it picks up radio waves from a radio tower.”
• “You can change which station the radio is listening to by turning the dial.” (Pretend to twist your nose and then lean toward the station you are “hearing” at that moment.)
• “The different radio stations compete with each other to get your attention.”
• “Our two radio stations are in competition with each other, too.” (Make sure that both your volunteers are still making hand motions toward you.)
• “If the devil can get you to listen to his radio station, he knows you won’t be listening to God’s radio station.” (Twist your nose, and lean toward the KLIE radio tower.)
• “Whenever you listen to the devil’s radio station, it tells you to do what you want to do – not what God is asking you to do.”
• “In fact, if you listen to the devil’s station long enough, you start to move closer to it so that you can hear it more clearly.” (Move closer to the volunteer with the KLIE radio tower.)
• “It begins to sound really good to you, and you want to listen to it more and more.” (Demonstrate that you are really enjoying what you are hearing from KLIE.)
• “Notice that WIAM is still sending me signals, but I’m not tuned into God’s station, so I don’t hear them.”
• “And even if I decide I should start listening to God’s station, it won’t come in clearly right away.” (Twist your nose and lean toward the WIAM radio tower. Make a static noise and look like you are having a hard time hearing the station.)
• “The reason I’m having trouble hearing God’s station is because I’ve moved so far away from it and because there is a lot of sin in the way.” (Ask for four or five volunteers to come up, and position them between you and the WIAM radio tower.)
• “These guys represent all the sin that has sprung up in my life. They get in the way of the signals that WIAM is sending me.”
• “So, if you’re not hearing God talk to you, maybe it’s because you are listening to His competitor’s station.”
• “Maybe it’s because you are too far away from His signal and have too much sin between the two of you.”
• “Does anyone know how I can get rid of all this sin and get closer to WIAM?” (Listen for responses. Specifically, you want to hear that you need to repent (say you are sorry) and ask for forgiveness.)
• “That doesn’t sound too tough. ‘God, I’m really sorry for listening to your competitor’s radio station. I want to listen to You again. Will you please forgive me?’” (After you’ve said this, have your WIAM volunteer push through all the volunteers representing your sin in order to get near to you. Dismiss these volunteers, and then follow the WIAM volunteer back over to his/her side of the stage. Demonstrate that you are enjoying listing to God’s station.)
• “You know, the great part about listening to WIAM is that I don’t feel guilty after I tune in. I always feel guilty after listening to KLIE.”
• “Now, how do I make sure that I stay tuned into God’s station?” (Listen for responses. You are listening for responses such as ‘read your Bible,’ ‘pray,’ ‘go to church’…)
• “Exactly! Now, don’t be surprised if when you first start reading your Bible, you hear a lot of static at first.”
• “The words might be difficult to understand, and even when you understand them, they just look like words.”
• “That happens, but keep tuning in to God’s station every day, and something cool starts to happen…you start to fine-tune your ability to hear God in what you read, and the words start to jump to life for you!”
• “You will start to enjoy tuning in each day, and then you will start moving closer and closer to his tower.” (Demonstrate moving closer to the tower.)
• “Before long, you won’t be interested in picking up the devil’s station at all.”
• “He can do his best to get your attention, but you won’t pay any attention to him.” (Have KLIE volunteer make desperate gestures to try to get your attention, but ignore him/her. Then thank your volunteers and dismiss them.)