Family Blueprint Week #16

• Home
• Grow in Grace
• Family Time
• Marriage Builders
• Work From Home
• Nurturing Children
• We Believe
• About/Contact Us

(A box of crayons helps us learn with Jacob, Rachel, and Leah, that God is always with us and He knows everything.)  

The Lord gave us the blueprint of His Word to architect our family on Jesus Christ.  

Going through the Bible with your family…  

Weekly Scripture:
Genesis 28-30  

Story:
“Jacob’s Ladder; Leah and Rachel”  

Application:
The Lord is always with those who are His.  

Summary: 
Because of Esau’s anger, Jacob was forced to leave his homeland. Isaac told Jacob to go to his relatives far away to find a wife. Jacob felt lonely, sad, and far from God and those he loved. However, God was with him. He lay down on the ground to sleep that night with only a stone for his pillow. He had a dream about a ladder reaching to heaven with angels going back and forth. The Lord stood above it and promised Jacob that He would give him many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, like the sands of the sea. This was a confirmation of the promise that the Lord had already given to Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather. Jacob made his first promise to God at this place. He agreed to keep the Lord as his God and to give the Lord a tithe of everything God gave to him.  

Jacob continued to his Uncle Laban’s home, who had two daughters Leah and Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel and worked seven years for Laban in order to marry her. Laban deceived Jacob and gave him Leah as his wife instead. Jacob who had previously been a deceiver before his promise to God, is now the one who is deceived.  Jacob had to work another seven years in order to fulfill a commitment in taking Rachel as his wife a week after he married Leah. One night the Lord told Jacob it was time to return to Canaan , so Jacob took his family and belongings are returned to the land of Abraham and Isaac.  

Focus: 
To teach our children that the Lord is always with us when we commit ourselves to Him. God knows everything and that includes whose hearts belong to Him.  

Finding Christ:
Jacob’s Ladder is a type of Christ. Christ is the mediator between God and man, much like the ladder between God and Jacob. Christ spoke of angels descending and ascending upon the Son of Man (John 1:51 ), much like we see on Jacob’s Ladder.  

Live the Lesson: 
For this lesson you will need a box of eight colored crayons. Place the box of crayons before your children. Ask them to pick out only one crayon and put it back in the crayon box and close it up. Have them place the rest of the crayons into a paper bag so you cannot see which color is missing.  

When they are finished you can face them again. Take the box of crayons and place it behind your box and ask your children if they think you can guess which color is in the box? Tell them if you get it right, then you get all of their dessert tonight, but if they get it right, then they get a double portion of dessert and you will get none. While you are saying this, open the box and scrape the crayon with your fingernail and close it back up. Bring the box back in front of you and so you can see your fingernail with the crayon wax and then bring the box of crayons up to your ear, give it a shake and make your guess.  

Your children may want to try this a few more times with you, so make certain you are paying attention to which fingernail you scrape with each time. When it is time for dessert, you can show them mercy by not eating their portion and then you can share how you did the trick. Explain to them you are only human and don’t know everything, but God truly does know everything including if our heart belongs to Him.

 Memory Verse: 
“I am with you always.” Matthew 28:20  

Prayer: 
Dear Lord, please help us to know that You are always with us and to keep our hearts fixed on you, our Living Hope.  

Living the Life: 
This week remind your children that God is always present with them, even during times they may not feel like it. Teach them to pray anytime and anywhere to our Heavenly Father.

By Julianne Bell
Copyright © Family Blueprint 2002-2007
All rights reserved.
www.familyblueprint.org 

'Family Blueprint' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 

1) A proper credit must be given to Julianne Bell (unless other author is noted) at the end of each story, along with a link to http://www.familyblueprint.org 

2) Family Blueprint content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service, except where given written permission by familyblueprint.org.