Click here for an updated, comprehensive list of free stories, books, ebooks, devotionals, coloring pages, activities for Lent for children and teens of all ages. All material is non-denominational and can be easily used by Catholics and Protestants alike. Lent-related subjects covered by this material include prayer, salvation, forgiveness, generosity and Christian living. The list is divided into categories by age to make it easy for you to find material for any age group.
The 12 Foundation Stones course will give you a solid basis upon which to build your life. Wherever life leads you in the future and whatever happens, you’ll know Jesus as a close personal friend, and you’ll have His promises to stand upon and His Word to light your way!
The classes in this course are like foundation stones. Each foundation stone describes an area of faith or practical knowledge that you can build the house of your life upon. Each foundation stone deals with you primarily, for if you can change yourself, then you can bring changes to others. Yet this is not just about your own faith and yourself. Remember always that these foundation stones are to help you build a life that reaches out to others.
If you want to become a person of faith, someone who has a solid relationship with God, then you’ll need to know what to read in the Bible, how to get the most from the time you have for reading, and how to develop good study habits. You need to have regular spiritual feeding, just like you regularly eat physical food. We will be devoting several classes to this important subject.
If you don’t already have a Bible, please obtain one, as it is the main “textbook” for our course and we’ll be helping you get to know it better.
Do you want the same power that transformed a motley band of fishermen, tax collectors, and others in the far away dusty land of Palestine into fiery men and women of faith who changed the world? Do you want to know how that same power can work in your life too? God’s got a lot in store for you! In our classes on the Holy Spirit, we’ll learn more about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and how to experience the gifts and blessings that are promised!
In the two-part classes on prayer, we’ll be exploring how to communicate with Jesus, how to pray effectively, and how to receive answers to prayer. The key to remember is that prayer works! When we pray, things will happen and things will be different. God will answer prayer. He says,
Jeremiah 33:3—Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Prayer is not just a one-way conversation, a monologue of us talking to Him, but the Lord delights in talking with us. When we hear from the Lord in this way, we receive messages through what is called the gift of prophecy.
Jesus said to His disciples:
John 15:12—”This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Loving others is oftentimes easier said than done, so in our classes on this subject we’ll be looking at some practical ways of getting along with people and living according to the loving principles Jesus gave us.
Bible Knowledge (Classes 6a and 6b—”Bible Knowledge”)
The Bible tells us who we are, where we have been, and where we are going. It even tells us how we should get there! We’ll be looking at how the Bible was put together and where to find what you need. We’ll also be looking at some of the prophecies in the Bible that have already been fulfilled, which are amazing faith-builders!
The Bible tells us that Jesus will return to set up His reign on Earth. No more cruel wars, oppression, and the rule of the greedy and powerful, but a rule of love where God’s plans will be fulfilled.
Jesus loves you very much and will never let you down. You didn’t earn your salvation in the first place, so you can never lose it by what you do or do not do. We are saved by grace—a free gift of God’s love—and not by our works. The reason we can be so sure of this is because it is clearly explained in the Bible.
We’ll also be exploring how to have a closer relationship with the Lord so that you can confidently rely on Him, trust in Him, and rest peacefully in His loving arms. He never fails and will always be there for you!
We have an amazing future in store for us! Heaven is a great place to be and a great place to look forward to!
When you get to know the Lord and experience His love, His care, His joy, then it is only natural you will want to share this with others.
Receiving the Lord into your life doesn’t mean that you’ll never have any more troubles. Troubles, difficulties, challenges, and problems are common to all. What makes the difference is that Jesus will help you through your problems and hard times.
We’ll be looking at how you should respond to the problems that come your way, whatever type of problems they are, and how you can find the solutions.
As believers we should be seeking to follow in the steps of Jesus. In these two classes, we’ll be looking at how to find God’s will; and how to tailor our lives and make our choices according to His Word and what He knows is best.
Click here to read/download this free Bible story for little children in color.
Everyday Praise
From Jesus with Love
Today is a new day that I have made—24 hours in which to rejoice and be glad (Psalm 118:24)! Keep your eyes open at every turn so that you don’t miss any tokens of My love and opportunities for rejoicing.
Look out your window and take in the beauty of creation—that is My love for you.
Think of your family and friends—they are My love for you.
If today is looking like a stormy day, remember that no matter how dark and cloudy your day may be, My joy is ever present in your heart and is not dependent on the circumstances around you.
Fix your thoughts on the things that are good, beautiful, and true throughout your day and let your heart be filled with joy for these manifestations of My love (Philippians 4:8).
Devotional activity for children, with one card/story a day.
Free game, coloring pages, and activity pages for Epiphany (Three Kings Day).
Christmas Prequel
The Gospel of John doesn’t tell the story of Jesus’ birth, but it tells us the prequel—the story that precedes what we are told in the birth narratives. This Gospel takes us back to the beginning, before our world existed, and tells us something about our Savior that was true well in advance of His earthly birth in Bethlehem two millennia ago. Understanding this part of the story is what brings clarity to who Jesus was, why He came, and what He accomplished.
The story begins like this: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.” (John 1:1-3)
John looks back beyond the beginning of the creation of the universe, before time existed, and tells us that the Word was preexistent. The opening line of this Gospel repeats the first words of the Bible in Genesis: “In the beginning…” (Genesis 1:1). This expresses that the Word existed before creation and is eternal, that there was never a time when the Word was not. The Word was not part of what was created, meaning that the Word is greater than all things that were created.
We’re told that “the Word was with God,” and then it’s repeated a second time, “He existed in the beginning with God.” The emphasis here is that the Word exists in close relationship with God. That oneness is expressed in the phrase, “and the Word was God.” Everything that can be said about God can also be said about the Word.
This is what we celebrate at Christmas—that the Word, who existed with God before creation, who lived in face-to-face fellowship with His Father, who participated in the creation of all things, who is self-existent, and who is God the Son, was born as a human being and lived among humanity.
All that Jesus did during His time on earth—the words He spoke, the parables He told, His interaction with people, His confrontations with the religious leaders of the day, the miracles He performed—all of it revealed His Father’s love, care, and concern for humanity. It is through the Incarnate Word, Jesus, that we gain a deeper understanding of God, as well as of His desire to reconcile humanity to Himself. At Christmas, we celebrate that God entered our world for the purpose of making it possible for us to live with Him eternally.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us! What a wonderful thing to celebrate.
A tree was struck by a gale and fell on its face on the hard ground.
As it hit the damp earth with a crash—having never hit anything before, having only swayed softly in the breeze—it instinctively knew that it would never rise again.
The tree sobbed, from pain, sadness, rage, frustration. It saw the other trees still standing and cried. It lay for a long time among its broken branches, dormant, as if meditating on what to do with its colossal body.
Then it timidly sprouted some shoots. The shoots became twigs, which became branches, all reaching up towards the sky in an attempt to recover to some extent the aerial nature it had had before. It did what it could and allowed time to do the rest.
Soon it discovered a new purpose. Small children chose it to play “horsey” or pretended it was a castle; it became a favorite photo setting, a playground, a refuge. Hikers and squirrels alike used it to bridge the creek. And so, the tree found a new life, a happy life—albeit vastly different from what it had known before—and it realized that this was its destiny.
It has rained a lot since then, and the fallen tree is still lying on the ground, offering up its branches. Moss has covered the wounds from its fall. Over time it has become a beautiful and important element of the landscape, so much so that the builders took it into account when they designed the park.
From time to time the tree remembers and thinks, and it gives thanks for the day when fate vented its fury on it. Although it will never again be as it once was, or like the other trees, it is content, knowing that it has found its own place and role and that its future is in the Creator’s hands.
Could this perhaps also be our story? Though our lives don’t usually go as expected, the outcome may be a richer, deeper, more meaningful one as we let God use the storms as He sees fit.
God gets some of the greatest victories out of our seeming defeats.
Text adapted from Activated magazine. Image 1 by Michael_Browning from Freerange Stock. Image 2 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
