THINK TOGETHER.
How strong are you? Are you stronger this year than last year?
READ TOGETHER.
Judges 13:24-25. 24When [Mrs. Manoah’s] son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed him as he grew up. 25And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…
Samson was a very special baby. Samson was born to save his people from the wicked Philistines. And to make sure that Samson would be able to save his people, God gave Samson the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit does different things for different people. For Samson, the Holy Spirit made him physically strong. Can you remember any of the stories of Samson’s legendary strength? Samson killed a lion with his bare hands, defeated a whole army of Philistines with only a single bone, and knocked over pillars in a temple just by pushing on them.
You’ve probably seen pictures of Samson with his famous long hair and big muscles. But it wasn’t just his long hair and big muscles that made Samson strong. It was the Holy Spirit, God:
Judges 14:6. At that moment the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon [Samson], and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat.
Judges 15:14-15. 14the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists. 15Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it.
Judges 16:28-30. 28Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time…” 29Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, 30… And the temple crashed down.
Did you know that you are like Samson? If you have Jesus, then you have the Holy Spirit too. The Holy Spirit doesn’t usually give us super-strength like he did Samson. That’s because we aren’t trying to defeat the Philistines today like Samson was. But we are trying to defeat Satan and his temptations to be unkind. Satan wants us to be mean and selfish, but the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to be kind and nice. He reminds us of how Jesus is kind and nice to us, so that we can be kind to others too. The Holy Spirit keeps reminding us that Jesus loves us and died for our sins. And with Jesus, we can love others too. That’s our super strength – LOVE!
Maybe you’ll never tear a lion in half with your bare hands, but you can tear hatred in half by being kind like Jesus.
Because of the Holy Spirit we have the powerful love of Jesus in us.
With the Holy Spirit we can be kind and love others.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Do something together that shows everyone’s physical strength – pushups or lifting a small weight. Talk about how we grow physically stronger but also how we grow in the strength of love too. Which is more important?
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, just like you gave Samson the Holy Spirit to make him strong, you have given me the Holy Spirit o make me strong in your love. Help me to be kind to others and help others who need it today. Amen.
TLICfamily 