Challenge your kids to “stand” on God’s promises! Use movement & music (two of the most powerful learning methods) to reinforce biblical truths from the life of Jacob and to teach your kids the well-known hymn “Standing on the Promises” through a simple but fun activity! Scroll down for details.

Jacob sinned against his brother Esau.

That wrongdoing affected Jacob’s relationship with Esau!

In fact, it made Esau so angry that he threatened to kill Jacob.

And Jacob deserved it. He’d sinned. And he expected to face the consequences.

But even though Jacob deserved Esau’s wrath, instead Esau showed Jacob extreme grace.

We, too, have sinned.

We’ve done wrong. We’ve sinned against God. Our relationship with Him is broken because of sin.

And we deserve punishment for our wrongdoing.

But, like Esau, God chose to show grace. He made a way of forgiveness and reconciliation through His son, Jesus.

And why should we choose God’s way, instead of our own?

Perhaps because we know God is trustworthy!

As we’ve seen throughout Jacob’s whole life, God keeps His word. We know that, if He promises us forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ, He will do it—even though we don’t deserve it!

All He requires is that we trust in Him, instead of ourselves (the same lesson that Jacob had to learn).

Teach your kids about God’s incredible grace.

There’s nothing more important to teach your kids! So use Jacob’s story to teach your kids that God keeps His promises—and, therefore, they can trust Him.

Below you’ll find instructions for a simple but engaging activity based on these important truths.

This activity gets your kids moving. And it helps your kids to think critically and creatively about the biblical truths. Both of these will help your kids remember what they’ve learned.

This activity also uses one of the most powerful methods of learning—music—to emphasize the truth.

So print out the activity instructions. Gather the very common, easy-to-find supplies needed. And then get your kids outside and use this fun but meaningful activity to reinforce the truth that God always keeps His promises!

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Standing on God’s Promises {Learning Activity}

This fun activity uses music, movement, creativity, and art to emphasize to kids that they can always trust God’s promises.

You can use this activity any time after you teach your lessons about Jacob.

Supplies needed:

• Poster of the well-known hymn, “Standing on the Promises.”
• Printout of the hymn lyrics
• Scissors
• Hat
• Chalk
• Stopwatch
• A sidewalk, parking lot, basketball court, or other concrete surface—or, if you don’t have access to any of those, a chalkboard

Activity prep:

• Write or print out the lyrics to “Standing on the Promises.”
  • Cut the paper into strips, so that each line of the song is on a different strip of paper.
  • Place the lyric strips into the hat.
• Make sure you can explain the meaning of the more difficult words. If there are any you aren’t confident about, look them up online or in a dictionary.

Activity instructions:

• Go out to the concrete surface you’ll be using (or get the chalkboard ready, if you’re using that).
• Display the song lyrics and sing the song once together with your kids.
• Explain any difficult words that you haven’t yet discussed.
• Then divide the kids into several groups. Give each group several pieces of chalk.
• Allow each group to draw one line of the song at random from the hat.
• Explain that the kids will have a limited time to draw a picture of the line that they drew from the hat. (Choose an appropriate time based on your age group and/or group sizes.)
• Start the stopwatch and tell them to get started!
• Afterward, take a moment to look at each group’s drawing. Then sing the song again. Optionally, you can have each group sing their line alone.
• You can make this a competitive game by drawing just one line and reading it aloud, then allowing all the groups to draw that same line. Afterward, you can give a point to the group that did the best drawing. Play several rounds.

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Encourage your kids to “stand” on God’s promises!

Jacob’s life teaches us that God always keeps His promises.

When we know that God always keeps His promises, we can trust Him.

So challenge your kids to apply what they’ve learned from Jacob’s life.

Challenge them to do as the song says—to trust God, and to “take a stand” on His promises.

He will not let them down!

And here’s a convenient recap of Jacob’s life.

I have created and shared a variety of resources about Jacob’s life for you. You can use any (or all!) of these to teach your kids about God’s faithfulness. 🙂

• Jacob’s mother – get the printable lesson overview here.
• Jacob & Esau – get the attention-grabbing Introduction Activity here.
• God’s promise to Jacob (Jacob’s dream) – get the detailed lesson plan here.
• Jacob’s marriages – get the thought-provoking review questions here.
• Jacob’s family, flocks, & flight – get the discussion guide here.
• Jacob’s struggle (Jacob wrestles with God) – get the Application Activity here.

Happy teaching!

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