Family Devotion Idea: A Room in Heaven

*About twice a month, we try to post the outline of a family devotion that you and your kids can do together. Carve out some time with your kids for a fun and creative discussion this week!

Teaching Goal:

Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for you.

Scripture:

John 14: 2-4 “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Materials:

Clothes Line, Strong String or Thin Rope

Sheets and clothespins

(optional) Steve Green video Hide Them in Your Heart Volume 2. Song “In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions.”

In Advance:

This will take some time but it is worth it! If possible pick a space (basement, guest room, kid’s room) where the created “mansion” can stay up for a couple days. Kids will enjoy hours of playing in the “mansion” after Family Time.

Turn a room in the house into a maze leading to several spaces called “rooms.” To begin: run the string, cord or rope back and forth across the room about chest high. Attach the rope to closet rods, bed posts, doors, etc. Safety First! Do not attach it to anything that can be pulled down onto kids playing below.

Create a web with lines running in all directions across the room. Next, take as many sheets as you can find and start clothes pinning them to the lines in such a way that you create passages that lead to several spaces called “rooms.” If you have extra sheets you can lay them across the top of the rope-web creating a sheet-ceiling. Be creative. Boxes can be used as tunnels. What you are creating is an elaborate fort made from sheets.

If possible, keep the “mansion” a secret.

Lesson and Discussion:

*Words that are written in bold are when you, the parent, are speaking. Feel free to use your own words.

ACTIVITY #1: Starting the Family Time in a room away from the “mansion.” Ask each child to bring a favorite toy or personal item. Read John 14. When Jesus went up in the clouds after being raised from the dead, He went to heaven to prepare a place for everyone who believes in Him.

In a similar way, I have been working to prepare a special place for you. This place is a mansion made of sheets. There are passages and secret rooms. I’ve picked a special room for each one of you. You will know which room is yours because it will have your favorite toy (or personal item) in it. Just like Jesus went to heaven and promised to come back and get us, I need you to give me your toy so I can go to prepare your room. Stay here and I will come back and get you.

OPTIONAL: While you are upstairs preparing the maze of rooms, the kids may listen to and even memorize the song from the Steve Green video, “In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions.”

Come back down and invite the kids one at a time to go upstairs and find his or her special room. You may choose to ask them if they can sing the song (or recite the memorization) before they can go upstairs or continue playing the song while they play in the maze. The kids will love playing in the maze for as long as you will leave it up!

If you liked this devotion idea, there are hundreds more available from Family Time Training. See the link on the right side of this page for more information.