In This Home, One Voice Matters Most. 

Read: 

John 10:1-10 (Families with only younger kids, only read verses 3 and 4.) 

Play:

Divide the family into pairs—one person will be blindfolded, the other will be “the voice.”

Blindfolded participants go to another room while their partners create an obstacle course. 

To play, blindfolded participants attempt to get through the obstacle course using only the verbal guidance of their “voice” partner. It’s fine, and encouraged, to distract the other teams! 

Talk it out: 

Someone comes up to you after school and says, “Your parents called me. They said you should make sure to light something on fire this afternoon, and then pick a fight with your sister.” 

Would you believe that person really heard from your parents? Why not?

Not only do you know your parents' voices—you know the things your parents say. 

Believe it or not, we get to know God’s voice by listening too. When someone tells us God says something, we can compare that to what’s written in His Word. It’s part of how we learn to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice in our own hearts and which is different from the selfish voice in our own heads. 

Kind of like the obstacle course you just navigated, maybe someone from another team tried to steer you off course by yelling louder, but you knew you should only listen to one voice.  

Read 1 Kings 19:9-13. How did God end up speaking to Elijah? 

A still, small voice.

If you were blindfolded and your “Voice” partner was whispering, how would you hear them? 

Leaning closer. Making other voices quiet.

Learning to hear God’s voice often means quieting down the noise around us and inside our hearts. We need to make enough time to be with God, rather than quickly reading the Bible and praying so that we can be done with our quiet time! 

This week, tell a parent when you heard the difference between God’s voice and a total poser. Maybe during an argument with a sibling?

Other than God’s, which “voices” are you listening to most? 

Parents answer, too! This could be the voices of other people, pressure to have nice things or more comfort, the voice saying, "I should get to do what I want", the voice saying, "I’m not worth anything.", etc.

Pretend a sibling or friend is unkind to you. What are the voices in your head telling you to do? What would God’s voice tell you to do? 

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“In This Home: A 7-Day, Hands-On Family Devotional” © 2021 by FamilyLife. All Rights Reserved.