How Can I Strengthen My Faith in Jesus Christ Every Day?
(Lesson-match Interactive Activities)
YOUTH CLASSES
TOPIC #1
Exodus 14-17
HOW CAN I STRENGTHEN MY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST EVERY DAY?
TOPIC #2
Exodus 18-20
YOUTH CLASSES
April 10, 2022
Come, Follow Me
DOCTRINAL TOPICS & ACTIVITIES
Genesis:37-41
MUTUAL NIGHT, SEMINARY, OR FAMILY NIGHT ACTIVITIES
APPLE PIE POSITIVE SELF-TALK SEMINAR:
Be prepared to show youth an apple and a fresh apple pie (hopefully one that is warm fresh out of the oven). Tell the youth that it is easy to be just an apple, but with a little more effort we can be like an apple pie. As we know, we are all children of God; we have the desire to be better.
[Leader: You may want to demonstrate how to make an apple pie.] To make an apple pie we must add sugar and butter to make caramel syrup. We add the spices and a rich tasty crust. Self-mastery is like that. You can take yourself the way you are (show the apple) or we can add the things that make you even better than you are now (show the apple pie). Don’t be afraid to tell yourself that you are of great worth and value. Add spice to your life by strengthening your character.
List “Apple”ing Character Traits on the board.
Step 1: Have guest speakers come prepared to speak (see 3 below). Provide notepaper and pencils for youth with an apple and apple pie sticker.
Step 2: Ahead of time put up positive self-talk signs in the shapes of apples all over the room on the floor, ceiling, walls, table, light, and board.
Ideas: “You’re the apple of Heavenly Father’s eye.” “Bloom where you’re planted,” “Confidence is a gift you can give yourself,” “Practice releases pressure,” “If it is to be, it is up to me,” “Nothing is too good to be true, nothing is too good to last,” “Do your best and leave the rest,” “Count to 10 and then start over again,” “If at first you don’t succeed … try, try again.”
Step 3: Have a guest speaker tell how youth can make their life into “apple pie” quality by building their character. Ideas: (1) Describe good self-talk and bad self-talk. Talk about what positive self-talk can do. (2) Search the scriptures to find the right and wrong way to care for yourself, e.g., the Word of Wisdom, commandments like fasting, exercising, etc.
Step 4: Have youth list five self-talk messages they wish to take home and memorize. See Step 2 (above).
MORE YOUTH DOCTRINAL CLASS DISCUSSION IDEAS:
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Read together Alma 37:6–7. As a class or quorum, list on the board some of the “small and simple things” that the Lord has invited us to do each day to come unto Him. Those you teach could then review President Dallin H. Oaks’s message “Small and Simple Things” to find additional small things that can have a great influence on our lives. What impact can these things have? What are we inspired to do to make these things a more consistent part of our daily lives?
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Why does faith in Jesus Christ need to be nourished daily? To help members better understand this, you could show one or more of the videos listed under “Supporting Resources.” In these videos, Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught about the need for daily efforts to sustain our faith. Invite those you teach to share things they learned that inspire them to increase their faith in Jesus Christ every day.
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Consistent daily efforts are the best way to strengthen our faith in Christ. To discuss this idea, read together Elder David A. Bednar’s third suggestion in his message “More Diligent and Concerned at Home” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2009, 17–20). What lessons can we learn from his description of a painting in his office? How do these lessons apply to our efforts to build our faith in Jesus Christ? Reading together Alma 32:21, 26–43 could add to your discussion. What insights do we find about how to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ?
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We can increase our faith by choosing to learn from experiences that test it. You might show the video “Spiritual Whirlwinds” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Discuss together what we can do during a trial to strengthen our faith. (See also Neil L. Andersen, “Spiritual Whirlwinds,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 18–21.) You might ask class or quorum members to share times when they felt that their faith in Christ was tested and what they did to strengthen their faith during that time. Point out that Exodus 14–17 describes the frequent murmuring, or complaining, of the Israelites when they experienced trials. How can murmuring during trials weaken our faith? What is the difference between murmuring and expressing our concerns to Heavenly Father during hard times?
Act in Faith
Encourage class or quorum members to ponder and record what they will do to act on the impressions they received today. If they would like, they could share their ideas. Invite them to think about how acting on their impressions will strengthen their relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Supporting Resources
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“Daily Bread: Pattern,” “Daily Bread: Change,” “Daily Bread: Experience” (videos), ChurchofJesusChrist.org
Daily Bread: Pattern
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mo… – Just as we need daily physical sustenance, the need for daily spiritual sustenance is just as strong. For the Children of Israel, manna was a daily reminder of the source of their blessings; today, we can remember Jesus Christ every day as we pray, read the scriptures, and meditate. (Part 1 of 3) (Voice of Elder D. Todd Christofferson) I think it’s not by chance God has created us in a way that we have to have daily physical sustenance. The Children of Israel coming out of Egypt lived for forty years, approximately, on something called manna. They couldn’t have lived from hunting, and their lifestyle was such that they couldn’t be planting, so they really didn’t have an alternative. God was in essence providing their daily sustenance. And I think at least one of His purposes was to teach them to remember Him, to think of Him, to look to Him, to have faith in Him, that He was the source of their life.
He did in the way of making it a daily thing; they couldn’t gather up manna and store it, it would only be good for one day. They couldn’t forget who was the source their blessings. There’s a spiritual parallel in our day. We all recognize the need for physical sustenance; hunger and thirst remind us very strongly if we forget. But the spiritual need for sustenance is equally strong, that comes not in drinking water and eating food but in our constant daily efforts of communion with God. We ought not to think that we can go weeks and months without spiritual sustenance and not suffer, and not have a deadening influence in our spiritual life. Acknowledging the reality of our need for a daily spiritual ministration, or manna, helps us increase in our courage to do the right thing, and to serve others, more than we would have if we ignored God. People sometimes think “”Well, those are such small things; prayer, immersing ourselves in the scriptures, pondering, meditating; how can that really produce a significant difference in a person’s life?”” But it does. As small as those things seem to be, as daily, routine sometimes they may seem to be, these are the kinds of things that day by day, transform us. Subscribe to Mormon Channel for the latest videos: http://bit.ly/1M0iPwY Download the Mormon Channel App iOS: http://bit.ly/1yGRgRU Android: http://bit.ly/1ukxbeC Follow Mormon Channel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mormonchannel Twitter: https://twitter.com/mormonchannel Instagram: https://instagram.com/mormonchannel Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mormonchannel The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Daily Bread: Change
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mo… – Jesus Christ is the bread of eternal life. By following Him, remembering Him, and having faith in Him we can change and become what we aspire to become. (Part 3 of 3) (Voice of Elder D. Todd Christofferson) The bread of eternal life, the core substance that we need to become what we aspire to become, is in the person of Jesus Christ. His Atonement, His suffering for sin, and the resultant capacity to extend mercy, He can heal and forgiven and cleanse anything. I don’t think everyone realizes that when we do sin, when we turn away from God, it does something in us, and when we repent and turn to Him, that affect in us is taken away. With His Atonement we become different people then we would be without it and its power is infinite, truly infinite and can reach down and sanctify and make holy, to the uttermost, any soul. There’s a purpose in life far beyond living comfortably; the bread we receive is to enable us to act and to help and to serve. Not only are we helping but we’re being blessed and helped and changed. We’re not transformed, as you know, overnight, these things come in process of time; changes are incremental and people don’t see them until they look back and see where they are as opposed to where they were. Just as I learned not to expect immediate deliverance from a problem, He’s also saying “”I’m patient with your progress, I’ll just help you along day by day”” and all of that truly does add up to dramatic change, an eternal difference. When the Isrealites finally did cross the Jordan into their promised land, they were expected by God to remember Him, to think of Him, to look to Him, to have faith in Him. As we turn to Him each day and remember Him each day, we come to know by experience that He’s real and that He does care about and love us and minister to us, just as He did the ancient Israelites because He is the Bread of Life. Subscribe to Mormon Channel for the latest videos: http://bit.ly/1M0iPwY Download the Mormon Channel App iOS: http://bit.ly/1yGRgRU Android: http://bit.ly/1ukxbeC Follow Mormon Channel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mormonchannel Twitter: https://twitter.com/mormonchannel Instagram: https://instagram.com/mormonchannel Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mormonchannel The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Daily Bread Experience
Sometimes in life, there is nowhere else to turn but to God. Elder D. Todd Christofferson shares a personal experience that taught him to truly pray, recognize answers to prayers, and take life one day at a time.
