God’s Impressions

Do your children know how to recognize the voice of God? The first thing to teach them is that God’s “voice” is not always a voice! Sometimes he uses words in our minds or spirits. But more often than not he uses his “still small voice” or a gentle whisper. The still small voice is many times just a “feeling” or an “impression” on the inside of our hearts.

The toy I am holding in my hands has little orange plastic pegs will conform to any shape that is pressed into them. I frequently hold this up to my students and ask them what this looks like. In this case, it looks like a face. It’s actually my face!

I ask them, “Can you tell by looking at this whether this face belongs to a man or a woman?” They will say no. Then I ask, “Can you tell how old they are?” No. Can you tell what color their skin is? What color their eyes are? The answers are no. I tell them, what you are seeing is just an “impression” of a face. We are able to get the general idea that this is a face, but we don’t know the details.

This is often how God will speak to us—he gives us an “Impression,” or the general idea of what he’s trying to say to us, but the details are not clear. It is up to us then to pray, search the scriptures, and meditate on the impression we got, and ask him to help us understand, or give us more details about what he is telling us. “God,” you ask, “What are you trying to tell me?”

The Bible says, “It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.” Proverbs 25:2 He speaks through his still small voice which is often just an impression.

(Parents: you may use this same concept with play doh, clay, plaster paris, or even a fresh slice of bread. Let your child play with the items making a variety of impressions as you talk to him about your personal experiences with God leading you through impressions in your heart.)

For more on how to teach children to hear God’s voice from Kids in Ministry:https://kidsinministry.org/resources/more-stuff/colors-animals-and-gods-voice/

https://kidsinministry.org/resources/more-stuff/and-god-said-conference-series/

https://kidsinministry.org/resources/more-stuff/gods-voice/