Gift of Faith book 10: Life’s Little Lessons
Received by: CQ and DE

1.	Love 
2.	Joy
3.	Peace
4.	Patience
5.	Gentleness 
6.	Goodness
7.	Faith 
8.	Meekness
9.	Moderation
10.	Word of God
11.	Holy Spirit
12.	Prayer
13.	Golden Rule
14.	Bible 
15.	Salvation
16.	Hearing from Heaven
17.	Witnessing 
18.	Service
19.	Overcoming Problems
20.	Going God’s Way
21.	Choice 
22.	Making Decisions
23.	Christmas
24.	Creation
25.	Jesus our Friend
26.	Discipleship
27.	No Worries
28.	Choosing Friends
29.	First Place
30.	Forgiveness and Mercy
31.	God
32.	Love of God
33.	Jesus
34.	Heaven
35.	Praise
36.	Resting in the Lord
37.	Tests and Trials
38.	Resisting the Devil
39.	Thankfulness
40.	Murmuring
41.	Togetherness
42.	Yieldedness
43.	Give Jesus the credit
44.	Humility
45.	Angels
46.	Healing
47.	Giving
48.	Faithfulness
49.	Obedience
50.	Rewards

These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee.  (Deuteronomy 6:6-7,18a, KJV)

Love 

Love is the most important gift you can give. Love comes back to you. Jesus gives special rewards to those who show love to others. Love makes your life better and happier. Being loving shows others what God is like. 

Joy
You can have joy in your heart no matter what happens, because Jesus will always love you and take care of you. If you first do what makes Jesus happy, then help to cheer up others, and put yourself last, you’ll find that you feel happy too.

Peace
Jesus can give you peace in your heart. He can make the storms, troubles, stress, tension, and confusion not upset you. You can feel His peace when you pray, trust in Him, and remember the promises in His Word. 
Patience
When you are patient, you know things will work out well. If you do something else while you wait for things to work out, waiting will be easier for you. If someone is testing your patience and is upsetting you, or if something is difficult for you, Jesus can help you to be calm and to make the right choices. Reading His Word can give you the faith you need to wait patiently until things are right again, or until things work out as you are hoping.
Gentleness 
Talking softly and acting gently can inspire others to do the right thing too. Getting all worried, angry, loud, or acting rough with others won’t make good things happen. When you relax and act kindly, and treat others gently, it will bring better results.
Goodness
There is always something good to think about and notice and do in each situation. Focus on what is right, and choose to do what is good. Things will be better for you when you talk about good things and make the right choices that please Jesus.

Faith 
God’s Word gives you faith and confidence to obey Him. Jesus loves you and when you pray and trust Him to take care of you it makes Him so happy. He will then do wonderful things for you. Jesus can help you to not worry about anything, but to know that He can always help you.
Faith
What can faith in God do for you? It can do a whole lot! It healed blind Bartimaeus’ eyes. Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “Your faith has made you whole”. Faith is just believing that God is, and that He is there with you, that He cares about you and that He loves you. Putting your faith in God is like putting your little hand in Daddy’s big hand when you’re walking along. You trust that he will lead you to good places and take care of you. It’s just that simple, and it works just as well.

Meekness
Jesus likes to use little things and little people who don’t have big ideas of their own but who let His Spirit lead them to do what He wants them to. They don’t get worked up or upset when things don’t go their way. Instead, they are trusting all the time that Jesus will work things out for them. And because they do, things usually turn out all right.

Moderation
It makes Jesus very happy when we’re moderate and control our impulses. Just because we feel like doing something, or want to have a lot of something, doesn’t mean we’ll be happier if we get it. Being moderate helps us to take better care of ourselves by not overdoing—just having enough. We will be able to show more consideration for others when we aren’t only focused on getting more for ourselves, which causes us to neglect the needs of others.

Word of God
God’s Word is like a treasure chest full of jewels and gold. God put so many promises in His Word about His love and care for us, and each verse or promise is like something very beautiful and valuable. In fact, He even inspired the men who wrote the Bible so they would write down exactly what He wanted said! He did that because He loves you and doesn’t ever want you to feel alone or lost in this world. The more you read God’s Word, the more you will know just how much He loves you.

Holy Spirit
If you pray, God can send His comforting, miracle-working, powerful Holy Spirit to be with you and surround you. God’s Holy Spirit, which He promised to send to those that believe in Jesus, can help us know what to say and do so we can tell people about Jesus. With God’s Spirit helping us we won’t feel so shy or sad. We’ll instead be bubbling over with joy and power to do what Jesus wants us to do. God’s Holy Spirit can teach us how to be more loving and kind with people. If we need help remembering things or learning something new, the Holy Spirit can help with that too. Isn’t it nice to have an invisible Friend like that?
Prayer
Prayer is talking to Jesus and letting Him know what you need and what’s on your heart. And just like having a conversation with a friend, prayer goes two ways. Jesus also likes to talk to you! So take a little time each day to tell Him what’s on your heart and then get real quiet and let Him talk to you. He can give you all that you need in that little moment you spend with Him. It might be a comforting thought and peaceful feeling, or a reminder of His great love for you.

Hearing from Heaven
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice.” If we’ll just be like little sheep and follow our Shepherd, Jesus, we’ll hear His voice, too! Just get ready to listen, and you will hear Him. Or like your mummy asks you sometimes, “Are you listening?” That’s what happened with young Samuel in the Bible: he took time to be quiet and to listen to what the Lord wanted to say to him. When you feel that Jesus wants to talk to you, you can say, like Samuel did, “Speak, Lord, I’m listening”. 

Golden Rule
Jesus said something once that is so important that we call it the Golden Rule. This is what He said: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. When you feel bugged about something somebody did or said, that’s a good time to practice the Golden Rule. Do your best to love that person anyway. Who knows? Maybe next time you’ll be the one who needs the love and forgiveness of others!

Bible 
The Bible is the most wonderful book in the whole world! In fact, it’s more than just a book. It’s like a special spiritual lamp that will instantly light up your path through life, and help you know what you are to do. It’s also like a roadmap that will show you the best way to get to your destination, which is Heaven. The Bible is God’s Letter written personally to you! Cherish God’s words in the Bible and they will keep you close to Jesus, loving Him, and loving others.

Salvation
Jesus came to Earth to bring us God’s wonderful gift of Salvation. God had so much love for each of us that He sent His son down from Heaven to live on Earth so we could know what God is like. After doing that, Jesus also gave His life for us, to take our punishment and forgive us our sins, so we could have the gift of salvation and eternal life in Heaven with Him and His Father. Salvation is a wonderful gift that is free! With it, we are guaranteed a place in Heaven and membership in God’s Family forever! To receive this gift of eternal life with Jesus, and to get to enjoy all the fun that is in store in Heaven, just say a prayer and tell Jesus “thank you” for coming to Earth, and ask Him to forgive you for all the wrongs you have done. Believe that He is God’s Son and that He loves you. That’s all it takes, and Jesus’ free gift of salvation and life and love forever with Him will be yours.

Heaven
Heaven is a place that all who love Jesus will be able to live in one day. It is the most wonderful, spectacular, marvellous, and amazing place that there ever was! Before Jesus left the Earth to return to His Father in Heaven, He told His disciples that He was going to prepare a special place for them—a place with mansions and beauty. God’s light will be the light of that city. It’s going to be a beautiful place where there won’t be anything that is harmful, and no one is going to be sad or lonely. Everyone there will be so happy.
Heaven is where we’re going to spend eternity with Jesus and all of our loved ones, and everyone who’s ever asked Jesus into their heart. There’s going to be so much to see and do, and we’ll have Heavenly bodies so we can go wherever we want and travel with the speed of thought! There will be lots to keep us busy, helping others to know Jesus and His ways as we travel to planets and galaxies as yet unknown!

Witnessing 
When we’re full of God’s love, it just pours out of us and overflows on others! It’s like filling someone’s empty love cup. When we receive Jesus’ gift of love and eternal life, that is the start to a wonderful life of love with Him and for Him. Every day we can pray and find out how we can make Jesus happy, and be His good friends that help to tell others about Him, and do what we can to spread His love and care to the world around us. 
Service
Sometimes we can do big jobs, but even the small deeds of kindness are like gifts given to Jesus. You can give a smile or a cheery greeting, and that lets people know they’re noticed and appreciated. Or you can bring someone a glass of water or help your younger brother or sister put on their sweater or shoes. 
There are lots of ways you can share God’s love. Just ask Jesus to help you and He’ll show you how. He’s the King of Love, and though we are His friends, we can also be like servants, who work hard to do what He needs us to do. When we get to Heaven He will tell us “Thank you! Good job!” We’ll be so glad then that we did what we could to pass on His love and words to those on Earth. 

Overcoming Problems
God’s power is the greatest power in the whole world! Not only is He all-powerful, but He also loves us so much that He is always ready to help us. We may run into problems that seem really big and difficult for us, but all we have to do is ask Jesus for help. He’s just waiting for us to ask Him. When you have God’s power helping you, you’re unbeatable! He’ll help you lift any load and make it over any obstacle or problem.

Going God’s Way
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do and you wonder what God’s way is. Doing things God’s way means doing whatever is the most loving thing. If you’re not sure what to do, then ask yourself, “What is the most loving thing to do in this situation?” If you follow through and do the loving thing, you’ll be going God’s way. It’s a good little rule to keep in mind. Remember, God is love and whatever is done in His love will work out.

Choice 
Jesus likes to give us a choice because He likes to see what choices we will make of our own free will. Just like when your mummy asks you, “Do you want to wear this outfit today or that one? You choose.” Jesus likes to give us the same kind of freedom, too.–Because He loves us and He wants us to learn how to make good choices. What we decide to do will affect us and others around us. 
Good and loving choices will make us and Jesus happy. Unwise or selfish choices will make us sad and could cause us to have accidents. What you choose to say will make a big difference and affect a lot of things. What you choose to see or listen to or watch will affect how healthy and happy your heart and mind are. Choices to eat good food will affect how healthy you are. 
Making Decisions
Making wise decisions takes thought and prayer, and knowing God’s Word too. If we only rush to do what comes to our mind we will probably end up regretting a lot of the things we do. Deciding to do things that are faith- and life-building will make us much happier. Sometimes it’s hard to do what we know is the right thing, but Jesus can help us choose to do what is best anyway, even if it seems difficult at first. If you stop to ask Jesus before you make a decision, you can be sure that your decision will be a good one.

Christmas
Christmas is very special because that is when God sent His only Son to Earth to show us His love. Jesus was born in a simple house and His bed was a wooden feed trough—a manger. Shepherds and village people came to see Him when He was born. God didn’t let His Son be born in a king’s palace because He wanted people to know that Jesus came for everyone. Even the poorest people could come to Him to find love and acceptance.

Creation
Everything in God’s creation is so perfect and so beautiful! All of Creation shows us something about what God is like. You can look up at a starry sky at night, or breathe the fresh fragrance of a garden after the rain, or watch a sunset sky filled with purple and red colours. All of it shows God’s handiwork and His creation. It’s all so beautiful, so calm and peaceful. He made it all so beautiful so we could know what He is like.

Discipleship
It’s a privilege to follow Jesus and be a disciple. Not many people choose to follow Him and trust Him with their whole lives, but those who do find the greatest happiness in life. They are like the wise man who built his house on a rock. No matter what storms and rains came, his house stayed strong. Those who choose to follow Jesus and be His disciples are like that wise man. You don’t have to be somebody smart or important to be a disciple, you just have to love Jesus and follow Him. 

No Worries
When Jesus was in the ship with His disciples and a big storm came, the disciples were very worried and afraid. They thought the stormy waves and wind would capsize their ship! But they forgot that they had the Son of God on board. As soon as they woke up Jesus and asked Him for help, He got up and commanded the waves and the wind to be still. And soon enough the sea was calm and they could keep on sailing. 
The disciples got all worried and afraid because they forgot about Jesus. Instead they looked at the storm and the waves and their weak little boat. They looked at all the problems instead of looking to Jesus. But as soon as they called out to Him, He rescued them. Jesus can do miracles like that for you, too! He can bring peace to your heart and mind, no matter what is going on around you. He’s stronger than anything and He loves to take good care of you.

Choosing Friends
Having a friend is so special! A friend is someone who likes to be with you and likes doing the things that you do. One reason friends are so special is because real, true friends are hard to find. The best kinds of friends are those who encourage you to do good things and help you to be a better person. Watch out for friends who want to go places or do things that you know you shouldn’t do, or who think about and say things that aren’t encouraging or faith-building. Friendship is a precious gift from Jesus, so ask Him to give you His choice of a friend.  

First Place
The most important thing in the whole wide world is Jesus, and so a relationship with Him is the best thing you can have. When you take time to talk to Jesus, to listen to Him, and to read His Word, it shows Him that you love and respect Him. Putting your friendship with Jesus above all other people and possessions will bring you all the best in your life—things of true value that you’ll be so glad for. When you are close friends with Jesus, and you put Him first, He will make your heart and life beautiful and reward you in special ways—because you are His special, close friend.

Forgiveness and Mercy
To forgive someone who has hurt you or others, is being like Jesus. He needs the people on Earth who know and love Him to show a bit of what He is like to others. To forgive someone rather than staying upset at them, or to give others another chance to make good choices next time, shows others what God’s love is like. Jesus came to Earth to give us all forgiveness. We can show our thankfulness to Jesus for loving and forgiving us by doing the same for others. Jesus blesses this and makes our life happier as a result.

God
God is the great spirit of love, truth, and freedom. He made you and me, and all the beauty that exists in the natural world around you. His goal is to bring you to live with Him one day in the most wonderful place that ever existed. He loves you and wants you to be with Him forever. When you make the choice to show His love to others, you make Him happy, and He blesses and rewards all those who do. 

Love of God
When we accept the gift God gave of sending His Son Jesus to Earth to bring us the gift of forgiveness from the wrongs we’ve done, then we are made clean in heart, and are fit to live in Heaven. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and is everywhere. He can see you and cares about you every minute of the day. He loves you! His love for you will be forever.

Jesus
Jesus is the King of Love that will one day rule over all, and will bring peace and joy to all who chose to do things His Heavenly way. Jesus is God’s Son who chose to come to Earth for a time and to experience what it was like to be human. Jesus helps to express God’s thoughts and feelings to us. Jesus is the Word of God. He is the message God wants us to know. He is the picture or the demonstration of what God is like. God is love, and Jesus wants us to know how much He loves us.

Jesus our Friend

Since Jesus came to Earth for a while as a man, He fully understands just what it feels like, and the difficulties that we face. He did this so that He can help us better. Jesus hears our prayers and enjoys answering them. He’s like a friend who wants to be around us, and likes it when we talk to Him. Jesus loves each one and wants everybody to receive His love in their hearts. This is the first step to a beautiful new world that is to come. Jesus loves you forever! 

Praise

The Lord is wonderful, amazing, tremendous, and everlasting. There is nothing that He cannot do. He’s more powerful than everyone on Earth put together. Why not praise Him, all day long, in all that you do? He loves to hear you tell Him how thankful you are, and how you know that He can do anything. You’ll find out that the more you speak words of gratitude to Jesus, the better things will get, and the more joy you will have.

Resting in the Lord
You can never get everything done that you might like to, nor are you meant to. You won’t be able to fix every problem that you come across in your life. It would tire you out if you tried. But you can take every problem, struggle, and difficulty to Jesus. His arms are strong enough to lift every load. He knows the solutions, and most of all He can make you feel relaxed and refreshed, and able to carry on. 

When you feel troubles surrounding you, just tell Jesus about it. Taking time to be still and quiet, with just you and Jesus, will help to bring calm to your spirit. You won’t fret so much then. You’ll be reminded that Jesus is there and He will take care of the things you can’t, and will give you the strength and stamina to do what you must.

Tests and Trials
Every day you are going to encounter something that leaves you feeling a bit sad, or like something is missing in your life. Maybe others have something that you wish you had. Perhaps you are struggling with learning something new. Maybe you are sick or hurt in some way. These things are hard to experience. But you know, everything that is difficult can also be our helper. 

Having a difficulty or problem can teach us to pray and to receive special miracles. It can help us to be more understanding and gentle with others. We learn faith and patience. And best of all, nothing difficult will last forever. It will all pass away one day. In Heaven there won’t be anything that causes sorrow or pain. We’ll only know joy and fun then. 

Resisting the Devil
Everything that is the opposite of God’s way is only going to make you and others sick, sad, and ugly. And you don’t have to tolerate it at all. God’s way is love, joy, peace, beauty, health, inspiration, faith, and goodness! If you see something that isn’t the way God wants things to be, then pray to ask Him to help it to change. 

If unpleasant and bad thoughts, ideas, and words come into your mind, call out to Jesus and think about His Word. You can even sing a song that brings godly thoughts and feelings to you, and start doing something positive. Tell the Enemy to leave and to have no part in your life. Fill your life and thoughts and heart with love, review God’s Word and promises, and you’ll be on the way to victory.

Thankfulness

Be thankful for everything, no matter what happens, because you know that if you love Jesus, all things will work out for the best in the end. Everything can and will turn out well. So why wait? Thank Jesus now, before you even see all the good that is to come. That shows faith in Him, and really makes Him glad. Jesus will be so pleased to hear these words of faith and praise that He’ll tell the angels. And all Heaven will want to make you even happier. 

Murmuring
To complain and grumble about the few things that you don’t have, forgetting all the other great things that Jesus and others do for you, shows that you don’t have faith and trust in God’s care. If you make it a good habit to constantly look for what is good about each situation and person, and you make it a practice to put those positive thoughts into words, you’ll find yourself happier. Your life will improve the more you think about the good, talk about the nice things, compliment others, and enjoy what you do have--things that you forgot about or were too busy to notice.

Togetherness
It’s fun to play and work together with others that have the same goals, ideas, and plans as you. If you and others are all in agreement as to what you are doing and how you want to go about something, this makes the project or game or activity go well. But if someone is trying to make themselves appear better than others, or they aren’t appreciating the good qualities that the others have, then it causes disunity and disruption. 

Choose good friends and teammates to play with and do things together with, people who also believe as you do. It’s good to work with those who want to follow Jesus too. Then when you talk about plans or there are differences of opinion you can pray together, and each one can choose to do the most loving thing, speaking humbly and respectfully to each other. You’ll have a great time then.

Yieldedness

We don’t always get to have just what we want, at just the time we want it. Sometimes we have to wait or let others have a turn to get what they need. Sometimes we have to give up things that are special to us, or we get sick, or we miss out on something that we’d like. But if we pray every day for Jesus to help us make the right choices, and we have faith that He is in charge and will bring about the best things in our lives, then it won’t seem as hard. 

If we most of all want to do whatever Jesus knows is best, He works things out for us, helps us avoid accidents, and gives us more joy and peace in our heart. This peace and faith in our heart will help us to bravely and cheerfully flow with changes of plans, or new ideas of things that Jesus wants us to do.

Give Jesus the credit
When something goes well, or you are able to do something good, and others are saying how great you are, do you remember to give the credit to the One who made it all possible?–Jesus! A million things could have gone wrong, but they didn’t. Did you thank Jesus for making you able to do something worthy of the compliments and appreciation of others? 

If you want to succeed and make progress, it’s very important that you remind yourself that anything you are able to do that is good is only because Jesus made you and protected you, and helped you to learn that skill or have that good idea.

Humility

If you stay humble and push away the “I’m so good” kind of thoughts, then Jesus can continue to bless your efforts. But if you let yourself get lifted up with big and proud thoughts—or even small little proud thoughts, giving credit to yourself—then the next time you try to do something, you just might fall flat. 

Jesus blesses those who remember to thank Him for all He did to make it possible for them to do well. We can also show humility by telling others what a great job they did, and saying words of appreciation to them. When we don’t think of ourselves as deserving of all the best, and we let others feel special and respected, that shows humility; it’s being like Jesus. 

Angels
Jesus sends angels to help each person on Earth. If we pray for help and protection, His angels are ready and eager to help. When we make the choices to do things that please Jesus and we obey what He tells us, then His angels can care for us better. Jesus blesses us with His Heavenly protection as we pray and obey and stay close to Him. We are never alone on Earth. Jesus and His angels are always with us.

Healing

Everyone gets sick or hurt and needs healing sometimes. When Jesus came to Earth and gave His life, it was for the forgiveness of our sins and for the healing of our bodies too. He promises healing and relief to those who ask Him for it. There are many promises in God’s Word that we can read and claim when we are sick or in pain. When you pray and remind Jesus of what He has promised, it shows Him that you have faith in His Word, and that you know He will heal you. When healing comes it will be like a touch of relief from Heaven. Healing is a special blessing from Jesus.

Giving
Putting others’ needs first, and sharing what you can to make them happy, also puts a smile on Jesus’ face. Like when you see the largest piece of snack on the plate and you manage to not grab it but offer the plate to the visitor instead. It makes Jesus happy when we think of others like that. That’s how He lived His whole life on Earth! He was always thinking of others and putting their needs first.

Jesus has lots of surprises and gifts for those who make the right choice to be kind, helpful, and giving. You will be so glad for every deed, every prayer, every bit of love shared, every time you obeyed Jesus even when it was hard, every time you helped someone come to know Jesus. He’ll give you so much in return. He then has special ways of thanking you and giving to you. No matter how much you give away to others, Jesus has much more that He can give back to you. 

Faithfulness

Jesus told us in the Bible to be “faithful” and that He would bless this. He said that those who do their jobs for Him well and consistently, who would not give up, and who would put their time, strength, and energy into doing it well and right, He would say to them, “Well done!” when they meet Him in Heaven. I want to be someone who doesn’t give up and who Jesus can richly reward one day, because I’ve made Him so happy by doing what He was depending on me to do. Don’t you?

Obedience

To do what you know is right brings good things into your life. God set up rules for happy living while on Earth. When we follow these guidelines and do what He tells us to do in His Word, or through others who know what will be for our good, then we get the benefits and positive results. If we choose to only do what comes into our mind or what we feel like doing, and we make the wrong choices, then difficult things happen, and the results make us and others unhappy. It’s good to listen and to follow what Jesus knows is best for our own good, our safety, and to help others live happily as well. 

Rewards
Jesus sees everything that you do—the little deeds of kindness, and the bigger jobs too. Everything you do that makes Him happy and is in obedience to His Word, that helps to make this world a better place, or helps others to know about Jesus, will be rewarded. You will get very special treats in Heaven, and some on Earth too!–Because that makes Him very happy. When you get to Heaven you will see all the wonderful things that Jesus saved up for you. 

**** 
New to add:

Truth
God speaks the truth. He only tells facts. We can trust that what he tells us, and what is written in His Word—the Bible—is the truth. We can not trust the words of people in the world who speak things opposite to what God said. When God says something, we know it will happen. When we can trust God and His Word, this helps us to feel safe and happy, and know that it is good to obey what He tells us to do. 
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) We who have received Jesus’ gift of Salvation and want to follow in God’s ways, need to always speak the truth, as well. If people can trust that what we say is the truth, then they can also believe us when we tell them about Jesus, and the way to Heaven. There is no room for lies and false ideas in the mouths of those who love and follow Jesus. We need to show a good example to others of being trustworthy and speaking things that are true and good, honesty and right. 

God’s Help and Power
Since God made this world, and us, and the whole universe, He certainly can help us and care for us. Things that seem too difficult for anyone, are very simple and easy for Him to do. There is nothing that is impossible for God. If we believe God can do it, and it is something that will bring good in the end, then He is very happy to do anything to help us. 
Miracles and wonderful things can happen for those who pray and have faith that God hears and will answer. God can heal anything, supply our needs, protect us, guide us, and help us to do anything that is good. Why not ask Him now to give you the help you need? He is eager and waiting to use His awesome power to work good for you and others.