Tehillim 6, 9, 20, 30, 41, 88, 103, 121, 130 and 142 are often prayed to ask God to heal the sick! One of the most important things we can do is to visit and take care of the sick. So that is why you are going to learn a little bit about the Tehillim for the sick and create a Get Well card based on what you learned! So let’s get started!
Directions:
Read any of the Tehillim which are used to pray for God to heal the sick. Try to read at least two to three before starting the Get Well card. While you are reading, try to find verses or ideas which would be good to include in a Get Well card. Write those down so you can use them later.
Take a blank piece of paper and fold it in half and then fold it in half again to make a card.
Decorate the Get Well card for the person you would like to give it to. Include some of the verses you found from Tehillim and a personal note for the person who is sick.
Include some color and find (or create) an envelope to put it in.
The Tehillim are full of great imagery, descriptions which allow our brains to form a picture of what is going on! They are vivid and wonderful! At times they can be intense and sad! But no matter what, they fill our minds and spirits with true pictures of everyday life! In this activity, you are going to take some imagery from a Tehillim and take a picture in real life which represents it! Stretch your creativity muscles because you’ll need them for this one!
Directions:
Choose any Tehillim, you can choose one you already know or you can randomly choose one by flipping to any page in your Tehillim. Read the Tehillim and start to soak in the imagery.
Take a walk around your house or outside and find something you see which reminds you of the imagery from the Tehillim. When you have found something, take a picture of it.
Post the picture and the verse(s) which you connected with the picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
Tehillim 113-118 are called the Hallel, they are sung during holidays like Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. Just like the festivals show the process of redemption, the Tehillim which make up the Hallel tell the story of the redemption.
You will be using the imagery from the Hallel to create a children’s book. This will be an exciting activity, so let’s get started!
Directions:
Read Tehillim 113-118 and start to think about how each of them are telling one part of the redemption story.
Watch this short video, which breaks the Tehillim into the parts of the redemption story. Take notes, if you would like to help you when you have to create the children’s book.
You are now ready to start to work on your children’s book. Take four pieces of blank paper and fold them in half. Staple them along the fold to create a book.
Decide which part of the story told in the Hallel you will include on each page and start to sketch your pages.
Once you have done some of the sketching, go back and fill in the detail, colors and text.
When you are done with your children’s book, record yourself reading it to someone and post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah.
There are many instruments mentioned in the book of Tehillim. Some of them are familiar and so of them you might not have heard of. To be honest, we don’t always know what the right translation from Hebrew for some of the instruments. But for this activity, we are going to use the instruments which are listed in Tehillim 150 to create a brochure on the instruments of Tehillim! Let’s get started!
Directions:
Read Tehillim 150 and write down all the instruments which it lists for us to use to praise God.
Research what each of those instruments look like, what sounds they make and how they are made.
Once you have done your research, take a blank piece of paper and fold it into a tri-fold brochure.
Create a front cover and a back cover. Then with the sections which are left in your brochure, choose a few of the instruments you did research on and include their name, a picture of what they look like, how you would describe their sound and how they are made.
Add some color to your brochure, and post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
Tehillim 23 is one of the most famous Tehillim. It has brought comfort for generations to those in troubled times. The image of God taking care of you, as a Shepard takes care of his sheep. In this activity you are going to create a poem based on a situation in which God has taken care of you!
Directions:
Read Tehillim 23 and think of a situation in your own life in which God came to your rescue and brought goodness to a seemingly bad situation.
Create a poem, it can be free verse or have a rhyming scheme, which describes how God came to your rescue and model it after the poetry of Tehillim 23. For example, you could have a verse in your poem like, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, the despair of losing my close friend…”
When you are finished, post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
The end of Tehillim 19 talks about the beauty and majesty of the Torah! In this activity you are going to create a book cover for your Bible and include words, phrases and imagery from Tehillim 19 to decorate it!
Directions:
Read Tehillim 19:8-15 and look for words, phrases and imagery (descriptions which make great pictures in your mind) to include in your book cover.
Using a blank piece of paper (or a couple, depending on how big your Bible is) create your book cover using color pencils, crayons, paints, etc. Include some of the words, phrases and imagery from Tehillim 19. For example, in verse 8 it says the Torah is perfect, so you might add a picture of a homework assignment with an A+ on it because that is a perfect score. The same verse then says the Torah refreshes the soul, so maybe draw a picture of a stream of water because that is very refreshing.
Make sure you decorate your book cover for your Bible while it is not on the Bible. You don’t want to accidentally get something on the Bible.
When you are finished, take a picture of your book cover and post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
It is said that Tehillim 22 describes what will happen to the Jewish people in the time of the Persians and the story of Esther. In this activity you are going to do some detective work to find out what the connections are between the story of Esther and Tehillim 22! Once you have collected enough evidence then you will write a one paragraph Detective Report presenting your findings!
Take some notes about what connections are between Tehillim 22 and the story of Esther. For example, in the beginning of Tehillim 22 it starts with David crying out to God, just as the Jewish people of Persia were afraid and called out to God to save them.
Write a paragraph about what you have found from your detective work. You can organize it like a Detective Report a Private Investigator might complete for their client.
When you are finished, post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
Tehillim 19 talks all about God’s wonderful creation! The beauty in all the things He continues to create! In this activity, you are going to spend time in nature soaking in all the details of God’s wonderful gifts to us and then make a poser! This will be relaxing and fun!
Directions
Ask permission to go out to a quiet spot in nature. It can be into your backyard under the shade of a tree. It can be to a nearby park or a river. Just find a spot you can just sit a soak in all of the beauty. Take some time to look around. Notice what you can hear, feel and smell.
After you have taken some time to just enjoy everything around you, take a moment to read Tehillim 19. Connect with the words of the Tehillim and the scenes you see around you. For example, when it talks about the Heavens in verse 2, look up at the sky and the clouds passing by.
When you have finished enjoy your time in God’s creation, head back home and get out a piece of blank paper and your favorite art supplies (i.e. color pencils, crayons, paints, etc.) Create a poster which shows all the things Tehillim 19 talks about and bring in elements from your own time in nature.
When you are finished with your poster, take a picture of it and post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
Tehillim 20 talks all about how God comes to the aid of whoever calls out to him. There are many great images in this Tehillim which shows how God will come to rescue. Choose some of the imagery from this Tehillim to create a painting or illustration and share it with someone who might need a reminder!
Directions
Read Tehillim 20 and look for the imagery, the words and phrases which make great pictures in your mind, which David is using to describe how God will help those who call to Him. For example, in verse 3 it says He will send help from the Holy Place, which is the Holy of Holies in the Temple. So you could paint or draw an illustration of God sending His help from the Temple.
Once you have an idea of the imagery you want to use, collect your art supplies. You can do the illustration with color pencils and paper, paint and canvas, make a t-shirt, do a digital illustration, etc. Really any way which you feel creative!
When you are finished, take a picture of it and post it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us @SparksOfMessiah
Tehillim 120-134 are called the Songs of Ascent because they each start with shir hama’alot (Hebrew for ‘Songs of Ascent’). There are many reasons given for why this collection of Tehillim all start with the same phrase. Some say it is because they were the songs the Levites sang on the steps ascending to the Temple courtyard. Some say it is because the songs were sung starting with a low melody and end in a high melody. Some even say these were the songs the Jewish people sang on their way up to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage festivals (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot).
These songs remind me of the story of Yeshua, when he was young and Miriam and Yosef forgot him in the Temple. Many people think this a strange story, how could any mother or father forget their kid?! Well, you see, everyone traveled together to Jerusalem for the festivals and then returned together. So in all likelihood, Yeshua and his family were traveling with extended family and friends from their home village of Nazereth. And as kids do, with extended family and friends in a festive atmosphere, they all congregate together and play. So Miriam and Yosef probably thought he was just with his cousins playing, they were all heading in the same destination, he would be safe!
So why do I tell you all of this, you might ask? Well it is because in this activity you are going to read the Songs of Ascent and then create a travel log of your journey from the Galilee to Jerusalem! In each of the closing of that day’s travel log, you are going to include something from one of the Songs of Ascent. Everyone knew these songs, so it is very likely that you would all be traveling together and break out into song together. And you thought that only happened in movies!?
Directions:
Read Tehillim 120-134 (don’t worry, they are very short) and think about singing them as songs. Notice what each of them are talking about.
Take some pieces of lined paper and title them, “Songs of Ascent Travel Log: My Journey to Jerusalem.”
A travel log is where you write a little bit about what you did, saw and traveled each day on your journey. So an example of this would be:
Yom Rishon (Sunday): We began very early, why does everyone want to get started so early in the morning?! We left our home and met up with our cousins and friends. We will be traveling together. We started to sing Tehillim 120, this is one of my favorite songs we sing because it talks about how when we cry out to God when we are in trouble, He will answer us.
You might have to do a little research on the route they might have taken from Nazereth to Jerusalem and look on Google Maps to see what the scenery would look like and how far you could get each day from walking.
Have fun with this assignment and imagine being there with Yeshua, his family and friends as you went up to Jerusalem for a joyous festival!
