Free Sunday school lesson on submission to God’s will for pre-teens, teens, and older.
Optional: Play hangman with your students about the words “submission” and/or “pride” to get their attention, then ask if anyone knows what these words mean.
Although this lesson focuses on submission, there are two things that must be discussed beforehand, and that includes pride and humility.
Pride
Pride is something that everyone deals with. Americans, including Christians, suffer with an “I deserve” attitude.
There is nothing wrong with having desires, but entitlement goes beyond that. People not only covet, but they think that they deserve to get everything that they want.
Something I deal with a lot as a teacher in the classroom is the attitude that I have to offer extra credit, I have to allow students to retake a quiz or test, I have to offer extensions, and I have to accept any kind of behavior from my students.
However, it isn’t just students. People are so infected with entitlement that they can’t be happy or grateful for anything.
This entitlement is the opposite of humility. It is pride, and the Lord despises a heart full of pride (Proverbs 6:16-19 KJV).
Being prideful can cause us Christians to lose our testimonies and become ineffective in our service for God. Pride also causes a lot of problems, such as arguments and dissension. The Bible says that “Only by pride cometh contention,” (Proverbs 13:10 KJV). People get upset because they feel that they deserve to be treated better, or they feel they have the right to treat others however they want.
The Bible has a lot to say about pride.
It was one of the original sins. Satan not only wanted what God had, but he thought that he deserved it. In Isaiah 14:14 KJV, Satan said, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” In Job 41:33-34 KJV, the devil is called the “king over the children of pride.”
Besides the devil, there are so many verses and examples against pride:
Haman the Agagite was the villain in the book of Esther. He not only wanted to kill Mordecai for disrespecting him, but he wanted to genocide an entire people simply because of their association with Mordecai. Why? Because Mordecai refused to bow to him when Haman thought that he deserved it. (Esther 3:1-6 KJV)
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was warned by Daniel to not be lifted up in pride, or God would humble him by causing him to lose his mind and behave like an animal. However, only one year after this terrifying prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar was admiring his great kingdom and giving himself credit for everything Babylon had accomplished. God struck him with madness to teach him that it was God who decided who would be set over the kingdoms of men. (Daniel 4 KJV) (A similar thing happened to King Herod in Acts 12:21-23 KJV.)
Job was a righteous servant of God, but at his lowest point, he challenged God because of all the misery and trials that had befallen him. He demanded an answer from God, but when God showed up, Job “repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6 KJV). He realized how great God was and that he, as a man, had no right to accuse or demand anything of the creator of the universe. (Job 38-42 KJV)
Despite all of these stories and verses warning against pride, we still suffer from it, and it is a daily battle.
How can we guard against pride reigning in our lives?
Instead of being self-centered, we need to become God-centered. Everything we do, say, or think needs to be filtered through what our Heavenly Father wants. If we are seeking to serve the Lord, then, not only will everything we desire not seem to matter anymore, but we will begin to have the same desires that God has.
While pride is thinking only of ourselves, humility is not thinking of ourselves at all.
Contrary to popular belief, to be humble doesn’t mean you think badly of yourself, you are quiet to keep from embarrassing yourself, or you have a low self-esteem. This is still a form of pride because, after all, you are still thinking of yourself.
For example: People refuse to witness because they don’t want to be ridiculed. Church members don’t sing because they are too embarrassed. Christians today don’t want to make a spectacle of themselves.
How do we become God-centered?
The first step is to submit to God. This means laying aside ourselves and our own desires and putting God first.
James 4:7 KJV says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
In Matthew 6:33 KJV, Jesus tells us to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” What this means is, if we are looking at what God wants first before anything else, everything in our lives will take care of itself. The context of this verse is earthly cares. Jesus tells us that, so long as we are seeking after what God wants, we won’t have to worry about earthly cares. God will take care of us. (Matthew 6:25-33 KJV)
Submitting to God isn’t easy. You have your flesh, the world, and the devil working against you. This is why the second portion of James 4:7 KJV tells us to resist the devil. We need to resist being prideful because that allows the devil to have access to our lives.
James 4:8 KJV commands: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
How can we draw nigh to God?
The three ways to draw closer to God include: reading the Bible, praying, and going to church. We should be reading the Bible and praying every day. A relationship requires communication, and God is no different. You must talk to him and hear from him every single day. While we can’t go to church every day, we should be going at every opportunity, and going to church means paying attention, not sitting there with your mind a million miles away.
Submitting to God’s will means doing what he would have us do instead of doing what we want to do. When you could be playing video games, watching videos on your phone, sitting in front of the TV, or anything else, you submit to God’s commandment to read and study his word (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV), and you talk to him in prayer every day (1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV).
Whether you like it or not, you are submitting to either God or the flesh (Romans 7:14-25 KJV).
Imagine this, there are two dogs inside you. (Draw two dogs on the board. One good and one bad.) The Bible refers to them to the new man and the old man. The Holy Spirit and the flesh. One dog is evil. It is selfish and wants you to disobey authority, listen to bad music, watch bad shows, laugh at bad jokes, lose your temper, etc. The other dog is good. It is kind, humble, desires to read the Bible, pray, go to church, and please God. Every day, these dogs fight each other.
The dog that wins depends entirely on you.
Which dog have you been feeding more? (Draw a food bowl between the dogs.) Have you been feeding your flesh with evil communication and worldly videos and music, or have you been feeding the Holy Spirit by reading your Bible, praying, and going to church?
If you have a problem with sin, be it discontentment, depression, anger problems, and so on, it is because the world is in you. You can’t just make yourself not feel this way. Remember the last time that you got super angry? Could you just make yourself calm down? We must submit to God in order to have the power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must be feeding the good dog and starving the bad.
This submission to God is a daily battle.
In 1 Corinthians 15:31 KJV, Paul tells us that he dies daily. What he means is, he is dying to self and submitting, or choosing instead, to do what God wants. This is what we as Christians need to do.
If you enjoyed this free Sunday school lesson on submission to God’s will, be sure to check out other lessons!