Culture Wars Family Devotional - Week 5

Opening Prompt 

Tell me what you learned about God this week?

Let me share with you what I learned about God this week…

Focus: God has placed us here on purpose, and He calls us to live with faith, not fear, as His people.

• Tell: Tell your kids about a time when the world, the new, or something happening in our country felt confusing or overwhelming. Share how it made you feel and how you were reminded that God is still in control. 
• Share: Share how following Jesus sometimes means living differently than the culture around us. Explain that even when you don’t agree with everything happening in the world, God calls us to trust Him and live faithfully right where we are. 
• Ask: Ask your kids:
  • Have you ever felt like you didn’t quite fit in somewhere?
  • What do you think it means to trust God when things feel uncertain?
  • How do you think God wants His people to act in the place where they live?

Read this Scripture with your family:

4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 

6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 

7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 

Jeremiah 29:4-7, 11

Talk about this devotional thought:

In Jeremiah 29, God’s people were living far from home in a place they didn’t choose. But God reminds them of something important: He is the one who placed them there. They weren’t forgotten, and they were not there by accident. 

God didn’t tell His people to panic, hide, or fight in fear. Instead, He called them to live with faithful presence – to build homes, love their neighbors, pray for their city, and trust Him with the future. 

As followers of Jesus, we are called exiles because this world is not our forever home. But we are also called ambassadors, because God sends us into the world to represent Him. That means we don’t engage with fear or anger. We engage with faith, prayer, kindness, and hope. Now we can join God in the story He is writing in this world. 

Questions to Ask 

• Why do you think God told His people to pray for the city they lived in?
• What does it look like to trust God instead of being afraid?
• How can we represent Jesus well at school, with friends, or online?
• Why is it important to remember that God has a good plan for the future?

(Tip for parents: Let kids answer freely. There’s no rush to correct everything. The goal is conversation, not perfection.)

Prayer

Each day this week, pray this short prayer together: 

“God, thank You for being in control when things feel uncertain. Help us trust You instead of being afraid. Teach us to live faithfully where You have placed us to represent Jesus well. We trust You with our future. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Memory Verse 

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you.”

Jeremiah 29:7