The Holy Ghost Helps Me

Purpose

To help each child understand that the Holy Ghost helps us.

Preparation

Prayerfully study John 14:16–17; 2 Nephi 32:5; Moroni 10:4–5; and Doctrine and Covenants 39:23; 130:22. See also Gospel Principles (31110), chapter 7.
Materials needed:
1. A Bible and a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants.
2. A familiar object and a bag to put it in.
3. Picture 1-3, Jesus the Christ (Gospel Art Picture Kit 240; 62572); picture 1-4, The First Vision (Gospel Art Picture Kit 403; 62470).
Make the necessary preparations for any Enrichment Activities you want to use.

Learning Activities

Invite a child to give the opening prayer.

Attention Activity

Have a child come up to you. Whisper something in his or her ear about the Holy Ghost, such as “The Holy Ghost helps Heavenly Father and Jesus.” Repeat with each child in the class (you can say the same thing to each child). Ask the children if they know who you are going to talk about today. Explain that you are going to talk about Heavenly Father’s and Jesus’ helper, the Holy Ghost.

Show picture 1-4, The First Vision. Point out Heavenly Father and Jesus and explain that they have physical bodies that look like ours. Explain that the Holy Ghost is like Heavenly Father and Jesus in many ways. He loves us and helps us. But he does not have a physical body like Heavenly Father and Jesus. He is a spirit so he can quietly put ideas into our minds and give us feelings of happiness and comfort.

The Holy Ghost gives us comfort and help

When you are hurt or sad, how does your mother or father comfort you and make you feel better?

Show picture 1-3, Jesus the Christ. Tell the children that Jesus knew that the disciples, his helpers, would be sad when he died, so he told them that he would ask Heavenly Father to send a comforter to help them not feel so bad (see John 14:16–17).

Tell the children that this comforter is the Holy Ghost, and he can comfort us, too. Explain that when we are sad or upset, Heavenly Father will help us by sending the Holy Ghost to comfort us.

Story

Explain that the Holy Ghost can also warn us and guide us when we need help. Tell in your own words the following story about young Harold B. Lee, who became the eleventh President of the Church:

“I was probably about eight years of age, or younger, when I was taken by my father to a farm some distance away. While he worked I tried to busy myself with things that a young boy would. The day was hot and dusty and I played about until I was tired. Over the fence there was a broken-down shed that looked very interesting to me. In my mind I thought of this broken-down shed as a castle that I would like to explore, so I went to the fence and started to climb through to go over to that shed. There came a voice to me that said this very significant thing, ‘Harold, don’t go over there.’ I looked about to see who was speaking my name. My father was way up at the other end of the field. He could not see what I was doing. There was no speaker in sight. Then I realized that someone that I could not see was warning me not to go over there. What was over there, I shall never know, but I learned early that there are those beyond our sight that could talk to us” (in Conference Report, Mexico City Mexico Area Conference 1972, pp. 48–49).

Explain that sometimes the Holy Ghost whispers out loud, like he did to President Lee, but often he just gives us a feeling about what we should or should not do.

The Holy Ghost helps us know what is right

Explain that the Holy Ghost loves us and helps us choose the right. Have the children think of some things they have done that are good, such as obeying their parents, helping others, and saying their prayers.

How do you feel when you do things that are right?
How do you feel when you do things that are wrong?

Explain that the Holy Ghost helps us know the difference between right and wrong by giving us a good, warm feeling when we do something right and a sad feeling when we do something wrong.

Have the children share times when they have felt a good, warm feeling because they have made a right choice or helped someone. Help them recognize the influence of the Holy Ghost.

Song

With the children, sing or say the words to “Listen, Listen” (Children’s Songbook, p. 107).

Listen to the still small voice!
Listen! Listen!
When you have to make a choice.
He will guide you always.

The Holy Ghost helps us know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real

Explain that the Holy Ghost can help us know when something is true or real. Show the children a bag with an object in it. Tell the children that there is something in the bag, but do not show them the object.

Is there something in this bag?

Explain that even though the children cannot see the object in the bag, they know it is there because you told them it was there. Even though few people ever see Heavenly Father and Jesus, the Holy Ghost can help us know that Heavenly Father and Jesus are real and that they love us. Explain that this knowledge is called a testimony. Sometimes people bear their testimonies in Church meetings and tell us that they know that Jesus lives. The Holy Ghost has helped them know this is true.

We can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost

Tell about your experience in being baptized and confirmed. Tell how you felt having men who hold the priesthood lay their hands on your head and give you the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Read aloud Doctrine and Covenants 39:23 through the Holy Ghost. Explain that when the children are eight years old and are baptized and confirmed, they will be able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost will help them keep the promises they make when they are baptized.

Testimony

Express your gratitude for the Holy Ghost and tell the children how the Holy Ghost has comforted you and helped you know what is right.

Enrichment Activities

Choose some of these activities to use during the lesson.

Help the children sing or say the words to “The Still Small Voice” (Children’s Songbook, p. 106) or “The Holy Ghost” (Children’s Songbook, p. 105).
Show pictures of people doing good things, such as sharing and helping each other. Ask the children how they feel when they do good things. Describe to the children some situations of people doing good and bad things, such as helping their mothers, fighting with their brothers, sharing their toys, and disobeying their parents. Have the children smile when the action is good and frown when the action is not good.
In a quiet voice say, “Everyone who can hear my voice, put your finger on your nose. Everyone who can hear my voice, put your hand on your head.” Continue, designating other parts of the body, until all the children are listening to your quiet voice. Explain that even though you were speaking quietly, when the children listened, they could hear your voice and obey your instructions. Explain that the Holy Ghost sometimes speaks to us in a quiet voice. If we listen carefully he will tell us important things.
Tell in your own words the following story about President Wilford Woodruff, the fourth President of the Church:

One night while President Woodruff, his wife, and their four children were on a journey, they stopped to sleep at a friend’s house. Three of the children slept in the house while President Woodruff, his wife, and one child slept outside in the carriage. President Woodruff said: “I had been in bed but a short time when a voice said to me: ‘Get up and move your carriage.’ It was not thunder, lightning or an earthquake, but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God—the Holy Ghost. … I got up and moved my carriage … and set it by the side of the house. As I was returning to bed the same Spirit said to me, ‘Go and move your mules away from that oak tree.’ … I moved them to a young hickory grove and tied them up. I then went to bed. In thirty minutes a whirlwind caught the tree to which my mules had been fastened, broke it off near the ground, and carried it one hundred yards, sweeping away two fences in its course, and laid it … where my carriage [had] stood. … By obeying the revelation of the Spirit of God to me I saved my life and the lives of my wife and child, as well as my animals” (“Leaves from My Journal,” Millennial Star, 12 Dec. 1881, pp. 790–91).

Additional Activities for Younger Children

A week before this lesson, ask each child’s parents to let the child bring a “comfort item” to class. This could be a special blanket or toy or a special song to sing. Bring a few extra objects in case someone forgets to bring one.

In class, talk with the children about how these objects make them feel safe and loved. Explain that one of Heavenly Father’s and Jesus’ important helpers can make us feel safe and loved. This person is sometimes called the Comforter, because Heavenly Father sent him to be with us when we feel sad or worried. This person is the Holy Ghost, a wonderful friend!
Sing or say the words to the last lines of “The Still Small Voice” (Children’s Songbook, p. 106) and help the children do the indicated actions:

Listen, listen (cup hand around ear).

The Holy Ghost will whisper (place index finger to lips).

Listen, listen (cup hand around ear)

To the still small voice (put hand over heart).