Deuteronomy 6

“What a delicious feast you made us, Mommy!”
“Yes, thank you very much, Mom. I’ll help wash the dishes, but first, Dad, can we do our family worship time?”
“Yes, can we? I love family devotions!”

Sorry, but that’s not my family. Our Bible time rarely goes without at least one child complaining, interrupting, or trying hard to get away with the least participation possible. Sulking, slouching, and mumbled answers are common. Will we outgrow this stage? I sure hope so, but I grew up in a family that consistently practiced devotions, and often I was less than enthusiastic about the “interruption” in my day when Dad called us together.

In Part 1 of this series, I made the case for why family worship is important. In Part 2 and Part 3, I shared my view of the basic structure of family devotions. Now in Parts 4 and 5, I want to focus on some common impediments to Bible time and discuss possible ways to overcome them.

Hostile Hearts

We must realize that our children are not born with hearts that seek God; on the contrary, our natural hearts are hostile toward God (Romans 3:11, 8:7). Unless all your children have been born again, view family devotions as an evangelistic work and expect opposition. As with other spiritual battles, you will need to fight with prayer (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Busyness

Are we really too busy? It comes down to priorities. We make time for regular mealtimes with our children to feed our bodies. We can make time to feed our souls (1 Peter 2:2). It might take some adjustment of the schedule or cutting out other activities, but my husband and I have found that if we make it a priority, we can carve out ten to thirty minutes for our family devotions.

As Scot Chadwick points out, “The root problem and solution is our personal devotion to God: How must we grow in love, affection, and worship of our great God? The truth is that we do what is important to us, for good or for bad. Let us prove our love of God in the practice of our devotion, particularly in family worship.”

Inconsistency

Many families may find that it’s easy to get started doing family worship, but it can be a challenge to keep the initial enthusiasm from petering out or the demands of the day from interrupting. One answer is to schedule a regular time for family devotions, a time that isn’t easily missed, such as first thing in the morning, right after supper, or just before bed. That way the children come to expect family worship, if not anticipate it.

When I was a child, Bible time was before Dad went to work. With our family now, my husband typically leads devotions right after dinner while we’re all still at the table, after the food is put away but before the dishes are done. This way the family is already together (rather than having to chase down the younger ones or wait for older children to drag themselves in), plus the little ones are safely contained in highchairs.

In Part 5, I’ll talk about other obstacles to family devotions, such as dealing with bad attitudes. In the comments section, I’d love to hear how your family has maintained consistency and overcome obstacles in family worship.

What has your family done to establish a consistent family devotions routine?

In Part 1, we looked at why family worship is important. In Part 2, we introduced three elements you may want to include in your devotions—reading, praying, and singing.

Since we covered reading Scripture in Part 2, let’s look into the other two aspects of devotions today.

Praying

Prayer time is an opportunity for our children to see the living relationship we have with God that is made possible through the work of Christ on the cross. As a family, we can praise Him for His attributes and works, repent of our sins, present our requests, and thank Him for all things. It is also a time when we can work out any family disputes, making sure we are right with one another as well as with the Lord (Hebrews 3:13). One dad in our church says he likes to pray at the beginning and the end of family time as a reminder of our dependence on God because only He can work in our children’s hearts.

Memory Work

Before prayer time, our family does some memory work with Scripture verses and Bible questions and answers. It is an interactive way to involve our children and help them hide God’s Word and theological truths in their hearts. Our family uses the three-booklet set Truth and Grace Memory Books by Thomas K. Ascol. Another option is the BJU Press Bible Truths series that includes memory work and Bible Truths for Christian Growth. If your children enjoy learning online or with a mobile device, you may want to check out the New City Catechism, which includes engaging videos from well-known Christian leaders. With the various catechism options, you can check with your pastor about one that lines up with your church doctrine.

Singing

Ending family worship with singing joins our hearts and voices in praise of our great God and Savior (Colossians 3:16). It lifts our hearts and focuses our minds on biblical truths. Consider including a few Sunday school songs for the little ones as well as songs you sing during your church worship service.

Our two-year-old often asks to sing “Deep and Wide” and even though I can’t discern any clear Scriptural connection to that song (it may be referencing John 4:14), we sing it every now and then for his enjoyment. He also loves “I May Never March in the Infantry” and other action songs, so we try to include those along with great hymns of the faith.

I hope the ideas I’ve presented so far have helped you begin or even rethink your family’s devotion time. My next post will talk about overcoming any obstacles you may encounter during your family’s devotions.

Do you have an order that your family’s devotion time follows? How do you encourage your children to memorize Scripture and other biblical truths?

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the importance of family devotions. Now we will consider how you can implement family worship in your home. My husband and I picked up some ideas last year at a family worship workshop at our church, and this encouragement and instruction reignited our own time of family devotions. Reading scripture is a crucial element to effective family devotional times.

Each family has freedom on how to structure their worship time since there is no biblical mandate, but here are three elements you’ll probably want to include.

1. Reading
2. Praying
3. Singing

What to Read—Scripture

What should you read? All kinds of devotional books are available, but it’s best to focus on the actual Word of God—from Genesis to Revelation. Telling your kids to trust God and treasure His Word, but then only reading children’s story Bibles or never reading more than the Proverbs or New Testament sends a conflicting message. How can they know God if their knowledge of Him is limited?

Why to Read Scripture—Some Reasons

The Bible has no parallel because no other book is inspired by God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16). No other book “is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV). The Scriptures are life-giving, pointing to Christ: “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15 NKJV).

Teach children that God’s Word is to be trusted and man’s word doubted. Even our own hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). We should always measure what we think, read, or hear by the Bible. Our children should expect us to back up what we say with well-interpreted Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15). When we ask them questions during Bible time, we occasionally follow up on their answers with, “How did you get that from the text?” In this way, we’re sharpening a biblical worldview and proper Bible interpretation.

How to Read Scripture—Some Suggestions

One family in our church had the goal of reading through the entire Bible. They made a timeline chart with a reward promised at the end. The kids would check off passages as they went, reminding each other if they were getting behind. When they successfully finished after about eighteen months, they had an ice cream party to celebrate, but everybody agreed that reading the Word all the way through would have been reward enough. Now this family is reading at a slower pace, picking different Old and New Testament books to study in depth.

Our family has been going through a reading plan called “100 Essential Bible Passages.”  Since our children are younger, we’ve enjoyed hitting these highlights, and we plan to read them again in more detail at a later time.

At some point you may decide to go beyond reading and introduce your children to the three basic steps of biblical hermeneutics: observation, interpretation, and application. Help your children observe the text by asking questions about the “Five Ws” (who, what, when, where, and  why). Their interpretation of a passage should not be based on “What does this text mean to me?” but “What does it mean?” Study with them so that they learn to discern what the writer was communicating to the original audience. Especially consider the context and relevant cross-references to compare Scripture with Scripture. For the application step, ask questions like, “How does this passage apply to our lives today?”

In Part 3, we will continue with the other two main aspects of family worship (praying and singing).

What have you found helpful when teaching your children about worship? How do you help them apply Scripture to their lives?

The Most Important Subject to Teach in Your Homeschool—Family Devotions

As we begin this new year of 2015, let’s make a resolution that can bring eternal dividends: commit to regular family devotions with our children. My children’s ACT^® scores and future career opportunities matter little in comparison with the condition of their hearts and the place they will spend eternity. We tend to get so focused on the “three Rs” that we only have leftover time for instruction from God’s Word.

Of all the great books and classical works to introduce our children to, one book will endure forever—the Bible. It has been burned, confiscated, criticized, and disbelieved, yet its prophecies have never failed to come to pass, and its testimonies have proven true. Do we treasure it? Do we attentively sit under the preaching of it? Do we regularly read it?

Scot Chadwick defines family worship as “the regular practice of devotion to God in Scripture reading, praying, and singing, for the purpose of glorifying God and growing in His grace.” The time together as a family, worshiping God and learning from His Word, can go by many names, such as family devotions, Bible time, or family worship.

God has given parents the responsibility of raising their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 NKJV). The MacArthur Study Bible interprets this passage as calling for “systematic discipline and instruction, which brings children to respect the commands of the Lord as the foundation of all of life, godliness, and blessing.” It requires day-in-and-day-out teaching, correcting, and modeling.

Most of this diligent teaching will probably happen during the day-to-day activities of life: “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7 NKJV). And while we should seize these opportune moments, it is helpful to schedule a regular daily time to open God’s Word and systematically teach our children “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 NKJV). Before they leave our home, my husband and I want our children to know God’s Word, particularly the redemptive storyline that runs throughout Scripture.

So how can we as parents implement family devotions? My local church recently held a workshop about how to have family devotions, and I look forward to sharing in Part 2 what we learned.

Works Cited

Scot Chadwick, “Family Worship: Teaching Our Children God’s Word,” Answers in Genesis, September 24, 2013, https://answersingenesis.org/train-up-a-child/family-worship-teaching-our-children-gods-word/.

John MacArthur. The MacArthur Study Bible, note on 1 Peter 3:6. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007.