Oh how fast the Summer can fly when you’re swimming, camping and vacationing! And it’s so easy to let our time in God’s word be neglected. How much harder for our kids to keep their time in the Word if they’re not being encouraged by their parents. So here’s just a few thoughts on how parents can help their kids cultivate their walk with God.
1) Make devotions a part of your kids daily routine. Put it on the chore chart or however you communicate daily household responsibilities. This is a personal area of growth and maturity that can become just as regular as brushing teeth and taking a shower. Don’t feel bad about making a scheduled time for reading God’s Word as part of your child’s day. Some people resist “making” their teen go to church or their child read the Bible for fear it will turn them away if they don’t desire to do it in the first place. But consider the fact that we are called to train and disciple our children in the truths of God’s Word. And like any trainer will tell you there will be times when our trainees do not want to do what we ask them to do. It doesn’t mean you give in to their desires. You do what you know is best for them at that time for a greater purpose while praying God shapes their heart in a way that can only be shaped in communion with Him.
2) Show them how to have personal time in God’s word by doing it with them the first few times. Find a great devotional book for kids such as:
The adventures of Average Boy Devotional Book or Jesus Calling for kids (not letting me link for some weird reason). Both are excellent books. Average Boy Devotional book is hilarious and great for boys ages 8-14. Jesus Calling is great for younger ages as well.
Get a fun snazzy journal for them to record what they learned from the daily devotional as well as write any prayer requests.
3) Make it simple. No need to get all preachy and long winded. Let God’s Word speak for itself and the Holy Spirit speak through your kids. And then talk about it together. Pray and then end for St. Pete’s sake. If we turn this into a day of church at home you just might lose them.
Eventually our kids can do this on their own and that’s what we want for them….to become independent in their God-dependance.
Right now our son has more independence in his devotional time than our daughter. He’s 14 and she’s 8 so that makes sense. Mitchell takes his own time and uses his iPod to look up verses and answer short questions after each chapter in his Average Boy Devotional book. Sophie reads on her own and records in her journal but then she checks back in with me and shares with me what she has learned from her time with the Lord. I love this part of our relationship. Mitchell and I touch base a few times a week and talk about what he’s learning. It’s been really awesome to see them transition to time with God with me to time with God themselves. There is no greater joy than to know your children are walking with the Lord. And this is one way we can help our kids walk with the Lord.
4) Watch for the fruit of God’s word and reference it. What good is reading God’s word without putting it into practice? So when you see your child putting what they learned into practice or you see evidence of the truths they learned in their devotional time be oh so quick to point it out to them. Recalling where God is at work will help them watch for God sightings on their own.
Have you found some good kids’ devotionals lately? If so, I’d love to hear about them.
So much good advice here! My husband just got “Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism” for us to read here with our kids. It sounded good, but we haven’t started it yet. Hopefully tonight!
Oh great to know about that resource! Cool, hope that goes well as a family for you guys.