Last week, we discussed The Why behind the importance of doing family devotions. If you haven’t yet read it, I’d encourage you to check it out.
We were reminded that of the 168 hours in a child’s week, the church on average only gets one of them, leaving 167 hours remaining, most of which are spent with their families.
This has to cause us to stop and answer the question, “Who is to be the primary spiritual influencer in a child’s life?” And the obvious answer is – the parents. The key to raising godly children has to start first and foremost at home.
The church only gets 1 of 168
“God expects each and every parent to do his or her part in raising children. The very first responsibility we have as parents is to teach our children of God. Every other responsibility falls before this one… As parents we also need to know that instilling in our children a faith in God and the Bible, is the best thing we can ever do for them. That early teaching will stay with them the rest of their lives. Impressions are made while they are young.” – David Boswell
There’s no question that one of the greatest key factors in whether or not young people remain dedicated to their Christian faith or walk away from it is the influence of their parents. And I believe that much of that spiritual influence can come by way of family devotions.
So let me share with you some practical and proven ways to successfully have family devotions:
The WHAT:
Many parents think… “I understand the importance of family devotions, but what in the world am I supposed to do?!”
Well, good news, it’s simpler than you think! Let’s get practical.
- Read the Bible out loud
- Whether it’s just one verse and an explanation, five verses from one of the gospels, or chapter one of the book of Genesis, just start somewhere.
- Talk about a different doctrine each night… go through the 10 commandments… read the account of the 7 days of creation, and discuss one day each night.
- You probably know more about the Bible than you think you do.
- Use a devotional idea book or Bible storybook with pictures (for younger kids)
- While stories are a great way to do family devotions, this time can be about much more than just that. Family devotions are about:
- Sharing our knowledge – Taking what we know and transferring that knowledge to our kids.
- Sharing God’s truth – Instilling within them a passion for the things of God.
- Passing down our faith – Handing off the baton of faith to be carried into future generations. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 teaches us that “We are to teach our children what is already in our heart…”)
- While stories are a great way to do family devotions, this time can be about much more than just that. Family devotions are about:
- Act out Bible stories through role-play
- Kids love to be the Bible characters and kids learn through participation.
- Kids retain 10% of what they hear, 40% of what they hear and see, and 80% of what they see, hear, and experience (participate in).
- I can remember many times when the stories of the Bible would come alive during family devotions times… cardboard boxes would become boats crashing on the waves, and nerf balls would become stones thrown at Goliath.
- Sing songs
- Devotion time needs to also be a fun time. Sing fun songs, action songs, worship songs.
- Singing songs about the Lord is not something that should just be reserved for church time.
- Family devotions can be a time of family worship and what better way to worship than to sing together to the Lord.
- Memorize verses together
- Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11
- I don’t know about you, but I want my children to have a strong defense against Satan, and one great way to do that is by them hiding God’s Word in their hearts.
- In addition to memorizing verses, memorize the books of the Bible, look them up, do Bible Sword Drills as a family. Make learning God’s Word fun and enjoyable.
- Pray
- Family devotion time should also be prayer time.
- Have a list of prayer requests.
- Take advantage of this time to teach your kids how to pray and allow them to pray as well.
Okay, you may be thinking, “This all sounds great, but how am I going to make it all happen?” Great question. Here are some ideas…
The HOW:
- Schedule it
- What gets scheduled gets done. (maybe start with just once or twice a week)
- Remember, there is no right or wrong time. For us, it works best at the end of the day right before bed.
- For some families, it may work best at the start of the day over breakfast, or immediately after dinner time each night when everyone is still gathered together.
- Regardless of when you schedule it, I guarantee you that Satan will make sure some “circumstance” comes up every single night as an excuse. Make your family devotions a priority. Fight for your family altar, because Satan won’t let it come easily.
- Let loose and have fun
- Family devotions are not a time to protect your dignity. When doing role play, be a character in the story, and have fun with it. (Dad, you be Goliath, and let your kids hit you in the head with the nerf ball, the fall crashing to the ground.) Make it a wonderful time to laugh and smile together. Your kids will never forget it.
- Remember, you’re not just teaching the Bible, you’re making memories.
- Keep it short and sweet
- Your kids don’t need or want you to preach them a message.
- Also, don’t let your devotion time become a behavioral correction time. Over the years, there’ve been some times when we’ve fallen into the trap of using our devotion time to ‘beat our kids over the head’ with Bible verses about what they’d done wrong that day.
- Protect your devotion time as a time to make God look good, not to make your kids look bad.
- Keep it short and sweet, we’ve found that between 5-10 minutes is usually perfect.
- Keep it varied
- You might do one verse and memorization one night, Bible reading and discussion the next, and a themed song and role-play the next night.
- We’ve even assigned our older kids to be in charge of doing devotions on some nights, which can be a great training tool.
- Ask lots of questions and allow for lots of questions
- You want your family devotion time to be a discussion, not a mini-sermon.
- The purpose of family devotions is not to have church every night of the week, it’s to allow the Bible to come alive to your family! This happens through lots of questions and discussion.
- Always end in prayer
- A family altar gives you the daily opportunity to pray together over needs and wants. (family needs, special requests, missionaries, the lost, etc.)
- This is also a great time to train your children to pray by giving them opportunities to lead in prayer.
I know that when the subject of family devotions comes up, we as parents start to feel guilty for not doing a better or more consistent job at this. But when you consider the impact that this one choice can have over the lifetime of your child, it’s really all worth it.
I love these encouraging words that Dennis Rainey said concerning family devotions –
“There is no formula. No guideline. No perfectly right way. The only real requirement is that you do something to get your family into the Bible, even if it feels uncomfortable at first… You and your children simply need to hear God’s Word and interact with it on a regular, daily basis. I promise you, He’ll take care of it from there.”
It’s not always easy, and it’s not always convenient… but I’ll guarantee you, it’s worth it!
Our children are the hope of the future, and much of our hope rests in our God-given responsibility to pass down our faith from one generation to the next. Notice these important reminders from the book of Psalms:
Give ear, O my people, to my law: inclined your ears to the words of my mouth… Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done… That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Psalm 78:1, 3-4, 6-7
Below are two free resources that you can use to springboard into your family devotion time:
- The first is an easy reference guide to the why, the what, and the how of doing family devotions that includes additional devotional resources you may want to check out. Feel free to distribute this to families in your church, or teach them these principles yourself.
- The second is a 7 lesson discipleship course from KidzBlast.com that you can go through with your family to study and discuss seven core biblical principles together. These can serve as your first 7 family devotions! Feel free to make as many copies as needed.
Simply click on either of the graphics below to save or download these resources. In addition, feel free to let me know what you think of them.
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