Simeon Western
Fruitful Family Devotions
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (7) And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Recently a Pastor friend asked me to share my thoughts on family devotions. The below is what I shared with him and I am posting it here in the hopes it may be a help and blessing to other families.
We certainly haven’t arrived as a family but by God’s grace we have learned a few things along the way. Let me share some tips for fruitful family devotions.
Tips for Fruitful Family Devotions
- Aim for something that is realistic and doable on a day-to-day basis time wise rather than aiming for something idealistic which may lead to discouragement and ultimately giving up when it is not attained. I have said for some time now that it is better to do a little each day and maintain it in the long term than to be hit and miss. Training children is a day after day, week after week and year after year exercise. Family devotions, while important, are only one facet of the overall picture. Even if the devotional times are brief but done consistently, over time there is a cumulative benefit. I am not at all suggesting we shouldn’t aim to have quality devotions as families and give the time to it that it deserves. Some days the devotion time will be longer and other times it will need to be shorter, depending on the family schedule and what is happening. Flexibility is important but the critical thing is to MAINTAIN devotions each day as consistently as possible. Obviously on Sunday devotions are not often possible due to being at church for morning and evening services but other than that, devotions can usually be done the other days of the week.
- Try to be creative and use a variety of devotional resources. This helps to keep the children’s interest. It also can help cater for the different ages of the children. For example:
- Read straight out of the Bible. We have read whole Books together this way. This should be the primary method. I have always tried to encourage the children to ask as many questions as they desire, even if some of the questions can be childish at times. This is because I don’t want our children to just put their minds in neutral when it comes time for Bible reading. I want them engaged and interested. We have often been surprised at the insightful and interesting questions children ask! Sometimes they require real thought on the part of the parent to answer. I will also often take the initiative to explain the meaning of a word or make brief comments as I read.
- Read Bible story books with visuals. This is great for the younger children and often helps them be more engaged. Our favourite Bible story book so far is called “101 Favourite Stories from the Bible” by Ura Miller. It is one of the rare Bible story books that has Jesus with short hair. Apart from a few places, we have found it is pretty accurate to the Scriptures. It also contains a verse for parents at the end and several review questions. The children love answering the questions and they tend to listen more carefully when they know questions will be asked at the end. We have even done small rewards (e.g., a small chocolate) at the end if they can answer the questions. I will often add questions of my own based on the story. This book has been a great stimulator of family discussions over the Word of God.
- Read other devotional books with short stories and Bible applications. We enjoyed the two volumes entitled “From Grandpa with Love” available from Bible Truth Publishers. They contain short stories from the farm with Gospel applications.
- The Daily Light (KJV). This contains a daily reading of Scripture under a certain theme. Sometimes we use this if we are pressed for time.
- Aim for devotions both morning and evening. Start and finish the day with the Lord and His Word and seek to walk with Him in between!
- Morning Devotions: In our case, my wife usually does the morning devotion with the children at breakfast time. A major emphasis of our morning devotions is Scripture memory with the children. Our children have learned multiple chapters of the Bible during these morning devotional times. One of the best resources we came across as a family about 7-8 years ago was a DVD called “Scripture Talk”. In this DVD, they put hand actions to memory verses and teach the children whole passages of Scripture that way. Children love doing actions to things. This resource has had a huge impact on our family in the area of Scripture memorization. Not only did our children watch the DVD repeatedly and learn the passages of Scripture on the DVD, we took the idea and started learning our own chapters of the Bible, making up our own hand actions as we go. The children LOVE suggesting different hand actions for the verses which makes it a fun, creative and enjoyable exercise. My wife also has a prize box with small items in it and when they complete a certain number of verses and can recite them on their own, they get to choose something from the prize box. To us, there is no greater investment than having our children memorize the Word of God at a young age so we are more than happy to give them small rewards to encourage them along the way. We have been amazed how even the youngest members of the family (e.g., age 3-4 years) also learn the verses! The minds of young children are like sponges that soak in information and that period of their lives presents a unique opportunity to fill their hearts and minds with God’s truth.
- Evening devotions. I usually lead this one at the end of the day after the evening meal. This is usually when we do our readings as per the list above. Sometimes the children will recite their memory verses to me at this time also. It is important that the father, as head of the home, leads at least one of the devotions for the day.
Tips for Fruitful Family Prayers
- As a minimum, the father needs to lead the family in prayer at the end of family devotions. Sometimes there will only be time for the father to pray, depending on how the day has worked out. This is especially true in a pastor’s home where ministry sometimes brings variations into the daily routine.
- Often, we pray around the table and encourage even the youngest members of the family to pray. Even if they aren’t saved yet, we want to cultivate prayer as a pattern and habit of life in their hearts and minds that we trust will serve them for years to come.
- One tool we have found that has really helped us with family prayers is a prayer box. The children love it! Basically, it is comprised of a cardboard box with a square hole in the top. My wife made ours with the children, including decorating the outside with a nice paper. We then write prayer points/needs on small cards and put them in the box. Prayer needs include family members, church folk, missionaries as well as other specific needs. At family prayer time at the end of family devotions, one of the children takes the box around the table and each child draws out 2-3 cards (They love volunteering to be the box carrier!!!). We then pray around the table with each member of the family praying through his/her prayer cards. We have found this helps keep the family prayer time fresh. Otherwise, children tend to end up praying for the same things each day (e.g., bless my teddy, mummy and daddy!). Again, variation and creativity are important and help maintain the children’s interest. It also teaches the children that God answers prayers as cards with specific needs get supplied. For example, about 5 years ago we wrote a prayer card that God would provide us with our own home. We prayed about this as a family for some time and the Lord provided. We were able to rejoice as a family that God had answered that prayer card!
May God help us to lead our families in the ways of God!