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Study, and Teaching Children About Jesus
Family Devotions, Bible
Study, and Teaching Children About Jesus
By Wynne and Harriet Yoder
Here is another in our series on teaching Christianity to
your children. Studying the Bible, doing devotions, and praying as a
family isn't hard once you get started. If the Lord has planted this idea
with you, He will make the way for you to accomplish it. Start small and
add more as everyone gets with the program! Here are the links to topics
on this page:
Choosing the Reading
Choose a book of the Bible and read a chapter a day. My children love
Daniel, Ruth, Jonah, and Revelation. Genesis is a good place to start.
You can always alternate between the Old Testament book and the New
Testament. You can also add one Psalm and a chapter of Proverbs.
Same Bible
If you want your child to read some, take turns! When you share
reading, it helps to have the same Bible translation. When our children were
younger, we purchased inexpensive award type Bibles for the purpose of having
the same translation and the same page numbers! It's easier for everyone to keep up and
take turns with reading.
Bible Atlas
Use a Bible atlas to locate the places you read about, if applicable.
Use an atlas that is appropriate for the ages of your children. Or you can have
one for each child at his ability level.
Prayer
Open with prayer. You can pray aloud yourself, ask for a volunteer, choose someone, or go
around the circle and ask each person to pray. Ask the Lord to bless
the reading of Bible. Click
here for more about prayer!
Review
Before you start the day's reading, ask your child(ren) to tell you what you read about yesterday
This encourages retention of the material, You can prompt or ask questions to
jog the memory.
Read Aloud
Read Bible passages aloud. It is amazing how daily Bible readings
can follow along with real life. For example, Wynne had been
reading Revelation to the children. During that time, they watched the
"Left Behind" videos. Our little boys saw things in the movie that
their father had read about that day!
Ask Questions
Ask questions about what you just read.
Let your child narrate back to you. You will be able to tell how
much he understood. Encourage the children to answer in complete sentences.
The Word Does not Return Void!
Keep in mind that devotions don't have to be a
super spiritual to be spiritual moments. The word does not return void! You are planting seeds and it may take time to see
results.
Keep Little Hands Busy
Various Bible coloring books are available. Or you can encourage your child to draw what you are reading about on plain
paper with crayons or colored pencils. I made felt boards by sewing two different colors of
felt together with a piece of cardboard between the layers to add stiffness.
The children used these to make pictures on the felt during times when I
wanted to keep them quiet. Purchase precut felt squares and cut them
down to fit into the large zipping baggies. Cut the excess felt from
each square into various shapes. Cut the cardboard about
1/2" smaller than the felt squares. Sew a straight stitch about 1/4"
from the edge. If you don't sew, you can use a hot glue gun, following
safety precautions. Store them in a large baggie.
Need More Structure
There are excellent children's Bible studies available
for purchase if you want more structure.
- Explain to the children that praying is our way of talking with God and that
God hears our prayers and answers them.
- If you are new at this and haven't prayed with your children before, it
might be good to lead the prayer yourself for a few days before asking them
to pray
- It is ok to prompt small children or reluctant older
children if they don't know what to say. For example, ask them to
thank God for something. One sentence is just fine for starters.
- Remember it gets easier with practice!
- Consider keeping a family prayer journal.
- Suggested Prayer Topics
Pray for the physical and spiritual needs of your family. We take
prayer requests before we pray and assign a request to each person. This helps children to learn to think about others. Pray for extended family/church family/neighbors/the
nations. That's a lot but the Lord will lead your prayer time. - When we are having a bad day, we stop what we
are doing to have a prayer session to get our hearts right with God.
Usually we start with
repentance prayer with everyone included. Typically a bad day involves
bad attitudes and unrepentant hearts, but it is also very likely that the
enemy is throwing lots of fiery darts and prayer builds up the shield of
faith to quench them. (See Ephesians chapter 6).
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Copyright © 2000-2008
Wynne and Harriet Yoder
All rights reserved
Lamp Post Publishing, Inc.
1741 Tallman Hollow Road
Montoursville, PA 17754
800-326-9273
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Updated
03/24/08 |
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