A.C.T.S.

When Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew 6 (The Lord's Prayer) he begins, "Pray then like this…" As we teach our children how to pray, we can look at this model prayer and simplify portions of it. It is easy for children to become focused on only giving thanks or only asking for needs or desires, so the mnemonic A.C.T.S. is a great way to remember different things you can teach your child to talk to God about. You can begin by having your child repeat your words as you teach her to pray. Then you can move to having her finish the sentence. Eventually she will be praying on her own.

A - Adoration
This part of the prayer with your daughter might go like this:
Mom: Dear God,
Daughter: Dear God,
Mom: You are…
Daughter: God, You are good! You are kind! You are loving!

And with your son it might sound like this:
Mom: Dear God,
Son: Dear God,
Mom: You are…
Son: God, You are awesome! You are strong! You are fast! You are so fast if anyone challenged You to a race You would win!

C - Confession
Prompt your child to confess sin to a holy God. Prompt her then to thank God for His forgiveness.

T - Thanksgiving
Simply have your child tell God "Thank you" for specific people and/or things. If she needs prompting, you could direct her to places she regularly goes (thank you for my school, my church, the park) or people she often sees (thank you for my teachers, my friends, my parents) or things she likes (thank you or ice cream, basketball, warm coats).

S - Supplication
Encourage your child to pray for specific needs of people she knows. Everyday. "God, please help the baby in Mrs. Charity's tummy to grow strong and healthy." Try to direct her away from always praying about herself.

Snow Day!

The routine is shot.
The kids are home. They're excited. And because of that, you're certainly not going to get any of that work done that you needed to do today.
Our advice to you on this cold day - enjoy it!
Take this break from routine to truly break from routine and snuggle up with the kids and watch a movie or read a book, cook a special meal together or play their favorite game.
It's okay to achieve nothing more in a day like today (and maybe tomorrow), than loving on your children and making special memories with them.
Don't let the stress of an unplanned day steal your joy and make you forget that you have a unique opportunity to have fun with no agenda.
Enjoy your day. It is truly a gift from God!

Follow-up: Jesus Loves Sinners

Story: The Woman at the Well

Fundamental Truth: Jesus Came to Save Sinners

Making it Real:
When Jesus was talking to the woman at the well, He told her He could give her living water. What did He mean?
Jesus was using a word-picture to help the woman understand sin. Because we sin and think and do things that are wrong, there is a longing in our hearts that keeps us from the joy we could have. But Jesus fills that longing and gives us that joy when we love and trust Him. It’s like we are thirsty in our hearts and the water Jesus gives us is to know and follow Him. That is the way we experience God’s best for our lives.

Making it Stick:
Make a “Life Map” or an “About Me” page with your child. Have your child draw pictures, cut out pictures from magazines or snap photos of things he or she enjoys and things that have happened in his or her life. The object is to have a page that shows who your child is. Once you are finished, have your child share the page with you, other family members or friends. Talk about the things on the page and some things not on the page. Talk about how the page shows people who your child is but that no one knows your child like God does. Talk about how God knows everything about your child, the good and bad, and loves them so much that He sent Jesus to destroy the effects of sin. Talk about how wonderful is that God knows all of secrets and loves us still.

Bedtime With Your Toddler

As you put your child to bed every night, you probably have a routine you follow. This routine may include a bath, putting on PJs, reading a story, but does it include time with God? This is a continuation of a multi-part series on how to use your bedtime routine as another setting during which you can teach your child about Jesus. Last time I posted about bedtime with your baby. Let's talk today about your young toddler.

At some point , you will watch your toddler learn to understand and use language. He will learn to obey when you ask them to complete a task (come to me, bring me your shoes, etc). He will point at objects wanting you to identify what he sees. He will begin to say the names of people he loves. One of the activities most fun for your toddler will be imitating those people who are most important in his life. As your child grows, your teaching will increase. Your toddler can understand that God is in charge of everything as you teach him about God and their environment around them. Your toddler can understand that God is good as you teach him about His love for him. Your toddlers can understand that we can talk with God as you pray with him throughout your day. Your toddler can understand that the Bible is God's Perfect Word as you read to him from His Word.

You are not only teaching your child the importance of spending time with God, but giving him the tools to continue to do that throughout his life. After reading a short Bible story, talk about the pictures he sees, ask him questions about what happened in the story. (Answering them if he doesn't or can't will only help to reinforce what you are teaching him.) He will learn that not only is reading the Bible important, but also understanding it and applying it. While singing a song of praise or Truth, your toddler can begin to sing along with you.

After reading a story and singing a song about Jesus loving the little children, your prayer may go something like this: "Dear God, I praise you that You are good! Thank you for giving us the Bible to teach us that you love little children. Thank you that you love (Jacob). Please help him to always have confidence that you love him. We love you Jesus. Amen." As your child's communication skills improve you can begin to leave space in the prayer for fill-in-the-blanks. Giving thanks is a great way for your child to begin to pray on his own.

As these things become a routine in your family, your child is learning the value you place on time with God. Giving him the early practice of reading God's Word on a daily basis and teaching him to be in the habit of praying regularly will teach him what a healthy relationship with the Lord looks like.

If you are looking for a recommendation on a toddler Bible, you might consider this one that our family uses as we raise toddlers, The Rhyme Bible Storybook for Toddlers, which lists for $11.04 on Amazon. Beyond the Biblical accuracy, we like the rhyming, the illustrations, and the content choice of this Bible.

Follow-up: Jesus Loves Sinners

Story: The Lost Son

Fundamental Truth: God is in Charge of Everything

Making it Real:
This week’s story was about a boy who took his share of his father’s money, left home, did whatever he wanted to do, wasted his money, and in shame went home to say he was wrong and to ask for help. The boy’s father had every right to be upset with the boy for leaving home and wasting his money and forgetting his family. But the father was not upset. Why?
The father was overjoyed to see his son coming home. He thought he had lost his son forever. The father watched and waited everyday for the son to come home, and when he finally did, the father was so happy he only wanted to welcome his son home and celebrate his return. This is how God loves us. Even though we often do what we want and do things that aren’t right, things that are sin, still our Heavenly Father will welcome us back into his presence with love and celebration and forgiveness. God is teaching us that He loves us and that He is in charge of our lives and our joy and our future.

Making it Stick:
With your child, make a script and act out this story. If your child does not enjoy the spotlight, he/she can create the script and have family members act it out. In your skit, include the actions from the story of the son leaving with his share of the money, wasting it, realizing he should go home, and the father receiving him with open arms. Also include what this story tells us about God’s love for us when we sin. Perform the skit for your family and video tape it if you can. Use every opportunity to highlight the truth of God’s unending love for sinners, His children.

An Idea for Your Christmas Cards

There are plenty of ideas to be found for recycling or reusing your old greeting cards. Use them for gift tags next year, make them into tree ornaments, fashion them into table place cards, the list goes on. They are so pretty and it seems like such a waste to throw them out.

But what about all the family portraits we receive? The ones where talented photographers captured our "natural moments" so that friends can see our love of the outdoors? So much time and energy were placed into the making and sending of these photo cards. Here's a quick and easy project that will give you an easy lesson for your children.

Go to your favorite mega-store and purchase a small photo album or scrapbook. Place all the photos in this book and then label them with the names of the family members. (Don't worry if you have to cut the pictures up, you were going to throw them out anyway.) Now use this book daily (during breakfast, family worship time, kids devotional time) and pray for one family each day for the year. Next Christmas, replace it with a new one. What a great way to help teach your children to pray continuously, without ceasing.

Teaching Your Child to Value Worship: Part 5 - Approach

Approach - Communicate the value of fellowship – Sunday mornings are wonderful opportunities for your children to be surrounded by people who love the Lord and love your children. In the corporate worship setting, your children see a godly community. They learn from your desire to reconnect with friends, pray together, laugh and share life.

Children are beginning, at a very early age, to understand and value using our gifts and time to build up the church. They are learning the value of attending worship every week – of recognizing the worth of receiving the teachings of church leaders, of spending time in song, prayer, confession and communion. They are seeing that this practice, this tradition, is not to be taken lightly or to be engaged in when convenient, but that it is something to partake of weekly.

When we worship we celebrate what the Lord has done in the past week, we celebrate with
expectation what he will do in the week ahead, and we proclaim to our children that this is a sacred time. Children will come to see Sunday worship not as a duty, but as a joy. They will understand it not as something obligatory, but as a necessary celebration and preparation in the midst of a life of distractions and obligations.

Teaching Your Child to Value Worship: Part 4 - Attend

Attend - On the weeks that you serve, attend service and serve. Communicate to your children that both worship and service are equally important. It might be hard for your children to be in their class back-to-back once a month, but during that time they are learning that sometimes we make sacrifices to serve the body. They are learning that our comfort or convenience is not as important as loving and serving the people in the church. They are learning that mom and dad think it important and necessary to take time to bless the church.

Teaching Your Child to Value Worship: Part 3 - Arrive

Arrive - Be on time! – Show your child that no part of the service is less important than another part. Children notice when you rush in after service has began and sneak into class. Likewise, they notice when you are on time, prepared and relaxed. They can see that worship as a whole is valuable and they can notice when something is lost in the rush of arriving late. You communicate your priorities and the value of something by the time you give to it. Show your child how valuable and important worship is by being present for the whole service.

Teaching Your Child to Value Worship: Part 2 - Ask

Ask - Pray together in the car before service – asking God to teach you and your children new and beautiful things. This is a great opportunity to explain to your children why they go to their class while you go and worship with adults. Explain that your child needs to hear special words from God and play special games and do special crafts to help them learn and love God more. Explain that while your child is learning, you are in another room, singing special songs and hearing special words so that you can learn how to love God more also.

Teaching Your Child to Value Worship: Part 1 - Anticipate

About a year ago I wrote an article on teaching your children to value worship. It's a bit long, so I will publish it in segments. It's divided into 5 A's: Anticipate, Ask, Arrive, Attend, and Approach.

Part 1: Anticipate
Every day, through the way you approach tasks, obligations, people and time, you communicate to your children the things that you value. You show that you value family through sharing meals, spending time together in the evening, playing together on the weekends. You show that you value the Lord through praying together, spending time in the Word and talking openly about spiritual things. Every time you walk into the doors of Providence Church, you are revealing to your children the ways you value worship.
You are your child’s primary teacher and the way they learn to love the Lord is through watching you do it. That is why it is necessary to approach worship in an honest, reverent manner.

Anticipate - Communicate an excitement, a hope and confidence in what the Lord will do during service. Communicate it through words, attitudes and actions. If the week has been hard, you communicate your dependence by leaving your hurt at the foot of the Cross. If the week has been fun and exciting, you communicate your praise by celebrating and rejoicing before the King. Your child may not sit with you throughout the service, but they observe your attitude before and after. They can hear your prayers. And they can certainly tell when Mom and Dad are not excited to go to church. What is your attitude before worship communicating to your children?

Follow-up: Jesus Loves the Children

Fundamental Truth: God is Good

Making it Real:
Jesus was teaching people how to love God. Many people wanted to hear Jesus teach and they wanted Jesus to bless them and show that He loved them. Some parents wanted their children to see Jesus. Jesus’ friends said, “Jesus is too busy for the children.” But Jesus said He was not too busy. Why did Jesus have time for children even when He had other things to do?
Jesus loves children. Just like He loves Moms and Dads and doctors and plumbers, He loves children. And He was trying to teach everyone how to love Him like children do. Children love Jesus in a big way, with lots of trust and lots of joy. That’s how Jesus wants us to love Him always, with lots of trust and lots of joy.

Making it Stick:
Have a time of show-and-tell with your child. Have your child go throughout the house and pick a few things he/she loves the most. They can be toys, books, pictures representing family, etc. Have your child share why he/she loves these things the most. Share your own ideas of things you love. Then talk about how much Jesus loves you all. Talk about how Jesus’ love doesn’t end and how it spreads to all of us.

A Helpful Link

Only in the past couple of years have I begun to understand the power that comes when we pray the words of Scripture. They are authoritative, complete and beautiful.
Yesterday I came across a list of Scriptural blessings to pray for our children. I invite you to check out the link and pray these verses for your own little ones.

Pray for your children.

New Year, New Opportunities

As you continue to settle back into your daily routine, take time to sit down with your children and reflect on the good things God has done in your family in the last year. If you have not already done so, take time over dinner or before bedtime to make a list using words or pictures, of some of the great things God did or taught you this year. Spend time praying and thanking God for the things on that list.
After that, take some time as a family to think through some things you want to see God do in your lives this year. Consider things within your home, opportunities within the church or community, and hopes you have for extended family or friends. Write down your prayers and goals for this year and spend some time praying over them and asking God for the things on your list.
At the end of your time together, remind you children that God is Good and that as a family you will trust Him to do whatever He wants to within your lives this year. Spend a few final minutes praising God through song or prayer for His power, provision and love.

Follow-up: Wisemen

Story: How we worship Jesus

Fundamental Truth: God is in Charge of Everything

Making it Real:
The angels sang to worship Jesus. The wisemen brought gifts. The shepherds sat at the baby’s feet in worship. Why did these people worship this child and why do we worship Him still?
When we worship God, we are making Him famous. We are putting Him in the most important place in our hearts. We are saying that He is better than anything else and our heart belongs to Him. We worship Jesus because He is God’s Son and by His death He made a way for us to be with God forever. We worship Jesus because He is the only way to God and because He is the reason we have hope and joy and purpose.

Making it Stick:
Grab your camera and go on a photo scavenger hunt with your child. Take pictures of different ways we worship God. You can take pictures of church buildings, Bibles, books, music, etc. But also help your child think of different ways you worship or different things you do while you worship. You can take pictures of someone cooking or cleaning, working at a job, eating, taking care of a child or loved one, etc. Talk through each of the pictures and how you can worship in each instance. Put together an online album or print the pictures out and make a journal with pictures and descriptions.