Scripture & Music

I've written before about the importance of singing with your children. I won't go into much detail again but I did want to expand on one thing.
Scripture promises the following about itself:

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

With those promises in mind, I encourage you to sing Scripture over your children and even have it playing in the background as you go throughout your day. There are several groups that publish verses put to song. Because we have the promise that God's Word will not return empty, why wouldn't we want to let it go forth over our children on a regular basis? So grab some cds, turn the volume up, sing along and have faith that His Word will penetrate the hearts of our little ones.

Recommendations:

Seeds Family Worship

Godprints - Scripture Memory Songs for kids (no site - available on ITunes)

Sick, Sad Hearts

In the preschool, we are learning the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a very smart teacher who knew all the right answers and followed all the right rules. One night, Nicodemus went to visit Jesus to ask Him about eternal life. Jesus explained that it doesn't matter how much we know or how good we are, what matters is loving and trusting Jesus. We did an activity with the children that you can do again at home:
Make a large heart using 2 sheets of paper glued together. One sheet should be brown and one white. Put a sad face on the brown side of the heart.
Name specific sins and for each sin make a mark on the sad side using crayons, markers or stamps. Depending on your child's age, you can make simple marks or draw pictures of the sins you are talking about. Talk about how sad a heart looks when it is full of sin. This is what God sees when we have hearts that don't love him.
Then, turn the heart over and use your child’s favorite color or paint to add to a heart that is beautiful because it loves Jesus most and trusts Him for everything. Draw a smiley face on this side and talk about how God sees this beautiful heart after we have decided to love him most and follow him.
Talk about how without Jesus, our hearts are sick and sad because they are full of sin. But when we decide to love and trust Jesus, He cleans our hearts and makes us new and makes our hearts beautiful.

Quiet Time & Your Preschooler - Not a paradox!

Developing the discipline of setting aside time every day to spend in prayer, study and meditation can be a difficult thing. Modeling that discipline daily before our children can be even more difficult. And instilling a similar discipline in your preschooler or elementary-aged child can seem nothing short of impossible.
But teaching a child the importance of spending uninterrupted time with God every day is very important. Beginning to establish the home as a place where we can hear and speak to God in the quiet of our hearts is a powerful thing. I want to encourage you to consider working on this discipline with your children. Here are some tips:

• Model this practice. Show your child that it is important to you to spend uninterrupted, quiet time with God. When your child sees you doing and enjoying it, he will be more apt to emulate it.
• Start small. It is not realistic to assume that on day one your child will sit still and quiet for any extended period of time. Set measurable, attainable goals and work your way up. Ten minutes a day is an appropriate amount of time a preschooler can be expected to sit quietly.
• Give specific ideas of things for your child to do. Some ideas are: flip through a picture Bible, draw pictures of Bible stories you've recently read together, draw pictures of things you're thankful for or praying for. Drawing, looking at pictures or encouraging specific ways to think and pray are good places to start.
• Talk about what you both learned, felt or experienced in your quiet times. If you child knows he will be sharing his experience with you, he is more likely to take it seriously.
  
• Call it a quiet time. Whether the practice is already established or is new, make sure it looks and feels differently than normal self-play or "alone time."
• Pray together before each day's quiet time, setting the tone for your child and committing your time to the Lord.

Entering into a time of quiet worship and study can change the atmosphere of a home and usher in countless opportunities for growth and discussion. Try not to be intimidated by the idea. Start small, be faithful, and trust the Lord to work in your heart and the heart of your little one as you both set time aside to be with Him.
May the Lord bless you in your times with Him!

Teaching Our Children About Giving

Thanks to Brittany Colberg, for writing this awesome blog post on how she teaches her daughters to tithe!

Teaching Our Children About Giving
Brittany Colberg

Giving tithes and offerings is an honor and a reflection of our hearts as Christ-followers; so how do we instill this into our children’s hearts?

~We need to emulate cheerful giving in front of our children: They need to see our words put into action by giving graciously (whether it is to church, charity organization, someone in need, etc.).

~We need to study scripture with our children on tithing: For younger children, stories about the widow’s mite from Mark 12:41-44 would be good. For older children, I would suggest a more in depth study using the Sermon on the Mount from Matt. 6:19-21 as well as reading Exodus 36:3-7 to describe how the Israelites gave more than enough needed and the blessing in that.

~ We need to train their hearts to be givers: We should start by cautioning them against being like the Pharisees; who gave everything according to the law, but their hearts were not it in (Matt. 23:23). Then, we should impress upon them how we are to give; that Jesus says it was better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), and we also know from 2 Corinthians 9:5-15 that we are to give cheerfully. That cheerful giving not only supplies ministry needs & shows obedience, but the text tells us it brings about thanksgiving and glory to God.

If you have a child that is reluctant to give, pray with them that God will change their heart. Teach them that Jesus gave His life for them, and that everything we have is God’s in the first place; we are just entrusted with His gifts to be shown faithful stewards and advance the Kingdom. For older children, you may read them 1 John 3:17-18 and James 2:15-16 to further instill the purpose of giving.

This is how it looks in our home: we pay our children “contract labor” for optional duties above and beyond household chores. Erich will sit down with them on “paydays” to help them divvy up their allotted tithe portion, savings portion, and earnings portion. Any “gift money” that they receive falls under the same instruction. The children then get the privilege of giving God’s money back to Him by supporting the church, and they will personally put their tithe portion in the offering box on Sundays. We also encourage them to give when they feel led to other ministry needs to help instill that it’s not just about “Sunday”.

*Remember to pray with your children thanking God for entrusting us with money, giving us opportunities to advance His kingdom with our tithes and offerings, and asking Him to work in our hearts that we may be cheerful and gracious givers.

God's Justice vs. Our Justice

After Easter services, one of our teachers shared with me how her 5-year-old and kindergarten students responded to the story of Christ's death on the cross. She said her students, particularly the boys, couldn't get over the injustice of Jesus dying in our place.
"But why did He do it?"
"Jesus didn't do anything wrong, He didn't deserve to die!"
There is so much truth and beauty in those statements. While we will never fully grasp the weight of Christ dying in our place, we can take advantage of the "injustice" of that action to teach our children.
At some point this week, it's safe to assume your child will disobey. During one of those acts of disobedience, take the opportunity to show him or her a picture of what Christ did on the cross.
When your child knows he or she has disobeyed and is expecting a swift punishment, show mercy. Instead of time out or a spanking, extend grace. Stop what you are doing, sit down with your child and talk to him or her about what is deserved. Explain that we deserve so much more than a spanking or time out for all the sins we do. And just like you showed your child mercy by not punishing him or her, so God showed us incredible mercy by allowing Jesus to die in our place. It's not fair, but it it's true and wonderful.

Cultivating an Eternal Perspective

This week your child will be learning of Christ's ascension into Heaven to be with God the Father. Our Forever King went up in the sight of His friends into the sky in a miraculous display of His glory and power! And we have the promise that we as believers will be with Him in Heaven one day, too! This is cause for celebration and hope. And this is a great truth to communicate to your children. Whether your little one is struggling with day-to-day frustrations, dealing with loss or illness, or even going through a phase where death becomes a preoccupation, you have an opportunity to cultivate an eternal perspective.
Talk with your children about the promise (John 14:3) and the joy of Heaven (Rev 21:4). Talk with excitement and joyful expectation when you talk about Heaven. Our Forever Home is a place where we will be with our Savior, apart from illness, sadness, darkness and death. What a great message and a great way to turn fear into joy, uncertainty into hope, and mourning into rejoicing!
And don't forget that talking about Heaven provides an easy transition into sharing the gospel!

Celebrating Easter Post-Easter

Hopefully you had an amazing Easter with your children and families. Regardless of whether or not you were able to talk about the truths of the holiday or do any special activities, it is not too late to capitalize on the opportunities of Easter.
If your child attended Providence this weekend, he or she heard the gospel. Your child was taught that God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. That punishment was death on the cross and by taking it for us, we can now live a life with God in our hearts if we love and trust Him.
Because your child heard so much this weekend, it would not seem strange for you to follow up at home, even if you don't normally talk about spiritual things together.
Focus on how big God's love is that He would send His only Son to go through such pain all so we could be with Him. Talk about how Christ accomplished what no one or no thing could ever accomplish - making us right before God and saving us from a forever death.
Whether you review the Easter story over leftover candy or play a question-and-answer review game with hidden Easter eggs, you can continue the spiritual discussion began at church. May your home and your children delight in the joy and hope of Christ's Resurrection!