Bible Study – Parenting Like Hannah

Spiritual Disciplines for Your Kids – Bible Study

We are taking a little time each week to look at the various spiritual disciplines historically practiced by many Christians. Teaching your kids how to practice them and helping them create habits of spiritual discipline can make it easier for them to grow spiritually and become active, productive, spiritually healthy Christians as adults. Since many of the disciplines seem more suitable for adults, we are looking at ways to make them kid friendly.

This week, our spiritual discipline is Bible study. Looking at various lists of spiritual disciplines, as well as what Jesus and his apostles did, I believe Bible study actually incorporates three practices crucial for spiritual growth and health.

The first is literally studying the Bible. Your kids need to know everything God wanted them to know, which one can assume is the entire Bible. Even if they attend every Bible class and listen to every sermon your church offers, most will only be exposed to about 20% of the Bible. Which means they are totally unaware of the other 80% and what God wanted them to learn from it. They will be trying to live a Christian life without all of the information God wanted them to have. No wonder so many of us struggle.

We have lots of previous posts you can search for on our blog about helping your kids become independent Bible readers. A few important things to remember. Get them an NIrV version for easier reading and comprehension. Start them off with practical books like Proverbs or James or story heavy books like the Gospels, Acts, Esther, Ruth, Judges, etc. Talk about what they are reading to make sure they are understanding it. Finally, make Bible study time a family time. Connect it to a regular habit like eating a meal or bedtime. You can all hang out together while you read independently or study a passage together.

An important spiritual discipline that has nearly disappeared is scripture memory. When Jesus was a boy, young children memorized the first five books of the Bible in school. Even in my childhood, we were memorizing as many as fourteen verses in a passage at a time in third grade. Your kids will balk at memory work, but it’s important. Why? They need important scriptures firmly planted in their long term memories. That is only possible through regular review. It’s why longer passages are better than short verses – they have to practice more to get them right. This is one area where I think periodic rewards for memorizing long passages may help. Make it a family challenge for even more fun!

The other historic spiritual discipline connected to Bible study is reflection or meditation on scripture. This isn’t the mindless repetition of syllables you may associate with meditation. Rather it is thinking more deeply about a verse or two for a period of time. What does God want us to learn from it? How can it be lived out in day to day life? What might happen if we lived it consistently? What often happens when we don’t?

The best way to get your kids started on this is to have a verse of the day you share in the morning. Proverbs is full of practical verses that are good reflection verses. Read them the verse. Have them repeat it in their own words. Ask them to think about it during the day and be prepared to discuss their thoughts that evening. You may want to print a copy of the verse they can slip in their pocket and refer to throughout the day. Using this practice can improve not only Bible reading comprehension, but deeper thinking about what God wants us to learn from scripture. Your discussions can also emphasize the importance of obedience and encourage them to live out God’s words in their lives.

Bible study is a complex area, but a crucial building block in faith development. It has to happen in the home, because no matter how wonderful your church is…they can’t cover everything. Don’t leave your kids with crucial gaps in their Bible knowledge and understanding. Add this spiritual discipline to your lives.

Fun Activity to Teach Kids About Jesus as a Boy

Do your kids ever complain about going to school? Even kids who generally love school have those moments when it just seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. There’s a fun activity you can do with your kids which may not only help them understand the wisdom of doing their best, but also help them learn a little more what life was like for Jesus as a boy.

While you don’t have to have a lot of supplies, it can be more fun if you have chalk and a small chalkboard or a feather that can be used as an ink quill. I highly suggest using thinned black tempera paint rather than ink to minimize the possible disasters ink can create!

Start by asking your kids whether or not God cares if they go to school and if they do their best while there. Don’t correct their answers, but do have them explain their rationale for their answers. Then ask them if they know whether or not Jesus had to go to school and what they know about it.

Just like today, when Jesus was very young, he would have been taught at home. Although we don’t have anything in the Bible about those years, we know Jewish children were taught letters and numbers like children today, except in the languages they used.

Once Jesus was school aged, he would have attended school at the local synagogue with other boys. Sometimes girls attended these schools for a time, while others were “homeschooled”. The synagogue schools taught a variety of subjects, but their main textbook was what we call the Old Testament today. Before they were teens, most boys had memorized the Torah or the first five books of our Old Testament. The really interesting thing is that studies often began in the book of Leviticus – the book of the five most people find difficult because it is full of the laws the Jews had to obey.

In addition to reading, writing, scripture and law, they learned history (mainly from the Old Testament), science and math. The area where Jesus grew up was very concerned with knowing and obeying scripture, so the school Jesus attended probably really taught a lot about it.

Another interesting thing is that Jesus spoke at least two languages – Hebrew and Aramaic. Hebrew was important to the Jews, but in their dealings with those who weren’t Jewish they needed to know Aramaic – the common language at the time. That area would also have been exposed to Greek and Latin, but we don’t know how much of those languages Jesus knew.

If you want, you can also tell your kids about how the students sat around the synagogue in basically a circle. That the Torah and other books of the Bible they had at the time were still on giant scrolls. If you have the writing supplies, let them trying writing some letters and words in Hebrew, Aramaic and even Greek (you can find samples to copy online). Older kids may want to think about the types of scriptures teachers could have used to teach history, science and math to their students.

After your discussion, ask your kids whether or not they thought school was difficult when Jesus was a boy. If they forget, remind them of how much those kids had to memorize to do well in school. Do they think Jesus did his best in school? Why or why not? Although we don’t know a lot about his school years, we know what happened when he went to the Temple the first time at age twelve. Review the story found in Luke 2:41-52. What clues are there in the story about what Jesus had learned?

Read Colossians 3:23-24. How might these verses apply to what they do at school? How would they act differently if they Jesus would ask them how they lived out this verse every day at school? Why is it hard for them to do those things now? What can they do to remind themselves to live out these verses and make better choices at school. End with each child stating a goal for how they can work at school that will reflect the verses in Colossians.

Spiritual Disciplines for Your Kids

As a Christian parent, you may or may not have heard of the concept of spiritual disciplines. Periodically, it gets some focused attention in various circles, but doesn’t seem as popular as it may have been in the past. For those of you new to spiritual disciplines, they are practices Christians have participated in since the beginning of Christianity. Many Christians believe these disciplines will help them become more like Jesus and more pleasing to God. The lists vary from person to person, but they all have in common things that are commanded or modeled in scripture, like prayer and Bible study. While the term “spiritual disciplines” is not found in the Bible, the individual practices on most lists are found in scripture.

The problem with these disciplines is that they don’t always come naturally. At least not doing them consistently and constantly. Perhaps it is because often Christians don’t try to start making them habits until they are adults. What if we spent more time helping our children develop these disciplines when they are young? Would they be able to be more consistent and benefit spiritually from doing these things regularly?

Part of the problem I would imagine many parents would have is that most of these disciplines sound very adult in nature. I believe, however, that they can be tweaked in such a way that they are appropriate for even very young children and can help them develop healthy spiritual habits while it is still relatively easy.

Over the next few weeks, we will spend one post a week going into more depth about specific disciplines and how to get your children started in participating in them. (Our other post each week will feature other topics, tips and activity ideas.) For now, here is the list we will be using,

Prayer
Bible study, including reading, memorizing and meditation.
Fasting
Worship
Service
Fellowship
Solitude
Confession
Giving
Hospitality
Simplicity
Reflection
Stewardship
Evangelism
Gratitude

As you look at this list, in which spiritual disciplines do you personally participate in consistently? With which do you struggle? How could these disciplines help your own spiritual growth and health? That of your children? Join us next week as we begin taking a closer look at individual disciplines and adapting them for children and teens.

Fun Family Devotional on Priorities (Especially on cool days!)

Your children will make thousands of decisions in their lifetime. Often their choices will be informed by their priorities. What is most important to them will often sway their decisions. While you want their top priority to be pleasing God, if you aren’t careful, other things can creep in ahead of God. There is a fun family devotional you can do to begin a discussion about priorities.

Before you begin you will need the ingredients to make a lentil stew. You can use any recipe, but this one claims to be somewhat authentic. (Note: If your children aren’t used to these spices, you might want to adjust the recipe slightly.) For extra fun, have your kids help you make the stew. While you are eating, share with them the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25:29-34.

Ask your children what would have made Esau give up something as important as his birthright for a simple bowl of stew. Point out that Esau would have gotten twice the inheritance of Jacob as well as being the ancestor of Jesus (whether he knew it or not) had he not traded it for a bowl of stew. Ask your children what Esau’s priorities were when he made that important choice? Was he taking a short view or a long view of life when he traded it away?

Explain to your children that if your priorities aren’t right, you will often choose what seems best in the moment. You forget to think about how the decision might impact you over time. Often that leads to making poor choices. Explain that in your family, the top priority is pleasing God. You hope that it will always be their top priority, too. Ask them to think of choices people make that they might make differently if their top priority is pleasing God.

End your meal and conversation with a pray, asking God to help your family always keep pleasing Him as your top priority. Pray that he helps you make wise decisions by always considering what He would want you to do. Revisit the topic of priorities, short and long term thinking and making godly decisions regularly. Help equip your kids to make godly decisions their entire lives.

Helping Your Kids to Have Hope in Rough Times

Life can be rough – even if you are a kid. Sure, as an adult, you know most of their problems on any given day aren’t that serious. They don’t have a lot of life experience, however, so something that seems minor to adults is quite possibly one of the worst things they have ever had happen to them.

It doesn’t help them to mock their feelings or downplay their emotions. They are very real and very painful, even if they seem overly dramatic to you. What can help is teaching them how to find hope when times are rough. Learning this critical Christian life skill will also help them when they grow older and the problems are much more serious.

Begin by telling them the story of Paul and Silas found in Acts 16:16-40. Explain what jails were like during that time. (This link contains a rather graphic article on Roman prisons that you can soften a bit for your children. Or you can use information from this Wikipedia article.) Ask your children how they think Paul and Silas might have felt to be in such horrible conditions. Then ask them why they believe Paul and Silas were singing, something we often associate with being happy.

Explain that Paul and Silas knew they were living in a fallen world where life often isn’t fair and bad things can happen to people who we think don’t deserve them. They knew, however, that this was only a very small part of a much larger picture. They knew eternity was a lot longer than any time on Earth and that by following and obeying God, they would spend it in Heaven with God – a place so perfect we can’t even really imagine it.

Have your kids think of things they can do to have attitudes and faith like that of Paul and Silas when they encounter bad times in their own lives. They can create artwork or a list they can refer back to the next time they are having a rough time. End by reminding them that their hope is in God and a future in Heaven and that by focusing on that God can help them survive and even thrive during difficult times.