Family Devotions

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  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." Deuteronomy 6:6,7


What a commission! What a responsibility God has given to us as parents.
  
How does one begin to undertake such an important task?

 "You know, when I was a little boy, we lived down by Jericho. I remember my Jewish mother used to rock me to sleep in the afternoon; take my afternoon nap. I used to look up in her eyes, and she would tell me Bible stories."


⁶⁴ And, you know, that's a good thing for any mother to do to her child. "Bring up a child in the way it should go." It would be better than turning on the television and watch some of these here things that goes on on the television. You'd be better off if you read him a Bible story, 'cause it's impressing his little mind.  William Branham

It begins when your baby is born and continues until he leaves your home. It starts small; singing songs about God and His love, telling Bible stories, reading books together. Throughout toddler hood, it encompasses every encounter your child has. "Timmy is coming to play with you today. What truck do you think he would like to play with? Jesus loves it when you share with Timmy!" and evolves into the family gathered around the table, listening as Dad leads the family in prayer and then reads from the Bible, devotional book or message.

"Remember, when Moses was a little boy, it was a mother who give him his instruction. It was a godly mother who took little Moses on her knees, and said, "Moses..." taught him all.  She was his teacher.  Said, "Moses, someday you're going to deliver the children of Israel. You're the boy that's called. Keep yourself pure and unspotted from the world, for you're the one.
No other place do we know where he ever went to any seminary, any teaching at all, he ever got. He stayed right in Pharaoh's palace, which was a heathen; but his mother taught him. That's a real   mother. She taught him the precepts of the Lord. She told him how he must be holy. She told him how and what he must live, and how, what God must do, would do for him. And it stuck with Moses all the days of his life.
And any good, true, loyal mother that'll take her little babies, instead of send them to picture shows and dances, and so forth like that, and she'll put them on her lap and teach them about the Lord Jesus Christ."                             William Branham

We've spent so many cozy evenings as a family gathered around the word of God.  Many times my husband will read a portion of the Bible, a devotional, or a message and then we will discuss it.

 

Job, I think about Job that day as a dad. He had a bunch of children. They were kinda wayward. And he was always thinking of his children. Wouldn't it be a lot better if all the church members of Chicago had that same kind of an idea about their city? You wouldn't have no juvenile delinquency. You wouldn't see these race riots--or I mean these riots and things they have around here today: shooting, killing, stealing, rape, and all of these things. It's because the people are unconcerned about their children. The first thing they say, "Well, I put him on the cradle roll when they were little, turned the rest of it over to the Sunday school teacher," and her out at a dance, maybe, all night, come in, fixed up like some kind--she's going to a circus instead of a church. And put your children in the hands of something like that, mother, shame on you. You ought to put that child that's in need down there and read the Bible. Lay your hands over on their head, call out to God. "God, be merciful. Spare my daughter, my son." Yes.


I love to do it, taking them little girls of mine, and there, set them down there, and just look in their little eyes listening, or, their ear's listening and their eyes looking on, I'll tell them about, all about Jesus, and how He loves them, and things. They'll kneel right around the chairs and pray just like the rest of us. That's where we want to do it, isn't it? That's the way many of you do it. That's what you should do.
I went into a many a home, and the children are all gathered round for family prayer always. God, bless that family. That's the tie that binds. If you did that in your home, there wouldn't be so many divorce cases, and things going on the way there is. You'd have fellowship with each other.

It takes time.  And the rewards are so worth the effort.