Daily Devotions

Daily devotions are hard.  Especially with kids.  Over the years I have tried a lot of different tactics to get them done.  But every once in awhile, you catch a glimpse of why it is all so worth it.  Two year old Theo took the Bible and devotion book from me last light so he could "read" to us.  His devotions went a little something like this: "Jesus, Jesus, water, walk, Jesus, love. Love you Jesus.  Amen."

Here is a little piece I wrote in 2014 to give some ideas of ways you might make daily devotions work for you.

Daily devotions with children are something that you know are a good idea, but sometimes the idea of how can be so intimidating.  Here are few ideas that maybe you can your child can incorporate as you begin your new daily routine this fall.  Try one to start a great new daily habit.

·        Read in the car.  When I realized my oldest child was old enough to read out loud to myself and his brothers, this was a lifesaver to us.  We did daily devotions in the car every morning.  It helped smooth out any rough starts we may had to the day, minimized in route bickering, and focused everyone on what was important.  Round this out with a younger child choosing a favorite song “Jesus Loves Me”, “Awesome God”, etc. and it’s like your own mini worship service to start each day!

·        Use Daily 5 at dinner.  Sit down as family over a meal and share your highs and lows.  Pray for one another.  Consider incorporating scripture.

·        Make us of the Daily Devotions booklets available at church.  It can be very overwhelming to know what to use for daily devotions but you don’t have to purchase a fancy book.  We have daily devotion booklets available by the main door for your to take and use at home.  They change out seasonally.

·        Use your child’s Bible.  At baptism, each child is given a Beginner’s Bible.  In 3^rd grade, each child is given a more grown up Bible.  Make use of your child’s Bible to read a Bible story before bed each night.  Reading minutes-check.  Devotions-double check!

·        Download a free Bible app.  I recently downloaded one called Bible app for kids with several stories and games.  This is available through both apple and android markets.  I look forward to playing with this one soon.

WOW: Armor of God part II

Belt of Truth was the theme for our 2nd Sunday in our three part worship series on the Armor of God.

Our activity sheet station did not change, but we did swap out the craft.  Today we had this cute Belt of Truth craft that can be purchased from Oriental Trading.  Kids had a lot of fun decorating their own belts and I added one to each of our two "knights"

We had a new game at the Hands-On station.  I like to call this one "Liar, Liar, Big Pants on Fire." I began by talking about Paul's writing and wondering aloud what he meant about a belt of truth.  I then asked if any of them knew the phrase "liar, liar, pants on fire."  I explained that I didn't have any pants on fire, but I did have big pants.  When we aren't being truthful, or are telling lies, or even surrounding ourselves with untruthful people, it can be a big problem.  I then held up the pants, "Kind of like these big pants.  Today, we are going to play a game with these big pants that will remind us that lying is a big problem and can make our lives a lot more complicated.  It can be a lot of work hanging onto these lies and keeping them up can make it hard for us to do everyday things.  Today we are going to try this simple obstacle course, but while wearing these really big pants." 

After letting a few sets of volunteers give the course a go in the big pants, we paused to talk about how the really big pants made the obstacles more difficult to navigate.  I then brought out a set of yellow jump ropes.  "Paul tells us to arm ourselves with the Armor of God.  He says to put on the Belt of Truth.  I think what Paul means is that like when we put a belt around ourselves, we should also surround ourselves with truth.  That includes being honest, surrounding ourselves with honest people and learning more about God.  The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Truth.  The more we learn about Jesus and closer we are to Him, the better.  Do you think this course would be easier to navigate if you wore this belt instead of the really big pants?"  Tying a belt around volunteers, I let them give the course another try.

We then closed with a prayer thanking God for truth and asking Him to help us surround ourselves with Belts of Truth everyday.

We had a few minutes left so students could be excused to go to another station, or the option of trying the course again was offered.  As you can see, they had fun trying some challenging one another in some creative ways.