The Bridge

This week, both my kids (ages 6 and 11) reacted negatively (and fairly strongly) to a Biblical truth (these were two separate instances).  This was very unusual.  They have both always been excited about the Bible and church and spiritual things I have taught them, in the past.

This got me to thinking about parenting.

Let's think about sending our children across a bridge as the analogy of their maturing process.  Point A is birth and point B is adulthood.  The piers are the values we parents impart.

I think most parents think that by sending their children to church and private school, and maybe even reading them Bible stories, they are putting the supports (values) in place, for a steady, secure life, for their children.  They believe that their children will get to the other side of that bridge safely.

But it doesn't quite work out that way.  I have been doing a lot of learning in the area of understanding my children's heart.  We as parents could be imparting values, but if it just goes in one ear and out the other, without sinking down into the heart of the child, that pier is not made of solid material.  It's going to be a shaky foundation.  It's not going to last.

You may not see the effects right away.  Most of the time, we see the effects when the child is about 3/4 of the way across the bridge, in the teen years.  All of a sudden, the child becomes a totally different (so-called) person.  But in fact, this is who they were all along, in their heart of hearts.  It just took the added stress of teenage-hood to shake the already unsteady foundation of their bridge.

And many times, by the time they reach adulthood, this is what we see...

How do you know if your values are reaching your child's heart?  How do you know if their bridge's piers are solid?  You test them--along the way.  You don't want until the teenage years to see what becomes of them.  Before that, you put some pressure on them, some tension on them (the piers/values).  What do I mean?  All of us will reveal our true character under pressure, the pressures of life.  Tension is a pulling action.  I try to pull out what's inside my kid's hearts by asking lots of questions, have a lot of dialog (not monologue--and I'm still working on that one).

Are your children free to show disagreement (in a respectful way)?  Are they free to ask why you believe what you believe?  Do you ever ask for their opinion on matters of values?  Do they have the freedom to speak their mind to you?

I showed each of my children from the Bible what the truth was (which was different from their own opinions).  We had open discussions about those beliefs.  I'm glad they were able to speak their minds, and I'm sure those issues will come up again.  I could tell they each didn't really find resolution in their own minds.  So, these are piers in their life that are not quite solid yet.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to God's truth in these areas.  (Eph. 1:17-19, Is. 54:13)

If you want to learn more about reaching the heart of your children, I highly recommend reading Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp.



P.S.  I'm thinking, as I'm writing this, that some of you may be thinking that children don't necessarily have to adopt the values of their parents to have a fine life.  In fact, I've read of parents that want their children to be such "free-thinkers" that they want them to question everything and they in turn expose them to everything and expect that they won't adopt their values.  They think that these "free-thinkers" have brought much needed change and toleration to our world.  So, let me clarify.  I am speaking to Christian parents, and I'm assuming your set of values are based on the Bible, which is the only absolute truth in this world.  If your values are not (now would be a good time to check that out), then I hope your children don't adopt them.

I found top bridge picture at Wikimedia Commons.  It is a picture taken by David Monniaux of the Rio-Antirio Bridge in Greece.  I thought it beautiful.  David Monniaux has no affiliation with this blog whatsoever.  The second picture is of part of I-35 that bridged the Mississippi river.  It is public domain.

Dispensations in Parenting

In my last post on dispensations I promised a follow-up on how this can apply to parenting.  So you will want to be familiar with that list in order to understand this article.  Click the link to read that.  I have inserted numbers here and there to indicate which dispensation I am referencing.


When children are born, they are innocent (1); they do not have a knowledge of good and evil. At some point they do learn of good and evil, right and wrong. This is a different time for every child. Sometimes you can see the 18-month old that knows not to touch the plant, by the look in their eye—you know that look. This is not to be confused with the "age of accountability", I believe that comes at an older age.  That is the age when a child realizes their sinfulness and their need for a Savior.  With the really young child we are talking about the conscience stage (2). At the point we begin to see that the child has a knowledge of right and wrong, we institute rules of the house. This is the government stage (3), family government. We institute consequences to help them choose right, because if left to their own devices, they will inevitably choose wrong.

As our children grow, we should be teaching our children about God’s promises (4)—His blessings, His favor, His grace, His character. We should be teaching our children about God’s principles, His laws (5) and why they were given, His standards and how we cannot measure up, His symbolism showing His plan for a Savior. Don’t present God’s law just as a back-up for your rules. This is manipulation. We should be teaching our children about God’s Spirit (6) and how He indwells us and enables us to meet His standards; how He works in us our whole lives to conform us to the image of Christ. And finally we should be teaching our children about the Kingdom of God (7), how He is returning to rule on the earth, how He is going to judge our works and reward us, and how we can rule and reign with Him. This gives them hope--hope that one day all will be made right in the world, good will triumph over evil.

If we leave any of these categories out, we fall out of balance. If we decide to use family government and God’s law, but leave out the aspects of God’s Spirit enabling us and His promises of blessing that He has for us (separate from our works), this is called legalism. Legalistic families produce children that are full of resentment, rebellion, self-righteousness, and possibly even end up rejecting the faith.

Conversely, some families want to disregard the government (3) and law (5) categories because they know that God loves them unconditionally and makes His grace abound toward us. They know that He does not pour out wrath and punishment on us (He already did that with Christ and He was our substitute). So the tendency is to be lenient with our children. God is merciful with us, so shouldn’t we be merciful with our children? We are no longer under the law, so why are we putting our children under it?  The tendency is not to discipline but just to try to convince kids through reasoning that they should behanve.  But if you leave out government and law, you will produce children with no godly character, and their lives will suffer because of it.

Too many of us just stop at the stage of government. We really just want to keep control of our children. But who are our children anyway? Why did God give them to us?

In this area as well as all others we need to take in the whole counsel of God. I believe that looking at God’s plan for man, these 7 dispensations, will help us parent more completely. The goal should be to teach our children that God loves them unconditionally, even though they are sinners. They need Christ, not only to save them, but to empower them to live their lives the way God planned, to be conformed to the image of Christ, developing godly character. They will never be perfect, but they can press on, as Paul put it. The earlier they learn these principles, the more peace they will have in their lives—with their siblings, with you, with teachers, coaches, with friends, eventually co-workers, a spouse, and their own children. And most importantly, we need to teach them how to know God and hear His voice. If they won’t receive correction from us, how will they receive correction from God’s Word as adults?

Please don’t think I have mastered this. I am learning, too. If you want to learn more, I highly recommend reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp, and Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp.

A Word of Warning

Warning: If you start reading the Bible regularly to your children, they will start using it on you!

For a little background, I have a 5-year old daughter that is very perceptive. She's also very verbal and is not afraid of saying what is on her mind.

We read a chapter from the Bible to our children (ages 5 and 11), each night at the dinner table. We just finished up reading the book of Ephesians, from the New Living Translation. This translation has proved wonderful for reading to children. Any time in the past that we tried to read from any of the epistles, we had to stop, it was so far above their heads. We switched over to the New Living Translation recently. We have read through all of Acts and Ephesians thus far.

So then, we read the last chapter of Ephesians, which is the 6th one, the night before last. If you will recall, Ephesians 6 has some specific instruction for children and parents.

We were eating chicken noodle soup for dinner last night. Sometimes I make it with egg noodles from the store (we'll call those curly noodles), and sometimes I make homemade. My daughter noticed the homemade noodles in her bowl and said, "Mom, why didn't you use the curly noodles? I like the curly noodles better!" I say, "Well, tonight we're having homemade noodles." Daughter's response--"But the Bible says that parents are supposed to make their children happy!"

What?!?

I burst out laughing! This is apparently what my daughter got out of Ephesians 6:4.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat
them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from
the Lord.

We had to explain the difference between provoking someone to wrath (the word used in the KJV) and keeping someone happy at all costs. There were examples given, such as Veruca Salt.

So, let that be a warning to you, that if you read the Bible to your children, they may turn it back around on you. Hopefully, there will be many laughs involved, as in our case.

Too Funny!

I love reading the Bible to my kids.  First, they have a fresh perspective on things, they haven't had years of man's opinions clouding their thinking.  Second, they come up with good analogies, and third, they often (especially the younger they are) come up with funny comments!

We were reading the story of Noah this morning and got to the verse where God tells Noah to take 7 of every clean animal onto the ark, and 2 of every unclean animal.

My 3 year old daughter said, "That mole in the backyard is dirty!"  (She saw a mole digging in the dirt a couple evenings ago.  To her, that is unclean, digging in the dirt!)  This made me laugh out loud!

Now, question for all you adults.  Why did God tell Noah to bring extra "clean" animals AND how did Noah know the difference between "clean" and "unclean?"  The law wasn't given for, at the very least, 500 more years (it was 400 years from Abraham and Abraham was many years from Noah).

Why?

We are finishing up our reading of the Book of John at dinnertime.  Tonight we read about Mary coming to the tomb and finding it empty.  

It is very important, to me, that my children know why they believe what they believe.  The more they know why, the better they will be able to defend their faith.  (I Peter 3:15)  So tonight I asked my son, "Why did Jesus have to die?"

Jesus was not a martyr that died because He was arrested and then miraculously rose from the dead.  He willingly gave up His life, but why?  The obvious answer is to save the world.  But why did He have to die to save the world?  I think this is something many of us take for granted, but can you answer why, and know why you believe it?

I would like to hear your thoughts.

Book of John

We are reading through the Book of John at dinnertime, as a family.  This verse really stuck out to me the other night.

John 15:5b  Jesus is talking here, "...without Me you can do nothing."

So why is it that we so often try to do things in our own power?

If you're anything like me, you're an independent person that doesn't ask people for help.  It's not in my nature to ask for help and I often forget to lean on God for help and ask for His wisdom.  I am getting better at it, but it's a process.

Remember Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean NOT on your own understanding.

Bibles for Children

There are a lot of great children's Bibles out there. These are the Bibles my children own.

This one was my son's first Bible.

He got it when he was one. We read him these stories over and over. Now he is nine and has passed it on to his little sister. She loves to read it at bedtime. Her favorite story is of the woman that poured the perfume on Jesus.

When our son was six, we got him the Comic Book Bible. He read this Bible through so many times, the front cover fell off! This Bible exceeds the Bible story books I had as a child. It includes the major and minor prophets, Paul's ministry, and even the book of Revelation, which is more than typical Bible story books. My son knows more about the prophets and Paul than I ever did as a child. Now when we read through the Bible as a family at dinnertime, he recognizes many things from his readings. This is exciting to me, because the more times you hear information the further it sinks in and the more wisdom you can get from it. It's just wonderful for me to see him get this exposure at this young age.

(I have NO idea why this font has insisted on being underlined!)

Last year, after my son had read through the Comic Book Bible so many times, I started thinking it was time for him to move up to the next level. I started to notice certain stories that were missing from the Comic Book Bible. It is a fabulous Bible, it just doesn't contain every single story, it would be too big for kids if it did.

We bought him the Picture Bible. It doesn't have the humor that the Comic Book Bible had, but it still has a comic book format, with frames and conversation bubbles and includes more content. So it was a good step up. If we had bought this one for him at six, I think it would have overwhelmed him and he probably wouldn't have had the interest in reading it, like he did the Comic Book Bible. But now, at nine (we bought it when he was eight), he is really enjoying it. He is almost done reading it through for the first time.

So, like I said, there are a lot of great Bibles available, but these are the ones we own and enjoy.

What Do I Obey?

This could also be titled, "What is God's Will For Me?"  But since this is a study I did with my nine-year-old son, I used kid-friendly terms.

Since we finished up our study of God's grace (see here), we had to see what God's Word instructed us to DO.  Because God's grace works together with our faith and we read in James that faith without works is dead.  Works being obedience.  So what do we obey?

::The Ten Commandments  -  Exodus 20:1-17

::Parents  -  Ephesians 6:1

::Be humble  -  James 4:6 & Isaiah 14:12-21  (story to illustrate the effects of pride)

::Be givers and tithers  -  Malachi 3:10-11, Luke 6:38, & II Corinthians 9:7

::Be a hard worker  -  II Thessalonians 3:6-13, Proverbs 10:4-5, & Proverbs 12:24

::Love our neighbors as ourselves  -  Luke 10:25-37, John 13:34-35, & Romans 13:9-10

::Be a servant  -  Phillipians 2:3-8, John 13:1-10, Mark 8:1-10, & Mark 9:33-34

::Preach the gospel  -  Mark 16:15-20 &  II Timothy 3:14-4:5

::And most importantly of all--Love God with all your heart!  -  Deuteronomy 6:5

I covered these over the course of two weeks with my son.  Obviously, this is a list geared toward a child.  You can search the scriptures and find many, many more specifics of God's will for your life.  Specifics about your role as a wife, husband, a single person, parent, employee, boss, how to handle your finances, what God's plan is for you and what His purpose is for all of us as humans, and yes--even what and how to eat!

What is God's will for your life?  Search in His Word and find out!

Book of Luke

Tonight we read a passage that is a favorite with my 9 year old son.  Jesus had a way with words!  We all have a laugh at this one.

Luke 20:1-8

     One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to Him.

    "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said.  "Who gave you this authority?"

    He replied, "I will also ask you a question.  Tell me, John's baptism--was it from heaven, or from men?"

    They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask 'Why didn't you believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."  So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."

    Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

Character of God

Update 1/27/09 - I know this is turning into a long post.  It might be best to break it down into days, rather than reading it all at once.  I have highlighted all the day breaks.

This week I decided we should study the fact that God is gracious to balance our study of God's wrath last week.  To read our other studies about God's character, click here.

I had my son write two definitions of grace in his notebook - unmerited favor & the ability to do something you wouldn't be able to do.

I read two verses on day 1 -
Jonah 4:2b I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
I wanted to emphasize with this verse that God is SLOW to anger, to balance our discussion from last week.

Then I discussed that we are saved by grace, it was unmerited, meaning undeserved.  There is NO way we could be good enough to save ourselves (all have sinned--Rom. 3:23).

Eph. 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace...

Then I realized that if we were talking about grace, we HAD to bring in the subject of faith!  (Eph. 2:8).   If we were saved by grace ALONE, then everyone in the world would be saved.  It is God's will that everyone be saved. (II Peter 3:9)  But we have to use our faith and this is an important thing to realize.

I used to say for years that I am where I am in life because of the grace of God, but that was only partially correct--I am where I am because of my FAITH in the grace of God! It's not that I am special that He would choose to use me and not some others around me, it is my faith working TOGETHER with His grace.

I heard the other day on my Chuck Missler Galatians commentary that faith and obedience are synonymous (operationally) in the New Testament. I typed that into my notes on that day, but then it came alive to me as I started this study of grace with my son.

On day 2 we read the story of Rahab in Joshua 2 and 6.   She was saved, by grace, from destruction.  But notice that it was her faith working together with grace. She showed faith in God Almighty and asked the spies to spare her life. (Josh. 2:9-13)  She is living in a pagan, idol-worshipping world, but see in verse 11 that she says when she heard of the God of Israel that she knew He was God in heaven and on earth (not just a great god, like a pagan person would say).  This shows her faith.  They then gave her instructions--but she had to take action (obey)! (2:17-20)  It was up to her, if she hung the scarlet cord out her window, her and her family would be saved, if not, they died.  So we see that she found favor (grace), used her faith and obeyed.

On day 3 we read the first 2 chapters of Ruth. Not much to discuss until the next day.

On day 4 we read the last 2 chapter of Ruth.  Ruth was saved by grace, but notice in Ruth 3, verses 3 and 4, Naomi gives Ruth instructions.   In verse 5, what does Ruth say? "I will DO all that you have asked me to do."  She obeyed.  First she had faith in Naomi's words and THEN she obeyed, a thing of action.  So just like Rahab, Ruth found favor with Boaz (grace), had faith in Naomi's words and acted on that faith with obedience.

Salvation is a gift from God, but we have to accept it by faith, we have to OPEN that gift.  I explained it to my son like this--If I wrapped up a cool Lego set and gave it to him, he would never experience the joy of that gift unless he opened it.  Likewise, if I wrap up a nice, big umbrella, raincoat, and galoshes and gave them to him, he wouldn't experience the protection from the rain UNLESS he opens the gift.   JOY and PROTECTION are just two of the many things we get to experience when we OPEN the gift of salvation.

On a side note - I noticed as we were reading this morning in Ruth 3, that Naomi asks Ruth if she could seek security for her.  This means to find her a husband.  But in the margin of my Bible, it says that the word security here literally means rest.  This is what we experience when we accept Christ, rest AND we as the church are called the Bride of Christ.   Interesting! (Read Hebrew 3 & 4)

I have had my son add these two examples, Rahab and Ruth to his notebook page and also copy Ephesians 1:7 into it, as well.

Update 1/23/09 -

Today is day 5 and I couldn't think of any more examples to read, so I thought I would just read a passage, Ephesians 2:1-10, and have a discussion.  I started asking my son questions about grace and I could tell he needed a bit more explanation, so I found myself using the example of the life of Paul.  So, we turned to read that story instead.  

I wanted to emphasize that we are saved by grace, it is undeserved, but also the work that we do for God is because of His grace.  The story of Paul illustrates this really well.

We first read about Paul in the end of Acts 7, then see some of his character in the beginning of Acts 8, and then read of his conversion in Acts 9.

The story of Paul is a good story to read if you are feeling unworthy.  If God could save Paul, He can save any of us!  Paul was killing and arresting and persecuting Christians.  If anyone deserved God's wrath, it was Paul.  But God gives everyone a chance (just like Ninevah, we'll probably read that story after this one).

So picking up in verse 3 of Acts 9, we see that Saul (Paul) was on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians when he saw an incredible light.  From this light he heard a voice.  The voice said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"  And Saul asks, "Who are you?"  The voice answers, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."  (I'm paraphrasing, please read the entire story in Acts 9.)

This is God's grace.  He could very well have let Saul keep on his destructive path, he certainly didn't deserve God's favor.

What is Saul's response?

"Lord, what do you want me to do?"  Ah ha!  This shows Saul's faith.  Remember that faith has to work together with God's grace.  Saul could have ignored the voice, he could have walked away, he could have said, "this is ludicrous!"  But he didn't, he shows us with his statement that he believes the voice to be, in fact, that of Jesus.  We also see that he wants to know what TO DO.  This is very important.  Faith without obedience is dead.  (James 2:17)

Jesus gives him instructions--go into the city and you will be told what to do.  (Remember the instruction that Rahab and Ruth were given?  What has Jesus instructed you to do?)

Paul has a choice, as we all do.  He could have run back home to Jerusalem, but he didn't.  He went into Damascus and he was saved.  He was saved by grace, AFTER he showed that he had faith by his obedience!

We will read more of Paul's story on Monday.  He tells us in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by God's grace, but also in Ephesians 3:8 that the work that we do is only by God's grace, as well.  Paul should not have been able to preach to anyone, since everyone knew of his past, but by the grace of God (AND Paul's faith working with it), he was able.  Hence, the dual definition I have taught my son--unmerited favor AND the ability to do things we wouldn't be able to do.

Update 1/27/09 - 

On Monday, day 6 of this study, we read from Acts 9:26-30 and Acts 11:25.  We see that Paul tries to preach, but everyone is afraid of him, they don't trust him because of who he used to be.  He goes away for a time and we pick up in verse 25 of chapter 11 and see that BY GOD'S GRACE, he is able to start a preaching ministry.  He tells us himself in Ephesians 3:8 that his preaching is BY GOD'S GRACE.

Today is Tuesday, day 7, and I can tell that my son is having a hard time wrapping his brain around the definition of grace.  If you recall from day 1, I taught him the definition of unmerited favor.  I decided to look up favor in the dictionary.  One of the definitions was help or aid.  This was a better word to use for my son.  So I had him write in his notebook that, "grace = favor = help", and, "unmerited = undeserved", and underneath that, "grace is the undeserved help of God."  I think this helped it click in his brain.  We cannot save ourselves, we need God's help.  Paul couldn't preach to anyone without God's help.

I started reading the story of Ninevah in the book of Jonah today.  We will conclude it tomorrow.  I also had my son copy Ephesians 2:8 into his notebook.

Update 1/29/09 - 

Yesterday, Wednesday, was day 8 on this study.  We read the last two chapters of Jonah.  We see that Jonah went to Ninevah and simply said that in 40 days the city would be destroyed.  (Jonah 3:4)  He didn't even mention the word repent!  Verse 5 tells us that the people believed.  Did they go around telling everyone they believed?  Did they shout to God that they believed?  Let's read on.  We see that they took action--they fasted and mourned (wearing sackcloth).  News got to the king and he declared that everyone should repent!  In verse 9 we see that the king has hope that, if they repent, God will relent from His wrath.  And He did.  God is giving everyone a chance.  He gave Jonah a chance, (even after he disobeyed!)  He gave Ninevah a chance, and He's giving you a chance!  The verse that we read in Nahum a couple weeks ago about how God hates sin and will one day pour out his wrath is now put in context.  This was 150 years AFTER Jonah had preached in Ninevah.  Nahum was a prophet that was sent to Ninevah to preach to a city that had heard the truth and had now REJECTED it!  That is important to understand.

Today is day 9 and we started out by reading II Peter 3, I wanted to highlight verse 18, but sometimes it's good to get some background and context.  Wow!  This was a good chapter!  The basic summary is that we should live holy and pure lives, looking forward to the return of Christ (that could happen as a thief in the night--at any moment).  I especially like verse 9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.", and verse 18, "but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." This verse is why I picked this passage.  We are saved by grace, but we also need to grow in grace.

I asked my son, "How do we grow in grace?"

He said, "Accept Jesus into your heart."  (He's 9.)

I said, "That is the new birth, your spirit is born again.  Do physical babies grow after they are born?"  (This got a laugh.  The answer was, "Of course!")  I continue, "So how does your spirit man grow up?"

My son thought for a minute, but couldn't come up with an answer.

I explain, "The same way you are saved--by grace, through faith."

Remember that grace works together with faith.  And how do we SHOW our faith?  Through obedience.  We turned to James 2:14-26.  This passage contains an excellent concrete example that children can understand.  The example of a friend that has no food, absolutely nothing to eat.  If you go to them and say, "God loves you!  Have a nice day!", it doesn't do them a BIT of good!!!  You need to DO something for them--bless them with some food, show them God's love with a gift!  It is your actions WITH your words that will mean something to them.  It is the same with God, we cannot simply say we have faith in Him, we must DO something--obey His Word!  Afterall, God showed you His love for you by His actions--He SENT His only Son to DIE on a cross to pay for YOUR sins and to take your sickness and sorrow!  God wants more than lip service.  It's more than simply saying you believe, EVEN the demons believe (James 2:19).

So we see that we are saved by grace, but we ALSO live everyday by grace.  We are only able to grow spiritually by His grace and do the work (Eph. 2:10) He has called us to, by His grace.  This is a day-by-day thing, using your faith and obeying.

Now it is very important to remember that we are NOT saved by works (Eph. 2:8).  Don't fall into the trap of doing good works to get on God's good side.  If you do, you won't have peace.  It is when you have received instruction from the Lord and His Word and are obeying out of faith, that He gives His grace, and remember one of the definitions means help.  It is easy to do, because He is helping you.  Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  (Matt. 11:30)

Remember that Rahab, Ruth, and Paul all received instruction.  We must go to the Word to receive our instructions (II Tim. 3:16).  This makes for a nice segue into a study of specific instructions in God's Word.  I think we will spend the next few weeks on that.  I will have to do some research.

Tomorrow we will read the story of Abraham offering Isaac (spurred by James 2:21) to finish this topic.

Note to parents:  After reading this, I feel that there may be a few of you that don't feel capable of teaching your children these things from God's Word.  I want to encourage you to just start reading to them from the Bible.  You could start in Genesis and pick out the numerous Bible stories or go to the New Testament and read to them from the gospels about the life of Jesus.

There is something that happens when you start reading out loud and teaching your children.  Light bulbs will start to go off in your head, puzzle pieces will start to connect.  I have noticed a difference in my daily reading (One Year Bible Schedule) and my reading to my children.  Too often with my daily reading, when I was on a particular schedule, I was reading to check that day off my list.  I wasn't retaining much, or stopping to understand what I was reading.  Don't get me wrong, it was beneficial to me (I wrote about that here), but there is SO much MORE I get out of reading to my children.  I am thinking more about what I'm reading and stopping to explain it to them, which in turn helps me to understand it even more.

This topic is a prime example.  All these things I taught my kids in this two-week study, literally came to me as I was teaching them.  The dots were connecting in my head as we went through this and sometimes more thoughts would come to me through the day that I could teach the following days.

So don't hesitate, start sowing seeds of God's Word into your children now!  (Deut. 6:6-7)

The Character of God

We got back to our study of the character of God this week.  To see our past study of this, click here.  This week the focus was on how God hates sin.  Since the wrath of God can be a bit much for a child, I decided that we would only stay on this topic for one week.

I started out the week reading Nahum 1:2-3 to my son and having him copy it down into his notebook.

On the second day, I read him the story of Achan, starting in Joshua 6:18-19 and then skipping ahead to read all of chapter 7.  The background is that Jericho was the first city the Israelites would conquer.  They were to consecrate the entire city to God, they were not to take any spoils, this city was the first fruits of all the cities they would destroy.  But Achan couldn't resist!

On the next day we read the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, the background is given in Acts 4:32-37.

On the day after that we read the description of the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation 19:11-21.  This was exciting to my son as we had read it before and he really enjoys battle scenes.

After all this talk about wrath, I wanted to end the week on a positive note.  So on the final day we had a little discussion.  It went like this...

Why does God hate sin?  It separates man from Him.  He created us to be in fellowship with Him.  Adam and Eve walked and talked with God daily, but once they allowed sin into this world, they were separated from God.  This had to be a horrible feeling!  We really can't even fathom it.  Remember when Jesus was up on the cross and He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  At that moment He was separated from God because He became sin for us.  God cannot accept sin in His presence.  Thankfully, for you and I, He provided a way for us to come back into fellowship with Him--He sent His Son to take our place and take our sins upon Himself and take our punishment.

We talked about how Jesus is fighting His enemies in the Battle of Armageddon.  I asked my son if he was an enemy of God?  No!  I read him Galatians 3:26, "you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" and I John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I then asked him how we are to feel about sin?  We are to hate sin!  Does that mean that we tell sinners that we hate them?  Certainly not, we hate the actions, but LOVE the person.

Why should we love someone that is doing bad things?  John 13:34-35 gives us our answer, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."--because God loves them.

Psalm 100

We read Psalm 100 this morning at breakfast.  I have not taken the time to research more of God's character qualities that I want to go over, so I fall back on familiar passages.

Psalm 100 is a good one!  Short, to the point, but also shows us a part of God's character, which is why I picked it.

Psalm 100

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all the earth!

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to ALL generations.

Do you know that you know that you know that the Lord is good?  If not, please spend some time studying what God's Word has to say on the subject.

His truth (His Word) is relevant for ALL generations!  This reminds me of an article I read recently.  Lisa Miller wrote an article for the December 15th issue of Newsweek.  She basically says that part of the Bible is outdated and not relevant for today.  But Psalm 100 tells us that His truth endures to ALL generations!

Read the article about the article here.

Book of Luke

Tonight we read from chapter 8.

At verse 4 we read the parable of the sower--I love the parable of the sower!  But I'm not going to talk about that today.  Jesus explains this parable to his disciples in the verses that follow.

When we got to verse 16 there is a passage that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense on it's own.

This beautifully illustrates a principle I just told my son the other day.  He asked if some people are confused when they read the Bible.  I said there are a lot of people that are confused by the Bible.  I told him that the best way to understand scripture is to read more scripture.  I left it at that, he's almost nine, I will elaborate on it more as he grows.  I also told Him that when Jesus left, He said He was sending the Holy Spirit and that one of the reasons was so that He would teach us what the scripture means.

So 1) If you don't understand what you've read, pray and ask God to reveal the meaning to you.  I have heard Dr. Chuck Missler say that you should write it down in a journal, because when God reveals the meaning to you later you will probably have forgotten that you didn't understand it.  This way you can go back and write down the date that God revealed the meaning to you and see a record of all the times the Holy Spirit taught you.

And 2)  The more you read, the more you will understand.  The pieces of the puzzle will start to fit together.  I tell you, it wasn't too many years ago that I would feel guilty for not doing any regular Bible reading, but each time I opened up the Bible, I didn't understand much of what I had just read.  This, of course, discouraged me from further reading.  Then one day I decided I was going to do a Bible reading schedule (one-year schedule).  I was faithful with that schedule for 3 or 4 months.  Each day there was a selection from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Proverbs.  I did not complete the Bible in one year, but after a while it was starting to make sense to me and the desire to read more and learn more was growing.

So the reason this passage illustrates this is because each verse in this passage is related to other verses.

Luke 8:16-18

No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.

Verse 16 makes me think of Matthew 5:14-15.  Jesus says that we are the light of the world and we are to let our light shine.  The works that we are doing are supposed to bring glory to God.

Verse 17 (nothing is secret) brings to mind the passage we read a few weeks ago about our works being tested by fire (I Cor. 3).  You can read more about that here.  I explained to my son that a lot of people do things that they know are wrong (their conscience tells them), but they justify that no one will ever know, no one sees, but God sees.  Those secrets will be revealed in the end.

Verse 18 points to the same passage.  Whoever has, more will be given--that hardly sounds fair!  And whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away?  Go back and read the passage in I Cor. 3 about the fire.  If your works are eternal they will withstand the fire and you will receive rewards (the more that is given you), but if your works were worthless (career, house, car, money, etc.), they will be burned up and what you seemed to have is taken away by the fire.  The things that matter here on earth will not matter in heaven.

Prophecy

Update below 12/24/08

As an advent activity last year I decided to cover prophecy scriptures about Jesus, and their fulfillments, with my kids.  You can read about that here.  It didn't seem to have the impact that I was looking for so I wasn't going to do it again this Christmas, but have changed my mind.  I will tell you why.

A little while back (can't remember what we were reading), my son had a lightbulb go off in his head during Bible reading.  He said, "you mean the Bible not only tells us things that happened, but things that are going to happen, too?!?"  I thought I had explained that last Christmas with the prophecy scriptures.  Oh well, now that he understands this he thinks it's really cool.

I also got to thinking about the method I used last year.  I printed out the scriptures on red and green paper and cut them out with fancy scrapbook scissors and each day that we read them, I let the kids tape them on the fridge in a long string.  We alternated the red and green papers.  Well, since I was the one that did all the work, I was the one that learned!  None of the information stuck in my son's head.

So this year I am reading to him, but having him do a little notebooking.  I had him title his page, "Prophecy" and he is making a list.  We have one through nine so far (we do these on week days).  I have him write the basic synopsis of the prophecy (I usually help him think of it) and the scripture reference and then I ask him if it has been fulfilled or not.  This gets him to thinking of the fulfillment and usually he'll tell me what the story is for the fulfillment, sometimes I'll read the fulfillment, as well.

Now since I decided to do this again this year, I just pulled up my references from last year and figured I would go down the list.  But what most often happens when I open up the Bible, is I get led other places (I'm also more knowledgeable than I was last year).  So our list this year will vary a bit from last year (I got most of the references last year from a book, can't remember the title).  I will list them as we do them, in case we veer off our course again.

Here is what we have so far - 

virgin birth - Isaiah 7:14

despised and rejected - Isaiah 53:2-3

stone of stumbling - Isaiah 8:14-15

born in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2 (At this point I decided to try to keep them in chronological order)

out of Egypt - Hosea 11:1 (This one was neat because I could show my son that many verses have more than one meaning.  This one refers back to Israel's exodus from Egypt, but also forward to Christ.)

betrayed - Psalm 41:9 (Again, this one refers to Ahithophel betraying David, but also Judas betraying Jesus.)

suffering - Psalm 22

beaten and killed - Isaiah 53:4-9

no bone to be broken - Psalm 34:20 & John 19:31-36

as a lamb without spot - Exodus 12:5, John 1:29-41, I Peter 1:19 and we talked about Matthew 4

rises from the dead - Psalm 16:10 & John 20:1-18

bring salvation to the whole world - Isaiah 49:6

returning one day - Acts 1:11  (This is where I'm glad I didn't list all the verses at the beginning because this verse didn't come to me until I opened up my Bible to read--I was going to read from I Thessalonians.)

fights enemies - Isaiah 63:1-6

reign on the throne of David forever - Luke 1:32-33

Well, this is our completed list.  I am much happier this year with the retention and interest level of my son.  This makes me want to do a similar study of the verses that give detail about the family of the Messiah, starting in Genesis 3:15 (some call this the scarlet thread).  I think that for now we will get back to our character study of God.

Armageddon

Well, we were studying the character qualities of God and one week I hadn't done any research on a new quality so I decided we would randomly pick some Psalms to read.  This was for our breakfast reading with my kids.  (I do reading at breakfast with my kids and my husband does reading at dinner for our whole family.)

I picked Psalm 2 to read, which appears to be a dialog between three voices.  This Psalm opens with a question, "Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a worthless thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Annointed, saying, 'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.' "

I asked my son if it seemed at all weird that kings of the earth would want to fight against God.  He thought that sounded ludicrous, as did I.  

So after reading Psalm 2 we turned to Isaiah 63 and read the first 6 verses.  This passage describes Jesus trampling His enemies in fury, having his garments stained with their blood (symbol is of stomping grapes in a winepress).  

I asked my son if it seemed weird that Jesus was angry and had enemies?  He answered and said it must be the kings from Psalm 2.  I said, "You're right!"  (It's thrilling to see their minds understanding and processing God's Word!)

I told him about a battle that will take place called the battle of Armageddon.  Mention the word battle to a boy and you've got his undivided attention.  :)

So then we turned to Revelation to get the full picture.  Starting in chapter 19, verse 11 and reading through to the end of the chapter we see the image of Jesus riding on a white horse to make war.  This is an image not many of us think about when we think of Jesus, that's why I wanted to introduce it to my son.  It's very important to me that my children get the big picture of the Bible.

Jesus is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and again we see the symbolism (idiom) of a winepress.  I wanted to point that out to my son also, since idioms in the Bible are consistent.  Verse 19 tells us again of those kings that want to make war against Almighty God.  

But we already know the end--Jesus will defeat them with the sword that proceeds from His mouth!  This, of course, was exciting to my son--the good guys win!!!  And I ask my son, "what is the sword?"  God's Word, he tells me.  Right again!!

For you adults, this may be some new information.  You think of Jesus as gentle, kind, compassionate, and He is all those things.  He is our Redeemer, but He is also the Avenger of Blood.  He will come to judge those that rebel against Him.  

Read the Book of Ruth for a great picture of the Kinsman Redeemer (Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer, He became human to redeem humans), but read Numbers 35:9-34 to learn about the City of Refuge and the Avenger of Blood.  This is part of the Mosaic law, but it is a type and shadow of Christ.  He is our City of Refuge, the High Priest that died, AND the Avenger of Blood.  

I'm so glad He's my Redeemer and in the Battle of Armageddon I will be on the winning side!  This gives us not only a healthy fear of the Lord, but also hope that the evil in the world will one day be eradicated!  I don't know about you, but that is exciting to me!

I would love to hear from you if you have questions.  There is more detail I could go into, but didn't have time.

Character

I'm going to reach back a bit and fill in some gaps.  With my 3rd grade son this year I decided to study various character aspects of God.

What you think of God will have a big impact upon your life.  What does God's Word have to say about His character?

I sat down and listed all the character qualities I could think of and then researched each one.  We spent a few weeks on each one.

I had my son take certain notes so that it would help the information stick in his mind.  If kids are doing something with the information they are learning it will help them retain it better.  Now he has that notebook to refer back to, also, and refresh his memory.

For each character quality I had him copy the definition out of the dictionary (one day) and then copy down a theme verse (separate day).  Then each day I would read him a Bible story that illustrated that quality, he then kept a list of the stories on his notebook page.

Our first character aspect was faithful.  The theme verse was Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful."  I found various stories of God making a promise to someone and keeping that promise.  The ones we read were -  Noah (promised to preserve from the flood), Abraham (promised a son), Peter & John, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; Paul (God promised him he would go to Rome, we read all the stories of how God kept him from harm so he could get to Rome, including a shipwreck).

Then I thought we would cover some of the promises in God's Word that He is faithful to perform (Jer. 1:12 & Is. 55:11).  I looked up various verses about - protection, provision, strength, healing, joy, wisdom, and peace.

I know there are many more that I didn't find.  Each day we covered a separate promise and I had my son list all the scripture references in his notebook so that he could use it as a reference whenever he needed.

Next we learned that God is our Healer.  Our theme verse was Ex. 15:26 "I am the Lord who heals you."  We went through all four gospels (and the beginning of Acts) and picked out every single story on healing that we found.  I had my son write down each reference each day so that he could have it as a reference.

Next was God our Deliverer.  Theme verses were Psalm 91:14-15 "Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.  He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him."  We read stories of deliverance - Gideon, Jacob & Esau, Moses in the basket, the Israelites from Egypt, Deborah the Judge, Rahab in Jericho, Israel from Balaam's curse, Samson, David from Goliath, David from Saul, Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-Nego, and Daniel in the lion's den.

Next was God our Provider.  Theme verse Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  Story of creation (order of importance, man was created last so that everything he needed was already here), Elijah and the ravens, Elijah and the widow, manna, water from the rock, Book of Ruth, feeding the thousands (loaves and fishes), consider the sparrows and the lillies/do not worry passage, tax money from a fish, David provided with the showbread to eat, Goliath's sword for a weapon, and a hiding place for his family, when on the run from Saul; and Joseph and his family during famine.

This brings us up to date (we did character qualities from July through October).  We have taken a bit of a detour (because I was lazy and didn't research a new character quality) and read through some Psalms and Proverbs (month of November) and are now on a prophecy kick.  See later posts for details.