As a Christian parent, one of my chief desires is for my children to come to faith in Jesus Christ. I pray frequently and fervently for God to give them new life, for without his Spirit their hearts will not change. (John 6:44, Rom 8:9)
Salvation Through the Word
Romans 10:17 teaches that there is no salvation apart from the Word of God. So as soon as your child can respond to sound, he should hear the Bible. Scripture songs, Bible stories, family worship, testimonies—let the rich story and good news of God’s salvation be the soundtrack of your home.
A child may begin the journey to faith by imitating his parents, but he must eventually confess Jesus as Lord with his own lips. Now God is sovereign over everything, including salvation, so there is no sure-fire formula. But on a human level, we can take this step of obedience: when your child is old enough to read, give him a Bible and train him to use it.
Devotions for Children
Erik Schepers (2015), Creative Commons License
My oldest daughter (eight) reads ravenously. This is a gift from God, yet my wife and I joke that we are in a small company who must discipline for too much reading. (Otherwise, her teeth might never get clean, you see.) I long to channel her love of reading toward God’s Word and to help her build a habit of private devotions, including time for both prayer and Bible study.
At Knowable Word, we maintain that personal Bible study is most profitable using the Observation-Interpretation-Application (OIA) method. But children this age may not be ready for all the OIA terms and worksheets. For my daughter, I simply want her to read and think about the Bible. So, I designed this devotions sheet for her, and I am excited to share it with you.
Explanation
The document is intentionally simple. My daughter should be able to meet with God in a meaningful way without feeling overwhelmed. Though it depends on the child, it could be used by most children between ages 6 and 10.
During “Bible Time,” my daughter reads one passage and writes down one observation and one question. She should pray about something that springs from her reading.
The “Prayer Time” portion of the sheet is also uncomplicated. The prompts follow the easy-to-remember ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) model of prayer.
The writing space is important. Writing stimulates our thinking and focus, and when my daughter records her thoughts it helps me care for her. I know she’s completed her devotions, and I can follow up in response to her answers, if needed.
Let me leave you with some advice about helping your child begin a devotional life.
- Don’t be too ambitious — Whether or not you adopt this document, use something your child can complete without difficulty. Don’t pile on a heavy burden, and don’t try to impress anyone.
- Use something helpful — This sheet may work for some children and not for others. Think about age-appropriate devotions, but don’t fuss too much about the tools. As your child grows in age and spiritual maturity, his devotional tools will likely change too.
- Interact with your child — Don’t tuck a devotional plan between your child’s arms and expect him to scamper into the end zone. Your child needs love and guidance. Talk about the Bible with your child; teach him how to pray. Look over his responses on the sheet and pray for opportunities for heart-level conversations.
- There is no magic formula — This bears repeating: salvation is of the Lord. As you press forward in faith, pray for your merciful God to be merciful to your children.
This is helpful, and I am thankful for your passion to guide young hearts and minds into the Scriptures! I have a similarly voracious young reader in our family, so I created a Bible reading plan for her and have shared it on my website. Perhaps some of your readers will also find it helpful:
http://dwightgingrich.com/my-resources/beginners-bible-reading-plan/
God bless!
Thank you for sharing this reading plan!
You are most welcome! If anyone uses it, I welcome feedback on how it might be improved.
Thank you for this wonderful resource and the most important reminder that salvation is of the Lord.
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I have a question. My children are teens and I have tried many ways to encourage them to have their own time with the Lord. I model it in front of them doing my own devotions, I ask them questions, I’ve given them Bible reading plans, etc. I’ve tried not to nag them about it or be legalistic but am constantly praying that God would incline their hearts to his word. My oldest has started many times trying to get into the habit but then it falls by the wayside. He’s 18 now and I feel he’s too old for me to give him worksheets or things like that. Is there some other thing I can do or other ways to encourage devotions in my older children? Thanks.
Thank you for sharing this question. I imagine many others are in the same situation as you are, and I’d welcome thoughts from some of them.
While there are lots of extra-Biblical resources out there, I would suggest that you stick with just the Bible. Could you offer to read/study the Bible with each child (separately)? Perhaps making an appointment once or several times a week to sit and go over the Scriptures together would be helpful. You need not be a “Bible expert” to do this—just someone committed to the Bible as perfect and powerful.
In addition to Ryan’s idea about reading the Bible with each child individually, reading the Bible together as a family and talking about it together could provide a great opportunity to get everyone into the Scriptures and model bible study for your kids.
One way to involve them in the process (and maybe get them to buy into it more) might be to let them each pick the book the family is going to go through and give each child a chance to pick.
I’m excited to use this with my children this fall as part of our home school day. I plan to use with my older three (ages 6, 8, 9). So thankful you created this resource!
do you have any suggestions on passages to ‘assign’ for the daily reading? I’m interested to hear what you have used successfully. Certainly some portions of the Bible seem more appropriate (not necessarily content-wise, but readability and accessibility for an early elementary schooler).
Thank you for stopping by to share your enthusiasm and ask your question, Laura! My oldest is 8 right now, but she’s a strong reader. I’ve been assigning her a chapter from Mark’s gospel each day. (The narrative books are probably best for kids this age, so I’m starting there. But really, I think that with some shepherding our kids can handle quite a lot.) These chapters can run long, but it still shouldn’t take her too long to read it. I’m most concerned with her developing the habit of devotions and the willingness to engage (a little bit) with the Bible. I welcome your feedback, though.
that’s helpful. I think I’ll go with shorter sections so that we can all “stay together” – an entire chapter would be too challenging for my reluctant reader 🙂
But I’ll be starting with Mark and planning to do it myself as well …
I’ll hope to remember to stop by later in the fall and let you know how it’s going 🙂 thanks again.
That sounds like a great idea. I’d love to hear how this goes in your family. Each family (and child) is different, so I’ll be interested to hear how you adapt this to suit your children best.
Beautiful resource.
I’m a minister in children’s church, we plan to teach on devotions…..I will use your sheet as a tool.
Thank you for sharing and God bless you indeed!!!