Family Devotions

Family Devotions is an easy and powerful way to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord!

Bothers and sisters, Family Devotions can be done by any parent at any time and requires little to no preparation and knowledge. What is needed is your desire to do it!

My personal experience

My wife and I didn’t become Christians until we were 36 years old. As new Christians, we knew very little about the Bible, but soon learned about the great opportunity to do Family Devotions. My son was a sometimes inattentive 11 year old and my daughter was a very chatty 5 year old. After attending several God honoring churches through the years that followed, they now look back and say that our Family Devotion times were probably the most formative times in their Christian lives. I will confess here that there were some evenings that just trying to get everyone together for our 7:00PM start time was tough and often resulted in less than shall we say, a smooth start. But that was OK. God honored our times that we took week after week and year after year despite the weaknesses of the leaders.

Why do family devotions?

1. For all the same reasons as the reasons to obey Ephesians 6:4. Family Devotions are part of raising your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
2. Because God is worthy to be worshipped throughout the day in various ways! Family Devotions is just one of those ways and is done by the family reading His word, singing, and praying together.
3. Because you need to take advantage of every opportunity to counter what your children see and hear in today’s anti-Christian culture.
4. Because it gives you an opportunity to model to your children the incredible importance of a life that gives time to learning more about God’s word. Simply put, if it is not important enough for you to spend time with God through Bible reading, you cannot expect your children to place a value on their own time with God. We are not Sunday morning Christians only.
5. Because it brings the family together, encouraging and building the beauty of the God designed family unit.

How to do it- the setup

1. Be excited about your family time with the Lord! Remember that your children are watching and learning about you. If it is only a chore for you, the children will eventually adapt your same attitude.
2. It should be part of the daily schedule, but if you can only do 3 days a week (or whatever time period), be consistent. Everyone in the family should have the expectation that they will be getting together for Family Devotions at the same consistent time.
3. The location can be your choice, but it should not be where there are obvious distractions or hinderances (such as the TV). When away from home, Family Devotions can even be done in the hotel room, the car, or on the beach.
4. It should include every member of the family, no matter how young they are.
5. If dad or mom are away for work or some other reason, consider using Zoom or Apple facetime to join in or lead Family Worship. Think about the impact on the kids that Dad would even zoom in from somewhere far way just to be part of Family Devotions!

How to do the actual Family Devotion

1. You have several choices to read from. If you read the Bible, start in the New Testament. Remember to anticipate and explain words that the children may not understand. You should take a look at the passage that you plan to read and prepare for what points that you will want to emphasize to the kids. You might have a good study Bible with notes to help you, or a solid commentary on the Bible that you can reference. A readily available online source is the Matthew Henry Commentaries. He is one of those “Old dead guys” that I trust, and you may have to get used to the kings english, but you’ll get it. Remember, you only have to stay one day ahead of them!

You may also use a Family Devotion guide. There are a handful of them available and I have listed them in the resources section. Another good choice is a great Christian classic such as Pilgrim’s Progress. I highly recommend this book and it will be a blessing to the entire family. Remember to emphasize to the children that the Bible is the actual word of God and the only reliable source of absolute truth. The other books may be helpful, but the Bible is unique.

How long should your Family Devotions time be? It all depends on the ages of your children and their attention spans. You might start with 10 minutes in God’s word, 5 minutes for singing, and five minutes for prayer.

2. Everyone can pray. This is a great time to teach children that prayer is not first and foremost about asking God for things (we all struggle with that). Use the acronym ACTS to form prayers that first Adore God, then Confess sin, followed by Thanksgiving and Supplication (requests). Pray about at least one thing suggested by the passage you have read.
3. You have so many options here because there is so much that is online for you. Songs and lyrics for so many God honoring songs. One of my favorites is Getty Music. You can sing acapella or simply cue up a song that they have done and sing along. You may want to print out the lyrics. Over time, you can collect the lyrics and create your own family songbook. 

Don’t do this

1. Become frustrated with the behavior of the children. They are, remember, children.
2. Be too ambitious with the time. Remember that when you start, it is important to start slow and build from there. Regardless of the age of the children, the reading and explanation portion should be no longer than 30 minutes.
3. Go on vacation from God. Be consistent. Even vacations are not vacations from the Lord so find the right time to worship God through Family Devotions even when you are away from home.
4. Don’t beat yourself up if you feel like the kids aren’t responding. Remember that your calling is to be faithful, not get results. Also, don’t get discouraged if your schedule for Family Devotions gets a bit scrambled at times. Ask the Lord to help you, then pick yourself back up and get it going again.

No, I can’t do it because….

“I’m uncomfortable.”

Maybe you are uncomfortable or feel inadequate. My answer to you is, “get over it!” It doesn’t matter that you haven’t done it before or that the family you grew up in did not do Family Devotions. Start a legacy that your children will one day carry into their families (we are talking about your grandchildren!). If you don’t know much about the Bible or you are a new Christian, begin with a resource that can guide you (see resources). Listen to Joshua 24:15. “But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

“I have young children that can’t understand.”

The younger they are, the more that this modeling of spending time as a family with God will be woven into their view of the Christian life. This is also a training opportunity to train children to sit for a while (like they will in other settings like church) while listening to others. Obviously, you should be considering the level of teaching and singing to their age level, but those lasting impressions will still be made.