Having devotions with our children may sound like a luxury, but it does not have to be. When it comes to devotions, focus on quality over quantity. The amount of time we spend having devotions can increase. In order for devotions to increase, we must first have exposure to making God a priority. If we plant a seed of devotions, the Lord has something to water to make it grow. I believe there are three main items to include in our devotions. The first item is prayer, prayer invites the Lord into our worship. We are reminded of this in Matthew 18:20, “20 For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I will be right there among them.” God joins us in prayer when we are on one accord. There are a few things we can do to set the atmosphere for the Lord to enter. In a previous post, How To Teach Your Children To Pray, I explained the importance of the state of our heart during prayer. The next item is praise and worship, during this time we express our love for God to him. When we worship, God is pleased and is present. In Psalms 22:3 the King James Translation says, “3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” The final item included in our devotions is learning about the bible. The bible allows us to learn more about God and who he wants us to be in him. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
In the paragraph above, I explained briefly the three items I believe is needed when planning on having devotions. However, today I would like to spend a little more time emphasizing the importance of praise and worship. If you have a desire for your children to make Jesus Christ their Lord, then be careful how you handle the way they worship. Praise and worship are an intimate invitation to God, it opens the door for the Lord to meet us where we are. In fact, the bible says in Psalms 22:3 that God inhabits the praise of his people. The word inhabits means to dwell, when we praise, God dwells amongst us. The way we handle praise and worship has the potential to affect our children in a couple of different ways. There are many ways people can worship, the following are the most known, singing, dancing, and playing an instrument. The most important part of worship is being able to do it in our own way. How can we encourage our children to find their own way of worshiping?
- Limit Your Rules– During your praise and worship, allow your children to choose how they want to worship. When you give little guidance, it forces your children to decide for themselves how they want to worship. Before my children and I would begin worship, I explained one thing to them everything. I would say to them, “You can sing, dance, or play an instrument. We’re not playing with toys right now and we’re not using instruments as toys.” I believe it is important to let them know your expectations, and then allow them to operate within your expectations. My goal of telling my kids what we were about to do, was to emphasize that although they would enjoy themselves, their enjoyment was centered around a purpose.
- Make Worship Items Available– Create a small basket that includes praise and worship items. Invest in plastic instruments such as: tambourines, a drum, xylophone, piano and so on. Some more items you may want to consider adding to your basket are praise and worship flags and a microphone or karaoke machine. You may be thinking, if I buy these instruments, it will get noisy around my house. I believe your children may surprise you, by how little they play with the instruments outside of your devotional time. I have found that by having a schedule that includes the instruments (praise and worship time) that my kids were not interested in playing them during other parts of their day. I believe it is because they associated the instruments with our devotional time.
- Embrace Chaos– When you are allowing kids to be kids, it may get chaotic, the room may get noisy, messy, and there may be a lot of movement. All of those are a part of the process of your child finding their own form of worship. How you handle this determines if your child learns to love worshiping God or dread it. So, encourage your child if they are banging on the instruments. Before they can learn how to make the instrument sound nice, they must first be interested in playing it. Choose to see the noise as a doorway to greatness. As your child grows, if they are interested in a particular instrument, then they will want to learn how to play it properly.
- Set A Time Limit– It is important to give kids a chance to worship. It allows them to discover how they enjoy worshiping and it prepares them for the bible. When kids know they have a dependable time they can get their wiggles out, it is easier for them to sit still for the bible time. Most of us are aware that children have a short attention span. If you praise for too long, then they may get tired. We want them to be relaxed and ready to sit still for the bible. Initially, I allowed each of my children to select two songs they wanted to sing while they worshiped in other ways. Typically, our praise and worship did not exceed 15 minutes.
Praise and worship are important to the development of your child in the Lord. Every person who was ever great at anything, expressed themselves in their own way. They put the time into learning more about themselves. Before a musician can make music, he had to first make noise. Encourage your children in their season of chaos, because only then can it blossom into something amazing.
CHRISTIANHOMESCHOOLHQ.COM CHALLENGE: Create a praise and worship basket and allow your children to pick how they want to worship. Refrain from trying to guide them in their worship.