(My precious children trying to come up with their own tune for a scripture passage)

Ladies do you teach your babies and your children scripture? Do you fill them up all day long with the wonderful Word of God? Filling our children up with the Word of God on a regular basis is so easy to do it is the most beneficial thing you could ever do for them! It hides the word in their heart from a very early age.

Ps 119:11 ¶ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

From when my babies are in the womb they hear scriptures that I play to music or they just hear it being read off in the far distance From the day my babies are born I always put them down for a nap to scripture songs softly playing in the background of their rooms or within my arms. At bedtime in the evening I put them to sleep with Sometimes I play the dramatized version for them when they are young but most of the time I play the read only version for the real little ones. (This is just to ensure that they the bible being read quietly on CD within the womb. or on tape by Alexander Scourby. Buying the scriptures on tape or CD will be one of the very best investments you will ever make. won’t possibly get scared from the drama sounds on it)

At the breakfast table I teach my children scripture (I am not musically inclined ladies so it is not like you need skill to be able to do this!) If I can do it anybody can! The babies are right there along side us so you would be amazed at just how young they are when you begin hearing them join in. Their sweet little voices jump right in on singing the scripture verses that you were already singing or reciting with your older children. My children have all learned the 23^rd Psalm, and were able to sing it with us as a group, before the age of 2 yrs old. There are places that do sell bible passages already put to music for you. So if you decided to buy these tapes that are already pre-made, then the job is already half done for you. Our family has all learned I Corinthians 13 together as a family from a company that had it already put to music for us. But I must admit that I do still personally find it enjoyable and special to still make up my own tunes whenever possible. Take a moment mothers to watch your children giggle as they watch you try to make a tune that is catchy, one that is sure to flow just right and one that also must be remembered. Then the next day comes and you are all giggling trying out many different songs as you try to figure out which one it was that you decided on. Then you finally remember and you are back on track ready to sing those scriptures to the tune you have chosen. It is a total memory builder mom. It is a family time, a fun time, a memorable time, a learning time and a time they are taking the Word of God and placing it right in their hearts! You are giving them the gift of life mothers! You are such a precious mother!

There are so many creative ways to teach and learn scripture ladies. When you take the time to teach your children the scriptures from the very first day they can hear from in the womb and from the very first moment that they are born into the world that is such a precious, precious gift that you are giving them! They will always remember verses whenever they find themselves in any situation. But most of all they will always be able to fall back onto scripture in times of crisis. Gods Words will have always been a part of their daily life. How could they just dismiss it in times of need and in times of praise? You are filling those children with our Heavenly Fathers ways. They are learning Gods ways and how God wants things done. By giving them this mothers you are giving them a gift they will treasure for a lifetime! Gods word will never return void ladies, did you know that dear sweet mothers? He promises us in His Word hat His Words will never return void. What an awesome promise to hold onto.

Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Steve Green has the Hide Em’ in Your Heart Vol -1 and Vol- 2 (audiocassettes, CD's and videos) that are great for children to learn scripture to songs. If and when I may put on a video for my children it is always a video like Steve Green, where they are learning scriptures or I will put on a creation video that teaches them about creation instead of evolution (which is usually always filled with scriptures also) The Moody Science Videos are great for what I just mentioned. Valiant Music also has some very beautiful soft, scriptures put to music by his lovely wife. He sells these by tapes and CD’s I believe. He will send you a sample CD to try and it is so very sweet. Very soft and gentle, I just absolutely love it. If you are interested in it at all email me and I will get the information on how to obtain it to you. Here is a good opportunity/memory builder to make up your own home video with the children learning and singing scriptures with you or with each other. Mothers please do be sure that they have lots of fun but also be sure that they keep it respectful because we are talking about Gods Word here ladies and I think it is good to teach our children yes have fun but be sure you are always respecting our Heavenly Father in the process! Making a video like that would be great fun and it would probably become their most favorite video to watch or their favorite audio cassette to listen to. Why not mothers, they know all the stars in the movie personally and so they feel very important, LOL. But remember anything over 30 minutes stifles creativity so remember to keep their video watching limited. But if they are making the video then time is not an issue. Making the video can be very creative and fun while still singing and reciting the Word of God. Who knows they may do such an awesome job that others may want to buy their finished product. When you are immersed in the Word of God you just never know where He is going to take you. What adventure He may have in store for you! My children love to take their tape recorders and just record what is happening around them at that time. They do this as their fun and creative time. It is fun to go back and listen to what people were talking about scripture wise and to hear the scripture verses and songs that were being recited or sung during the time it was being recorded. So that is another way to get the scriptures being listened to on tape also.

Mothers there are so many ways to be creative in teaching the scriptures to our children. It never has to be boring for them or for you! When you tell them stories read to them straight out of the bible. Don’t sugar coat the word with storybooks. Make the bible exciting with the way you read it. Add emphasis on it, change your voice when you are speaking for different people, add sound effects! Children love for their stories to come alive for them when listening to them. What better story to read to them then the Word of God! Do it with excitement and it will be their favorite storybook ever? Memorize scriptures with them! Give everybody stickers for every verse they remember. Review all the verses you all learn. If you don’t review them they may tend to forget them! You want to keep the Word alive in their hearts always! You want to say them over and over again so that it is hidden in their hearts, so that they may not sin against Him. Play the scriptures on tape all day long in the background. In this new house we moved into there is an intercom system. I just love this intercom I am then able to play scriptures being read and scriptures put to music throughout the house all day long in the background. Before being able to do that I had a tape/cd player in each and every room so I could accomplish my task that way. Find what works for you mother and then go with it. Go to God, He would love more than anything to see your family memorize His word daily especially as a family group. So seek Him on what is the best way to do so! If money is tight He can find a way! Faith living is the best lessons for children to learn anyway! There are many creative ways out there to come up with mom. You are creative just like our creator! I have scripture tapes that I bring into the car. We listen to the bible being read as we drive just sitting in the car instead of sitting doing nothing or wasting time. Not only are you all being fed the Word of God ladies but what better habits can you instill into your children then to teach that you and your husband have and do read the Word of God on a daily basis too. This is a family thing tradition!

My husband has set the rule that our children are not allowed to listen to anything on audio tape that is entertaining (also a side note that the stuff we have that is entertaining is always educational in character or in academics) until we know that they have heard at least a solid hour of scripture listening. (That means truly listening and not just it playing in the background) If later on that day they may ask to listen to more audio tapes (like Jonathon Parks which are adventurous audio tapes learning about creation) my husband knows these are good wholesome learning tapes but he also knows that the Word of God is way more important and so that is what we want to instill, teach and train into our children. So he has another rule that whatever our children hear audio stuff that is fun they must hear twice the amount of scripture tapes (they usually like listening to the dramatized version) before they can hear anymore entertaining stuff. If we feel they are getting excessive in wanting to hear their audio fun stuff we put a halt to it right away. We remind them that their day belongs to God and God should be given their time. If they are wanting to entertain themselves all the time then anything in excess we see as bad and we make them take a break from it for a while so they learn how to keep and stay in control. The only thing I would say children cannot ever get too much of is the Word of God. They can hear that all day as it is being read in dramatized form word for word out of the bible and they will love it but it will never in anyway harm them. Scriptures to songs will never harm them either. It also helps those who have a hard time reading for the reading is done with them. It benefits everybody! When we fill our children’s days and life with Scripture what more can we ask for. We can pray that the scripture will take hold in their hearts and that it is planting seeds of character and seeds of relation with our Lord and Saviour. We can also only pray that those seeds will grow and help ensure that our children will always want to serve their Lord. We make it a point to show our children that we put a huge priority on reading/hearing Gods word. Without it we are dead. So go ahead mothers fill them up! You can never go wrong! Trust me from a mother who knows first hand!

We have learned the 10 Commandments as a family too. We learned them together while sitting and eating at the breakfast table or at the dinner table. The children have so much fun and they love it when they can finally recite all 10 without any help! Mothers don’t deprive your children of learning the Word of God. Be creative and let them hear it and learn it all day. If you cannot afford to buy it already on tape then make your own version. You read the scriptures on tape everyday and build your own library that each child listens to on a daily basis. Add drama to your tapes and make it fun and exciting. Let your children hear the tapes throughout the day. If you are musically inclined then you are ahead of me and have an advantage a lot of us don’t have. So pull out your guitar or sit at your piano and put those scriptures to songs for your precious children to learn with you! If you find you have a great product to share, put a price tag on it, give your home business a name and make your family business into something your family can grow together in and you can do it together and run the business together and all of us unskilled unmusical people will be waiting for you to put together a product we can purchase and use. The bible is big and it would be fun to read trough it in a year as a family. The funniest way to get through the bible would be to sing your way through it. Song just helps us retain words in our memory that much better than if we had no music along with the words. Who knows maybe I will work on doing something like that myself. If any of you get a product let me. I would be very interested.

Well ladies lets get creative. Find a way to get those scriptures flowing into the lives of your children. You could do scripture flash cards, how about trivial pursuit for the bible, there are so many fun ways. Dearest Mothers, you can do this if you truly want it. When you see your children hunger for it you will then see that you NEED to keep doing this. They are hungering for it because God has put that hunger into us, it is up to us to feed that hunger and spark it up and be all we were created to be! Come on ladies this will be fun! Get the bible read in a year and do it while you sing it! Now get up and go sing some scriptures to your children! What a blessings you have laid upon them!