Category: Transforming Moments

Wow!  Don't neglect teaching your children how to have a quiet time!  The Lord really impressed upon me this week that I wasn't doing enough to teach the kids how to have a quiet time.  So we took almost a whole morning one day to just chat about what our time with God should look like.  It has been an amazing week!

I read some entries from my personal quiet time journal and the kids were begging for more.  It was so cool!  The entries I read to them were my "thankful" entries, thanking God for the specific things he had done in the preceding days, things that the kids knew about but didn't realize I had been specifically praying for.  I then asked each of them to think of something that they each were individually thankful for, something specific & personal (not just the general "I'm thankful for my family" response - which they should be, but I wanted them to dig deeper).  It was hard for them!  So I reminded them of how easy it was for the Israelites to grumble over and over even after God had repeatedly shown his miraculous provisions for them.  We are the same way!  If we don't take the time to remember each of God's wonderful blessings and thank Him for them, we will take them for granted.  Instead of being able to name all the things we are thankful for, we'll instead focus on all the negative things.

So I helped them to each find one thing they could specifically be thankful for and they each prayed and thanked God.  Then, we talked about how our quiet times should be a two-way conversation with God.  We need to not only talk to God, but then also listen for Him to talk to us.  Although they know that God "talks" to mom, they really couldn't grasp how God would speak to them individually.  So we discussed how the #1 way God speaks to us is through His word.  When we sit down to read His word, we need to focus on hearing His voice through the words we read.  So I had them each think of something that was bothering them that they felt they needed the Lord's help with and they wrote this down in their journal and then prayed a short prayer about it before opening their Bibles. 

I didn't tell them where to read, but told them to find a place to read and then to read until they found either something that interested them or seemed really important.  Then they should reread that section until they found something they could write down in their journals about what they learned.  WOW!  It was so exciting to watch their faces light up with what the Lord taught each of them.  

Here are some details:

8yos: He was confused by mom's NKJV of the Lord's Prayer that morning & he just happened  to open up to this passage in his Bible  - God showed him how easy it was to understand at his level!  He was then directed to the verse 1 Peter 5:7 "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." 

9yos: To my "future preacher or evangelist", God spoke to him from Proverbs 1:1-3.  His prayer request for himself was to be able to stay on task with his chores and not be distracted.  The verse that jumped out at him was verse 3 "their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives".  He said it was "scary" (weird scary) the way that God's word spoke to him so specifically.  COOL! 

10yod: Her request was to have help with 1st time obedience.  Well she didn't find this exactly in what she read, but instead she found a verse that directly confronts a heart issue she has that is also related to 1st time obedience.  Being naturally organized and mostly well-behaved, she can tend to be judgmental of others instead of helping others where they fall short.  God led her to several scriptures, this one being the real eye opener:  1 John 3:17 "But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help - how can God's love be in that person?" .  Wow!

11yod:  This daughter asked for help in concentrating.  (She lives with a disorder caused from her prenatal exposure to alcohol that greatly affects some her cognitive abilities.)  Here's what the Lord showed her this day:  there was a subtitle written across the page she opened up to that said "Should I bother God with my problems?".  The scripture that went with it was Psalm 9:9-12 which in part says "The LORD is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. ....He does not ignore those who cry to him for help."

Can I just say, WOW!!! one more time.  The most awesome thing about the experiences that day was that my kids felt God in a tangible way.  He was more real to them than ever before!  He directly spoke to their hearts and they heard Him.  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27)    Praise the Lord!

Be encouraged!  Take some time to disciple your children in the area of their quiet times and watch how God will take your obedience and bless your children!