Sunday Snippet: Family Devotions, What Are They All About? And a GiveAway…

I know I have written about Family Devotions before, and most likely they will pop up again, but I have this fabulous GiveAway to share with you:

This book describes the how and the why of family worship, including family devotions. Our children need to see a christian life played out in front of them, it is our role as parents to demonstrate their heritage to them. In order for our children to learn how to react, with a christian heart, towards things they see and hear in the world it is important that they understand the christian response to life, love and everything else in-between. While many a true word can be said in prayer, so many a life lesson can be talked through in a family Bible Study.

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The question is, what exactly are family devotions and why do we even have them and when on earth do we find time for them? I know a lot is written about quiet times and personal devotions and many millions of blog posts have been written about mother’s needing a moment or two of peace before they can face the day. This is a good thing, but not all things christian have to happen in moments of extreme quiet and deep undisturbed thought. I have to say our family devotions are not long complicated family meetings reading deep theological truths out aloud word, by word… we keep then light, and generally they happen around they table when we are all in one place anyway. We might read our way through a book of the bible, we might play some bible games, we might read a biography or we might discuss a topic and certainly as our kids get older so more and more topics are brought to the table and lots of “What if” scenarios.

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Anyone with a couple of kids knows that children don’t just start talking to you about matters of the heart, they need time to warm up and time to talk about everything, except the thing that is really bothering them. Family devotions have provided a place where our children can see that being a christian can be fun, we can take things seriously, that there parents feel the same emotions that they do… somethings make us feel dreadfully sad and others make us incredibly joyful. They can see that a christian response to a problem isn’t always dull and drudgery. Sometimes a resounding hymn is just what we need to start the day. Pity our neighbours, but I have a feeling God enjoys the great, eager and untrained voices of our little hymn singers.

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It has been a hard year for my children’s hearts. They have a penchant for collecting grandparents, attaching themselves to the older generation amidst our friends and at church. It is a good thing, they get a vision for life, they learn respect for a life well lived and oh, the wisdom gleaned. This year my children have experienced loss… they have sung resounding hymns, joyful for a dear friend who has entered into heaven, amidst tears at the loss of the same dear friend living alongside them. We have found that the highs and lows of life often arrive at the table of family devotions and I am all for that… often a discussion doesn’t go the way they were expecting it to go and often something that seems like the end of the world, to my middle children isn’t nearly quite so dramatic when a five-year old explains it back to them.

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I have to say, I hope our children grow up with fond memories of time spent together around the table after meals and that they also have family devotions with their children… I know there are a number of reasons why having family devotions can be tricky… mealtimes can be chaotic with a number of kids, vastly different ages in the family can make it difficult… difficult but not impossible. This GiveAway is a little book, you can read it in a sitting and stresses the importance of family worship. Forget about those “idealistic ideas” about what family worship and devotions “should be,” this little book is one of those gems packed with practical ideas and tips, reasons and motivations for working at family worship.

The GiveAway

We have a copy of Family Worship, by Joel R Beeke to GiveAway. And to help you get going I am adding a fun kiddable activity program to do with your kids. It includes a couple of booklets, filled with activities… codes to crack, puzzles to do, spaces for drawing and stories to read. It is fun and a great way to introduce your kids to the idea of family Bible Study.

This GiveAway works in the usual way, comment before the end of this coming Sunday, 10 November 2013, and we will draw and publish the winners after that. I won’t respond to your comments as I do on our other posts because I don’t want to be included in our own giveaway.

Our GiveAways are open to everyone: If you have won a GiveAway before never fear – enter away. If you live on the far side of the world – enter away. Postage takes forever from here but eventually it should get to you! Good luck and happy commenting!!!

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As usual we have to thank Christian Book Discounters, who supply Sunday Snippet GiveAway books for us to review and GiveAway. We are not paid to write our reviews and the opinions expressed are entirely our own.

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20 Replies to “Sunday Snippet: Family Devotions, What Are They All About? And a GiveAway…”

  1. I enjoy reading your blog posts often. We try and teach our children biblical principles daily, so they know that God is always with them. The other day, during a severe thunderstorm, my five-year old matter-of-factly said to me, “Mommy when you see lightning, smile, because God is taking a photo of you.” Children are a true blessing from God:)

  2. Urhh… Do you mean the giveaway ends 10 Nov? I am looking for a good family devotion guide and this looks great!

  3. looks interesting, the way we usually do devos is each person studies their own stuff then about 20-30 minutes later we all get back together and share what we learned together, this book looks good to add a twist to what we are doing

  4. We are looking for something like this for our Bible study group. Would be great to get it

  5. This sounds like an encouraging resource to have. Thank you for your thoughts on family devotions.

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