The other day, I was asked by a newly forming Community Group to come and help speak some encouragement and direction into these newfound friends. I have given hundreds and hundreds of talks on the importance of groups, the Biblical president, how groups operated and grow – but this new group stood out to me as a bit unique. It didn’t hit me until the drive over to the meeting.
This group was specifically for young families, first time parents. Why was I so intrigued by this type of group and why did I really feel it was a great thing for these parents?
God placed on my heart to read through the Jewish prayer found in Deuteronomy 6:4-8 – the Shema. Faithful Jews read the Shema morning and night – it is a prayer that is constantly talked about. It is beyond a creed, something that I recite and claim to believe. It becomes a centrality of their (our) faith. There is only ONE God, and we should love him with all of our heart, soul, and strength.
Why was I lead to read through this verse at this community group launch? I believe the reason why I felt so intrigued and challenged by this particular type of community group is because it lives out what the next part of this verse commands us to do. We are to impress them on our hearts and on our children’s hearts, we are to teach them to passionately love God solely, we are to teach this lifestyle to our children when we raise up in the morning, when we go along in our days – we are to make this a part of our existence. Our love for God should not be foreign, it should be talked about, taught, constantly reinforced.
Lifestyles and families and community groups that model, show, and teach our children to passionately pursue God are pleasing to Him.
Pray for your children. Pray with your children. Read. Reinforce. Daily walk with your children and teach them to love and obey the ONE God. Make walking with God as normal as walking.
January 28th, 2010 - 7:27 am
“… and even when they are old they will not depart from them.” (Proverbs 22:6) If you don’t live Christ first to your family, teaching by word and example, all the churches, men’s groups, womens Bible study groups, Promise seminars, retreats, Bible navigation plans, hermeneutics, Greek lexicons, and community groups don’t mean a single thing. Your children will grow up when you least expect it.
**BUT** you cannot develop your Spiritual gift apart from other Believers. (Romans 12, Ephesians 4).
January 28th, 2010 - 8:11 am
Joe, no better scripture than Deuteronomy 6:4-8 could be taught to parents. God truly laid this on your heart for the a Community Group of young parents.
You know, parenting never stops. My 5 “kids” are between 39 and 49 now (I don’t know how they have gotten so old when I’m not old!) I’m continually praying, encouraging, and reminding my kids WHO is in control and to trust HIM. It thrills my heart when a kid calls and asks me to pray for a friend or for a business decision. And what a priviledge it was recently to be able to council my daughter when she told me she didn’t know if she was going to heaven. I reminded her that salvation is based on believing in Jesus – not her feelings. Her next statement was, “Yes, WHEN I get to heaven …”
I can think of no greater commission and blessing than being a parent.
January 28th, 2010 - 8:13 am
Funny how just this morning i received and email from a young family … and their young daughter wanted to accept Jesus into her life last night at the supper table. AT THE SUPPER TABLE!
Cool. stuff. Some families introduce prayer and the Word to their kids, and it’s strange, awkward, and very foreign. Others allow prayer and the Word to just be a natural fixture around the house as they grow up. One way is a sort of “have to” and the another is part of the family’s DNA. Guess which one sticks?
Good stuff, Joe. Owen will experience Jesus naturally through you and Jen’s leadership of your home.
BTW… for some families where Bible and prayer does seem a bit awkward to introduce, I wouldn’t NOT dive into it. They’ll just have to fight through some of the awkward, strangeness of it all.
January 28th, 2010 - 11:58 am
Thanks Joe
Walking daily in a very natural way with our kids and Jesus helps our kids walk naturally with God without awkwardness.
January 29th, 2010 - 6:56 pm
We are God’s people, we are the vessel God is using to preserve truth. God preserves his truth and love for his ways in the hearts of his people. He preserves his truth across time, from generation to generation. This principle is so important that God commanded the nation of Israel: ” Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine….you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, … That the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to our Fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth! Deuteronomy 11:18-21 He knows that if the nation was to survive and thrive, His spiritual truths must be preserved and pass down from parents to children. Jesus perpetuated this principle, instructing His disciples not to ignore the children in the midst! Whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me. and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me. ” He said Mark 9:37. He, too, recognized that children mus be included in the spiritual life of his followers. Praise the living God!!!!