Family Prayer Time
Families should have a daily
prayer time and Bible reading. You may
find great strength in getting up half an hour earlier each morning to come
together to read one chapter of the Bible, or even just a segment of a Bible
chapter for the longer chapters like Psalm 119.
There are 1,189 chapters in the
Bible. If a family reads an average of
one chapter per day, they should be able to read the entire Bible in a little
under three and a half years. Imagine,
if a family starts reading the Bible together when a child is first born, by
the time that child is 18 years old they will have read the Bible through over
five times.
You may wish to have the children
share Bible stories they have heard or read or what they learned at Sunday
school, AWANA Club, or other church group.
When our children were growing up,
we started our family prayer with the Lord’s prayer:
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13 KJV
After that, we, David and Suzanne,
would each say a prayer. Following us,
each child in birth order would say a short prayer. As each child finished their prayer, they
would say the word “Next” to let the next person know it was their turn to
pray. If a child did not have something
on their mind to pray about, they would just say the word “next” and the next
person in line would pray.
“Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"
1 Chronicles 4:10 New King James Version
Families need this time
together. We chose to have the family
Bible and prayer time each night before we went to bed. You may wish to do that or you could choose
to have it every morning.
If you miss a day, don’t knock
yourself out. Just resolve to do better
the next day. You will miss some
days. Don’t let a one day miss get you
out of the habit. This time with God is
important.
Family Night
While we talk about family time
with God, we should also talk about family time overall. Let us throw out the
concept of setting aside one night a week as family night. Some people refer to this as “Family Home
Evening”.
The family should set aside one
evening each week when the whole family can be together. It should be a certain night that is set
aside each week when only the most drastic of circumstances would interfere.
If there is one night a week when
no one has ball practice, music or dance lessons, or church groups to attend,
then that would be the night to choose.
Family Night is a great time for
families to grow together. There need be
no formal arrangement for how a family home evening should go. You could have a snack together as a
family. Have a word of prayer to open
the evening. Then, maybe pop some popcorn together or bake some brownies
together.
What about making a churn of
homemade ice cream together? Don’t know how? There has to be a YouTube video
about making homemade ice cream.
Families can watch a favorite
movie together or sing songs together.
Take some time to discuss what is on your kids’ minds and really
listen.
Families can play a board game
together or work on a craft together.
The key is to get the family together doing something that all
enjoy.
Family Night is a good time to
have a family meeting or discussion during part of the time, but never the
whole time.
There will be times when your kids
have friends at the house during the time for family home evening. That is okay, include them, too.
Remember: During Family Night, all
cell phones are off and out of sight. No
one, including adults is checking email or social media.
Please be advised that all the
information in this course is provided to educate, enlighten, and broaden your
views in life. The information provided
is not a substitute for medical, legal, dietary, financial/accounting, or
religious professionals. Always consult
a professional before you act on any of the information you find in this
course.
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