Every morning (when I’m not already gone for a meeting or class) I read a small portion of Scripture to my children (from the NLT) and we each pray in turn before I send them off on the bus to school. This is our daily routine. I realized that during these times we end up discussing all sorts of things we might not otherwise discuss.
For instance, my daughter Abbi (8), after I read about Jesus delivering a man from an “unclean spirit”, she asked where demons come from. I was able to tell her that the Scriptures don’t actually talk about that (even though lots of folks talk like the Bible clearly answers this sort of question — I did assure her that they were not simply the ghosts of dead people…which was her thought), but simply stated that the Bible is clear that they are disobedient and try to hurt people…but Jesus has power and authority over them. Jesus had come to set people free and that is what He still does! And when we give our lives to Jesus we have power and authority over them from Jesus as well to help see people set free.
This just drove home to me the truth of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (NLT): “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”
In other words…our children were not meant to simply “catch” what the truth of Scripture. NO! We are to daily and repeatedly every day…to instruct them…and talk about them intentionally. This creates an atmosphere where we actually train up our children in the Scriptures instead of just expecting them to “get it” from Sunday School and Church. I must admit I haven’t always done this…but I have been reminded through the questions of my children about trouble with friends, miracle-stories in the Bible, forgiveness, and where demons come from that I know that we must be intentional about the formal spiritual instruction of our families…to even create proper space for the informal instruction of our families.
