“I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.”Psalm 119:11 (CSB)

I have four sons that are practically grown now, but when they were young I loved to spend time with them having devotions each morning. One year for Christmas, my dad and stepmom bought them each a devotional book for boys—you may know the kind I’m talking about—the devotion-a-day type books that were topical and involved a verse or a short passage of Scripture and then a story to accompany it to tie it together. I loved these books and one morning on a particularly stressful day, I had the thought that we needed to grab that book and take it with us to read on our way.

It’s funny how that started, but it quickly became my favorite part of our school mornings. I was always the one in the neighborhood who took all the kids to school and brought them all home afterward. We had a big Suburban and we’d load up and drive the three minutes to the school. Once we got to the school property, one of the boys would read the devotion for that day and I would always pray over them before they left my car.

I mentioned I have four sons, but there were three additional boys with us every day, all from our street. Eventually I added a fourth extra—are you catching a theme here? There were eight boys in my car most days and we looked like that car at the circus with all the clowns piled inside! I’m smiling and laughing as I type that, because it just gave me a mental picture. Those books are still around here somewhere, but you should see them—they’re all tattered and torn up, which indicates that they were well-loved.

18 Bible Verses for Back to School

Showing Our Kids How to Spend Time in the Word

It’s so important to spend time with Jesus every day and to teach our kids to do the same so they are treasuring God’s word in their hearts. When we spend time with Him each day, He equips us for the day and He strengthens the relationship we have with Him. Imagine having a best friend you never spent time with—very quickly, you would grow apart in your relationship if you didn’t cultivate time with her.

In that same way, when we spend time with Jesus each day, our bond with Him is strengthened and we are more adequately prepared for whatever may come our way. I’ve also heard it said that if we don’t teach our children to follow and love Jesus, the world will teach them not to.

As they grew older, this morning routine changed. Eventually we started homeschooling and we would have a morning meeting to get our day started. As they grew even older, I encouraged them to do this on their own. I made sure they had plenty of resources to use for this, but these days they just read from the Bible app on their phones. There is no wrong way to be reading the Word of God—what matters is that it’s time that isn’t neglected.

Don’t forget the prayer portion of that time, either. The prayer is also important, because that is how we communicate with the Lord and oftentimes, it’s in this prayer time that He will remind me of a verse I read earlier. I know He does that with my sons, too and I ask the Lord to keep them teachable and to love Him with all their heart, soul and mind, and to love others as they love themselves.

Faithful attendance at a place of worship is important to help them treasure God’s Word in their heart as well. It’s good for the purpose of teaching them and sitting under a godly pastor, but it’s also important not to neglect the fellowship of believers. I love what Hebrews 10:25 says:

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (NLT)

This is also important because we can encourage one another and we can encourage others. Part of this comes in the form of attending a small group, and this picture at the end of this post is of my sons one year ago and the sweet lady that taught them all one year. Mrs. Joanna is a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus, and her impact on their lives as young boys is one they’ve never forgotten.

Another thing that was impactful was music—I always had the kitchen radio turned to our local Christian radio station. The music I love comes straight from Scripture, so when they would hear songs over and over again, it caused them to memorize the lyrics, thus memorizing Scripture. I can’t even begin to guess how many times they would exclaim with excitement that they recognized that verse because of that song they knew.

One last thing is that I have Scripture all over the walls in my home. I did this intentionally when choosing home décor: it was so that people who entered would see it and so the boys would see, read and memorize the verses that were printed.

A friend of mine has Psalm 1 printed on a wall hanging in her downstairs bathroom—she did this so they would read it while they sat on the commode! I’m smiling again as I write this, but how great of an idea is that?!

A Prayer of Encouragement

I pray these words encourage you and I pray they inspire you in your journey of being a parent. It’s one of life’s greatest gifts, being a mom, but it is also the hardest and most important job a woman will ever have.

A closing prayer: Lord, thank you for the Bible; thank you that within the pages are everything required to live godly lives. Thank you for the privilege of being a mom. I ask you to bless each person reading these words—inspire and encourage her today, Lord Jesus, and help her to stand strong in this troubled world. Help our kids to delight in your words, Lord. I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Check Out Week 2: Isaiah 41:10-Teaching Our Kids to Rest Not Fear

Jennifer Goodwin, Author Bio.

I am passionate about a few things in life: growing in my relationship with Jesus and sharing about Him any chance I am given, my family being my number one mission and helping women in walking closely with the Lord. I am always writing on my personal blog, all4boys.blogspot.com and as a monthly contributor for Tirzah online magazine. Most recently the Lord opened up a door for me to help write a Bible study on the book of Hosea. You can find me on Instagram as @JenLloydGoodwin.

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