Mar 30

Mar 30 Instilling Scripture into Young Hearts

being intentional, busyness, Discipling Children, motherhood, Parenting, parenting wisdom, Scripture, Scripture Memorization, Toddlers, time management

The first five years of a child's life are what I like to call the "soaking years." Children are sponges, absorbing everything and soaking up information, habits, and belief systems. They learn quickly so it is beneficial to seize these formidable years to instill the Word of God in our children's little hearts, training our children to know and love God's Word at an early age. As mothers, we should want their hearts to be primed and tender and easily receptive when the voice of God speaks to them.

I'll be honest, in the hustle of each day, it is hard for me to stop and sit down with my children and read the Bible to them. But we are in a war and if I don't do my job in bringing them up with a knowledge and love for all things Jesus then I have neglected my God-given responsibility as a parent. Before I became a working mom, I would utilize breakfast time as "Bible time." Each morning I would sit with my coffee and read a chapter of the Bible, explaining what the passage meant and then working on a verse to memorize. By the time my oldest son was four, he had 14 verses he could easily recite with little to no help from me.

Now, as a working single mom, life looks different. Our "Bible time" is usually in the evenings before bed. We may read from my Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones or The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos. However and whenever you do it, make sure you have time to feed your children spiritual food.

Here are five tips I have found to be helpful in teaching Scripture to little ones:

Start small. The Scriptures that I have chosen to teach my kids when they are small are short verses or a portion of a verse. Don't overwhelm them, just start with an easy, small piece of a verse that can be explained and appropriately applied.
Repetition! We go over each Scripture piece by piece. And then we repeat it over and over and over and over and....
Be expressive. Use your eyes, your facial expressions, your body - whatever. Make the verse you have chosen come to life. Let your kids see your excitement.
Make it fun. I have literally rapped a Bible verse simply to make it stick in their minds. Believe me, my rapping skills are embarrassing but it has worked to elicit a smile from my kids and they are more apt to remember a verse that was awkwardly rapped in the kitchen. We have danced. We have clapped. We have put a tune to the Scripture (we also use Scripture songs, which are a huge hit!) Whatever method you choose, make things fun and entertaining. God's Word is life-giving, not dull and dead.
Explain. Don't just teach them words. Teach them THE Word. Tell them what it means. Put it into their spectrum of understanding. That will go a long way to them not only remembering the Scripture but learning how to practically apply it to their life as they grow.