Scriptures: Deuteronomy 11: 18-23
The above scripture is about Moses talking to the Israelites, after they had received the commandment of God, telling them not to forget these instructions and not to forget to teach their children.
Proverbs 22 :6, also talks about training up the child the way they should go and when they grow up, they will not depart from it. Hence this calls for us to be engaged and intentional in the upbringing of our kids.
Puritans were a group of worshippers who lives in the 16th & 17th century in England, and all they did, was to devote their lives doing was right in the eyes of God, they read the scriptures and did all that the scripture instruct. Thus, living according to the word of God, hence, they established a more biblical understanding of faith practice and worship, and they made sure everything they did was a form of worship to God.
Puritans believe that marriage was first made in heaven, then on earth, that God instituted marriages for the mutual help of the husband and the wife, for the increment of mankind in accordance with the law, and the prevention of immorality. So basically, when they marry the husband and the wife built each other up spiritually, physically, emotionally and to increase and expand and also to help them to prevent immorality and they live according to their standard in efficiency.
Collectively with their children, they went to church, helped each other’s faith, love of obedience, and worked to help and warm each other against sin and all temptations. They asserted the biblical doctrine of headship; hence the wife was perceived as a helper and the husband was perceived as the head of the family, but not a leader who bullied or used their power to intimidate but a leader who led with love and compassion, a leader with vision and a leader who provided protection and provision just as God did.
They also believed the family was the foundational unit of a godly society and the father together with the mother, collectively, sought to equip their sons and daughters with thorough knowledge of scripture beginning at an early age through family devotion or family worship, singing of hymns among others and also monitoring them to ensuring that they are living a moral life and actually doing what was right in the eyes of God. The puritan parents model biblical values character to their children and these children being imitators imitated their parents. Through this, godly values, cultural practices, and norm were instilled in them and transferred from one generation to the next, and there was no problem of divorce among them.
Puritan parents train up their children in the way they should go to care for their bodies souls and to educate them for sober godly and socially useful adults and that’s what a family worship or family devotion will do.
So brethren, let’s imitate these Puritans and equip our children (our family) with thorough knowledge of scripture beginning at an early age through family devotion or family worship, singing of hymns among others in other to have godly families that will possess nations.
What are some of the benefits of family worship?
- Provides an opportunity for the kids to learn about God, and for all of us the family to deepen our love and understanding of God.
- It provides an avenue for the children to worship God at an early age.
- It helps to develop respect for God’s word and to live by it, and the home is an environment for children to exalt God or to learn about how to exalt God.
- It helps establish the family in faith to develop personal devotion and to be grounded in sound doctrine. Titus 9 :1.
- It also builds stronger family unit and competent capable children with strong godly values and helps them (children) learn other skills such as speaking in public.
Some things to consider when having a family worship:
- The format: when the children are small, we can use like pictures.
- It should not be an environment for them to come and be chastised for not doing something well.
- Making it interesting for the whole family where everyone will look forward to it with enthusiasm.
- Do not make it too long like a sermon format. For small short and sweet is better and impactful than long and boring.
- Involve all participants even the smaller ones can clap, sing and dance to the glory of God.
- Take time for the children to also lead the family worship.
Some formats to use when doing family worship:
- Take a paragraph in the scripture then have the kids exhaust it, read it, and then ask them what they thought of it, how they felt about it, where was it, where did it take place, the lesson that they’ve learned, and then pray.
- You can play Bible games.
- You can study a Bible map.
- Read short biography about people in the Bible or evangelist etc.
In conclusion, as proverbs 22:6 says, let train our children in God, for them to grow and be discipline, confident, and productive so that together we can achieve our objective of possessing the nations for Christ. Psalm 78: 5-8.
GOD BLESS US ALL!!!