April 26, 2022
Recently, I walked past a devotional book at a grocery store with a title along the lines of “One Minute Devotionals for Women”. Now I am certainly not criticizing the author or her endeavor to distill the Word of God into another’s life, yet can we really get to know God in one minute a day? Most of us spend more than one minute a day looking at our phones; surely we can give God more than a measly minute each day.
The older I get the more I am realizing that I cannot pack everything into my life; I have to make choices about how to spend my time. My husband and I have chosen to live a simpler life so that we have time for personal study and time to give to our church in ministry. On a family level, we have chosen to keep our lives simple so that we can spend time with one another and spend time leading our children to God.
Before jumping into something, a wise person always considers why he is doing that activity. Is the activity pleasing to the Lord? Is the activity worth the time required? Most of us would heartily say spending time in God’s Word is definitely pleasing to the Lord and is certainly worth the time required, yet so often our actions speak differently than our intentions.
In our “hurry up” world, we can lie to ourselves, convincing our hearts that we really do not have time to spend in God’s Word each day. Work and school duties call so strongly to us that we neglect to spend time with the very One Who longs to help us in those duties.
Spending time in God’s Word is worth the effort and worth prioritizing in our lives both personally and in the family. Though I am not going to take time to cover all the benefits of studying God’s Word in this post, I will share one promise from God found in Joshua 1:8. God promises that if we “meditate [in God’s Word] therein day and night” and “observe to do according to all that is written therein” that God will “make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
If we read and heed God’s Word, He promises to prosper our ways and give us good success. This is not a promise of wealth and prosperity as the world would desire, but God promises to give us a profitable and fulfilling life if we follow Him.
I desire God’s blessing on my life, and I long for God’s blessings in the lives of my family. So how can we ensure His blessings in our lives? We can have God’s blessings by spending time in His Word, learning His ways, and living His ways. The only way we can get God’s Word into our minds is by spending time in His Word. Therefore, daily time in God’s Word must be a priority if we are to live out God’s ways and receive His blessings.
So how can we get the Word of God into our minds and hearts on a daily basis? Spending time in God’s Word must become a daily habit, as habitual as eating a meal.
Morning Bible time anchors my day and my whole life. I like to start the day reading God’s Word and talking to Him, and unless something crazy enters our schedule, my children and I have morning bible time together each day.
Before I even attempt to lead my children in morning bible time, my heart needs to be tuned spiritually. Just as I must tune my violin before playing, so I must tune my heart before leading others spiritually. If I do not tune my violin, no one enjoys the sounds that come out of it, and in like manner if my heart is not in tune with God, my attempts to lead others spiritually may be discordant.
On an ideal morning, I like to get up before my children and spend time with God by myself. Spending time in God’s Word anchors my heart to unwavering truth and orients my heart in a God-ward direction. Many times when I do not spend time in God’s Word before my children awake, my focus is not in the right place and I struggle strongly with a selfish attitude. It is still possible to have a Spirit-lead day without getting my morning time with the Lord, but the likelihood of a Spirit-filled day is less likely without time in God’s Word in the morning. In other words, the best recipe for a spiritually successful day (at least for me personally) is to get up and spend time with the Lord before anything else.
Though my heart’s desire is to spend time by myself in God’s Word before children are underfoot, there are just some days when I cannot get my Bible reading in before the kids get up. So often our Bible time together at the kitchen table feeds my weary heart and points me to God even if it’s not the ideal setting by myself with a steaming cup of coffee. Even if the morning has not gone as planned, when I quickly turn my heart to God and surrender my day to Him, He gives me grace even through the chaos.
Many times the sweet Holy Spirit has whispered truth to my weary heart during our morning family Bible time. Right in the middle of reading God’s Word to my children, I have seen God’s truth in deeper ways especially as I ponder the meaning of a passage from a child’s perspective. My children have looked at me with quizzical expressions wondering why mommy is tearing up. After reminding myself to “Be still” (Psalm 46:10), I continue with our devotions together.
The main thrust of this post was to give encouragement to those who may have faltered in a habitual Bible time, both personally and corporately. I also hope to whet anyone’s appetite who has not made spending time in God’s Word a priority. Lordwilling, I will discuss in an upcoming post some practical ideas for how to have morning bible time with children.
Sweet friend, if you are struggling to spend time with God let alone lead your children in Bible time, will you ask God for help? With God’s wisdom, He can help you establish a life-giving habit of reading His Word yourself and then sharing it with your children.
-Ashley
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