“Daily Devotion” is a phrase coined in the Christian community as the time we spend with God, generally first up in the morning, to read His Word and to Pray.

We know that for a relationship to grow we must spend time together – this is also true with our relationship with God. We must spend time talking and listening to Him just as we do with other people who are precious to us.  And once our children want a relationship with God we have the privilege to teach them how to spend time with Him, listening to Him and talking to Him, as well as obeying Him.

​Part 1: Teach them How

Teaching young children to have a daily quiet time with God starts with them on your knee. They can learn to read and think and pray with you.

Part 2: Be the Example

There are a few things that parents can do to help your child have a regular devotional time. A devotional time is when we regularly read the Bible, reflect and pray in order to grow closer to Jesus.

Part 3: Make it Meaningful

When you children want to have a daily devotion time with God, you can guide them and encourage them with these simple prompts.

Think About It…

Our children see hypocrisy very quickly. Therefore if we want our children to love the Word of God, to pursue the things of God and to have a relationship with Jesus we must be doing so, truthfully, ourselves. ⁠
⁠
We must be walking the talk. We must be living our lives according to what we believe. ⁠
⁠
Are you having a personal devotional time with God – so your relationship with Him is growing? ⁠
⁠
The No.1 Thing Parents can do to help their kids have a relationship with Jesus is to have one themselves!⁠

Think about:  Do your children see you engaging with Jesus and the Bible?

Something to talk about:  What do they think about what they see?

We must remember that our daily Devotional Time (or Quiet Time) is about a relationship with Jesus. ⁠
⁠
When we teach our children to have a daily time with Jesus we are teaching them these 4 things:⁠
⁠
–the habit of daily setting aside time to spend with God⁠
–to turn to the Bible for wisdom and purpose⁠
–to learn to pray⁠
–to learn what God is like, who He is and to respond to Him from their own heart.⁠
⁠
If your child is not interested in a relationship with Jesus then adding a ‘Quiet Time’ in your day for them is just going through the motions. You can continue to teach them about God and His love in your Family Devotion time or your Bible Study time – but leave Personal Quiet time to when they want to know more about Jesus and spend time with him.⁠

Think about:  Does your child want to get to know Jesus yet?

We encouraged our children to have a Devotional Journal – a place to write their thoughts and responses as they read the Bible. This was easy for some and harder for others. It was never a rule to have one but we kept the idea in front of them. ⁠
⁠
We encouraged them to write⁠
* any questions or prayers they had⁠
* any answers they found ⁠
* any scriptures they wanted to memorise⁠
* rewrite a story or passage in their own words⁠
⁠
My children’s spiritual journals were private property and I never took a peek or even asked for them to share them with me. That was between them and God. ⁠

Think about:  How can you encourage your child to ponder what they’ve read or heard?

​What to do when they don’t want to…

Be cautious about pushing your children to have a daily Quiet Time – anything you teach them must be because they want to have a relationship with Jesus.  Read more…

Teach these Skills

When we teach our children these three skills we set them up to be able to have a daily time with God, eventually on their own. Read more …

Over to you:

How are you encouraging your kids to dig into the Word and listen to the still voice of the Holy Spirit?