Family Devotion

Scripture Says!

There are many Scriptures that you can quote when it comes to family devotion. Here are a few:

1) Deuteronomy 6:4-7

"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all of your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up."

2) Psalm 78 is actually titled "Tell the Coming Generation" and is all about telling the great works of the Lord to the coming generation.

3) Ephesians 5:25

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with he word."

Ephesians 6:4

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

It is obvious from the Word of God that God intends that we proclaim His excellencies not only to unbelievers (1 Peter 2:9) but also to our families (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Ephesians 6:4). This makes complete since when you think about it. Husbands always tell their wives the things that are important to them. Dads always pass on to their kids what they love most. For an example, take the dad that played baseball all throughout his life. When that dad finds out that his wife is pregnant with a boy, how thrilled is he that he will be able to train his own baby boy to play the game of baseball that he loves so much. This is how God made us. We talk and teach our family the things that we love and adore.

If Scripture Says!

If Scripture makes it that evident that we are to do family devotion centered around the Word of God and God made us to talk about the things that we love the most, then why are there so many families that are not doing family devotion? I think there are many reasons but here are a five to think about:

1) We have never seen family devotion done. Most people have never witnessed a man lead his family in prayer, reading the word, teaching the word, and singing praises to God. It is hard to do something you have never seen.

2) We have never heard this taught from the pulpit. Many people have never heard their pastors talk about the necessity of leading their family in the things of God, and if they have they have never heard their pastors talk about it practically to where they can do it.

3) We do not have a personal devotion time ourselves. There are many that do not have family devotion because they are not even doing a personal devotion.

4) We do not truly care about our wives sanctification. We do not really understand that God uses means to conform his people into the image of Christ and one of the means God uses in conforming our wives into the image of Christ is us (their husbands).

5) We do not understand the depth of sin and the depravity of our kids souls. One main reason that we do not teach our kids in the ways of the Lord is because we have bought into the cultures teaching that our kids are good. This is not the case. Our kids are born as rebels and enemies to God (Ephesians 2; Colossians 1:21-23; Romans 3:9-20; Psalm 14; Psalm 51:5). 

Because Scripture Says!

I am writing this because this has got to change. I will let your hear from one of the greatest preachers of all time:

"We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?

Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves 'holiness unto the Lord'; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us." Charles Spurgeon

What This Looks Like For Me

Kahlie and I have recently been walking through the book of Luke. We do not attempt to go over whole chapters of scripture at one time, rather we take our time by going through 10 to 30 verses every day. The first thing I do is pray to the heavenly Father before we begin studying His Word. The next thing we do is read the passage out loud (we take turns reading). Then we go on to paraphrase the text that we read in our own words. Then we ask a crucial question. The question is, "What is God's divine purpose in inspiring Luke through the Holy Spirit to write what we have just read?" This is crucial because it keeps us from reading the Bible in an individualistic way, which we Americans are accustomed to doing. Then Kahlie and I will sometimes read a hymn that is Christ centered and God exalting. Lastly, we pray to the Heavenly Father once more. 

What Then Are We to Rejoice In?

"The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!' And He said to them. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:17-20

What Does it Mean?

This is a remarkable passage that can teach us a great deal. Within this passage we have the seventy two disciples that Christ had commissioned out in the beginning of Luke 10. He told them to go ahead of him, two by two,  into every town and place. These disciples obeyed the voice of their Lord and went. 

As they were going, these average, ordinary disciples began realizing that they had remarkable power given to them. They began seeing demons submit to them. Fishermen were seeing the forces of evil submit to what they were saying. Farmers were seeing the works of satan stopped by the command of their mouths. Fathers were seeing the powers of darkness defeated with their spoken words. This was incredible. They had seen the Christ do these certain acts, but they never had seen each other do them. This was cause to celebrate, right? 

They begin returning to Jesus wide eyed and full of joy. They all begin telling Christ with enthusiasm that the demons were subject to them in His name. Jesus responds telling them about seeing Satan fall like lightning from heaven and about how He has given them authority to tread on serpents and scorpions. He continues telling them that they have authority over all the power of the enemy and that nothing shall hurt them. This is cause for more joy. This is good news. The disciples are hearing this from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But then the word "nevertheless" appears. 

Rejoice in This!

When the term"nevertheless" is used in a sentence it means that in spite of everything I just said, what I am about to say next is what your focus needs to be on. This means we should take heed to what Christ says in the last sentence. He says, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." What? Do not rejoice in Satan falling from heaven like lightning? Do not rejoice that we have the power to stop the works of Satan? Do not rejoice that demons are submitting to us? 

Why?

The reason is because sinners names being written in heaven is far more astonishing than demons submitting to a sinner's command. Satan falling from the heavens is no where near as glorious as sinners ascending to the heavens. Having authority over all the powers of darkness is nothing compared to sinners being accepted by the Creator of the universe. 

Believer, sometimes you may experience great victories in this life. You may see a harvest produced by your labor day in a day out. You may see people that you have been praying for get saved time and time again. You may see all kinds of victories in this life. But if your rejoicing is always based upon those things then your rejoicing will stop. Believers in this life go through droughts. They, at times, see people they pray for perish apart from Christ. They see family members continue on in disobedience against the things of God. They see defeats as well. If your rejoicing is because of the victories then your lack of rejoicing will be because of the defeats.

This is Glorious!

This is why we must rejoice that our names are written in the heavens. There is nothing that can change this. God the Father, from before the foundation of the world was laid, predestined His beloved Son to come in the fullness of time and give His life for His Church. In the fullness of time, Christ Jesus came and fulfilled what God had willed for Him to do. His death and resurrection secured the salvation of those whom God elected to eternal life. This is eternal. This never changes. The victory of Christ is once and for all. If we always rejoice in this, then we will always be rejoicing, for Christ has saved us to the uttermost. 

Romans 8:37-39

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."