“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
See those underlined words up there? Let's look at the Hebrew definition and break it down a bit because I think it gives a little more punch to it...
Heart: everything you feel, your passions (Hebrew: lebab – inner person, seat of thought and emotion, conscience, courage, mind understanding)
Soul: everything you believe, your “core” (Hebrew: nepes - breath, life force, immaterial part of a person)
Strength: everything physical, your will (Hebrew: od – exceedingly, greatly)
Impress: teach diligently, repeat (Hebrew: sanan)
Talk about them: all the time – morning, evening, and everything in between
Tie them as symbols: in those times they tied little scrolls to their wrists so they could always have the scriptures with them – This kept it familiar to them.
Write them: on the doorframes and on your gates…make it part of your home
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We could really re-read that passage to say,
Love the Lord your God with your passions, your feelings, your emotions. Love Him as your breath, your life force. Love him exceedingly with all your will. Teach these things diligently to your children and repeat them often. Talk about the Lord’s word in the morning, in the evening, and everything in between. Keep the Word of God close to you – in your heart and in your everyday life. Make these things familiar in your home.
What is the key to spritually training your kids? First, you must fall in love with Jesus...and I do mean head over heels, in love with the Master...loving him with everything in you. Secondly, you must make the Word of God familiar in your home.
That's enough to get us started...Let's all make it a little more familiar in our homes today. Does it make a difference to your kids if the Word is familiar? [an emphatic] Yes!
Before Kid Three, I used to do aerobics with Kid Two's teacher in the early hours of the morning. I quit going so early because I needed to be sure I was getting my quiet time in before the kids got up. When asked by his teacher, "Where's your mom been in the mornings?" Kid Two replied, "She can't come to the gym in the morning anymore. She's been busy praying for me." Make it familiar. Make it real in your house. They notice...
God will call your kids...you make sure they have ears to hear Him.
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Next Time... 4 things spritual training must include...
6 comments:
This is awesome! Our kids will definitely pick up on the "culture" that we create in our homes. They have so much untapped potential to learn. I just posted about the scriptural training the Jews create for their children. They are sponges and will absorb anything that we surround them with.
I'm not a single mom, but I am looking forward to this series!
Good stuff can't wait for more
This is great! Thanks for doing this.
Love the Heinecke version. The Hebrew is so rich and it really brings home the meaning. Thanks for it sista!
"God will call your kids...you make sure they have ears to hear Him."
What a great point to make. I look forward to the rest of these.
I use to get up at 4:30am...and I need to get up early again just so I can have my quiet time with God. I just had a little talk with Jessa. She is the loudest child and I told her I NEEDED my quiet time because I can't hear God.
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