The family is all gathered in the room for family night devotion.
It is a time of togetherness around God's word and we have such a wonderful time.
The activities and conversations ebb and flow but the mainstay is when papa opens the Bible and teaches us God's word.
Last night, I was just enjoying the love and laughter all around me and I just had to think, this must be a slice of heaven on earth. :)
8 pm, we opened our Majesty Hymnals (we each have one) and we took turns to choose a hymn each. We sang about Heaven, we sang about this sweet walk with Jesus. It is such a joy that the children can break into parts (some sight read the hymnal, some by ear) so that even when we don't have instrumental accompaniment, we can enjoy singing acapella. I pray God enjoys our singing too! :)
We will spend sometime talking about the song we just sang. Tonight, the conversation drifted to how God created the earth so marvelously. We talked about why the earth axis has a tilt to bring about the seasons. How giant Jupiter is out there protecting the earth from meteorite hits. When we think of all these being intentionally brought about by an all powerful God, how small and finite we become and how thankful and privileged we are to know Him and to call Him our Father!
Then the children requested a game of "Sword Drill". The bible is the Sword (as mentioned as part of the armour of God in Ephesians). So the game is to see who can can flip to a called out verse the fastest. This way our children familiarize themselves with their sword and it's really fun. Haha! It's a game we play in church.
However, no. 4 is an early reader and he cannot flip and find the verse as fast as his older siblings. No.2 suggests that he gets a 10 second head start. And they count slowly. :) no. 1 also tries to help him by giving clues. They all patiently encourage him as they know he is easily discouraged when he doesn't win at least once. :) In the end, we just had to encourage him to keep practicing and one day, he will be faster too.
Amid all the chatter and laughter, baby (7mths old) is crawling around and she finds her way to me for a little suckle and she falls asleep. It's noisy but she is all tuckered out.
We open our bibles to 2nd Corinthians and chapter 9. We have been reading through the New Testament and delving into it, gleaning many practical truths. It has been such a joy to read the bible together, re-enforcing what they already know, learning new things we have missed.. It is important that they know that what they are commanded to do (love your enemies, be patient, show kindness etc) comes from the bible and not just "papa said so".
Tonight, we talked about sowing and reaping and giving to God. What a reminder to us to be trusting in God to provide for our needs even as we give to provide for other's needs and the work of the ministry.
"But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" (2 Corinthians 9:6-8 KJV)
We do not give to get rich or get a promotion in our jobs. We give because we are but stewards of God's things and like the master to the faithful servant, God will see fit to entrust more to the servant who can correctly dispose or redistribute His things.
We pray that the children will learn this young. More so, because they have witnessed how God has always provided for us even when we provide for others, truths come alive in practical living. Talking to them about answered prayer shows them God is real as much as we are real to them.
We end with a word of prayer, remembering those who are sick, those who need The Lord.
Everyone gives mama and papa a kiss goodnight and they are off to bed.
I picture in years to come, when my children are all grown with children of their own, how one day they will sit around a table and reminisce about the times when they were children and they sang together at home and had bible time with papa and mama. We have good memories in the making and I am so thankful to God for that.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.