Dear parents,
Sharpening words for our blessed children is an art, which should be developed over time. It is a skill, an ability, or maybe you could call it a talent. Whatever word we choose, each of these must be exercised in order for them to grow into their full potential. As an introduction to this section, I would like to consider a missionary, and how he develops his skills to reach a very ignorant, and simple people.
I remember listening to a friend of mine sharing after a six-month term of service on a foreign field. He was a seasoned preacher, and teacher of the Word, and could hold us all spellbound with his knowledge of the Word. But when he returned from this missionary experience, he made a beautiful statement that I never forgot. He said, “I have been giving children’s lessons for six months.” What did he mean by this statement? He was saying, that he had to take his vast knowledge of the word, and break it down to the level of a child, to teach it to these simple believers in a foreign land. This may sound like a difficult task, but it isn’t. Desire is the motivating factor that makes the difference. With his heart full of years of Bible study, he found a way to impart some of his treasures to these dear people.
This is exactly what a father is supposed to do with his children. When we have a desire, we will find a way to plant it in our children. Like one man so aptly said, “Put the jelly on the lower shelf.” These skills can be developed, as we plod along day by day in the duties of priest in our homes. I know a preacher who has many opportunities to preach in third world countries. The simple people always comment on his preaching. They say. “We like it because it is easy to understand.” How did he develop such gifts? He has spent many years teaching his children daily from the Bible, carefully sharpening the words so they will hear and understand it. I’m sure he never dreamed that he was training for missionary preaching in third world countries.
—The Editors
God bless you as you teach!
Trusting the Lord
This is a very basic yet profound lesson that any child can grasp. Bring a dinning room chair to your teaching time, and set it in the middle of your family circle. Turn to the verses in Proverbs 3:5-6, and read them. Perhaps it would be good to give a definition of faith or trust before you move ahead into the object lesson. Faith is the leaning of the entire heart upon God and His word. After explaining this a bit, get up and stand on the chair. This is a picture of trusting God. Just as a person must trust the chair to hold them up, so also we must lean upon the Lord completely as we live by faith. Ask the children if they would be willing to get up on a chair that was weak and wobbly. They will all say no to that. You want to get up on the chair several times, even teach a while standing on it. Tell them, “I’m trusting in this chair completely”, and they will agree with you. Keep going back and forth, referring to trusting God, and then to the chair. You can finish by reading several other verses with the word trust in them, and comment on them.
Keep Thy Heart
We draw this lesson from the scripture found in Proverbs 4:23. The word keep is a very enlightening word. It means to stand guard, to keep watch, to be a watchman, over your heart. Ask one of the children to help you illustrate this verse. Have them stand in the midst of the family to represent the heart. Then you can play the part of the one who is going to stand guard over this heart. You can march around the child watching in all directions for anything that might come into the heart. You can use other children or your wife to illustrate something trying to get into the heart. As they try to get in, you stop them. This can be a picture that is bad, a billboard, or maybe some wrong music in a store somewhere. This can be a T.V. screen at a Wal-Mart, or some child who is suggesting some evil thing to do. This is a real struggle in a child's life, so make it practical. You can even use this lesson as a springboard to open up a talk about things that have lodged there already. It can be a confession meeting with pray and cleansing and renouncing the things that have taken hold in their hearts.
Hard Heart or Soft Heart
You can use the parable of the sower to base your teaching time on a scriptural foundation. Matt. 13:3-9 will give plenty of verses to draw from. Find a large sponge, and a rock, and bring them both to family devotions. Emphasize the importance of keeping a soft heart, and explain how it affects how much you learn and grow every day. The wayside heart and the stony heart in the parable refer to the hard heart that doesn't receive the precious seed. The Word is likened to water, and truly it is a fountain of living water. Take the stone in hand and pour a large amount of water onto the stone. As you are pouring, ask the children how much water the stone is receiving. Talk about why, and explain how the heart that is hard will do the same thing with precious truth day by day. Then pick up the sponge, and begin to pour water onto it. You will note, that no water will come out of it for some time. This is good, as you can discuss how the sponge is receiving so much water. Relate this to the truth of God's word also, and get excited about how the soft heart just soaks it up more and more. Eventually, the sponge will begin to drip water, and you can relate this to the outflow of ministry in our lives when we are open and soft in heart. You can even squeeze the sponge for more effect.
Keep Your Eyes
The verses that follow the one above flow naturally encouraging more accountability, Proverbs 4:25-27. You need to find something that you can use to make blinders like what a farmer used to use for his horses. A piece of cardboard will do very well, and then come up with a way to strap them onto the side of the child's face. It doesn't hurt to over kill a bit for the sake of the lesson. When you put them on, the child should have a very limited vision, seeing mostly straight ahead. Let each of the children put them on so they get a clear idea what it is like to be looking, but only seeing straight ahead. To keep your heart, many times you must keep your eyes from looking at things they ought not. These verses provide you with much material to teach this principle to the children. Let's face it; we live in an age where the world is attempting to use the eye gate to get into the hearts of our children. We must train them to walk through this evil world with their blinders on. After you have spent a couple of days on this exercise, take them to a store where they will need to watch what they see. As you pull into the parking lot, stop and have a prayer for God's help, and then go into the store. Your lesson will become very practical, and the children will be very careful about what they see. You will have a great success in the store, and a good opportunity to praise the children for being so careful over what they see. We know, of course that the real tests will come when they are more by themselves.
