In
my own quiet time, I would pray for my boys and think about the
characteristics that I wanted them to be marked by and ways to instill
them. God hit me one day with the realization that if I wanted my boys
to be lovers of the Word – If I wanted them to hide Truth in their hearts – I had to, intentionally, put it there!
It
was a light bulb moment. What better way to conquer LJ’s defeat or
instill confidence in Ty, than to teach them what God’s Word has to say?
As a family, we decided to start with Philippians 4:13, “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.”
We
weren’t looking to be fastidious about scripture memorization, rather
we wanted the words the boys memorized to be genuine and meaningful. I
did a quick Google search one day on kids memorizing scripture and found
most of the “guides” to be marked by length versus application. “Jesus
Wept” was, actually, on several lists.
Ben
and I decided to be intentional with our selections and unstructured at
the pace of memorization. In three months we are only on verse number
two - Colossians 3:20, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for
this pleases the Lord.” We didn’t move on to our second verse until the boys were applying Philippians 4:13 on their own.
Teaching the boys to sew the Word of God, deep into their hearts, has been such a blessing and challenge to do the same in my own life. My little flashlights are proud to shine their lights.
Here is the list we're, currently, working through:
Memory Verses
for 2013
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who
gives me strength.
Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in everything,
for this pleases the Lord.
Isaiah 43:5
Do not be
afraid, for I am with you.
John 3:16
For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Deuteronomy 6:5
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Matthew 22:39
Love your neighbor as yourself.
I Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Psalm 139:14
I praise you God, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.
Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God proves true.
Have you heard of the Seeds Family Worship CDs? They set scripture to music in a way that is pleasing to kids, yet it doesn't feel like "kid music" to me! I love listening to it, too. I did not grow up learning scripture as a kid and wasn't sure how to start. My 5 year old is an auditory learner and has already memorized several verses from listening to music in my car! Our favorite one is the CD about Courage from Seeds. Thanks for your wonderful posts - they are an encouragement to me!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
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