children |

As we drove in our van the other day with the kids, I was in quite the rush. I had hurried the kids out the door, and I was really feeling frustrated. As I took a few deep breaths while I was driving, I looked back to see (and hear) my two daughters just singing at the top of their lungs to one of our CD’s. The words out of their mouths were “God, Your love never fails”!

My frustration seemed to instantly go away as I enjoyed hearing my children sing out to God.

A few years ago, during a church class, I learned about the power of music. It blew my mind, just learning about the impact that music can make in us. The impact can go either way, it can build us up and encourage, or it can subliminally bring us down and depress us.

It was during this class that I was challenged.

I then chose ONLY listen to Christian music. This may sound a little drastic to some, but my conviction was strong, and I decided long ago that I would do anything to point my family in the right direction for Christ. Music is a powerful force in the spiritual growth and development of our children. Doesn’t that make you want to ‘feed’ them properly!. It makes such a difference when our home is filled with music that pleases God, and is full of the Holy Spirit!

Because let’s face it….. music speaks loudly to us whether we realize it or not.

Did you ever memorize a good song? ….. It’s so easy to do! Music is a great way to have your kids memorize scriptures, characters and rules. We always put on kids worship songs like Go Fish, God Rocks, and Hillsong kids. One of our favourites is……

I’ve been very encouraged over the years by great leaders and great books, to closely monitor what our children watch, read and listen to. My husband and I have chose not to have Cable, the majority of their screen time is worship and things we choose for them. We know that we want to be the ones influencing them, and that includes monitoring what they take in.

There is power in music.

What are some of the things your children are listening to? What are the songs YOU”RE listening to? Is it life giving?

Children are like sponges!

They soak up everything they hear, see and read.

As a parent, I believe it’s my job to speak the truth to my children, teach them diligently, and prepare them. In Galatians 5 it talks about the word of God being the ‘sword of the spirit’!. A sword is a powerful weapon – and we have chosen to teach our children how to use a sword! (the word of God)

I know the impact that scripture has on me and my life, that when I was able to have children, I was determined to:

– speak the word over my kids

– speak the word to my kids

– and help them know the word deep in their hearts!

You can’t go wrong with knowing God’s precious word, and using it as your sure foundation. It’s my job to try and do all I can to get His word in my children’s hearts. Knowing that Psalm 119 says….

11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
¹²Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your law.

It’s been such a pleasure, that at certain times in my children’s lives, they have come to me and said “so in so was saying this, or so in so was doing that, and I knew it was wrong, so I chose to walk away.

That shows me that they remembered the word of God, and chose to obey it. YAY!! from the cheering section of parents!. Little victories like this (and I’m sure you’ve experienced them too) can affirm you as a parent that you are on the right track.

Here are a few simple ways to teach your children to memorize the word of God:

1) Sing with them. Children LOVE to sing! (and truth be told……so do I!) So, singing the word of God with my kids all the time is a joy, and so much fun. CD’s and YouTube videos are full of great memory songs like ‘The Rizers’. Here is an example

2) Put actions with the words. This is another fun way of doing it. Gather your children together, and have them put actions to each word of the verse. They will remember it more when they have helped create it. Then repeat it everyday.

3) Post the verses all over the house. The more they see it, the more they will remember it. Make it visible where your family is mostly at, example….. the dining area, your playroom, or the children’s mirror.

4) Memorize it with them. Help them and encourage them. Get excited about it and praise them when they’ve accomplished it.

Here are some recent verses we did…….