LADIES BIBLE STUDY DINNER TEACHING-- Part 1

There are two passages on my heart to share at the ladies dinner coming up next week.  I'm going to focus on one of them tonight.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (Amplified Bible)

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord]. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being and with all your might. And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then] You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets (forehead bands) between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.


The emphasis again, is on the Word of God.  Here, He is commanding us to be teaching His Word!  We are to teach it with PURPOSE!  This takes mental effort.  Teaching (I'm especially referring to our children, here...)  does not just happen.  We must make it happen.  It needs to be of utmost importance in our day!

We need to teach it so that it PENETRATES their hearts!  I want my children to grow up loving God because of how much they know about Him and His Word. I want them to see how amazing He is, and love Him for it!  I don’t want to have to send them away to camp or a youth function to get them excited about God. I want them to be excited about God every day because they have learned that He is worth knowing and being excited about!

We need to be DILIGENT to do this.  We need to figure out methods to teach our children:  prepare lessons; take advantage of teachable moments at home, in the car, at the store, etc.; study the Word as a family; listen to teachings yourself when they are around listening.  Whether you think they are or not, they are listening!  Pray for wisdom and that God will give you ideas and opportunities.  He never ceases to amaze me with how He does this!

We are to teach them REGULARLY.  The Word of God is not to be talked about casually and infrequently, but rather with REPEATED DISCUSSION!  Every moment of every day is a teaching opportunity!  It should be one of our main topics.

I also see in this passage that we are to use WHATEVER METHOD it takes to get the point across!  The call to bind the hand, forehead, and doorpost makes this clear!  This also includes ourselves!  Use whatever method it takes to saturate our minds with truth from His Word!  For Christmas, we just got the NKJV on MP3.  The kids are enjoying this!  (and so am I!)

A final thought...  Before we can teach it, we must first have this ourselves!  A passion for God and His Word must first be in our own hearts and minds before we can penetrate the hearts of those we are entrusted to teach it to.  Love God with everything you have and sharpen your own minds, and use WHATEVER method it takes to do this!  There is so much wisdom to be found there -- more than we can ever gain in a lifetime of studying it!

The best way to teach children is by example.  They will catch your passion!  It must all start in my own heart. 

Please don't misunderstand me....  I have SO far to go with all this!  I beg God daily for wisdom to teach my children, for this truly is my heart's desire!  I desire a passion for Him that is contaigous to those around me, especially my children!  The great thing is, I know I can trust Him to hear my cry and answer.  What a faithful God He is.