Malachi 4:5-6
“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. [6] His preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

I believe this sums up what to look for in any ministry.  God’s plan is to work in children’s lives through the parents.  Anything that tries to do otherwise is wrong. Don’t let anyone rob you of the joy of leading your child to Christ, or training your teenager in spiritual matters, or being the wise counselor for your adult children.  Find a church that understands this.   Luci West so aptly expressed this in the Dudley Baptist Church Children’s Ministry Statement: “partnering with parents to lead their children into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ”.  This is done by making sure the parents have the resources and the training they need to lead their children.

Not only does Malachi point out that the preacher was to turn the parents’ hearts to the children, but it is just as important to turn the children’s hearts toward the parents.  For example: the Youth director should not be getting the youth to rally around him, but should be continually pointing them toward their parents, just as the pastor’s goal is not to have the people dependent on him but to continually point them to a personal daily relationship with their Heavenly Father.

The message in this Scripture appears to be very serious in God’s eyes.  Look at the consequences of not turning parents and children toward each other – a curse on the land.  Hmmm.

Sylvia Gunter from The Father’s Business has compiled a list of scripture-based prayers to pray for children. She says, “These scripture-based prayers are dedicated to the most important responsibility and privilege of a parent or grandparent or teacher of all ages.”  Do you have your own list of scriptures that you pray for your children?  If not, please use Sylvia’s Praying for Children as a starting point for your prayers.

Can you define Godliness?  Sunday night Pastor Billy asked all the children to help him define it by drawing a picture or making an acrostic of the word godliness.

Here’s what they said:

G - goodness    giving    great attitude    good with Jesus

O – obeying the Lord    obey    only worship God

D – determined    discipline     do what is best     do good deeds even when it’s hard    do help people

L – loving    love others as God loves you    loving everyone    love all your neighbors

I – insight    incouragement

N – nice     never stop doing good    now obey the Lord

E – enjoy    exercise    energize    even when its hard love others    everyone gets treated fairly

S – sweet    save    sometimes its hard but do it    Satan will never stop you

S - spirit     savior    so always trust the Lord

There were pictures of:  washing the dishes, feeding the dog, helping others, sharing, reading the Bible, and praying.

Thank you children of Dudley Baptist Church for helping us learn the character quality of Godliness!!!!

Psalm 8:2
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

(This is another lesson from Here a Little, There a Little,  a compilation of  Bible activities I created years ago to use with my preschool children.  It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through 5 Bible lessons and 5 activities.)

Begin by cutting out the shape of a Bible and paste on it one of the following verses. Then place it on the fridge all week.  Read the suggested passages for Bible stories or thoughts and tell them in your own words.  I have given you suggested things to share about each.  Do at least one of the suggested activities each day.  I am sure you can come up with better ideas on your own – this is just to get you started.

The Bible – God’s Word

Bible Verse:
Psalm 119:97 O How I Love Your Word
Psalm 119:6 I will not forget God’s Word

Bible Stories:

1 Samuel 1 & 2 A long time ago Hannah and Elkanah prayed for God to give them a little boy. God answered their prayer and sentthem Samuel. Hannah wanted Samuel to belong to God and do all God wanted him to. So Hannah spent about 5 years with Samuel teaching him God’s Word. Because Samuel learned God’s Word, he knew how to love God, and do all that God wanted him to do. Do you want to be good and do all God wants you to do? Then learn God’s word, the Bible.

II Timothy 1:5 and 3:15 When Timothy was a little boy, his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice would teach him the Bible. Timothy’s grandmother and mother loved the Bible and wanted Timothy to love it too. When Timothy grew up he did love the Bible like his mother and grandmother because he had known about it since he was a little child.

Acts 8:27-35 Philip was one of Jesus’ helpers. He went to different cities teaching about God’s Word. One time he was walking to another city to preach and he saw a man from Ethiopia reading his Bible. Philip went to the man and helped him to know more about God’s Word. The man began to love God because Philip had taught him the Bible.

Psalm 119 David loved God’s Word the Bible. He knew the Bible was a special book that God had written so we would know how to be good. One night as David took care of God”

Job 1, 23 Job was a man that loved God and did what was right. God was very pleased with Job. Do you know why Job was so good and pleased God so much? Because he read the Bible. He said that he loved to the read the Bible more than he loved to eat. That’s a lot, isn’t it. Do you love to eat? Do you love the Bible?

Prayer: May we never forget Your Word and always love and obey it.

Activities for baby:

Put Bible or picture of Bible in crib for baby to look at.
Read Bible while feeding
Quote verses while rocking to sleep
Show verses on wall or fridge
Show the Bible while you sing about it

Activities for older preschoolers:

Look at the Bible together while singing about it and treating it special.

Make a scroll (what books looked like before there was binding) and paste Bible verses or pictures on it.

Paste a Bible verse on a favorite toy (ex – You could put Psalm 100:1 “Make a joyful noise” on a musical instrument

Make a picture with a Bible verse on it.  Hang it on the wall.  Share Deuteronomy 11:20 “Write God’s Word on your doors & gates”

Make a book marker for their Bible.

Songs:

The Bible is a Special Book (click on to listen)

I Open My Bible (click on to listen)

Suggested Books:
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes
Leading Little Ones to God: A Child’s Book of Bible Teachings
Good Little King Josiah: 2 Kings 22-23:2, Chronicles 34-35 for Children (Arch Book)

This is a great article especially for home school moms beginning the new year.

http://online.worldmag.com/2010/07/22/parents-what-do-you-want/