Romans 11:16 (Msg)
Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there’s bound to be some holy fruit.

What we eat affects our future children.

We are well aware that we affect our children through our DNA  in their physical characteristics such as color of hair and eyes, but did you know that the way we eat before our children are conceived will affect their health?  Dr. John Christopher in his book, Herbal Home Health Care states “The time we start preparing for an anti-disease susceptibility is many months before conception. If, however, that is too late and the child is here and sick at this time, we will have to work on the present cause, but this effort could be eliminated if we had started a few generations back.”

For more on this check out this article that points out what we do to our bodies can somehow leave an imprint on our genetic material and be passed along to the next generation.

How we live our lives affects our future children.

It’s interesting that what has been discovered in the scientific realm of how choices made nutritionally affect future generations is also what God has said in His Word concerning how we relate to Him.  Deuteronomy 5:9 You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Catherine Marshall speaks about this in her book, Something More. She writes, ” just as we can inherit either a fortune or debts, so in the spiritual realm we can inherit either spiritual blessings or those liabilities (unabashedly called ‘sins’ in scripture) that hinder our development into mature persons.”

Chuck Swindoll in his book, You and Your Child refers to this as “grandad’s bent” and points out that the bents in our lives toward particular sins must be broken for the good of the children that will come after us. Deuteronomy 5:29 “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be will with them, and with their children for ever!

Since the nutritional and spiritual choices made will directly affect the children that are yet conceived, then each choice should be carefully thought through, if not for your own good, but for the good of your future children.  Live life as a ‘God-planted, God-tended root which will result in some holy (pure, virtuous) fruit.’

Children learn best when they hear and see what is being taught.  Read the Bible story ahead of time and be ready to tell it in your own words with much enthusiasm, acting it out as much as possible.  Use visuals to illustrate the Bible story.  Then try to end with a practical application for their lives and a verse to memorize.  A song is always good to help remember the teaching as well; put the verse or something in the story to a familiar tune.

Here’s a suggestion for telling 1 Samuel 16:1-13, the story of the shepherd boy David being anointed as king.

Story:

Tell about Samuel looking for a new king as you walk around searching & looking at each child.  Before you start telling the story, give one child a stuffed lamb.  When you come to that child say that David was just a kind, young boy watching sheep when Samuel found him.

Samuel had looked at all of David’s older brothers who were much stronger, but God told Samuel that the Lord doesn’t make decisions the way people do by outward appearance; the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.

God helped Samuel know that David was the chosen king, not because of what he looked like on the outside, but because of what he was like on the inside.  Samuel then anointed David with oil.  Anointing with oil was a way of showing that a person was set apart to be used by God.

Visual: Ahead of time, draw David on the front of a piece of construction paper.  Then draw the crown and scenery if you like on the back (hold paper to light to make sure you draw the crown in the right place).  Tape David to a plate (don’t show the back of paper)  Anoint David with oil using a cotton ball to apply oil.  The crown magically appears when the paper is covered in oil. Say that God saw more than what Samuel saw when he looked at David; God saw that David had a good heart to be the new king.

Practical application: David was chosen and anointed to be king because he had a good heart.  Emphasis that our actions are more important than our appearance.  God has something special for each of us to do just as He had for David to do.  We must keep our hearts kind and good so we can do what God wants us to do.

Memory verse: 1 Samuel 16:7 … man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.
Job 23:12

In Matthew 6:1-18 Jesus talked of three duties of every Christian.  He gave instructions for giving, praying, and fasting.  In each case He said ‘when’ you give, ‘when’ you pray, ‘when you fast’ indicating these were duties not options.  I must confess that I taught my children to give and to pray, but never realized fasting was not just an option.

Fasting is a vital practice for every Christian. The discipline of fasting breaks you out of the world’s routine and causes your relationship with Jesus to go deeper.  And we should teach our children that we can give up a favorite food or activity from time to time to show God our love for Him. There are many Bible stories you can tell them of people fasting.  The most familiar is the story of Jesus fasting and the devil tempting Him. Here’s a fun video illustrating the story.

The following is an excellent video that explains fasting to children.

We as parents can set the example of disciplining our bodies as recorded in 1 Corinthians 9:27.  Ezra called the parents to a fast for their littles ones in Ezra 8:21-23.  We can powerfully affect our children by praying and fasting for them.

For a thorough explanation of fasting read Fasting: Opening the door to a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with God by Jentzen Franklin.

So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height,
for the people had a mind to work.
Nehemiah. 4:6

Labor Day is a day set aside to pay tribute to working men and women. It has been celebrated as a national holiday in the since 1894. You can read the history of this holiday here.

Labor day is a good time to memorize this verse and talk about having a mind to work.  Read the story of Nehemiah in your Bible and tell it in your own words – 0r – find it in a children’s Bible and read it to your children.  The walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed and Nehemiah led the people to rebuild them.  They had a mind to work.

• Build a wall together out of pillows and share the story.
• Talk about having a mind to work.  Think of ways your children can ‘work’.  Find suggestions here.
• Memorize Nehemiah 4:6 “…the people had a mind to work.”
• Thank God for the work that Dad does and the work that Mom does.
• Lead your children to be thankful to those they encounter doing their work.