A biblical discipleship journey equipping parents to engage their children in biblical truth.
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
Families love one another.
Teach
Bring the whole family together for this lesson. For your younger preschooler, this will be the most important visual in teaching them this week’s biblical truth: family. One parent or older sibling can be assigned the role of leader for this teaching activity. One family member at a time will hide somewhere nearby and the leader will say “(Child’s name), where is daddy (or mommy)?” Then the family member will jump or step out of the hiding spot and say “Here I am! I love you, (Child’s name)!” The leader can also hide and ask the question themselves or have the other parent or older sibling ask the question. Change it up by doing this in a whispering voice and then a loud voice.
Discussion Questions
Play
Find several toys nearby (ideally human characters, but animals can work as well) and allow them to play the role of a family member. Use this as roleplay/playtime with your child. Create a scenario for the toys to interact and play out a common daily occurrence with which your child would be familiar: lunchtime, bedtime, playtime, car time, etc. Try to create a scenario where one of the family members is demonstrating love. The goal is to remind your child that God has given each family member different roles and responsibilities within the family, but they all are called to love one another.
Live it Out
Throughout this week, remind your child how each family member loves one another. Keep the truth as simple as randomly announcing, “I love you, (Child’s name)!” or “(Child’s name), I sure love your mommy!” Take the time each day whenever you can pray, either at mealtime or bedtime, and pray for each family member by name and thank God for them.
Closing Prayer
God, thank You for making our family! We love You Lord, and we love each other. Thank You for everyone in our family. Amen!
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
God wants family members to love and help one another.
Teach
Did you know our family is special to God? It’s true! In God’s eyes, the family is the most important group of people in the world! In Ephesians 5 and 6, Paul tells us we should learn the most about God through family. God designed our family to love and help each other, and by doing that, we learn more about Him and what He is like.
Has it ever been hard to love or help a member of our family? Of course! Loving each other is not always easy. (Parents, if you have a good example, tell it!) Sometimes, we annoy each other or make each other mad, but we’re a family. Those little things won’t matter in a few years. God tells every one of us to show a special, gigantic amount of love to our family! God tells us in Exodus 20 one way to show our parents love is to honor and obey them. Remember, when we show others love, we show them God.
Discussion Questions
Play
Love on Purpose!
Items needed:
Pen or pencil and paper
Description: Get a piece of paper and write down each immediate member of the family’s names (Include grandparents or other close family members if you’d like). Go through the list of different ways you can show each person love or help them this week. Have each person try to do one thing on the list for another family member. You can continue this during other weeks by switching family members!
Live it Out
We learned about what God thinks of our family! He wants each of us to love and help each other. How can you show the members of your family love or help them this week?
Closing Prayer
Dear God, thank You for our family! Thank You for our group of people made to love and help each other! Help us to show Your love by loving each other. We love You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
God’s plan for family is for them to love, respect, and help one another.
Teach
Have you ever seen a racecar in person or on TV? They move really fast, don’t they? Sometimes, they are driven over 200 miles per hour! That’s almost five times as fast as we normally drive our cars.
When a racecar driver gets in the car, how do they get the car to go? They probably have to get the engine to turn on with a key or a switch. Once the car is started, and they put their foot on the gas pedal, it immediately starts driving. The car does not sit for a couple of minutes before driving. Just like a race car, when our parents ask or tell us to do something, we should respond immediately. This means when our parents tell us to clean our room or ask us for helping cleaning the dishes, we are not supposed to tell them to wait or ask if we can have five more minutes of playtime. We should immediately stop what we’re doing and help them.
God thought it was so important to listen to our parents that He made it one of the Ten Commandments. God made families so we could love, respect, and help each other. One of the ways we love and respect our parents is by obeying them. Obedience is very important. In fact, when we obey our parents, it also means we are obeying God! Families are meant to be able to help one another. God loves seeing kids obey their parents, siblings love each other, and everyone working together.
Discussion Questions
Play
During your devotional time, sprinkle different commands for your kids to follow throughout. Commands like “Jump up and down 5 times,” or “Run to the front door and back, then give me a high five.” Remind your child the way we respond to these commands and listen is the same way we should respond and listen when we hear more serious and important instructions.
Live it Out
During the week, help your child find ways to serve and help other family members. Maybe Dad can help your child put their dirty clothes in the washer before Mom ever asks. Maybe Mom can help the child take the trash out before Dad does. There are many ways we can help our family. Let's focus on doing that this week!
Closing Prayer
Dear God, help us to honor our parents the first time they tell or ask us to do something. One of the ways we can honor and love You is by loving and respecting each other. Give us chances to help each other. Amen.
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
God’s plan is for all family members to work together so that God is honored by their family.
Teach
Ask your child to tell you about the people who help them and keep them safe. Prompt them to think about the people in your home like parents, siblings, and grandparents. Also, ask them about how their teachers, coaches, and after-school caregivers protect them and help them grow.
Teach: Some of these people that care for you have rules for you to obey. Obeying rules is not always fun. God gives us rules to help us live because he loves us. God gives children families for protection and guidance, and parents and grandparents are the best ones to provide that. God knows children need protection. Families help take care of children, give them food and clothing, and teach them about right and wrong.
Take a look at God’s plan for families. We try to live God’s way by listening to Him through prayer and reading the Bible. We obey Him and do what He says, and for kids, that includes obeying Mom and Dad. Obeying your parents is one way to do what our Scripture says today: “honor your father and mother.” This is the best way for you to learn and grow.
Discussion Questions
Play
Share your experiences growing up and learning to be obedient to your parents and grandparents. Start a family tree showing your child how you had parents and your parents had parents. Include as many siblings, aunts/uncles, and generations as you can. God’s plan for the family works, and we should trust His plan.
Live it Out
Ask your child if they have observed a baby animal in your neighborhood. Help them with some ideas: a bird’s nest with baby birds or a duck family in a nearby pond. Have your child look for animal families as you go about your week. If you see a family of ducks or a squirrel out collecting food, help your child imagine how those animals take care of their young. The baby ducks follow closely behind the mother duck. The squirrel might be taking the nut treasures back to a baby squirrel. Throughout creation, we see God’s great plan for families and parents that care for their young.
Closing Prayer
God, thank You for our family. You invented the idea of a family. Help us to love each other and work together to serve and honor You. Amen.
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
God’s plan is for each person to make a positive contribution to his or her family. Men and women have different but complementary roles in the family.
Teach
Have you ever noticed that mom and dad have different responsibilities around the house? Sometimes we help each other out with our chores, but typically, mom manages the (Name a chore mom handles regularly.) and dad manages the (Name a chore dad handles regularly.). We like to help each other out too! Whether we do our own chores or help each other with chores, we do it because we love and want to help each other.
This is why God designed the family to have both a father and a mother. God designed men and women to be very different from each other, and to complement each other. Moms and dads have different roles in providing and caring for families, and we can appreciate how each of them is a blessing to the family.
Discussion Questions
Play
Prepare dinner together as a family. Think about what strengths each family member has that can contribute to the meal. Tasks to delegate might include:
Live it Out
Brag on your spouse during dinner conversation. Demonstrate how you love and appreciate him or her by sharing what specific gifts, talents, skills, and passions he or she possesses. Point out the ways he or she complements you and how he or she is a blessing to your family.
Closing Prayer
God, help us to understand we are each created differently—each with a purpose that helps Your Kingdom grow here on earth. Amen.
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
God’s plan for the family involves one man and one woman, committing to one another in a lifelong relationship as a reflection of God’s love for His people.
Teach
There is something amazing about being part of a team, especially when doing something hard. It helps to have the comradery in an Escape Room when you work together to find the puzzle’s solution, or on a sports team when you lean on each other’s strengths to win. Having a team makes it easier in any circumstance.
Why is it easier to do things with a team than alone? Because having different strengths, perspectives, and abilities focused on the same goal increases our chance for success.
God designed us to have a family to lean on and go through life with; we can encourage and love one another in a symbolic way of His love for us. Friends and teams come and go, but family is always family. There is a bond that can never be broken, similar to how the Lord is always with us, to be our rock and solid ground.
Every night we come home to our family, and we are always there for each other, fighting life’s battles together. Our parents have been through the battles students face right now, so it is beneficial to listen to our parents for help in our battles of life. Going through it together.
We see all throughout the Bible that God does not abandon His people; He loves us so much and wants to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with us.
Discussion Questions
Let this be a time of discussion.
Play
Option 1: Grab a piece of paper and begin writing down what all needs to be done at the house—from pulling weeds to taking out the trash. Then ask and find out how your family can work together to get these things done? Have a discussion about how your family can work together inside and outside of the home to solve problems as a team.
Option 2: Everyone, say something you appreciate about everyone else at the dinner table. It may take a second to think about, but encouraging our family is an important part of being a family, just how the Lord encourages us daily in our walk with Him.
Live it Out
Have a piece of paper labeled “The Teamwork Sheet” and for every time your family or part of your family does something together, even if it is carrying in the groceries, put a tally mark on the paper, and at the end of the week, see how many times you worked together in the week!
Teaching our students that family is important can be difficult, but we must always be willing to listen and help when our students need us. We also need to teach our students how just as we depend on each other as a family, we can depend on the Lord because he is always on our side, just like a parent. Life can get busy but be sure to regularly show your spouse you are on their team because God has shown us that marriage is a picture of Christ’s love for us.
Closing Prayer
Lord, thank You for allowing us to depend on You. Thank You for our family and the encouragement we are to each other. Help our child(ren) to honor their father and mother as You have instructed them. Help us to teach them biblical truth and love when we “sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”(Deuteronomy 11:19 NIV).
Theme Verse
“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Objective
God’s plan for the family involves one man and one woman, who have different but complementary roles, committing to one another in a lifetime covenant relationship as a reflection of God’s love for His people.
Teach
Read Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Have you ever noticed that mom and dad have different responsibilities around the house? Sometimes we help each other out with our chores, but typically, mom manages the (Name a chore mom handles regularly.) and dad manages the (Name a chore dad handles regularly.). We like to help each other out too! Whether we do our own chores or help each other with chores, we do it because we love and want to help each other.
This is why God designed the family to have both a father and a mother. God designed men and women to be very different from each other, and to complement each other. Moms and dads have different roles in providing and caring for families, and we can appreciate how each of them is a blessing to the family.
Discussion Questions
Let this be a time of discussion.
Play
Cook dinner together! Everyone has to help and stay in the kitchen the whole time. No TV, no phones, and no leaving. Let the memories begin.
Live it Out
When we recognize the value of each role in the family, we begin to appreciate them for what they do and who they are. Take a moment this week to show your appreciation to a family member (Write a card, send a text, or say it in person.)
Closing Prayer
Dear God, thank You for creating my family. I know not every family is perfect, but please guide and protect my family. Help me to appreciate them and encourage them more often. Amen.