Helping Young Children Develop Their Own Relationship with God

It has been the desire of my husband and I to instill a habit in our children of spending time in the Word of God and prayer daily.

I want them to grow in their knowledge of and trust in God, and I want them to get to know him in a personal way.

Before they could read, I would invite them to join me as I spent my own time studying the scriptures and I would read aloud to them.

Now that the older two can read, I want them to start spending personal time alone with God.

But the question I had was how to help young children understand what they were reading!

I started out by jotting down questions from the day's passage for them to answer.  Then I found that I needed to explain certain words for them.  Trying to get all this written down ahead of time for them was becoming time-consuming and I often didn't have it ready for them when a new day began and they were ready to start on their Bible reading.

I found a couple different options that I recommend for parents who are trying to help their children develop their own quiet times with God.

Option one:

Exploring the Bible: A Bible reading plan for kids

I didn't want a children's devotional that was basically a cutesy story with a Bible verse to go with it.  I wanted something that would actually help my children understand how to study the Bible for themselves, and this book fits the bill really well.

Exploring the Bible takes children on a tour through the Bible, laying a foundation for their knowledge of God and the gospel.

It contains:

• Daily Bible readings
• Prayer points
• Memory verse
• Discussion questions
• Space for sermon notes and reflections

This particular book says it's for ages 6-12.  My children started using it when they were about 8 years old, and it was a tiny bit challenging for them even at that age.

Option 2:

Once children are a little older, they can start studying out a passage for themselves without specific prompts.

This Quiet Time Journal helps kids learn how to ask themselves questions as they read.

This journal is not a Bible reading plan – it is meant to be used with whatever passage of scripture your child chooses to study. This is a great option for older kids or teens who are becoming more and more independent.

I love to see my kids pick up on the blessing of having access to scripture and getting to know God better from it! I hope these tools will help your kids do the same!

There is no reason to wait to get started teaching your children to spend time developing their own relationship with God!