photo by Crystl
If you’ve been following the Step By Step To Family Devotions series from the beginning, then you have been engaged in two full months of deliberate focus on God as a family. Look at how much you’ve been doing:
*Intently praying for wisdom, strength and God’s blessing;
*Meeting with and encouraging your family;
*Reading and studying together from the Bible;
*Connecting with an accountability family (or your pastor);
*Taking steps to resist Satan’s lies;
*Introducing slight changes to stimulate interest;
*Increasing your time and/or effort in holding family devotions;
*Addressing potential time obstacles to coming together as a family;
*Evaluating your progress and planning out goals.
Not only have you been busy, but if you’ve been diligent in following the steps, you’ve been more fruitful as a family. That’s cause for celebration!
However, the focus of the celebration will not be on patting yourselves on the back. God gave the ancient Israelites instruction for holding certain festivals and holy days to honor, glorify and thank Him for all the many blessings they received. Your celebration should be the same.So what can you celebrate?
- The positive changes you’ve seen in your family relationships. What have you noticed? Better bonding? Closer ties? More courtesy and selfless behavior? Less strife? The smallest of change should be celebrated as a wonderful blessing from God for following His call to His Word.
- The things you’ve learned from His Word. As you meet for family devotion, go around to each member and ask what they’ve learned so far. Our family has used this technique often for summarizing or reviewing Bible study, sermons and other discussions: “Tell me one thing (or two, or three….) you learned from our reading.” This will prove to be very affirming of your efforts as well as giving you grounds for praising God. I would suggest starting with someone, perhaps you or your spouse, who is the most willing to share in order to get the ball rolling.
- Any answered prayer. If you’ve instituted a prayer list during your devotion time, review who or what you’ve been praying for. Or, ask if anyone has an answered prayer of their own they’d like to share. As you make God central to your family’s life and strive to be obedient to His will, you will probably find answers to prayer practically falling out of the sky. That’s definitely worth celebrating!
Homework: 1. Decide how you want to celebrate two months of focusing on God as a family.
2. Let your accountability family know what you did. Or, invite them to the celebration!
3. Continue evaluating how you’re going to handle schedule conflicts and time constraints.
4. Keep reading and studying the Bible.
Related Articles:
Previous - Assess Your Progress
Next - Step It Up Another Notch
Step By Step To Family Devotions series
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Inspiring Families - Praying Blessings To The Third Generation
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