Building Blocks

Parents have struggled for years with the desire to have family devotions and the fear of boring their children. Heritage Builders, a ministry of Focus on the Family geared to help parents pass on their Christian faith, wants to challenge you to overcome this obstacle.

In this feature, you’ll find three spiritual training activities. You might be surprised how excited your children become about spending time with you learning about God.

Make Room

Gather

• Bible
• bucket of water
• rocks

Go

1. Do this spiritual training activity outside. Have a child read Philippians 4:8.
2. Say: "This bucket represents our minds. The water is all the good thoughts we’ve just read about in the Bible. What are some of these excellent, lovely thoughts?"
3. Pick up the rocks and say, "These rocks represent the bad thoughts Satan wants to put in our minds."
4. Drop the rocks one at a time into the water. Watch as the water spills out.

Gab

1. When all of the rocks have splashed in, ask: "What happened to the good thoughts when the bad thoughts came in?" and "How can we use this same idea to get rid of bad thoughts?"
2. Explain that when we focus on God and the good thoughts He wants in our minds, we won’t leave any room for bad thoughts.
3. Close in prayer. Allow each person to share prayer requests and answers to prayer. Write down prayer requests, so later you can see how God answered.

God’s Treasure

Gather

• Bible
• pieces of paper
• pencil

Go

1. Hide a Bible somewhere in your home.
2. Write fun clues that lead your children to God’s Word. Example: "The mail carrier stops here every day" takes your child to the mailbox.
3. Give your children the first clue and say, "A treasure is hidden in our home. It’s up to you to find it!"
4. Follow your children as they go from clue to clue and eventually find the Bible.

Gab

1. Ask your children what makes the Bible a treasure? (Possible answers: It has wisdom in it; it tells us about God; etc.)
2. Discuss what treasures your children have found in the Bible: Finding out about Jesus and what He did; knowing about God’s love.
3. Read 1 John 4:7-1 Answer these questions: "What do these verses tell us about knowing God?" "What has God done for us?" "If we’re friends with God, how should we act?"
4. Tell your children: "This is just one example of the treasure we find in the Bible. The more we read God’s Word, the more treasure we find."
5. Close in prayer.

Rainbow Riddle

Gather

• paper
• crayons or markers
• Bible

Go

1. Have every family member draw a picture of a rainbow.
2. Hang the rainbows in a place where they’ll be seen every day for the next week.

Gab

1. Read Genesis 8:13-21 and 9:8-17.
2. Ask your children what they learned from the Bible story. Make sure your children understand that God made the rainbow as a promise to never flood the earth again, and God always keeps His promises.
3. Gather everyone in a circle. Take turns answering this question: "What’s one thing you learned about God today?"
4. Help your children memorize this fun rhyme: "Noah was safe from rain and sea. God cared for him, God cares for me!"
5. Close in prayer.