Key Bible Verse: Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them … when you are lying down and when you are getting up again (Deuteronomy 6:7). Bonus Reading: Deuteronomy 11:18-21

The first time I tried to lead family devotions, I searched out Scriptures I thought were currently relevant. But as I delivered my lesson at the dinner table that Sunday, I started feeling like a stand-up comic whose lines fall flat. The initial silence as I finished erupted into an outburst of laughter!

After my family had gone to bed that night, I asked God where I'd gone wrong. "I know it's my responsibility to set the spiritual rudder for my family," I told God. "But how can I pilot my family's spiritual ship if I can't even make it through a family devotional?"

The next morning as I read my men's devotional at breakfast, my son Malachi asked what I was reading. I told him. I took him to the bus stop and prayed in the car over him. That week I worked at saying grace over the food with more sincerity. I prayed more fervently over my family.

By the end of the week, it was taking. My wife was in our room reading her Bible and journaling. Malachi was reading his devotional in bed before he went to sleep. I asked him how his devotional felt. "I feel encouraged by God," he responded, "like you do."

—Sanford Ashley in New Jersey

My Response: Have I tried explaining Bible truths to my family? How could I get started?

Thought to Apply: The best way for a child to learn to pray is to live with a father and mother who know a life of friendship with God.—JOHANN HEINRICH (German philosopher)

Prayer for the Week

Lord, I want to feed my family spiritually as well as physically. Fill me so that I can pass on the overflow.

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