"God doesn't have any grandchildren," declared missionary to India E. Stanley Jones. That same awareness pushed Moses, at the end of his career, to give the nation he led a series of review sessions. These—recorded in Deuteronomy—were designed to impress on a new generation what their parents had experienced first-hand. They included a charge to parents to give high priority to teaching their children about God.

1. What experiences did Moses' generation need to share with their children and grandchildren?



2. What experiences of yours do your children need to hear from you?



3. Some Israelites took the admonition to tie the Scriptures to their hands and foreheads literally. Was this Moses' intent?



4. How would you apply that instruction? How about writing God's words on your doorposts and gates?



5. Verse 19 envisions both formal and informal teaching. Have you established any structured instruction?



6. What unstructured opportunities have you found recently to convey spiritual truth naturally?



7. Moses says (v. 21) that the saturation teaching he advocates will result in flourishing families. Have you seen this occur in other families? What steps could move your family in this direction?

Ask God for the desire and ability to connect with your family about spiritual realities.

¹⁸So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. ¹⁹Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

²⁰Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

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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