April 22

Joshua 24:1-33, Luke 21:1-28, Psalm 89:38-52, Proverbs 13:20-23

Pray: Heavenly Father, may I so live before my children that they choose You. May they not choose my church or even my ways. But may they choose You. May they experience the living God and not just watch my faith.

Read: Have you ever made a commitment and failed to keep it? In Joshua 24 the children of Israel make a commitment to serve the Lord knowing full well that God would destroy them if they strayed from their promise. The people then destroyed their idols and turned their hearts toward God. As a reminder of the covenant between God and Israel, Joshua took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the terebinth tree next to the place of meeting. The people of Israel served the Lord throughout his lifetime and the lifetimes of the elders who outlived him---those who had PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED all that the Lord had done for Israel.

Edify: The key thought here is EXPERIENCE. Our children can watch us. They can be challenged by us. But they must experience the living God themselves. The second and third generations that followed Joshua’s death began to drift. The God of Israel became a historical figure to them and not the living God. This happens today as well. My children must experience God for themselves. I need to be careful to point that out to them as they grow.

Practice: Share your faith with your children and then ask them what they believe and why. Be sure in your conversations to inquire about their faith journey. Sometimes you will not like their answers. Searching for God can test both parents and children. Hold them up in prayer. Pray that your God will become their God by experience.