Miracle Word

MIRACLE WORD

Miracle Word is a way of sharing stories from the Bible together as a family.  No matter what age your children are God's Word has something for them.  Learning ways to engage our lives around what Word has for us is an ongoing challenge.  Many things can get in the way of our families taking time to read Scripture together.  Following are a few suggestions of how to keep our families engaged daily in Word.

Read  

When you read the passage, use a modern language version so the KIDS will understand the story.  Read through the passage first so you are familiar with it.  Concentrate on the people in the story.  Talk about them before you tell the story. 
Think 
After you have interacted with the telling of the story it is time to THINK about what the story is saying.  At this point, avoid telling the KIDS what the story means.  After some discussion is the time to offer a summary of the story.  Asking questions and then waiting for the KIDS to respond is one way to begin thinking about what you read together.  The questions should be open-ended.  Try to avoid "yes" and "no" questions.  Encourage them to expound on their pat answers.  In addition, be sure to allow the KIDS opportunity to ask their own questions . . . even ones you may not be able to answer. 
Pray 
Prayer for children very often focuses on thanksgiving.  Perfectly fine.  These suggestions, however, will begin to expand KIDS understanding of and participation in prayer.  Remind the KIDS that Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray all the time."  How in the world can we do that?  We have to eat, sleep, go to school, and many other things.  How can we be praying all the time?  Begin to talk about how prayer is part of our relationship with our God.  Explain that in a relationship we have conversation with the ones we love.  That is what prayer is . . . conversation with God.  Tell him what concerns you.  Tell him if you are confused.  Tell him what you are excited about.  Then move into asking God what he wants you to do for him.
Live 
Part of learning to live in The Kingdom is learning to move from things that are safe and familiar to things that are scary and unfamiliar.  The other important part of living for Jesus is knowing that what we do for Jesus is not added to the list of things we already do with our lives . . . it becomes the way we live our lives while doing those other things we are already doing.