Help your family get closer to God with these tips that will win your family for Christ, and maintain an atmosphere of joy and love right at home.
The family is a very important unit to God. We can see that from the Bible verses on family importance littered throughout Scripture. Yet many people don’t see how important it is to involve their families in their Christian walk. Even though, the truth is that God and family should be reconciled because the family as a whole has a huge role to play in His divine plan to establish His kingdom on earth and save people from hell. That is why the devil attacks it so much.
With divorce rates climbing higher each day and children falling into pits of influence from drugs, immorality and perversions, we can only keep our family safe by keeping them in the shelter that God’s presence provides. This article gives you ten tips on how you can get started and help your family get closer to God.
How To Get Closer To God
1. Pray Together as a family
There’s a popular saying that says “a family that prays together, stays together.” The truth is, praying with people or for people increases your love for them. You can write down specific prayer requests that each person has and pray about them together.
Teach your kids why it is important for them to pray. Let them know that they can talk to God about anything and teach them how to pray on their own. It may take a while for them to build a consistent habit, but if you follow through, it will stick.
2. Read God’s word together
The best way to help your family, especially your children, understand what God is like is to show them from the Bible. You can get resources to help you read the Bible in a year and share them with your family, like this free PDF here.
For really young children you can read from trusted Bible books such as The Jesus Storybook Bible, which is beautifully illustrated and engaging for kids of all ages. Also, the book, I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God — this one is also just gorgeous to look at and thoughtfully written.
3. Answer all of your kid’s questions about God
It’s also important to answer all your children’s questions, even baffling ones like “how old is God?” It helps them understand that God isn’t some mysterious being who doesn’t want anyone to understand Him, but a Father who reveals Himself to His children with love.
Looking for some great resources in this area? Check out the book The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask about Christianity: & How to Answer Them Confidently. It’s an in-depth book for parents, written in an easy-to-read and engaging format.
A book for you to read with your children is called The Awesome Book of Bible Answers for Kids. It works as a wonderful, easy read-along book that provokes a deeper dive into Scripture and conversation.
4. Express love for each other often
Expressing love for each other often, helps your kids see God’s character by encouraging them to be vocal about their love for one another. Give gifts and hugs, tell them how much you love them, and try to be thoughtful and considerate of their needs and views.
5. Practice service to others together
The best way to help your family grow in their love walk with other people is to practice walking in love with them. It can be in the form of monthly visits to the orphanages, community service, helping the elderly, volunteering at your church and other acts of service to people. Not only will they grow closer to God, but it’s one of the ways you can raise compassionate kids.
Through this service you can teach them to love everyone equally, respect other people’s opinions, and tolerate their excesses. Let them know that they can ask the Holy Spirit for help in loving others genuinely.
6. Spend mealtime together
This can not be overemphasized. It’s in the little things, which include just sitting together and sharing a hot meal. With the different schedules of each person every day, mealtimes, especially dinner, is a good time for your family to spend time together while everyone talks about their individual day. Gathering for dinner is something to teach them young and the benefits of family mealtime can be eye-opening.
You can practice praying or blessing the food before you eat and then sharing experiences with each other as you eat.
7. Teach and model Godly values
Write down good values portrayed in Scripture like obedience, love, forgiveness, kindness, etc, and learn about them with your family. Help them see their benefits and how God not only commands us to possess them but also helps us to cultivate them through the Holy Spirit.
In your day-to-day lives, keep your children accountable by pointing out when they do wrong things and pointing them to how they can correct their mistakes. It is so important that you do this in love and with love.
Living by example is also one of the most effective ways to influence your family members with some godly character traits. Be humble enough to admit when you’ve done wrong, and even pray repentance for your own sins with your children.
8. Go to church together
Help your family understand from the Bible that the gathering of believers is never to be abandoned (Hebrews 10:25) and why. The church is where we can hear more of God’s Word as well as be strengthened in our faith by other believers.
Encourage your family to see the church not just as a place to worship God on Sundays, but as their Father’s House where they are also gathered with their brothers and sisters in Christ.
9. Start traditions together
Nothing unites a group of people better than traditions. You can start a couple of them by doing specific and fun things during Holidays like Christmas, New Year, or Thanksgiving. Believe it or not, even St. Patrick’s Day can be made special and taken back to its original roots of faith, through family traditions. These simple traditions help them build their faith while strengthening the family bond.
10. Hold a weekly family night
Weekly family nights help you and your family to bond, share burdens and build unity. You can make time to go out to eat, or stay indoors and play games like Bible trivia. Trips to the park or a small picnic, or family bike ride, are all good ideas too.
It is also a good time to share each other’s personal growth and spiritual challenges for the week. Then you can see how you can help them tackle those challenges in the next week. It establishes a God and family balance in their lives.
Prayers to Help Your Family Get Closer To God
A Prayer for A Heart For God In My Family.
Father, thank you for each one of my precious children. Lord, you know their hearts. You know their strengths, their weaknesses, and every tiny detail about them. God, I pray that You draw them closer to You. Show them who You are. Let them see their need for you, Lord. Capture their hearts and fill them with Your Spirit. Help them to enjoy fellowshipping with you.
Lord, I pray that they would seek You above all else. That as they wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night, You would be on their minds and hearts. That everywhere they go and in everything they do, they would see You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer for A Heart to Serve Others.
Father, thank You for the opportunity to serve others. I pray that You would continue to instill this value into us and our children. Help us to see others the way You see them. Lord, we pray that You show us the needs of those around us. Help us to be others-focused and in tune with Your Spirit, so that we can help those that are hurting. Lord, give us the grace to serve when it’s hard. Give us the strength to keep going when we are worn out from our own situations. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Bible verses to Help Your Family Get Closer to God
“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” Psalm 145:18
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand” John 10:27-28
“Then he said to them all, ‘if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up the cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Conclusion
Always remember that God wants us to win our families, not impose Him on them. Rather than forcing them to engage in spiritual activities without reason, with the help of the Holy Spirit, patiently help them see why it’s important for them so that they can learn to love it.
More importantly, instead of arguing with our family members who refuse to accept Jesus, we must pray for them and trust God to work on their hearts and turn them to Him. We unite God and family on our knees, not just with our words.
