Scripture Memorization Songs

Mark Ruiter sent me these websites he found.  It is great.  There is one site related to Memorizing sections of Galatians and Ephesians.  At another, there are 4 free songs to download but they give you a feel for the kind of work that can be done with music and the actual text of the Bible.  The singer/songwriter uses the ESV version.  I love this.  I bought one of the CD's.  I hope you will find this music encouraging and uplifting.

Get the 4 free songs here.

See the CD's here.

You can download the Galatians and Ephesians songs here.  Just a note, the song title needs to be clicked on to hear and download the song.  The scripture reference just brings that actual bible text up.

Christian Parenting - Instilling the Discipline of Silence

Every mother dreams of the few moments of silence that she gets when the children go down for a rest.  I must admit, that as a father, I relish those times as well.  Children are a blessing, each and every one of them, but they are noisy blessings. As a father of 7 children (we have recently adopted 2 girls from Ethiopia) I get my fair share of noise. We don't get alot of silence in our home. My kids all live together in shared rooms, a boys room and 2 girls rooms. I have boys who are very quiet, and girls who can make more noise than a freighter passing through the Straits of Juan de Fuca on a foggy night.  I also have the opposite, some of my kids love to be quiet and alone, others hate it and can't stand it.  

Recently, my middle daughter has had the opportunity to live alone until her new sisters arrive from Ethiopia.  It is the first time this 8 year old has ever had long amounts of silence to herself.  She is relishing it and the questions that she is asking as a result of being still, thinking on the Scripture and meditating are wonderful.  Questions about the veracity of scripture, how we can know that the message is true, why God loves us so much, etc.  

My question is this, should we as parents teach our extroverted children the discipline of silence?  

Christian Parenting - Chastity

Many of us have seen the medieval contraptions called chastity belts. And frankly from the looks of them, why would we want to teach our children anything about chastity?  It looks painful and out dated, even torturous.  But the Scriptures have much to say about chastity.  Take for instance, 1Thessalonians 4:3-4,

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable." 

Chastity is the act of learning to control our bodies and sexual urges so that they are used in appropriate ways.  First and foremost this involves teaching our children about the beauty of sex when exercised in a marriage between a husband and a wife.  The scriptures are clear that one man and one woman are to be united in a covenant relationship that is consummated in a sexual union of the two.

Memorizing Scripture through Song

This morning my family was working on memorizing Titus 3:4.  As we worked through it I suddenly had a tune in my mind, and the text was with me.  I share this tune, not because I am a good singer or musician, I am not, but because tunes, no matter how silly or simple are an excellent way for those of us who are memory challenged to get the word into our thick skulls.  Come up with your own, or use mine, or find any other tool you can, but get the Word of God into your mind and let it percolate down into your heart.



Download the Titus 3:4 mp3

Who's welcome at your house?

The doorbell rings at six o'clock as dinner is being set on the table.  "I'm sorry," you say, "but we are just sitting down to eat.  We can't talk now."  Who's welcome at your house?  This common scenario in the American household has devastating effect on our children and on our Christian witness.  Who's welcome at your house?  Is anyone welcome, anytime?  Is there always enough?  Can we make room for one, or two or even ten more tonight?

Hospitality.  Hospitality is being lost in our churches and in our families.

What are your kids reading?

Do you know what your kids are reading?  As Christian parents we have a vested interest in knowing what our children are reading.  We all know the old adage, "Garbage in, garbage out."  Well it holds true to the books our children read just as much as to the food they eat and the things they see and hear.  This leads us to a discussion concerning devotional reading.

Devotional reading is that spiritual discipline where we train the mind and the heart by consistently immersing ourselves and our families in the the Scriptures and strong Christian literature.  By strong, I don't mean the easy going novels that have Christian themes, but the deep well stuff that explicitly shows us Christ and informs our worldview as believers.

Christian Parenting - Meditating on Scripture

The formation of our spiritual life and the life of our children and grandchildren is of great concern to many parents.  This is admirable.  But how can we help to shape ourselves and our children with habits, skills and ways of life that will benefit each person during their lifetime?  One of the disciplines that is beneficial is Meditation.

Meditation is part of a set of disciplines related to the Word of God.  For those unfamiliar with mediation as a discipline, let me compare it to eating a tasty meal.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Personal Devotions

The Word of Scripture should never stop sounding in your ears ad working in you all day long, just like the words of someone you love.  And just as you do not analyze the words of someone you love, but accept them as they are said to you, accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart, as Mary did.  That is all...Do not ask, 'How shall I pass this one?' but "What does it say to me?'  Then ponder this word long in your heart until it has gone right into you and taken possession of you.
 - Life Together

Christian Parenting - Praying the Examen

Prayer is so multi-faceted.  It is like a diamond with many sides.  Maybe teaching your children to pray the psalms isn't what your family needs currently, but maybe praying the examen is.  What is the Examen?  The Examen is a form of prayer that Ignatius of Loyola popularized in his Spiritual Exercises.  But its roots are much deeper than Ignatius.  It comes from the Scriptural words,

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. --Psalms 139:23-24

When we pray the examen we are engaging in a prayer of reflection and listening as God sifts through our life.  God alone has the power to search our hearts and minds.  God alone knows the deep things inside a person.  He alone is aware of our true motivations and desires.  It is easy to think we can know these things, but the 'heart is deceitful above all things' (Jeremiah 17:9).

Christian Parenting - Praying the Psalms

Have you struggled with how to teach your children about prayer and how to pray?  I have.  All Christians want their children to have vibrant prayer lives.  We want them to talk with God, hear from God and express their emotions to God but we are uncomfortable when our children are angry and pray with angry words.  What is a parent to do?

Turn to the Psalms.  There are 150 prayers God's people in the Psalms and they cover every possible human emotion in a way that brings glory to God.  There are prayers seeking God's judgment, prayers of thanksgiving; and prayers looking forward to the coming of Jesus.  There are psalms that begin with pain and end with joy, and vice versa.  Prayers of desperation and of confidence, joy and sorrow can all be found.  Even prayers that ask "where are you God?"  The psalms can teach us to teach our children to pray by studying them with our kids and helping them to see the progressions which occur.

Christian Parenting - Teaching our Children to Fast

Fasting.  What is it and why would I want to teach my children to fast?  Fasting has a long history in the Bible.  Let me rehearse a little bit of it:  Moses before receiving the 10 commandments (Exodus 24:18), David praying for his child (2Samuel 12:16), Elijah for 40 days (1Kings 19:8), and Christ in the Desert (Matthew 4:2).  Furthermore, all Israel was called to fast on the day of Atonement in Leviticus 23:26-32.  Literally they are "to deny" themselves, everything in life is to be removed in order to focus upon God and the offering for sin that is being made.

Christian Parenting - Instilling a heart to serve

Jesus said, "whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28).  Serving is what our Lord does.  He serves those who are unable to serve themselves.  Truthfully, no person is self sufficient.  The old axiom, "No man is an island unto himself," is true.  We are not self-contained people.  In fact, we need others. God himself said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).  

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q3

Q.3. How do you come to know your misery?

A. The Law of God tells me.

Christian Parenting - Teaching Stewardship to your children

What is stewardship?  Stewardship is the act of managing every resource within one's control for the glory of God.  The steward asks the question, "Will my actions enhance the Kingdom of God by displaying the heart of God to the world?"  The steward is concerned about representing his or her master well to the world.  The steward wants to see God's glory proclaimed, God's name uplifted, God's kingdom expanded and God's world cared for.

Stewardship is the combination of prayer, compassion, service, creation care, justice, generosity and simplicity, all rolled into one overarching view of life.  Because of this, the steward knows the heart of the master and acts on this knowledge.  Furthermore, he or she uses everything at his or her disposal in order to cooperate with God in the advancement of His Kingdom on this earth.

So how can this be taught to our children?

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q2

Q.2. What must you know
to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A. Three things:


first, how great my sin and misery are;


second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery;


third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.

Christian Parenting - What is a Biblical Worldview? How to Impart it. Part 2

Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary has an excellent correspondence course entitled, "Christian Worldview and Contemporary Challenges."  In this course, Mouw outlines 4 questions that are essential to the creation of any worldview:
1. What is the general view of reality?
2. What is the nature of the human person?
3. What is the nature of the human predicament?
4. What is the solution to this predicament?

Or stated another way,
1. Where am I?
2. Who am I?
3. What's wrong?
4. What's the remedy?

If as parents we are called to train up our children in the way they should go, then we must focus on helping our kids to gain a solid answer to each of these transcendent questions.  They need more than just platitudes like "be good", "don't lie", and "help others."  These are true, but they reduce worldview to relativism and moralism.  And because of this, they are subject to change as our culture redefines what "good", "truth" and "helping" are.

In order to oppose this moralizing and relativizing tendency, we need to impart the grand story of humanity to our children, and we need to do it in a compelling, holistic, total way.  Our children need to learn that:
1. We are inhabitants of God's created world.  This is his universe.  These are his people.  This is his land, and so He is Lord of it all.
2. Because it is God's world, all people are creatures made in God's image, the pinnacle of his creation and individually of inestimable worth.  We are inherently valuable and worthy of respect.
3. But we are all sinners, who are disobedient and stubbornly refuse to conform to God's laws to Love him and love others as we love ourselves.  We have all denied his authority and turned form his kingdom in order to establish our own kingdoms.
4.  The solution to this problem, is the grace of God being given to people in order to love them and draw them back into the Kingdom.  This grace brings forth repentance, a turning from disobedient refusal to submit, and joyful, grateful submission to God's laws for God's world.

All four of these Christian premises are under attack in our world, and each one builds on the one previous.  Without an understanding that God is the sole creator, then it is impossible to believe we are all valuable without questions, that each person is worthy of respect and love.  Without this belief, one cannot recognize that when this respect isn't given, not only is the person offended, but God their creator is offended and sin is running our lives.  Furthermore, without a belief in sin, then there is no foundation for a belief in repentance and submission to the original creator.  We must teach our children these foundational truths.  We must ground them in the Scriptures and teach them the stories from an early age.

Worldviews are imparted and enforced by the cultures we are immersed in.  Hindu children accept the Hindu worldview because everything around them is conformed to that worldview.  The same is true of Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish children.  And to change a worldview requires a vast amount of psychological dissonance.  It isn't impossible, just highly difficult.  So, how much of our society reflects the Christian worldview?  Unfortunately, most of it is shaped by secularism, a worldview which posits that I am in a material world, as a material being, the problem is that I don't have enough and the remedy is to accumulate as much as possible at whatever expense in order to be happy.  This is simplistic, but it is true.  The secular view denies God, sin, service, salvation.  Do we want our children immersed into this worldview or do we want something better for them?

Returning to my earlier premises in previous posts, the best way to impart a biblical worldview is by immersing our children in situations where that view predominates.  Personally, we have decided that the home is the ideal place, although others may choose alternative options like Christian schools.  After deciding on where to immerse your children, the next question becomes, "How do we help them to defend their view?"

My answer: Use every opportunity available to ask your children the four worldview questions.  Ask them when they read a book what was being taught about worldview.  Ask them when they watch a movie or listen to a song, what is being posited about the nature of reality and the problems  we are facing and the solutions needed.  Take them to the Scriptures and train them.  Read books yourself that challenge your worldview and wrestle with the answers that are being presented in these books.  Teach your children that every position is a faith position.  There is always an underlying premise that cannot be proven and so everyone must take a stand of faith at some point.  Help them see this and tell them why you believe the Christian and particularly the reformed expression of Christianity are the most coherent.  Finally, pray.  Pray for wisdom, insight and words to speak.  Pray for your children to have the gospel dwelt in deep. Pray for the gospel to become their own.

If there are other ideas out there, I would love to here those thoughts as well.

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q1 - Week 2

Q.1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q1

Q.1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Christian Parenting - Spiritual Formation in the Family PART 3 - Sabbath Rest

Have you ever thought about the significance of the Sabbath?  In a fast-paced culture our children and our families never have time to slow down and reflect on what is truly important.  But God says in Exodus 31:13,

‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.'

The Sabbath is about teaching our children where true holiness originates and how it is passed on to humanity.

Christian Parenting - Spiritual Formation in the Family PART 2 - Forgiveness and Repentance

Repentance and forgiveness are major themes in the Bible.  Not only are we as people called to repent from our evil ways before God, but we are called to forgive those who sin against us.  The hardest words for someone to utter are "I am sorry, will you forgive me for..."  I have watch all 5 of my children struggle to say these words.  Sometimes they get the "I'm sorry", other times they say "will you forgive me?" And occasionally they even way it and mean it, but to say the entire sentence, naming the transgression is almost more than they can bear.

Why is this?