There was a time when Government called the Nation to a Day for Fasting and Prayer

God has given these instructions. It's a God thing, not a man's good idea. The word of the Lord came to Joel...consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. (Joel 1:1, 14).  And in 2 Chronicles 7:14

There was a time when our Presidents acknowledged God was above our nation and only He could save it.

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  "I HAVE therefore thought it fit to recommend, that Wednesday, the 9th day of May next be observed throughout the United States, as a day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer" President John Adams' March 23, 1798


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  "to recommend that a day be set apart for Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer throughout the Union."  President James Buchannan Dec. 14, 1860


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  "I HAVE therefore thought fit to appoint, and with the advice and consent of the Council, I do hereby appoint Thursday, the Second Day of April next, to be observed as a Day of Public Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer throughout this Commonwealth:-Calling upon the Ministers of the Gospel, of every Denomination, with their respective Congregations, to assemble on that Day, and devoutly implore the Divine forgiveness of our Sins," Massachusetts Gov. Samuel Adams, February 28, 1795


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  "I do hereby appoint Friday the Twenty-Seventh Day of March next, to be observed as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer throughout this State.  And I do hereby call upon the People of all denominations of Religion, devoutly and solemnly to keep said Day and appropriate it as a Day of special religious service, devoted to God in solemn Duties of penitential acknowledgment of their Sins, private and social, against the Divine Will and government." Connecticut Gov. Jonathan Trumbull's February 20, 1807


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  " I do therefore recommend the third Thursday in August next, as a convenient day to be set apart for the devout purposes of rendering to the Sovereign of the Universe and the Benefactor of mankind, the public homage due to his holy attributes; of acknowledging the transgressions which might justly provoke the manifestations of His divine displeasures; of seeking His merciful forgiveness." President James Madison, August 1812


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  "to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him that, for such singular deliverances and blessings; they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union." President Abraham Lincoln October 3, 1863


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   "I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation...and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions" President George Washington, October 17, 1789

Although our President Obama declared before the world that Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation", it's simply no true.  America was once a praised nation by the world because it's Governmental leaders would humble themselves before His Mighty Hand.  Now, young and old citizens of America have called the nation to a solemn assembly.  There is hope, here is former Governor Mike Huckabee calling the nation to a day of fasting and prayer:

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Education "by the way" for young learners

Deuteronomy 6:7 "...and you shall teach them diligently to your children.....when you walk by the way..."

Being gone through schooling all my years of school even through a teaching credetial program for the state of CA, I had been taught and conditioned that education is something to do rather than a way of life.   In my home education, a check list in my "to do list" would be something like "math", "read Bible" at a certain time.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with schedules or scheduling activities, many times it's the only way you'll get things done.  But the way we approach each task in our schedule has a lot to say about how motivated children will be at learning.

I've experienced that with young learners love to learn new things.  They will be life long learners when we make education a life style rather than a task or chore. 

At first I would say something like, "Lizbeth, it's time for our writing, or Bible reading."  At first she would eagerly engage.  The next day, I would get a response like "uuuugh, I don't want to do it."  Rather than seeing disobedience, she was trying to tell me that it wasn't interesting or exciting. 

Now, she would go through anything on my "to do list", but without knowing it and with a totally different attitude.  First, I know what interests her.  She likes to draw.  So I say something like, "Lizbeth, let's read this story and illustrate it."  Wow! What a different response.  She is then off showing her Bible illustration to everyone.  Then she would be playing about the story. 

Recently she did this with Dad.  They read about those who enter through the wide gate and the narrow gate.  They illustrated it.  She shared it excitedly with everyone in the house.  The next day I found her playing and she told be, "Mommy, look, these people are going through this wide gate and these little girl is going through the narrow gate."

Now reading and writing is done all day long too.   She would read a recipe as we bake something or write our shopping list or do some math with the recipe ingredients.  And there, reading, writing and math was done  on my schedule. 

Lizbeth has just turned six and almost everything she has learned now has been by living life day by day and seizing every opportinity and every question she asks to instruct her in the subject.   This really applies to almost everything to a young mind.  This way the Word of God is  being lived and applied before us all throughout the day.

This is essential for her, as she is developing a heart of wisdom, to view learning as an exciting never ending treasure.   If there is something that I think is of value for her to learn and she is not interested, then it's my job to make it interesting.  It always works.  In our house the word "boring" or "bored" is forbidden.  I tell my children that when your soul is asleep, you're almost always bored.  But awakens our soul so we can use our imagination and be creative in any circumstance.

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Family Devotions

Every morning our day starts with family worship, Bible and prayer.  With little ones, let me tell you, it's quite different.  We can't expect the deep worship we're used to in the House of Prayer, or exegetical Bible studies or long prayer sessions.  They are different, fun, practical and with lots of instruction.  We have dancers and singers in our home.  They can dance and sing all day.  So worship time is always a favorite time.   Honestly, our girls look forward to the "exampolitos" as they call it.  This is when Mom or Dad (usually Dad), sits with them and reads the Proverb verses that corresponds to that day of the month.  Then he takes whatever little things the girls brought and they come alive as he does examples of the verses read.  The girls love it so much that would stay sitting and attentive for an hour at times.  Usually, we have to stop to move on with our day, but they always insist, "just one more, Daddy, just one more, pleeeeeease".

One a good day Daddy would do just one more.  On other days Bible time would go something like this:

Dad: ...that means to be kind to one another and share...

Lizbeth:  No, Sarah, I need this one (and takes an example "person" from little sister)

Sarah: No, I want it, waaa, waaaa

Dad:  hey, wait a minute, what am I just teaching you girls.

Did you ever had these times?

There are endless ideas on age appropriate family devotions.  Dress up, use puppets, act them out, use props and make characters come alive...

What are some the ideas you do to instruct your little ones in God's ways?

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