I love being a Mom, and I'm passionate about teaching these two little pilgrims. Like most of my friends, I've read my children the stories in the Children's bible. We go to children's church and they love singing spiritual songs. I'm thankful to our faith community and the leadership of my church. Our family has been reading Christian books relating to moral application of the Bible and in the course of each day we live out the truth of the Word. It is all about relationship and walking together.
However I've always felt that there needs to be more and one desire keeps burning in my heart: How do I guide them to taste the presence of the Holy Spirit, how do I teach them to hear His Voice? Is this even possible in children ages 5 to 12?
Slowly I've come to the realization that I need to help them "see". How do I reveal God's plan and purpose. The key word here is "REVEAL". To open their eyes bit by bit to the plan that God had from before the creation of the world. In short, I want to teach them how to interpret what they read (what they will read long after they've left my home and influence) in the Word.
I plan to post a Visual Aid regarding one theme I've come across in my Bible studies every two weeks. Together with a scriptural reference that older children can read and memorize.
I keep these where my children see them every day - on the wall by our dining room table. Together we refer to this now and again, talking about what it means. Sometimes they want to draw or paint their own artwork regarding the theme. Sometimes we bake cookies that look like a STAR and learn a scripture regarding this theme.
When we move on to the following theme, I move the first picture to the bathroom where we are slowly creating a room full of Scripture that we see numerous times a day.
I plan to slowly start connecting the dots when they get older and if God permits and we live trough this terrible season of loss in this world-pandemic, I would love to chat to them as teenagers about where the themes of the Bible come from and how we apply this to our daily lives.
In this season we will focus on themes such as Tree, Stars, Dust, Voice, Path, Temple, Image, Multitude, Rule, Tower of Bable etc.
I would recommend listening to the teachings of Gavin Porter in his series: God's Vision God's Mission. These have really helped me understand how these themes flow through the Old and New Testament and coming into fulfillment in Jesus Christ and Him on the cross.
Link to his first lesson in the series of 10: https://youtu.be/EfPlNov1FAU
Here follows a brief description of every aspect of the fourfold approach to Bible interpretation:
Literal: The literal meaning of the text, the face value of the words and text
Allegorical: The deeper meaning in the words, the spiritual meaning behind the obvious.
Tropological(moral): The moral application of the text, the day to day application of the text.
Anagogical: The spiritual application and important - the future and prophetic implication of the text.
Some practical examples of the practical application of the fourfold meaning of a text.
The name of Jerusalem may mean the following:
Literal - The physical city of Jerusalem
Allegorical - The nation of Israel or the Church (depends on context)
Tropological - The human spirit
The Anagogical - The heavenly Jerusalem/eternal life
(The Principles of Bible Interpretation, Dr Corne Bekker, 2004)
In this season I want to focus only on the Allegorical interpretation. When the children reach their teens I think the season will change towards discussions around the Anagogical application as they feel a need. This I pray over them, for them to seek the truth, which is and always will be Jesus Christ.
Personally I think that there is enough tools for us to apply the literal and moral interpretation of the Bible in our children's lives. Therefore I do not wish to create another children discipleship program or steps towards moral excellence. My heart longs for this: walking with my children every day in the ordinary. To walk together in Spirit and in Truth, teaching them to hear the Still Small Voice of the Holy Spirit. So that when the time comes for them to fly from the nest, they will soar.
I would just like to state that the information within the blog is not from a theological background, but my personal experience. I am not a pastor, prophet or theologian. I am just a Mom, I am still learning and I am humbly aware of my shortcomings and lack of knowledge of God. May God bless you and keep you and your family safe.
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