A Great Way to Make Sure Your Family Studies the Bible Together

I know this may shock you, but my family and I have a terrible struggle with keeping a scheduled family Bible study and prayer time. We’ve learned all kinds of great ways to study and pray together. I’ve written about one of my favorites on this blog. But despite how inspiring some of these methods are, we get them started, do well for a while, and then it falls off. The struggle is often with making the schedules work. I don’t have a set schedule. I’ll have meetings come up or studies come up or I’ll have to go out of town. Or maybe something comes up for Marita or the kids. It gets in the way of our Bible study and prayer schedule and then, after a few misses, the habit is broken. A few weeks or months later, we are convicted about our lack of devotion and we get back on the family Bible study bandwagon feeling all kinds of shame and guilt.

If you’re like us, I’ve got something that might help. We’ve discovered a way to overcome this struggle. At least it is working for us. Although all kinds of things mess up our schedules every week and keep us from being able to set a timed schedule for Bible study, we recognized that we are actually pretty good at making sure we eat no matter what our scheduling does. No, we don’t actually get three family meals together every day. But we do get several family meals together each week.

So, we bought two cheap Bibles (Bibles that we didn’t mind getting a little food or drink spilled on them). Then we set them on our two tables. Now we have a reminder every time we sit down to eat to pull the Bible out and discuss it. We read a chapter and talk about it and then we pray.

This has been great for us because we are studying, praying, and having quality family time in actual communication. What is really great about this (since we are going through Proverbs right now) is how it has helped with discipline. We keep coming across Proverbs that apply to real life situations in our family. When one of us crosses the line on something, we’ve probably read a proverb about it that day. Now it is no longer just parents disciplining children; it is God disciplining our family.

You may not struggle with the scheduling. But if you do, I recommend this approach. See if it doesn’t help. Make sure you come back and let us know how it helps.

What do you do to help you study with your family? Click here to add your input.