Opening Devotions - Evergreen Parenting Course

PART ONE – On your marks; get set ;go
Practical / Give each person a handful of smarties or astros, ask them to choose their favourite colour and tell the group why they like the colour.
Bible reading / Deuteronomy 6:4
4 Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! 5 Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! 6 Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you 7 and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. 8 Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; 9 inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.
Discussion points /
  • God wants us to love him completely
  • God wants us to teach our children about his commandments
  • God wants us to make his commandments part of our daily routine

Prayer / Thank you Lord for giving us your word, help us to hear you today as we discover things about ourselves and about you.
PART TWO – Authority
Practical / If when you get to heaven you can ask God one question, what would it be?
Bible reading / Luke 10: 18 – 20
18 Jesus said, "I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. 19 See what I've given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. 20 All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you - that's the agenda for rejoicing."
Discussion points /
  • God has authority over the whole earth and all people in it
  • God has given us his authority
  • We need to teach our children to submit to our authority so that they can learn to submit to God’s authority

Prayer / Thank you Lord that you are always with us and that you have authority over us, help us to learn more about your authority.
PART THREE – Temperament
Practical / Give each person a piece (or 2) of the same puzzle, get them to build the puzzle together . OR Give each person a piece of a Mr. Potato head – get them to build him together.
Discuss how each piece is important to the group and to make the picture/ Mr Potato head complete
Bible reading / 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
12 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts - limbs, organs, cells - but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. 13 By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain - his Spirit - where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves - labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free - are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. 14 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together
Discussion points /
  • We are each created with a specific temperament and function
  • We are all necessary for the body of Christ to function properly
  • No part is more important than any other part

Prayer / Thank-you Lord for creating us each uniquely, help us tonight to discover more of who you made each one of us and each one of our children to be
PART FOUR – Discipleship
Practical / Tell the group about a time when you have prayed for or with your children
Bible reading / Matthew 19:14-15
14 But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these." 15 After laying hands on them, he left.
Discussion points /
  • It is our responsibility as parents to bring our children to a place where they can meet with Jesus
  • Jesus loved the children, he laid hands on them and blessed them
  • We need to pray for our children and bring them God’s blessings

Prayer / Thank you Lord for always taking care of our children, help us to bring them to you and to bless them every day
PART FIVE – Discipline
Practical / Have each one write a list of discipline related words. When time is up, start reading the lists one word at a time. Say the first one is "time out". All parents with "time out" on their lists will cross it off. Go through all suggestions until you find out all the unique words in the group.
Bible reading / Proverbs 22:6
6 Train a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he will not turn away from it.
Discussion points /
  • God has a plan for each child’s life
  • It is our responsibility to help our children to hear God’s guidance and find their own unique way
  • We can train a child and help him to find God’s way in his/her life and this will stand in good stead for the rest of their life

Prayer / Thank- you father that you have an awesome plan for each of our children, help us to help them discover that plan
PART SIX – Stages of Development
Practical / Give each person a jelly baby (will discuss bible reading)
Bible reading / Psalm 139 : 13 - 16
13 You created the deepest parts of my being. You put me together inside my mother's body. 14 How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that. What you have done is wonderful. I know that very well. 15 None of my bones was hidden from you when you made me inside my mother's body. That place was as dark as the deepest parts of the earth. When you were putting me together there, 16 your eyes saw my body even before it was formed. You planned how many days I would live. You wrote down the number of them in your book before I had lived through even one of them
Discussion points /
  • God has known you and loved you since you were smaller than the jelly baby
  • God has known and loved your children since before they were the size of the jelly baby
  • God loves you and your children exactly as you are today

Prayer / Than you Lord that you know me so well, thank you that you love me and my children completely
PART SEVEN – Change grows roots
Practical / Give each person a jelly bean, ask them to choose one colour and say why that colour represents something that they would like to change about themselves as a parent
Bible reading / Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Discussion points /
  • God has an awesome plan for your life
  • God has an awesome plan for your child’s life
  • God wants the best for you

Prayer / Thank you Lord that you have my best interests at heart, help me to always remember your unconditional love for me.