Family Devotional Time Resources
Remember, this is just a resource to help you as parents spend time listening to and reading God’s Word with your children!
Passage for this week: Romans 8:12-17
Resource: Pray The Word Podcast by David Platt (see link below)
How to use this resource: The questions below should be read after you and your family have spent time listening to the resource, and after you have had time to read through the passage carefully and slowly. Following your family time discussion (using the questions below, or your own questions regarding this text), close in prayer and ask your kids how you can be praying for them and let them know how they can be praying for you as parents.
Family Devotional Questions For This Week:
1. What stands out to you the most from reading this passage (verses 12-17)? What did you learn that is new to you from this passage? What did you learn that caused you to remember something you’ve known, or what has been reinforced from reading this passage?
2. Why, if I am led by the Spirit and am a son or a daughter of God now, do I still experience sin? Why do we still sin?
(Potential answers: Because we live in what can be understood as an “already/not yet” period where we have already been justified by God through Christs death and are given His righteousness through trust and faith in Him, but are not yet GLORIFIED with Christ, as what happens in death or at His return. in understanding our present justification, we have been “legally” deemed clean before God our judge under Christs perfection and in His righteousness. this is transferred to those who place their faith and trust in Him. but this does NOT mean that we will sin no more. we continue to live in our fallen state and in our broken vessels and, even as Paul understood this himself, we will unfortunately continue doing the things we wish we would not do – how wretched! (see Romans 7:15-20 for Pauls explanation himself). So, though we will continue to sin, we must bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8) each time we continue to sin and rid ourselves of what no longer has reign over our lives.)
3. So how can you and I be sons and daughters of God? What does this passage (12-17) teach us as the way to become sons/daughters of God?
(Potential answers: To simply live by the Spirit and according to the Spirit! this is accomplished by putting to death the things of the flesh, to not live according to the flesh anymore, but rather to live according to Gods Spirit given to each and every true believer of Jesus Christ. for those who have trusted in Christ Jesus, Paul explains that through this ADOPTION we now call God our Abba, Father, and that He has promised His Spirit living in us as the means through which sanctification takes place in our lives. we then do not look back to what we were once enslaved with (deeds according to the flesh) but look ahead to what we are free to do and to live according to the Spirit in us to please God!)
Prayer Prompts For This Week:
– Pray for God to remind you this week that in Christ, you are His son/daughter whom He loves.
– Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue guiding you this week and leading you in witnessing to those who are lost around you.
– Continue to pray for one another and write down or remember the requests of each person. Either have one person pray over each request, or delegate those prayer requests so that each person prays for something or someone specific.