5 Spiritual Disciplines to Grow Your Family Closer to God in the New Year

2. Prayer

Prayer is so powerful and can happen anywhere, anytime. You can say a prayer before your kids go to bed, pray as a family before meals, and bless your kids before you depart for the day. You can use prayer in many ways to draw yourself and your family closer to God.

Jesus modeled how important prayer was from his brief time on earth. Before He was taken away to be killed, He took His disciples to Gethsemane, and told them to stay put while He went to a different spot to be alone and pray. (Matthew 26:36) Jesus describes His soul as being overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. (Matthew 26:38)

We can go and pray anytime. Like Jesus, if our souls are heavy, we can take our burdens to the Lord. If your family is going through a tough time: a job loss, a death in the family, an illness, or one of your kids is struggling, these are all great times to gather as a family and lift up your cares to the Lord. Show your kids that there is Someone bigger and mightier in control of everything. Teach your kids they can’t control everything, yet we can take everything to the Lord in prayer.

You obviously can’t force your kids to say prayers every night before bed, but you can say prayers for them and with them. You can open the lines of communication and ask what they need prayers for. Teach them they can pray about anything.

When we model how to pray for our kids, we are teaching the importance of prayer. We can pray for our kids every day, that they will never know a day without the Lord in their life. We must pray for our kids so their hearts will be turned towards the Lord, and they will continue to draw near to Him.

Prayer is powerful, and if you model a life of prayer, your kids will have somewhere to turn when you are no longer there.

3. Family Dinner

I know life is busy, and parents are running their kids around while also taking care of their own responsibilities. Family dinner is a way to gather after a full day. It’s a time when everyone can share what was significant in their day—the highs and lows.

Start your family meal with a blessing over the food. Have everyone wait until the last member is sitting down and to say the blessing. This requires patience from everyone, and allows for a brief moment where you can give thanks to the One who ultimately provided the food. Usually everyone is starving at my house, and waiting for everyone to make their plates so we can bless the food feels like a long time, but in reality, God does so much for us, it’s one tiny way to remind our kids How the Lord provides.

When everyone is going around sharing highlights from their day, you can tuck away these events so they can be prayed for later.

Families are extremely busy these days. Sharing a meal allows you to create a touchpoint for your family. Eating a meal together does require planning and communication. You must share your desires with everyone so all members can be home to share in the meal. It requires grocery shopping and meal planning preparation, but the result is worth the effort.

Creating a habit of sharing dinner together develops a tighter unit that opens up to each other. Have fun, be silly at the dinner table. Sometimes, family members are tired and maybe a little cranky (including myself) by this time of day, so usually, my husband does or says something silly to make us all laugh and lift the sober mood. Don’t have high expectations for this time, just enjoy each other. Satan is always present when Christians gather, so don’t be surprised if there is bickering or unappreciative hearts.

God created the family unit, and He loves when it’s thriving. Allow some conversation and laughter be a way to glorify Him.

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4. Family Worship

Family worship will look very different per household. Just like family dinners, it’s a great way to connect and communicate. Family worship is a way to continue the teaching during the week. The goal is to re-center our hearts towards God. During the midst of a demanding week, we can often find ourselves drifting away from Him.

Time of day, format, and duration varies based on ages of kids and family schedule. Sometimes we read a devotional book together with stories and a biblical message at the end. My husband has a number of resources he can pull from that have a scripture and a message. They take fifteen to twenty minutes. We usually end with a brief prayer. We find after dinner the best time for our family to gather for worship.

By drawing the family together and reading the Bible or discussing biblical principles, you are reminding your kids of the importance of faith. Faith is not something we just practice on Sunday; it’s something we learn to incorporate into our lives all the time.

There is a lot of competition out there. Culture will push its messages on your kids all week long. The music they listen to, the commercials they watch, social media, clothing ads, and on and on. They are marketed to all day, all the time. Even if they don’t have technology, just by driving around they are bombarded with signs, billboards, and radio ads.

Family worship can re-center the family to what is important. The family is a critical unit and keeping your faith at the center takes time and effort. Learning about God will help equip your kids to be better prepared for the world. The more Biblical knowledge you can teach them now, the better off they will be. That way they can depend on these truths later.

5. Family Vacations

While vacations might seem like an odd way to draw your family closer to God, they can be a great opportunity to teach your kids how to find God in nature and appreciate His creation.

Whether you are visiting a national park, gazing up at a vast mountain, playing at the beach, or fishing in a lake, there are numerous ways to enjoy and appreciate God’s creation. He is everywhere.

When you are enjoying this family time, make sure to give God the glory, and remind your kids that God created everything. It’s almost hard to wrap your head around and it reminds us of how small we are in His massive world.

The Grand Canyon and the Rockies speak to His magnitude, yet observing a lady bug or butterfly in your backyard also point to His care of creation and attention to detail. Both are filled with wonder and point back to Him. All of God’s creations help us understand Him better and remind us of His power, omnipresence, and love for us and all His creation.

Whether you are planning an annual trip to the beach to collect seashells, or you are traveling to Alaska to go whale watching, or to Yellowstone National Park to witness Old Faithful, there is no lack of appreciating God and what He has created. The key is to take a minute and acknowledge the One who created it all. There is wonder and beauty all around us; we need only have our eyes and hearts pointed up to discover it.

Habits and disciplines ensure we keep striving towards a goal. Most Christian parents desire their families to continue to grow closer to the Lord. While we cannot force faith on our kids, we can nurture their hearts and minds with regular hearing of the Word at church, and at home. Putting in place spiritual disciplines can be a great way for your family to draw closer to the Lord and each other.