CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Children's Ministries

Praying the Psalms

by

“Whoever prays the Psalms earnestly and regularly will soon stop those other light and personal little devotional prayers and say: Ah, there is not the juice, the strength, the passion, the fire which I find in the Psalms.” Martin Luther[i]

By Archie Parrish. God blessed my wife and me with three children. From the moment of their births we talked to them. Daily we did everything we could to get them to repeat what we said. At first only Jean and I could understand the sounds they made. Day after day, we continued talking to them, and after a while they began echoing our words back to us. Single words grew into short sentences. Because we continued to talk to our children they learned to talk to us.

In a similar fashion God teaches His children the language of prayer. The Holy Spirit prays for us and helps us learn to pray. The Holy Spirit inspired the whole Bible; and He uses all Scripture to help us pray. But He especially uses the book of Psalms. As we pray the Psalms, the Holy Spirit helps us commune with the Father, conform to the Son, and combat the devil.

Only men and women set free from sin through faith in Christ can successfully fight spiritual warfare. As sons and daughters in a conscious vital relationship with our Father and with His family in a local church, we can properly serve as soldiers in Christ’s army and gain victory in battles with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Leaders in spiritual warfare need not be brilliant; they cannot be self-confident. They are to be humble servants, who are courageous because they are confident in the Lord. They lead by example and are people of prayer who multiply after their kind. Soldiers in spiritual warfare are humble followers of Jesus who maintain their morale by a steady diet of psalms and basic Christian truth, especially Scripture. They boldly engage the enemy. Spiritual warriors know their enemies and believe God is sufficient to defeat them. Spiritual warriors believe kingdom-focused prayer is their super-weapon.

The Calvinist reformers were led by a militant aristocracy and financed by wealthy bourgeoisie. They put up long and frequently successful battles. Yet the leadership and finance could not have won the day had the individual Calvinists not possessed, to quote Cromwell, “a conscience of what they were doing.” In many cases, they won their battles or retrieved those they had lost, not through generalship nor through greater economic power, but because of superior morale. In building up and maintaining this morale, the battle hymns of the Psalter played a conspicuous part.[ii]

The psalms owed their importance in this connection primarily to Calvin himself. Usually when thinking of all his influence on the resistance movements, we tend to stress his teachings, his organization, and his personality. Yet at the grass-roots level these perhaps did not have all of the impact which we usually attribute to them. The thing that really “grabbed” the common man, the ordinary Calvinistic soldier, was something much more mundane: his catechetical training[iii] and the congregational singing of the psalms.

David said, “I give myself to prayer” (Psalm 109:4). Literally the original Hebrew reads, “I prayer”, i.e. “I am prayer.” The Holy Spirit desires to help us become prayer. Here is how He is helping me. I begin every day with the book of Psalms. I divided the book into thirty almost equal portions and I spend about thirty minutes prayerfully reading aloud one portion. I use the English Standard Version because it is an accurate translation and it is easy to read.

This daily discipline has been so rewarding that I am now trying to learn all 150 Psalms by heart. It was not unusual for devout Jews in the time of Jesus and His Apostles to know by heart the “whole of David,” i.e., the entire book of Psalms. It is probable that our Lord Jesus had all the Psalms memorized. They certainly were the very fabric of His life. In His most painful moments, as He faced death on the cross, He instinctively cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46). These are David’s words recorded in Psalm 22:1.

Jesus’ last words from the cross were, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). As soon as their children began to talk, devout Jewish mothers taught them to pray, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31:5). Each night before going to sleep the children prayed these words. To this childhood prayer, Jesus adds the personal address, “Father.” Concerning His atoning work on the cross, Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30), then He prayed to the Father as a little child turning in for the night.

Paul urged earlyChristiansto “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). Praying the Psalms built the early Christians into an army of kingdom intercessors. New Testament writers quote more verses from the Psalms than any other Old Testament book.[iv] Praying the Psalter shaped the life of early Christianity into a militant kingdom focus.

Martin Luther relied on the Psalms to become a man of prayer. Said Luther:”When I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little Psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and, if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do.”[v]

The Secret that unlocks the Psalter is the fact that it is the prayer book of Jesus, the Messiah and Mediator. He is the Head; the Church is His Body. And Head and Body are one; so the Body should join in the prayers of the Head. With this perspective we can pray all the Psalms, even when the writer protests his innocence or invokes God’s judgment, or goes through infinite depths of suffering. Jesus Christ Himself is praying here and in the whole Psalter.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer observes:”This insight the New Testament and the Church have always recognized and declared. The Man Jesus Christ, to whom no affliction, no ill, no suffering is alien and who yet was the wholly innocent and righteous one, is praying in the Psalter through the mouth of His Church. The Psalter is the prayer book of Jesus Christ in the truest sense of the word. The Psalter is the vicarious prayer of Christ for His Church. This prayer belongs not to the individual member, but to the whole Body of Christ. In the Psalter we learn to pray on the basis of Christ’s prayer.”[vi]Ask the Father to show you the praying Christ in the Psalms and teach you how to use the Psalms in your prayer life.

A Significant Question

One question that often is asked concerning praying the Psalms is: How can I pray a Psalm when it does not express exactly what I feel in my heart at the moment? Anyone who is truly honest will admit the need to pray against our own heart in order to pray rightly. After all is said and done, it is not what we want to pray that is important, but that for which God wants us to pray. Jeremiah warns, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) If we only follow our hearts, we would probably only pray for “our daily bread,” God wants us to pray that His will be done, not our will. As you pray the Psalms, begin by praying, “Father, enable me to pray not from the poverty of my heart, but from the richness of Your word.”

Making the Psalms yours

Let me close this plea to pray the Psalms by sharing with you a few practical suggestions. Below is a thirty-day schedule for praying through the Psalms. Each section requires about fifteen minutes, depending on how much meditation I do.

Before reading pray: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law…. Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:18, 34). “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23, 24).

  • While reading turn the words of the Psalms into prayer.

  • Read aloud, in a normal voice if possible but at least in a whisper. (This helps concentration and avoids distraction.)

  • Read on your knees, when possible.

  • Read daily-I usually do this when the Lord awakens me early in the morning.

  • Read frequently during the day–Carry the Psalter with you and refer to the day’s portion frequently.

Let us join Luther in the following prayer:”Our dear Lord, who has given to us and taught us to pray the Psalter and the Lord’s Prayer, grant us also the spirit of prayer and grace so that we pray with enthusiasm and earnest faith, properly and without ceasing, for we need to do this; he has asked us for it and therefore wants to have it from us. To him be praise, honor, and thanksgiving. Amen.”[vii]

[i] Foreword to the Neuburg edition of the Psalms, 1545.

[ii] W. Stanford Reid, The Battle Hymns of the Lord-Calvinist Psalmody of the Sixteenth Century, p. 36.

[iii] The use of question and answer instruction used in Catechisms was part of the Passover celebration. See Exodus 12:25-27: “When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'”

[iv] Nestl

Willing to Change for the Better

by

Fresh off another stint in Vacation Bible School, I’ve found myself reflecting on the week. I heard children recite verses – some lengthy sections from Philippians 2. I listened to our four-year-old granddaughter sing the songs in the afternoons. I watched child after child participate enthusiastically. And almost everybody was there every day-including a large number from outside the church.Could we transplant some of that enthusiasm into the Sunday school?

Before you say it’s different, bear with me. If we are going to reach this generation it will require more than tweaking a few things. We must rethink everything. That requires imagination, creativity with dependence on and direction from our God.

So, if you’re willing, ask some questions. Have you had a kid’s ministry effort that really worked? Why? Can some of those ingredients be incorporated into a program that’s struggling? Or maybe it’s time to stop doing one thing so that you can try another that might be more effective. Underscore the word “might.” You must have the courage to change, which is no small thing, particularly if you fear messing with success. Because you might fail, and then you will have to try again. Where and how will the Spirit work?

Back to Sunday school. What about breaks between the quarters or even a semester system with a lengthy hiatus? That way it doesn’t just keep going, and it can begin again with a fresh burst of energy.What about lengthening the time frame? That also means enlarging your staff to include special activities. What would it take to have a great time of singing? To focus on learning significant sections of the Bible? To have some fun time?

Is it possible to revive the attendance drives that were part of many Sunday schools years ago? That will require challenging programs for adults as well as kids-no small order. But the possible result is families beginning to attend church together and perhaps discovering for the first time the life-changing message of the gospel.Could you try Sunday school at a different time?And what about your teenagers? I saw a number of them taking on adult responsibilities last summer. Could their role in Sunday school be enlarged?

Hopefully I’ve raised enough issues to get you thinking. What you’re doing now may be effective. How can you make it more effective? Or you might have to stretch to justify it. What can you do with it to begin making a difference in the lives of those in your church and your community?

Covenant “Stones of Passage” Making the Events Special

by

By Brad Winsted. Points of remembrance or ebenezer stones, which recall God’s mercy and sustaining power (Joshua 4), are important reminders of growing up with the Lord. After all, our God is a communicating God, a God of promises, a covenantal God who has established a sacred, eternal relationship with His called ones, whom He has guaranteed and confirmed by His Son’s death on the cross. Sadly in our society children and young people are often at a loss to see God’s hand in anything. Growing up in a culture with temporal and fleeting qualities they long to refer to and identify with meaningful points on the timeline of life.

Even in reformed churches we are losing our young people in droves when they graduate from high school because they see no relevance in their communicant vows. In many of our churches the youth group has taken the place of the church; our young people’s faith and service is intertwined with the friendships and commitments made there. Their identity as Christians is often seen through the prism of the youth leader and the activities of this separated subgroup of the church. It is easy to understand why. When the young person looks ahead after his youth group experience, he sees little relevance to his “parents’ church.”

Becoming an adult in our postmodern society is now related more to secular memory stones or rites of passage such as obtaining a driver’s license, graduating from high school, reaching legal drinking age (or attaining some other age-related privilege like legally smoking or seeing an “R” rated movie with out borrowing someone else’s ID) and sometimes even having physical relationships with the opposite sex. Biblically speaking these are all false signs of maturity. None of them demonstrates doing away with “childish things” and becoming a mature member of the household of faith. In this article I would like to explore some things that many of our reformed churches are doing, or could do, to give our young people a true sense of being whole in Christ, approved workmen who do not need to be ashamed.

At a Christian education conference I recently attended, a pastor shared a new tradition his church was instituting. When parents present their child for baptism before God and the congregation, the father is asked if he will offer a prayerful blessing in the child’s behalf. What a wonderful memory this would make if someone would write out the father’s prayer and frame it with a picture to hang in the baby’s room. I am often impressed when I enter a home and see family pictures displayed on the walls or in albums. These are especially meaningful if the photos show the family doing things together that inspire memories.

We all know the statistics. The millennial or bridger generation is very likely to be the least Christian ever (around 5 percent), fragmented, unsure of what they believe in, longing for permanent relationships (which they never saw growing up), and scared. Scared of everything getting worse, of another divorce, another suicide-attempt, another stepfather or stepbrother to become acquainted with, losing another job, or being replaced by another person. How can we give this generation within our reformed churches the memory stones and the rites of passages that mark their maturity to Christian adulthood? Here are some ideas compatible with our worldview.

Prepare the parents

Most parents did not grow up in homes where a covenantal worldview was clearly expressed, let alone lived out. Jonathan Edwards, the great American Presbyterian of our early history, called homes “little churches” where the essence of our Christianity is worked out. He stressed that “family education and [family] order are the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffective. [However] if these are duly maintained, all means of grace are likely to prosper and be effective.”

I believe one of the most enlightening and effective ways to grow our children up in the faith and instill in them lasting faith, bold prayers, and confidence in God’s faithful leading, is the family altar. Here is where the rubber meets the road. Here is where the father is a daily, living example of Christ’s love. Here is where the priest of the home builds the living stones of faith. Here is where questions can be asked and answers given. If we leave it to the “professionals” on Sunday then our children will quickly conclude that Christianity is a Sunday thing and relegate it to insignificance. But we as parents are pulled in so many directions! How can we ever have family devotions and prayer? Something must give, and it might have to be a small group, sports activity, television, the internet, or many other “good” things that are not growing our children up to walk in the footsteps of Christ.

The church must provide models for questioning parents. Fathers must be challenged from the pulpit and mentored by the session. If we want mature, motivated Christian young people then we must have mature, motivated parents. Paying youth leaders to do the work is shortsighted at best. Mature, functioning families are a clear beacon in this fragmented age. The church must be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Challenge our children to grow in grace and knowledge

Christ grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (and don’t forget that he was in “obedience” to his parents), Luke 2:51-52. Timothy (Paul’s prodigy), continued in what his mother and grandmother taught him and “from infancy” knew the holy Scriptures, which were able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

Some memory stones and rites of passages for our young people can be knowledge of the Scriptures, memorization of the Catechism for Young Children (to help them understand the basics and distinctives of their faith), and finally true covenantal training to prepare them for communicant membership in the church. I will expand on that point in the next section.

Do our children know the origin of their names? God places more significance on names than we do. The names He uses for Himself in scripture could be studied for a lifetime. One of the signs of Adam’s dominion over the animal kingdom was the privilege he was granted in naming the animals. When Zechariah named John the Baptist it was a tremendous event because he chose a name from outside the family. The stories in Scripture abound with the names covenant parents chose for their children. Yet today we do not challenge our children to live up to the biblical, historical, or familial meaning of their names. A child’s thorough understanding of the origin, meaning, and challenge of his name can be an exciting stone of remembrance in his life.

Celebrate communicant membership day

This event is different from church to church, yet I have never seen it used in a fashion that would truly grow the child up in Christ. This true, biblical rite of passage is often a perfunctory meeting with the elders and a few minutes at a worship service in which the young person is just one in a crowd. What a great opportunity to build and strengthen covenant families! Here are some suggestions to make this event a springboard to maturity and involvement.

The father would train the child in the basics of the faith (again, if the child has learned the catechism this will be immeasurably easier). The pastor could provide an outline. Both child and parent would greatly benefit. The father and mother would determine when the child is ready to go before the elders. The child would understand that becoming a communicant member involves saying publicly that he knows he is a sinner, knows he needs a Savior, knows that Savior is Christ, and now can serve the church through the grace afforded him by his salvation (sanctification). As part of the communicant training the church and parents could explore the unique gifts their children have that can be used in ministry.

When the day to receive the young communicant into the congregation arrives, the worship service could be modified (I recommend conducting a separate service if we are really convinced that this should be a special covenant rite of passage) to have the parents participate with a covenant blessing for their child, for members of the congregation to tell how they have been blessed by the child, for special words of encouragement to be given to the young adult about how he should serve the Lord with his gifts. The pastor could have a special blessing. A reception could follow the service. A special item of remembrance could be prepared, such as a record of the parents’ and pastor’s prayers, a picture of the event, and letters of encouragement and exhortation.

Part of the final preparation to receive the young person into the congregation should be a well-thought out plan for how this child will minister in the church with the unique gifts God has given him. I’m convinced that one of the reasons we lose our young people to the world is that they do not see a place to minister in the church. Teaching, music, missions-there are many places where their talents could be readily used.

Present a courtship ring of sexual purity

Our society has gone sex-mad and our covenant children have been caught up in the madness. One example of this is “recreational dating” in which inappropriate emotional and physical relationships prepare the young person for break-up (and later divorce). Wouldn’t it be great if our children’s high school friends were praying partners and true friends so they would not have to experience dissolved relationships because of the shame that they committed towards one another?

One way to anchor the child’s heart is to present him or her with a covenant courtship ring (or pendant) that pledges that the parents will be involved in choosing a life partner, and that the young person will guard his or her heart (which can be crushed just as savagely by inappropriate emotional relationships as by physical relationships) and purity of body until marriage.

We must stop the tide of moral relativism and immorality in our culture. Parents must raise chaste children, who see sexual purity as a gift for the wedding bed, and enjoy life-long friendships with true sisters and brothers in Christ, unmarred by sexual fantasies and immoral thought lives. The American way of dating is a minefield of immorality and danger; we must counter it with a Godly commitment to biblical courtship.

Commemorate graduation

A key point in young people’s passage is their graduation from high school. Instead of leaving it to the local school (parochial or government) to decide the most important charge to give our covenant children, why not plan our own Special Day of Remembrance? Here are some ideas.

Arrange for a Christian who has truly impacted the young person’s life (relative, pastor, coach, or mentor) to be the main speaker. Have other adults and peers comment and exhort. Let the young person speak a word of thanksgiving to his or her parents, church leaders, other adults, and friends, truly glorifying God by thanking Him for the grace that has led him or her to this place (a true ebenezer-hither by Thy help I’ve come). Give gifts that have personalized meanings, not another five-dollar bottle of cologne or perfume. Include special music performed by friends of the graduate, or even by the graduate. There are many other ways to make this transition a special moment rather than a cookie-cutter imitation of the secular culture.

These are some suggestions for how we can truly impact our covenant children’s lives. We must be prepared with a plan for them or the world will supply one that could easily take them down the road to destruction. Our society will not set biblical “rites of passage” for our covenant children. We can do this by integrating home and church into a tradition of hope in the darkness around us.

Questions for discussion:

1. If we believe that we are to pass the faith on to the next generation, what kind of things are we doing in our church to obey that biblical mandate?

2. What does our church do to communicate our desire and intention to work with the parents to pass on the truth of God to the younger generation?

3. Discuss the suggestions of the article with this question in mind: What can we do to make covenant baptism and public profession of faith (joining the church) a more meaningful experience?

4. What are we doing in our church to help strengthen the homes of the congregation, particularly in helping the parents with their role? (See Training Hearts, Teaching Minds in the book review section.)

5. What role do the parents in our church play in determining when a covenant child is ready for a pubic profession of faith in Christ?

Guidelines for Choosing Children’s Novels

by

By Elaine L. Schulte. Numerous guidelines have been written for choosing children’s novels. Most emphasize the need for high standards of art and writing, as well as stories that are appropriate to children’s ages and tastes. Few guidelines, however, consider the philosophies that authors promote, whether consciously or unconsciously.

The authors’ underlying messages are especially important now since many of the newer secular novels deal with society’s harsh realities. Unfortunately, they often give answers to problems that are repugnant to most Christians. While there are still many wonderful novels for children in libraries, it is becoming increasingly important for parents and other concerned adults to know how to weed out juvenile novels that promote evil.

These guidelines are meant for adults who have little time to pre-read or discuss the novels with the children who receive them:

1) Buy most of the books at Christian bookstores or borrow at church libraries, if possible.

2) Refer to Christian readers’ guides for children such as How to Raise a Reader (Cook) which is age-graded and recommends Christian as well as secular novels. Others that deal with reading: Honey for a Child’s Heart (Zondervan) and Books Children Love (Crossway).

3) If you buy at children’s bookstores where they pre-read their books, try to find out something about the reviewers’ philosophies. (A few of these stores also sell crystals and promote New Age books.)

4) If you buy at secular bookstores, read the book covers. Beware of key words like sexuality, alternate lifestyles and meditation. Read the teaser page in front, then scan the story and read the last few paragraphs. Does the story end with hope or hopelessness? Just because the back cover mentions God or faith, it doesn’t necessarily mean Christianity.)

5) Read the small print Library of Congress cataloging data on the copyright page for clues about the book’s content. (Example: Here Comes Ginger “Summary: Ten-year-old Ginger reacts badly to her mother’s plans to remarry, but after a great deal of anguish, God grants her peace and acceptance. (1) Remarriage- Fiction. (2) Christian life- Fiction.”

6) Even in the public library, choose books as carefully as you’d select a TV program. For pre-teen and teen novels in particular, ask the children’s librarian if the book might somehow be offensive.

7) Become familiar with authors and the general tone of the books they write.

8) For current books, check newspaper reviews and their book supplements. Libraries also have information on new and forthcoming books which is available upon request. Standard sources are: Publishers Weekly, Virginia Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal and the Horn Book.

9) Novels such as Heidi, Little Women, Robinson Crusoe and the Little House on the Prairie series are considered classics. When in doubt, consider such books.

10) Be equally discerning about the books and magazines you have in the house yourself Children very often read them.

Elaine Schulte is author of the highly acclaimed Ginger Series for girls 8-12, and the California Pioneer Series for women and teem.