Every evening, almost without fail, we sit down and share some time together as a family. Sometimes it may be brief. Other times, we may spend a while together.

But we always try to end the day with family devotions.

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it is an easy habit to develop. It’s not. All kinds of things will crop up and distract you from spending time together as a family in God’s Word. Big things will happen, such as a family crisis, or a friend in need. Little things will happen, such as a cranky baby, or simply a later night than usual.

We’ve found it to be more difficult since we placed our oldest daughter in public school for her high school years. She played volleyball in the fall, and is a cheerleader now for the basketball season. That means a busier schedule, more homework, later nights, and more responsibilities.

But we commit to it. And we recommit to it. And we stick to it and persevere because these are precious times together, and crucial to helping our kids develop into the people God has designed them to be.

We keep it simple. We read a brief devotional story from our devotion book, read and discuss the Scripture passage that accompanies it, and the discussion questions. We briefly discuss the day each of us had, and list something that happened that we are thankful for. and then we pray.

Here are a few more benefits I’ve noticed from doing family devotions together.

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• Promotes family unity and love
• Instructs the family in Christ’s truth
• Builds your faith in God’s promises as individuals and as a family
• You grow together in faith
• Binds you closer to your spouse – increasing the unity in your marriage and giving you depth in your relationship you never thought possible
• Allows you to communicate effectively with God, your spouse, and your children
• You pray together
• Builds a Christ-centered confidence in your life and your children’s lives that cannot be destroyed
• You rejoice together
• Binds you closer to your children, building a healthy parent/child relationship founded on God’s Word
• Integrates biblical principles learned at church with school and home life
• Enables us to live our faith in a practical manner
• Promotes a healthy understanding of who God says you are
• Develops a truly Christian spirit of love
• Teaches us to yield our individual rights as servants to one another
• Provides opportunities to fellowship together and have fun as a family
• Ignites a continued desire to seek God
• Instills in each member a desire to grow closer to the Lord
• Increases your ability to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to you

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I know I will never regret spending time together in God’s Word with my wife and kids.

Be deliberate, Dad!

What do you do to ensure that you spend time as a family doing daily devotions? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.