Praise Him to Them
Has God been good to you over the course of your life? Can you point to specific moments when He answered your prayers in powerful ways, when He surprised you with His goodness, when you were overwhelmed with the evidence of His love for you?
Our goal with this week’s conversation starters is simple—to look for opportunities to commend God’s works to the next generation, to be intentional about telling of His mighty acts in our lives to our kids.
We’re pulling that big idea from Psalm 145, where David’s description of praising God includes praising Him to the generation just coming up. In short, worship includes praising God to our kids.
What do you have to praise God for personally? Maybe a few of the questions below can help you and your child to praise Him to each other.
Talking Points
- What does it mean to you to worship God? [Parent: You could talk about definitions for this word for a whole book, but big ideas include adoring Him, giving Him our whole lives, responding to Him with respect and gratitude, praising Him, and becoming “living sacrifices” in His service. (See Romans 12:1-2.)]
- What are some of the specific ways that we worship God as a family or separately?
- What are some of the ways that we praise God? How is that the same as and different from worshipping Him with our whole lives?
- Have you ever praised anyone beside God? Is that okay? [Parent: Of course it is. We praise the people in our family, as well as friends, actors, writers, etc. We praise all kinds of people.]
- Do we always praise people to their face or is it okay to praise people to other people? Can you think of any examples of someone you praised recently to someone else?
- I wonder if we could praise God to each other a little bit right now. We don’t have to sing or read the Bible, just talk about some of the good and powerful things we’ve seen Him do. For instance, what are three things in each of our lives we can think of that are evidence that God loves us right now? [Parent: Go first and be specific. Be creative. Remember, James 1:17 says every good gift is from God.]
- Can you think of a time when things were going really badly and it seemed like God stepped in and used His power to help in a big way? [Parent: Be ready with some examples from your own life.]
- What are some other things in each of our lives that might convince us that God is powerful? [Parent: Share more examples. They can be personal but also from Scripture or creation or the stories of other people. Remember, the bigger point here is for you to commend God’s greatness to your kids.]
- I can think of times in my life where I decided to rebel against God—thinking I was right and His word was wrong—and I found out the hard way He is right all the time. [Parent: Think about sharing an example or two that shows that God is right—and forgiving and merciful, as well.]
- What are two or three of our favorite things about God’s character? [Parent: Go first again. Psalm 145:8-9 might help: “The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”]
- Can we think together of a few things we’re trusting God to do for us in the future—because He is strong, He loves us, and He keeps His word?
Back.
