Welcome to the Faithful Mothers podcast. My name is Kate Isaac and my goal is simple to bring you to the feet of Jesus in your marriage and motherhood and encourage you to cultivate a faithful heart and home. I wanna help you overcome overwhelm and distraction, keep your eyes focused on the Lord and equip you for the everyday challenges motherhood entails. I pray this episode blesses you.
Hi there and welcome back to The Faithful Mothers podcast. I’m Kate and I’m so glad you’re joining me today. Here on the podcast, we encourage and equip Christian moms who feel overwhelmed and wanna cultivate more peace, joy, and intentionality in their homes. Today’s topic is all about incorporating daily family devotions into your family life.
As moms, we have the privilege of shaping our children’s spiritual foundations, but it can feel daunting to create consistent time for family devotions, especially in the midst of busy schedules and endless to-do lists. So in this episode we’re gonna talk about why family devotions matter, how to make them a natural part of your daily routine, and some practical tips for keeping them simple and meaningful. So let’s dive right in. So why do family devotions even matter in the first place? Let’s start with the heart behind family devotions. Deuteronomy six, six, and seven says, these commandments that I give you today are to on your hearts, impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Family devotions are one way to follow this command. Creating intentional spaces to center your family on God’s word and his truth. They help your kids understand who God is and how much he loves them. They help your kids learn how to apply scriptures to their everyday lives and the challenges that they might entail, and they help your kids build a foundation of faith that will sustain them in all of life’s challenges. As moms, we are planting seeds that will grow over time, even if we don’t see immediate results. And devotions don’t just benefit our kids. They’re an opportunity for the whole family to grow closer to God and each other. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve read a children’s Bible or a devotional aimed for a child and God has taught me something through it. Sometimes you know, we can get so scholarly and just dive into the theology of things when so often there’s just simple lessons that we forget and that we need and that God has for us by doing a child’s devotional with them. So remember, they’re not just for our kids, but they’re for us too. God has so much to teach us, and I know that in busy mom, life of 2025 and all of the things that you probably do, there’s probably a lot of barriers that seem to come up. So let’s talk about overcoming some of those barriers. Busy schedules, it’s easy to feel like there’s no time, but devotions don’t have to be long to be impactful. Even five or 10 minutes a day can make a big difference.
Distractions, let’s be real. Kids get wiggly, life gets messy. That’s okay. Keep things simple and don’t be afraid to adapt to your family’s needs. What about feeling unequipped? Maybe you feel like you don’t know enough about the Bible or how to teach it. Remember, God works through our willingness, not our perfection. There are so many resources available to help guide you. I recently authored a devotional. It is called Heartfelt Connections, a family devotional drawing closer to God and each other. And they’re designed to be short, simple, and sweet. And you can go more in depth with them or you can just do part of it, keep it short and simple. So I’m gonna read one of my devotionals called The value of togetherness.
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help up another, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help ’em up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes four, nine to 12.
In this scripture, we find a powerful testament to the strength and value of companionship and unity.
This passage highlights the importance of mutual support, collaboration, and the profound impact of togetherness in our lives. When we combine our efforts, we can achieve much more than we could alone in the context of our family. This means pooling our strengths, our talents, and our resources to build a nurturing and supportive home environment.
Life is filled with challenges and setbacks, and having someone to help us through difficult times is invaluable. This first reminds us of the importance of being there for one another in our family. This means offering a helping hand, providing emotional support and lifting each other up when times are tough, beyond physical warmth, it reflects the emotional and spiritual warmth we receive from being close to our loved ones. Families are meant to be a source of comfort where each member feels safe, valued and loved. There is strength and unity. When we stand together, we are more resilient and better able to face adversity. The reference to a court of three strands symbolizes the unbreakable bond that forms when we are united. This court always includes God’s presence, making our family unit even stronger. So there’s just a short and sweet devotional and you can just stop and read it there, or you can go a little further if you have time. And there’s some practical application. Got four points here in this devotional specifically. And you can just focus on one,
teamwork. Encourage collaboration in your family, whether it’s through shared chores, project or activities. Celebrate the successes that come from working together. So you could just stop right there and say, okay kids, we are gonna talk about teamwork today. And bring that back to the verse that we just read in Ecclesiastes and talk about why teamwork is important. Talk about things that you can do in the family to encourage unity in that teamwork, like chores, like projects. Is there a family project you wanna take on together? Is there a family activity that you’d like to engage in? Maybe it’s simply just bringing a family game night in. If that’s not something you’re doing, what can we celebrate by working together as a family?
Let’s talk about spiritual bonds. Pray together, study the Bible and encourage each other’s spiritual growth. Recognize that God’s presence is the third strand that strengthens your family’s cord.
So are we praying together enough as a family? Are we studying the Bible together? Are we encouraging each other to read the Bible or to pray more? These are just some different practical applications. And then I’ve given you a prayer so you can just simply read this prayer together every night, um, for all the various topics. So I’m gonna read this prayer to you and then we’ll continue on with the podcast.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of family and the strength that comes from unity. Help us to support one another, to provide comfort and warmth and to stand together in faith. May we always recognize the value of togetherness and strive to be a source of love and encouragement for each other. Bind us together with your love, making your family a strong and unbreakable cord. In Jesus’ name, amen. To finish off, I have some reflection questions that you can dive in even further. So you can take this devotional, do just a portion of it, just do the scripture. Just do the practical application. Just do the prayer. Just do the devotional reading or do it all. And then add the reflection questions. What activities or traditions bring our family closer together and how can we prioritize them?
How do we handle conflicts or disagreements? And what steps can we take to resolve them in a way that strengthens our bond?
How do we show appreciation and gratitude for each other? And how can we make this a more intentional part of our family culture?
So there’s a variety of topics from family worship to sharing your faith, to encouraging each other, to love and respect serving one another to effective communication. There are all sorts of topics in here, so I’m gonna leave that linked in the show notes below if you’re just looking for a simple family devotion to do consistently with your family. So here’s some practical tips to help you get started with this daily family devotion. Find a consistent time. What works best for your family? That might be a breakfast for us. It’s not a breakfast because our kids have to be out the door by six 20 and it’s just kind of a chaotic time for us. It could be during dinner, which is what we tend to do during dinner, after dinner, um, or before bedtime. Sometimes we’ll do separate devotionals with our kids at bedtime, especially our little ones. Um, consistency helps build the habits. So select a specific time that works best for your family. Start small, keep it simple. Read a short Bible passage or a story from a children’s Bible. Ask one or two questions, keep it short and simple. You can expand as your family gets more comfortable.
Use engaging resources for younger kids. Consider using illustrated bibles or devotionals designed for their age group for older kids. Look for family devotionals that include scripture. Discussion questions and prayer prompts. Like I said, check out heartfelt connections. If you’re looking for a new devotional, um, make it interactive. Encourage your kids to participate by asking questions, sharing their thoughts or leading a prayer. You could also act out bible stories or sing worship songs together. This doesn’t have to look the same every day. It doesn’t have to be dry and boring, especially if your kids are a little bit younger. Make it fun and interactive for them and be flexible. Some days my not was planned. That’s totally okay. Focus on progress, not perfection. The goal is to create meaningful moments, not to check off a box. I talk about that a lot. I am big on plans and trying to create intention, but when our faith becomes about checking a box, we lose so much. It’s not about checking a box, it’s about creating connection with our creator and creating connection within our family. And finally, pray together. End each devotion with a simple prayer. Let your kids take turns praying. Our kids love praying. Sometimes they’ll fight over praying, which maybe defeats the purpose, but, um, they love praying now and it’s just made them such confident prayers, which I love. Um, even it’s just a sentence or two. This helps them build confidence in talking to God.
Mamas, I wanna remind you that there’s no one size fits all approach to family devotions. What matters most is your heart and your desire to invite God into your family’s daily life. Don’t let comparison or guilt steal your joy. If you miss a day, you just pick up tomorrow, just like within our own spiritual disciplines.
If you miss a day, pick up tomorrow. Do the same with your family devotions. God’s mercies are new every morning and he delights in your efforts to point your children to him. Just remember that he delights in our efforts. Remember, the seeds you’re planting today might not bear fruit immediately, but God is faithful to bring growth in his perfect timing. Keep planting, keep watering and God will give the increase. I hope today’s episode has inspired you to take a step towards incorporating daily family devotions into your home.
If this episode encouraged you, I’d love for you to share it with another mom who might need this message. And if you’re looking for tools to help you stay consistent, you can check out my devotional. You can also check out the Heartfelt Conversations, which is a companion guide to the devotional, which basically just has some reflection questions for your kids to answer. And it’s a five year model. Um, it just gets communication going around the family dinner table is how we do it.
I’ve got a ton of resources available for you if you’re looking to be more intentional, um, in your prayer life, in your spiritual growth as a mom, as a wife. I’ve got all sorts of resources. So I will leave my website link below and you can check those out if you are looking to be more intentional in these areas as well. Thank you so much for joining me today. Let’s keep seeking Jesus together one small step at a time. Until next time, may your home be filled with his peace and love. Let’s send in a prayer. Dear God, we love you. We love you so much, Lord, and we just want to bring our families before you, Lord, help us to be good role models to our kids in what we’re teaching them, in the way that we are bringing them to you. Lord, help us to be more consistent. Help us to do family devotions daily. Lord, remind us and prompt us, um, in the busyness of life that nothing else really matters, but you, Lord, help us to not get bogged down in distractions and overwhelm and all the things that we need to check off the list. Lord, we just ask for you. We want more of you Lord, and just help us bring that, um, bring our families to you in that way. We love you, Jesus, and we ask all these things in your name, amen. Until next week, stay blessed.