Read This

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”

Exodus 20:1-17

Remember This

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:37-39

Think About This

The words we use are  important. Everything we say is either bringing life or death. We all feel this and know this. Our words are either being used to build up or tear down. Be intentional with our words. They are a reflection of ourselves and God. We should use our words in a way that honors Him. 

Remember This Too: 

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.

What does this mean? 

We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

Morning Time: 

Before your kids head off to school for the day, write them a note using your words to speak truth into them. And encourage them to use their own words for good today!

Drive Time:

See if you can memorize Ephesians 4:29 together this week.

Meal Time:

Discuss the following question with your student:

When have there been times where words were spoken to you that stuck with you for a long time, either positively or negatively?

Bed Time:

Read James 3:2-11 together.

Read This

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

Exodus 20:1-17

Remember This

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:37-39

Remember This Too: 

• You shall have no other gods.

• What does this mean? 

• We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

Think About This

God gives this commandment, and all of the commandments, because He made us and knows us so well that He knows what’s best for us.

Drive Time

Take some time to talk with your student about priorities. Ask them if they know what the word “priorities” means, and what their priorities are. Talk about why you both think God wants to be the highest priority in our lives.

Meal Time

Have a conversation about people who your student trusts. Identify these people and determine the reason for why they trust those people. There are probably really good reasons for why your student trusts them. We want your student to feel that way about God, and so next, have them make a list of reasons why your student should trust God. If it helps to contrast God to the little “g” gods and why we shouldn’t trust in those things, feel free to do that as well.

Bed Time

Spend some time with your student, each talking about what you spend the most time thinking about. Then talk with God about it. Spend some time in prayer together, talking to and listening to the one who knows you better than anyone else ever could, your Heavenly Father.

Read This

God always works for your good.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

Remember This

Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Parent Cue  

Morning Time

Take just a couple of minutes and pray with your student. Each of you take a to turn to pray aloud.

Bed Time

Read Romans 8:28-39 together and talk about it.

Meal Time

Share a story with your student about a time when you had to wait and hope that things would get better. Did you rely on God in that time? Do you wish you knew that you could do that? What do you want your student to know when they’re in the difficult times of life?

Drive Time

Talk about this question together: How differently would you act if you remembered every day that God is good, and He’s on your side?

Read This

Communion is one of the ways that God gives us faith, closeness with him, and forgiveness.  

John 6:53-57 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.  

Remember This

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  

Think About This

Before Jesus was betrayed, arrested, crucified, and resurrected, he and his disciples had one last meal together. We call it The Last Supper. During this final dinner, Jesus explains to the disciples that He is going to be killed. He is going to pay the price for our sins. The death that we all deserve, he is going to give himself up and be the sacrifice that pays the debt we have because of our sin.  

Parent Cues 

Meal Time

Talk about this question together: What’s one thing you can do to try to share God’s unfair love and grace with the people around you?

Drive Time

Q&A for Parents: When is a time in your life when you forgave someone for something they had done to you?

Q&A for Kids: Is there anyone that you could forgive for something bad that they’ve done?

Bed Time

Read Psalm 103:8-12 together, and talk about it. If there are any words that your student doesn’t understand, look them up together.

From the Small Catechism

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

What is the Sacrament of the Altar? It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.

Where is this written? The holy evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and St. Paul write thus: “In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

What is the benefit of such eating and drinking? The words “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin” show us that forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation are given to us in the sacrament through these words, because where there is forgiveness of sin, there is also life and salvation.

How can bodily eating and drinking do such a great thing? Eating and drinking certainly do not do it, but rather the words that are recorded: “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin.” These words, when accompanied by the physical eating and drinking, are the essential thing in the sacrament, and whoever believes these very words has what they declare and state, namely, “forgiveness of sin.”

Who, then, receives this sacrament worthily? Fasting and bodily preparation are in fact a fine external discipline, but a person who has faith in these words, “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sin,” is really worthy and well prepared. However, a person who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, because the words “for you” require truly believing hearts.