Why Housechurching Works for Us
Every week our housechurching experience is different. Every week, God works in a new way. Today was no exception.
Today, our worship in music lasted over an hour. Nathanael (age nine) really took the lead today (in more ways than one). He chose our first song - Toby Mac's "Me Without You." He's still singing it as I write this. Our worship then escalated into songs from Jason Gray, Laura Story's "Blessings," J.J. Heller's "What Love Really Means," and even a couple of Rascal Flatt's songs. There's no wrong way to sing of what God does for us.
Our study today continued in Romans 5. With each section we read aloud together, Nathanael truly took the lead. He spoke of how troubles can bring us closer to God, of how God works things out even when we're the ones at fault. He remembered a time he was angry and tore the blankets off of the bed. But because he did, my husband found a brown recluse spider hiding underneath. So God worked that out for good. We coincided James 1 with our Romans 5 study; and when we spoke of all good gifts coming from God, he remembered the gifts God has given (his cat, Fuzzy, in particular). When we spoke of being a friend of God, he recalled how that is possible through Jesus. When we spoke of the importance of faith in Jesus, he gave us a lesson on the shield of faith. In his words, the devil throws lightning bolts at us, but when they hit the shield of faith, they are destroyed.
Then he asked an interesting question. He asked if we should forgive the devil for the wrong things he does to us. At first, I told him the familiar, "The devil will be destroyed in the end in the lake of fire." But then I got to thinking. Jude 1:9 came to mind: "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" (NIV).
Today, our worship in music lasted over an hour. Nathanael (age nine) really took the lead today (in more ways than one). He chose our first song - Toby Mac's "Me Without You." He's still singing it as I write this. Our worship then escalated into songs from Jason Gray, Laura Story's "Blessings," J.J. Heller's "What Love Really Means," and even a couple of Rascal Flatt's songs. There's no wrong way to sing of what God does for us.
Our study today continued in Romans 5. With each section we read aloud together, Nathanael truly took the lead. He spoke of how troubles can bring us closer to God, of how God works things out even when we're the ones at fault. He remembered a time he was angry and tore the blankets off of the bed. But because he did, my husband found a brown recluse spider hiding underneath. So God worked that out for good. We coincided James 1 with our Romans 5 study; and when we spoke of all good gifts coming from God, he remembered the gifts God has given (his cat, Fuzzy, in particular). When we spoke of being a friend of God, he recalled how that is possible through Jesus. When we spoke of the importance of faith in Jesus, he gave us a lesson on the shield of faith. In his words, the devil throws lightning bolts at us, but when they hit the shield of faith, they are destroyed.
Then he asked an interesting question. He asked if we should forgive the devil for the wrong things he does to us. At first, I told him the familiar, "The devil will be destroyed in the end in the lake of fire." But then I got to thinking. Jude 1:9 came to mind: "But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" (NIV).
I told him that he made a good point. Even the archangel Michael did not try to punish the devil. He allowed God to deal with him.
The above example is why housechurching works so well for us. God truly leads our studies. When I began reading Romans 5, the songs that we sang came back to me. I did not plan to sing those songs any more than I planned for Romans 5 to say what it did. It was as big of a surprise for me as it was for anyone else. Nathanael did not plan what to say. I believe he was speaking what God gave him to speak. He was tying everything together in his mind. He had good questions. He made excellent connections.
Housechurching for us is truly turning into an unschooling adventure.
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