“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4- 9
These well-known verses are known as the Shema verses in the Old Testament. Shema means “hear” which are the first words of this verse. The Jewish people, including Jesus, would recite this verse as their prayer in the morning and night (observant Jews continue to do so today). This was their life verse and it would have been memorized since they would not have had personal Bibles or known how to read in those days. The Shema theme is repeated in Deuteronomy 11:13-21. (To read more about this the Shema, visit the Jewish Virtual Library website)
Today, these verses remind our generation that we are to faithfully teach our families God’s ways – first they are to be on OUR hearts (we cannot teach what we do not know ourselves) and then we are to diligently teach God’s ways to our children (King James version uses… “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children vs.7). The Home Schooling Community has especially claimed these verses as their key theme.
The Shema prayer provides a great tool for each and every Christian family. We are to use these practical everyday occurrences to remind ourselves and our family of the Great God that we serve. Our children learn in many places (school, friends, church, etc), but most of life lessons are learned in the moments of our everyday life – as we driving along the road, eat at the breakfast table, and live each day .
Over the next couple of days, I will be sharing several ideas of how these verses can be lived out with Blessings Unlimited products….
Tomorrow’s focus will be on verses 5 & 6 and Blessings Unlimited products that will help you live our the message of these verses….
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Love your message!!
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I wanted to talk to you about an event in April that I am coordinating and my church is hosting…can you please email at rgupton79@msn.com? Thanks so much!