Wise Up: Ten-Minute Family Devotions in Proverbs

Marty Machowski hits it out of the ballpark again! Ten minutes during dinner when everyone is wiped from the end of the day and we're still getting really great discussions out of it. Currently our kids listening in are 17, 15, 13, and 9. The older girls respectfully obliged at first but now they join right in. Marty doesn't talk down to the reader and he's written great food for thought.

Purchased for our homeschooling. I like these book series from this author because it’s a great resource for our bible time.

I have a 6 yo and a 4yo. This devotional is perfect for our family!

Great Devo for the family. My 11 year old son asked if we could Read More!

The media could not be loaded. Whoever had the brilliant idea to match the album with a devotional book: THANK YOU! On top of that, there is also a curriculum for churches. In that curriculum there is also puppet sketches for all 12 lessons. I can’t say enough how blessed we have been when we discovered the curriculum. It all start with our music director in London, England telling me to use the Sovereign Grace Kids songs at our Promiseland Program in our church in London. I felt in love with the music and started using straight away. The songs also spoke to me and our adults volunteers. 12 years later, I’m again, a children’s minister and with a child (8 years-old). In the effort to expose my child to the Gospel as much as possible, I always find myself playing the Sovereign Grace kids albums, Psalty the book, Hillsong and other Christian bands. Last month, I found out that all the Sovereign Grace Kids albums have devotional and Church Curriculum that matches the songs. What a brilliant idea since their songs are catchy and well composed.Now, about the devotional book. It is long. So expect to really be a 10-minute devotional. It also has two or three questions with answers to help the parents. And a suggestion for what to pray on that day. The devotional is based on the album “Walking with the Wise” so it has 12 chapters (12 songs). Each chapter has 5 days of devotional. It also offers activities. I think it would fit a homeschool kid. We don’t do the activities since school is a full time thing in our household. Great book. Don’t hesitate in buying it or the church curriculum. Or the songs!

Love it! Very encouraging for me and my family.

Gift for my daughter-in-law....she loved it!!

Proverbs is one of the most popular books in the Bible, probably right there with the book of Psalms. Who doesn't want to be wise, right? Wise people know what to say, when to say it, and when to say nothing. They know what it means to be honest, kind, faithful, diligent, generous, and respectful. The book of Proverbs gives us God's wisdom on all of these areas, and more, and we rightly turn to this book to help us grow in wisdom.However, true, godly wisdom cannot come simply by following a list of what to do and what not to do, or by memorizing dozens of pithy sayings. True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, and true wisdom only comes to the individual who has turned from his sins and placed his faith and trust in Jesus Christ.A New Family DevotionalThat is the conviction behind an excellent new family devotional by Marty Machowski called Wise Up: 10-Minute Family Devotions in Proverbs. You may recognize the author's name from his popular family devotions: Old Story New and Long Story Short. These 2 family devotion books are among the best out there at helping a family walk through the whole Bible together.And now, in this new book, Machowski offers families, and specifically parents, another excellent resource to help lead their family in family devotions through the book of Proverbs.The StructureThe book consists of 12 weeks, with each week exploring a different theme in the book of Proverbs. These include topics such as "God's Word: The Greatest Treasure," "Pay Attention: Learning to Follow your Parents' Instruction," and "Looking to the Ants: Learning Diligence."Each week consists of 5 days worth of family devotions. Each is short, concise, and could easily be done in 5-10 minutes each night. The first section is always "Dig Into The Word," where a passage is read, and then there is a short reading giving a better understanding of the meaning of that passage. There are then 2 more sections for each day, one called "Talk About It," which includes some discussion questions for the parents to lead their family in discussing the passage read, and the other called "Pray About It," where the parents lead the family to pray about the topic at hand.Also, in each week, there is a "Sing Together" section, which includes a song of the week that goes along with that week's topic. These songs all come from Sovereign Grace's "Walking With The Wise" album, which the author encourages you to use along with the devotional each week.Finally, each week contains a section called "Wisdom At Work," which is a fun family activity meant to further drive home the topic that will be discussed for that week.ConclusionI firmly believe that, as parents, we are (and should be) the primary teachers, instructors, and influencers in our children's lives. As such, having a daily time of family devotions — where the parents lead the family to look at God's Word, discuss God's Word, pray God's Word, and sing God's Word — is indispensable to raising our children in a God-centered, Gospel-focused way. There are many excellent resources out there to help in this regard, but this new resource on Proverbs by Machowski is an excellent one for you to consider using for your family.If you are a parent of children living at home now, I'd encourage you to get this book and begin using it as soon as possible. If you have grown children, or do not yet have children, perhaps consider buying a copy of this for someone in your life who does have children and would benefit from such a family devotional. With Christmas coming up, this would be a wonderful family gift.Whether your children are toddlers, beginning school, in middle school, or about to graduate, we can all benefit from growing in wisdom according to God's Word. This resource will enable you to help your children do just that.In accordance with FTC regulations, I would like to thank New Growth Press for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.