Welcome to Lectio for Families. It’s the Advent season, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas, and we’re continuing our series called ‘Voices of Advent’. This week, we’re listening to the voice of God, spoken through the prophets before Jesus was even born.

Each day we will simply pray (P.R.A.Y.) together.
P: PAUSING to be still.
R: REJOICING with a Memory Verse and REFLECTING on some verses from the Bible.
A: ASKING God to help us and others.
Y: saying YES to God’s ways.

Pause

We start by pausing and taking a deep breath:
In and out.
In and out.
We remember that God is here, and so together we prepare ourselves to be with God.

Pause

Prayer of Welcome

Lord Jesus, we are excited to be celebrating Your birth this Christmas. Amongst all the busyness of this season – all the planning and the preparations – please help us to pause and be still. We open our ears to hear You now, and we prepare our hearts to receive You once again.

Rejoice

Memory Verse

We REJOICE and celebrate God’s goodness with this week’s memory verse:

God, help us to remember Your Word.

Reflect

Bible Reading

Today we’re REFLECTING on what God said through the prophet Micah about where Jesus was going to be born.

Read by Liliwyn
Micah 5:2
‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are too small to be among the army groups from Judah,
from you will come one who will rule Israel for me.
He comes from very old times,
from days long ago.’
Micah 5:2 (NCV)

Bethlehem wasn’t a big important place, and yet God chose it as the birthplace of Jesus. From then on, Bethlehem would be known as the town where something amazing happened.

Sometimes we feel like we aren’t important, that our lives are too small and insignificant for anything special to happen to us, that nothing we do will be good enough for God. But God loves to choose people like us, just like He chose Bethlehem, to be an important part of His rescue story for the world.

Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: What are our favourite things about the place where we live?

• PAUSE the audio player now

Ask

ASK Prayers

And now, let’s ASK God to help us and others.

Father God, You chose an unimportant place for something incredible. Even though we sometimes feel unimportant, too small or insignificant to make a difference, we thank You for choosing us and using us to be a part of Your story.

• OPTIONAL: PAUSE the audio player now and pray

Today, Bethlehem is still a popular place for people to go and visit. However, there is also a lot of conflict in that part of the world, mostly between people of different beliefs.

Father God, the place of Jesus’ birth is not a place of peace – yet. We ASK that You would send Your Holy Spirit to help people love one another and live in harmony.

• OPTIONAL: PAUSE the audio player now and pray

Yes

Bible Reading

As we read the Bible again, let’s listen for a word or a phrase that the Holy Spirit might want to say to us from today’s verses.

Micah 5:2
‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are too small to be among the army groups from Judah,
from you will come one who will rule Israel for me.
He comes from very old times,
from days long ago.’
Micah 5:2 (NCV)

What word or phrase stood out from today’s Bible verses?

• OPTIONAL: PAUSE the audio player now and tell each other

YES Prayer

And now, let’s say YES to God together.

Heavenly Father, we may feel small, insignificant and unimportant sometimes, but we say YES to remembering the truth – that we have been chosen by You.

Memory Verse

After enjoying this time with God and each other, let’s say our memory verse together:

Closing Prayer

Let’s put a hand on our heart.
Father God, fill us with Your love. Help us to love You, and everything that You’ve made.

Let’s point to our eyes.
Lord Jesus, help us to see You, and to see others the way that You see them too.

Let’s point to our ears.
Holy Spirit, help us to hear You, and give us courage to do what You say.