Welcome to Lectio for Families. We’re continuing our series based on the book of Psalms and the six practices which are at the heart of Lectio for Families and 24-7 Prayer. This week, we’re focusing on the practice of prayer.

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

Father God, as we draw near to You, please draw near to us too. Teach us to pray. Speak, Lord, we’re listening.

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 another way to pray – by asking for God’s help.

Read by Hubo
Psalm 121:1-3
I look up to the hills,
but where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let you be defeated.
He who guards you never sleeps.
Psalm 121:1-3 (NCV)

We all need help sometimes, even though we don’t always find it easy to ask for it. Maybe we need help to fix something that’s broken or to carry something that we can’t lift on our own. Maybe we need help with a difficult friendship or to make a decision that we’re confused or worried about. We can probably all think of things that we need help with in our lives right now.

The writer of today’s Psalm knows that God isn’t just the Creator of the whole Universe, but He is the God who helps. God wants to help us, and asking for help is an important part of our praying.

Let’s press pause and in this safe space talk about today’s question, which is: Who have we helped in some way over the last few days? Who could we help over the next few days?

• PAUSE the audio player now

Ask

ASK Prayers

In Matthew’s gospel, there’s a story of a woman who comes to Jesus and simply says, ‘Lord, help me!’ (Matthew 15:25) As we think of the things in our lives where we need God’s help, let’s use the woman’s prayer as our own.

With that difficult friendship… Lord, help us!
With the worries that we’re carrying inside… Lord, help us!
With that decision we need to make… Lord, help us!

Let’s add a couple of our own ‘Lord, help us!’ prayers if we need to.

• OPTIONAL: PAUSE the audio player now and pray

Who do we know that needs God’s help at the moment?

Father God, we ASK You to be with them – comfort them and give them strength. And we ASK You to help them in really specific ways – give them what they need.

Is God asking us to help them in some way?

• 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.

Psalm 121:1-3
I look up to the hills,
but where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let you be defeated.
He who guards you never sleeps.
Psalm 121:1-3 (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.

Loving God, we say YES to being brave enough to ask for Your help when we need it, and YES to helping others in any way that we can too.

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.