Week: Hospitality - having open hearts and open homes
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.
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
Loving God, You make Your home in our hearts. We are excited to explore more of what it means to open our hearts to the world.
We REJOICE and celebrate God’s goodness with this week’s memory verse:
Read by Asaph
Matthew 25:35
Jesus said, ‘I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your house.’
Matthew 25:35 (NCV)
God, help us to remember Your Word.
Today, we’re REFLECTING on some of the most challenging verses from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome.
Read by Asaph
Romans 12:17-19a
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.
Romans 12:17-19a (NLT)
Being loving and hospitable – opening our hearts to other people – can be incredibly difficult, especially when people have hurt us or upset us. But when this happens, Paul urges us to ‘never pay back evil for more evil.’ ‘Don’t take revenge,’ he says. Other versions of these verses say things like, ‘If someone does wrong to you, do not pay them back by doing wrong to them’, ‘don’t hit back’ and ‘don’t try to get even’.
Why do we think Paul says this? Well, while getting our own back by saying or doing something mean might feel good for a moment, it’s really not good for us. And if we’re not careful, we can get stuck in a vicious cycle of feeling hurt and hurting others… and in the end everybody gets hurt.
Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: Instead of getting our own back, what are some of the things we can do when someone hurts us or upsets us?
To love other people well, we need to start by being filled with God’s love ourselves. Let’s put our hands out in front of us as a symbol of receiving from God.
Loving Father, as we pray at the end of every Lectio for Families, we ASK You once again to fill us with Your love. And as we receive Your love for us, we also ASK that Your love would flow through us to those around us.
And now for the difficult bit. Let’s continue to be quiet for a moment and invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts. Has someone hurt us or upset us, even if they didn’t mean to? Have we hurt or upset anyone recently?
Let’s close our eyes and hold our hands out in front of us again. This time, let’s imagine that our hands are full of our feelings of hurt and upset. As we open our hands, let’s imagine giving these feelings to Jesus. As He receives them, He smiles and says, ‘Peace be with you. My peace I give to you.’
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.
Romans 12:17-19a
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.
Romans 12:17-19a (NLT)
What word or phrase stood out from today’s Bible verses?
And now, let’s say YES to God together.
Lord Jesus, we say YES to receiving Your Great Love for us again today. And we say YES to forgiving other people when they hurt or upset us, just as You’ve forgiven us.
After enjoying this time with God and each other, let’s say our memory verse together:
Matthew 25:35
Jesus said, ‘I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your house.’
Matthew 25:35 (NCV)
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.
Unathi lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with her husband and 5 kids; and has a passion for seeing families thriving.
You’ll most likely find her homeschooling the tribe, reading, writing, or dreaming about the next DIY project.
She also loves good coffee, dark chocolate and hiking.
Asaph is 9 years old. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his younger sister Adelina, father and mother. He enjoys riding his bike, camping, reading, playing flag football and watching Bible Project videos. Asaph is kind and smart and loves hanging out with friends!
