Welcome to Lectio for Families. At the start of this new year, we’re reminding ourselves of the ‘three loves’ that shape Lectio for Families and 24-7 Prayer: loving God, loving others, and loving the world. Today we’re exploring how we love the world through learning.

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, as we start this new year together, we remember that You are with us. Our minds are ready to learn more about You, our hearts are ready to receive more from You, and our hands are ready to do more for and with You. Come, Lord Jesus.

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

Jesus often found Himself surrounded by crowds of people. Today we’re REFLECTING on one of these occasions.

Read by Jackson R
Matthew 5:1-3
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:
‘They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.’
Matthew 5:1-3 (NCV)

People loved listening to Jesus and learning from Him. They especially loved His stories – lots of them were funny, and all of them were life-changing.

There are so many interesting, life-changing things that we can learn about the world around us, and about God too. And the very best way for us to continue learning is to be curious, to ask questions, and to listen well.

Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: What new things would we like to learn about this year? What are we curious about?

• PAUSE the audio player now

Ask

ASK Prayers

One of the best ways to learn new things about God is, of course, to read our Bibles. Let’s each try to find a couple of minutes on our own over the next few days to read a few verses. (If we’re not sure what bit to read, the book of Psalms is a good place to start, or maybe Mark’s Gospel.)

Holy Spirit, we ASK You to show us something new about who God is or how God wants us to live today.

• OPTIONAL: PAUSE the audio player now and pray

Let’s think of someone who has encouraged us to learn. Maybe it’s a parent or grandparent, maybe a teacher, maybe a person in our church?

Father God, we thank You for them, and we ASK You to bless them. Help us to put into practice what we’ve learned from them.

• 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.

Matthew 5:1-3
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:
‘They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.’
Matthew 5:1-3 (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.

Father God, thank You for making such an awesome universe, filled with fascinating things. We say YES to loving You and learning all we can about You and everything that You’ve made. And by the way, we’ve got lots of questions to ask 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.