Week: 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.
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
Holy Spirit, You are the best teacher. As we explore the Bible and listen to You, please help us to understand more about You, and draw closer to You.
We REJOICE and celebrate God’s goodness with this week’s memory verse:
Read by Max
Psalm 25:5
Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.
Psalm 25:5 (NCV)
God, help us to remember Your Word.
We can learn about God from lots of sources. In today’s Psalm, we’re REFLECTING on how we can learn about God from the world around us.
Read by Max
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Day after day they tell the story;
night after night they tell it again.
They have no speech or words;
they have no voice to be heard.
But their message goes out through all the world;
their words go everywhere on earth.
Psalm 19:1-4 (NCV)
The world around us is awesome and magnificent and incredible and breath-takingly beautiful, and we can learn more about who God is and how to know God better through what we see and experience… the endlessness of the Sahara desert, the huge power of a Swiss mountain, the delightful surprise of a shooting star, the delicacy of a dragonfly, and so much more! All these things come from God’s extraordinary imagination, and as David says in today’s Psalm, they are a message to the world, telling everyone something about who God is.
Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: When was the last time we saw something in nature that made us stop and go, ‘Wow!’?
Let’s make a plan to go somewhere outdoors over the next few days, simply to be still for a few minutes, to look around, to listen carefully, and to see if we can learn something from, or about, God.
Holy Spirit, we ASK You now to prepare our hearts to hear from You when we are outside, looking and listening. We want to learn new things and we want to know God a little bit more each day.
After God had created everything, He gave human beings the responsibility to look after everything that he had made. (Genesis 1:27).
Lord God, we ASK You to influence the politicians and business leaders in particular. Help them to make caring for the environment a top priority, and give them wisdom to know how to do it well.
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 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Day after day they tell the story;
night after night they tell it again.
They have no speech or words;
they have no voice to be heard.
But their message goes out through all the world;
their words go everywhere on earth.
Psalm 19:1-4 (NCV)
What word or phrase stood out from today’s Bible verses?
And now, let’s say YES to God together.
Creator God, we see Your fingerprints everywhere – in every flower, in every creature, even in the rocks and the hills. You made everything beautiful. We say YES to looking and listening more carefully for what we can learn through all You have made, and YES to caring for it all too.
After enjoying this time with God and each other, let’s say our memory verse together:
Psalm 25:5
Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.
Psalm 25:5 (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.
Joy lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and her dog. She works for Bridgetown Church where she leads kids as they grow, learn, and have lots of fun. Joy loves gardening, summer camp, eating ice cream, and reading her favourite books, The Chronicles of Narnia.
Max is 9 years old and lives in Melbourne, Australia with his older brother and mum and dad. He often rides his bike to school and enjoys being creative by drawing or building with Lego. Max is also learning how to play the electric guitar and loves turning it up loud!
