Week: Kindness
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.
Let’s 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 help us grow, each and every day, into who God made us to be. We’re ready to be changed a little bit more by You today.
We REJOICE and celebrate God’s goodness with this week’s memory verse:
Read by Noelle
2 Timothy 1:7
God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NCV)
God, help us to remember Your Word.
This week, we’ve already REFLECTED on verses from Paul’s letters to the churches in Galatia, Ephesus and Rome, and today we’re turning to his letter to the church in Philippi.
Read by Noelle
Philippians 4:8-9
Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. Do what you learned and received from me, what I told you, and what you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9 (NCV)
The slang word GIGO stands for ‘garbage in, garbage out’, and it means that if we feed too much trash (or rubbish) into something, what we get out will probably be trash too.
In today’s Bible passage, Paul encourages us to feed our minds with good things – he uses words like ‘honorable’ and ‘pure’ and ‘beautiful’ – instead of feeding our minds with trash. If Paul was writing to us today, he’d probably encourage us to be self-controlled about what we watch on TV, what we browse on social media and what we read online or in books. He’d ask us; Was it good? Was it honorable and pure? Was it beautiful?
Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question, which is: What was the last thing we watched or read that was really, really good?
Earlier this week, we put our hands over our mouths and prayed that the Holy Spirit would help us to only speak good things. Now let’s put our hands on our heads and pray for our minds.
Holy Spirit, we ASK You to help us to make good choices about what we feed our minds with. And we ASK You to protect our minds too. We see and hear so many things every day – some are good and some aren’t so good for us. Help us to remember the good things and forget the things that aren’t good for us.
Every day we all see lots of different content, from TV to Ads, from social media to books – all of it has an impact on our hearts and minds.
Holy Spirit, we pray for Christians who are involved in making TV programmes and films, those who write books, those who stream content online, those who create all kinds of art and crafts. We ASK You to inspire them and give them opportunities to feed people’s minds with good things.
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.
Philippians 4:8-9
Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. Do what you learned and received from me, what I told you, and what you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9 (NCV)
What word or phrase stood out from today’s Bible verses?
And now, let’s say YES to God together.
Holy Spirit, we thank You for all that is good and true and honourable and beautiful in the world – there are SO many things! We say YES to You growing the fruit of self control in us so that we feed more on these things and less on… garbage.
After enjoying this time with God and each other, let’s say our memory verse together:
2 Timothy 1:7
God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7 (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.
Chris lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two boys. He works for 24-7 Prayer Australia and Red Church and is also a professional musician. When he’s not working or drumming Chris enjoys going on long hikes in the mountains with his boys and playing table tennis.
Noelle lives in Kansas City, Missouri USA, with her parents, sisters and dogs. She loves animals, playing basketball, creating art and teamwork. Noelle gives the best hugs.
