This is the last of a three-week series on the Lord’s Prayer. These studies are designed to help families with children (or empty-nesters and young couples) learn how to have family devotions on a regular basis.
Family Devotions on the Lord’s Prayer Week 3
Devotional #7 (Monday) Do We Need God’s Forgiveness? WSC 105/ 119
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:12
The Shorter Catechism # 105 Question: “What do we pray for in the fifth petition?”
The Shorter Catechism # 105 Answer: “In the fifth petition, we pray, that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.”
The Children’s Catechism #119 Answer: “That God would pardon our sins for Christ’s sake, and enable us to forgive those who have injured us.”
Discussion: Possibly the greatest need anyone has is to be forgiven. We need God to forgive us as well as other people. And we need to forgive those who have hurt us too. When we don’t receive forgiveness or offer forgiveness to others, we become emotionally imprisoned. There is a once and for all forgiveness that Jesus offered when he died on the cross, but here Jesus is speaking about reoccurring forgiveness that restores relationships.
One method of offering and receiving forgiveness when we have offended is 1) admit you did the act; 2) confess that the act was wrong; 3) and then ask the offended person to forgive you. If another has offended you but doesn’t ask to forgive follow this pattern: 1) acknowledge that you have been treated wrongly; 2) thank God that your offenses are paid for by the blood of Christ, and 3) give the offense to Jesus and ask him to give you the strength to forgive the offender just as you were forgiven. Both methods set your soul free to love and trust again.
Key Verse: “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” Ps 130:3-5
Activities for the family
Questions: Why would you forgive someone who has wronged you more than once?
How can we be certain that once we believe in Jesus all our sins are forgiven?
Is there anything more powerful in our lives than God’s forgiveness?
Now that Jesus has forgiven us, are we indebted to forgive others?
Activity for Elementary Students: Watch the unmerciful servant video or read the story from Matthew 18. Draw a picture to illustrate the story. Try and tell what Jesus was teaching in this story in one sentence.
Video Resource: Unmerciful servant
Catechism Question Video: What is the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer
Activity for Middle and High School Students: Describe a situation where a friend (or adversary) offended you and never asked for forgiveness. Explain how Jesus can help you get over your disappointment and set you emotionally free from resentment toward them.
Closing prayer: “Lord Jesus, help us to be holy, compassionate, kind, humble, and patient with those who offend us, just as you are toward us who daily offend you. Give us love, which brings harmony in relationships. Bring to us the peace found in knowing you forgive us. And may we be thankful that your wrath has been satisfied. Within our home, remind us to practice the methods we just read so sins don’t accumulate and we verbally explode on each other. We ask for these things knowing they are your will for our lives. Amen.”
Family Devotions on the Lord’s Prayer Week 3
Devotional #8 (Wednesday) Why are Temptations so Strong? WSC # 106/ 121
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:13
The Shorter Catechism # 106 Question: “What do we pray for in the sixth petition?”
The Shorter Catechism # 106 Answer: “In the sixth petition, we pray, that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and delver us when we are tempted.”
The Children’s Catechism #121 Answer: “That God would keep us from sin.”
Discussion: The devil is known as the tempter (Mt 4:3). The purpose of his tempting is to cause Christians to fall and then to doubt the strength of Jesus’ saving grace. The devil’s temptations assault our faith. He wants to stop us from honoring, obeying, and pleasing God. This is why he is called the evil one and why we need deliverance from evil.
The secret to resisting temptation is fleeing from it. Satan wants to take God’s place in our lives by making us think we must submit to him. But Paul calls us to submit to God, to draw near to God, and to be single-minded in our fight against evil and sin (Jam 4:7-8). This is how we keep from wandering down a path where the devil can tempt us and win.
Key Verse: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:13-15
Activities for the family
Questions: The devil is sly in how he tempts us, how so?
Why does praying help us get out of a tempting thought or situation?
How does knowing Scripture make a difference in the battle to be holy?
What makes sinning so appealing?
Activity for Elementary Students: Look up Matthew 26:14. Talk about what it means as a family and come up with motions for the verse to help you remember it. Give examples of times when you have been tempted.
Video Resource: Catechism Question: Lead us not into temptation
Activity for Middle and High School Students: Satan is called an angel of light (2 cor 11:14). What makes him so deceptive and hard to battle? Is there a friend you can pray for that is struggling to do the right thing?
Closing prayer: “Lord, we ask you to keep us from falling and disappointing you. Keep evil and the devil far away from us. Direct us to submit to you and not the devil, for you love us and he hates us. Supply us with Bible verses, as was the case with Jesus during his temptations in the wilderness, so that even if we do fall, we can get up and stand on your promises and defeat our doubts and the attacks of the devil. We praise you for taking care of us and protecting us. In Jesus’s name. Amen.”
Family Devotions on the Lord’s Prayer Week 3
Devotional #9 (Friday) How Do We Win Spiritual Battles? WSC (none)
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:14-15
Discussion: The ability to forgive others tests our strength in spiritual battles. Within our minds, we constantly think of ways to justify disobeying or dishonoring God. The result of setting our minds on fleshy things is that we don’t live by the Spirit. The outcome of not following God’s Spirit is death. We have a natural bent to be our own masters. By nature, we are hostile toward God’s ways. This leads to all kinds of conflicts, one of which is an inability to forgive—even if God has forgiven us. This is a spiritually dangerous place to be.
When we allow small offenses to bother us, they eventually become bigger and ultimately dominate our thinking. They can distract and trip us as we try to please God and walk in the Spirit. Paul called this condition setting our “minds on the flesh.” By flesh, he meant seeking peace through worldly or selfish interests.
Instead of feeding our fallen nature, we must feed our new spiritual nature by following God’s Spirit. When we do this amazing thing happens. We are able to give God pleasure. We please the Lord. Just as there is nothing worse than knowing we willfully offended God, so few things are more satisfying than when we know we have done the right thing and God is pleased with our actions.
Key Verse: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Rom 8:5-8
Activities for the family
Questions: What are the ways that illustrate living in the flesh?
What does it mean to set our minds on the Spirit?
How does not forgiving someone affect our relationship with God?
If trespassing is breaking God’s law, then what pays the penalty
due God for our faults?
Does forgiving an offense also mean never bringing it up again?
Activity for Elementary Students: Have each family member write down a sin they have committed on a piece of paper. Confess this sin to the Lord. Crumple up the paper and throw it away. Pray as a family and thank God that He forgives our sins completely. Ask God to help you forgive others in the same way.
Video Resource: (Song) Tell it to Jesus!
Activity for Middle and High School Students: List 5 things God provides his people to battle against evil. Is there anything in your old life that has radically changed with your new nature? Can you share what that is?
Closing prayer: “Dear Jesus, it’s often easier to ignore an offense than to forgive one. Yet, when you forgive, you never bring up an offense again. Help us to be more like you and less like our fleshy old nature. We know that in this life we will never be sinless, but we can be forgiven. Please apply what Jesus did on the cross to our lives so we can forgive others. Amen.”
The previous week of devotions can be found HERE.
