12 Days of Christmas Family Devotionalনমুনা

READ TOGETHER Many years later, after the great flood, the world was still broken by sin. People were still trying to live their own ways instead of asking God what to do. But God had a plan. And for this special plan, he needed one family. Through this one family, after many, many generations of people, he would send his Son! But this family didn’t know that yet. And about this family? They weren’t anything special; they weren’t wealthy or powerful. In fact, they were just shepherds who roamed the land, protecting and taking care of their sheep. But then the Lord made them special. He spoke to Abram. He told him to take his wife Sarai and to leave the land they knew, to leave behind their friends and family, and to go to a new land. They listened to the Lord and set off on a journey. Even when times were hard, God kept reminding Abram that he was with him! One of these times, when Abram was 99 years old, God spoke to him again. God told Abram that he was going to change his name to Abraham which means “Father of many nations.” He was even changing Sarai’s name to Sarah! He told Abraham that he was making a covenant—a word that means a very special kind of promise—with Abraham and ALL of his children. He said that kings would come out of Abraham’s family, that God would always be their God, and that they would get a special land to live in. He even said that Abraham’s descendants would be as many as the number of stars in the sky! Have you ever tried to count the stars in the sky? You might think that Abraham would be very happy to get this kind of promise, and he was! Except for one thing—Abraham and Sarah didn’t have any children! Abraham was probably wondering: "how will some of my children’s children’s children get to be kings if I don’t have any children?!" But, of course, as always, God had a plan. And when Sarah was 90 years old, she gave birth to a baby boy. Abraham and Sarah named their baby Isaac, and they thanked God because he did as he had promised. Abraham and Sarah knew their son Isaac was a special baby boy, but they had no idea that one day, God would continue his rescue plan for his people through another very special baby—a baby who would come from the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, just as God had promised. TALK TOGETHER 1\. What would you do if God asked you to move away from your home to follow him? Would it be easy or hard? 2\. God keeps his promises. What can you do as a family to remember some of God’s promises that you read in the Bible? PRAY TOGETHER Father God, we praise you because you are always working! You do everything you can to show your people how much you love them. You want to know us, and we want to know you. Show us each day who you are. We love you! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.