Today’s Reading:
Read Matthew 26:36-75; Mark 14:32-72; Luke 22:39-71; John 19:1-27
Prayer is an important part of our relationship with God. What does your prayer time look like? Parents, spend some time talking about prayer with your kids today. What do you pray for? How do you find time in your day to pray?
Spending alone time in prayer with God was something that Jesus modeled often for His disciples. After the celebration of the Passover feast at the Last Supper, Jesus invited His disciples to come with Him to pray with and for Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Knowing that the time was coming for Jesus to leave he disciples, Jesus continued to prepare them for what that would look like.
Sadly, in the garden when Jesus was praying, He was arrested. Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 Disciples, had betrayed Jesus and brought the soldier to where Jesus was praying in the garden. Jesus could have fought the arrest. He even reminded the soldiers that He could have asked God to send angels to protect Him, but He did not. Jesus’ arrest was part of the prophecy He was fulfilling, and He was willing to do what needed to be done.
Ultimately, the high priests and government officials followed through with the wishes of the Jewish leaders and Jesus was sentenced to be crucified as if he were a criminal. Jesus’ prayer in the Garden was that God’s will would be done. Jesus knew that for all the prophecies to be fulfilled, He had to surrender to what God’s will was.
Application/Prayer:
Doing the right thing is not always easy, is it? Jesus taught His disciples a lot about being obedient to God, even when it might be hard to do. Are you being obedient to God? Spend some time today asking Him to help you see how you can follow Him and obey Him – even when it may not be easy.
November Memory Verse:
“The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”
Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:
- Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
- Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
- After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
- Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
- There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.
Other Resources:
November memory verse coloring sheet
November Fill-in the blank activity