JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
20As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,* for he will save his people from their sins.”
22All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,*
which means ‘God is with us.’”
Joseph wasn’t thrilled to learn that his fianc, Mary, was pregnant. He didn’t know who the father was; he just knew that it for sure wasn’t his child.
Joseph had a big decision to make. Would he stay with Mary or leave her? According to Jewish Law, Joseph was allowed to divorce Mary, but Joseph was a righteous man and didn’t want to embarrass her. Joseph decided to privately split up with Mary in order to protect her from shame.
While considering this decision, however, Joseph received an even bigger surprise. An angel, sent from God, came to him in a dream! The angel told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as a wife, for the baby that was inside her was God’s very own Son. The angel told Joseph that this child was special; he would save his people from their sins.
When Joseph woke up from his dream, he still didn’t know all the details of God’s plan, but he had faith that God’s way was ultimately best. He took Mary as his wife and gave the child the name Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.”
When God sent Jesus to earth, he was fulfilling promises he had made all throughout the Bible. In fact, the Bible is a bunch of smaller stories that point to one big Story, the Story of God’s rescue plan. The all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing Creator of everything sent Jesus to the world to live a perfect life, die a death he did not deserve, and come back to life the third day. Through Jesus, God provided a way for everyone who believes in him to be saved and have a relationship with him.
1. In the past year, when did you and your family need to trust God even though you didn’t fully understand his plan?
2. Why can we have faith that God’s plan is always best? How does the Holy Spirit help us live lives of faith?
Let Joseph’s story remind you that while we can only see a tiny picture of God’s plan, God has a perfect purpose and knows everything. Work together as a family to put together a puzzle this week. Thank God that he sees the big picture of our lives and that one day we will see it too!