Be Joyful with Others

Romans 12:15

We begin with a man named Paul. Paul taught people that Jesus loves us and can give us joy.


One day, Paul wrote a letter to Jesus’ friends, and he told them how they could love like Jesus and help their friends have joy.


Would you like to hear some ways we can love like Jesus? If you said yes, make a heart with your hands like this.


Maybe our friend is sad because their toy broke. Can you make your heart hands, again? 


Yes, we can help our friends have joy and love like Jesus when we sit with them while they are sad.


Maybe our friend saw something funny or their toy made them laugh. Show me your heart hands!


Yes, we can help our friends have joy and love like Jesus when we laugh with our friends who are laughing.


Maybe our friend opened a really cool present at their birthday party, and they’re very excited. Show me your heart hands one more time.


Yes, we can help our friends have joy and love like Jesus by being excited with our friends when they are excited.


No matter how our friends feel—sad or happy or any other way—we can help them have joy by loving them like Jesus. 


Jesus loves us all the time, and Jesus gives us joy! So when anyone asks you, “Who gives you joy?” you can say, “Jesus gives me joy!”






Bible Paraphrase: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” —Luke 2:10, ESV

Text Truth: I can help my friends have joy.



Family Devotional

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
—Romans 12:15

In our Bible Story today, we learned that we can help our friends have joy by loving them the way Jesus loves us. Jesus loves us when we’re sad. Jesus loves us when we’re happy. Jesus gives us joy! Who gives you joy? Jesus gives me joy! That’s why the good news about Jesus brings great joy, like it says in the Bible verse we are learning.

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” —Luke 2:10, ESV

We can help our friends have joy by loving them the way Jesus loves us. So, with your family, take a piece of paper and make a list of your friends. Have each family member write done the name of a friend, and make sure they write their name next to the name of their friend.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, thank You for teaching us how we can help our friends have joy. Please help (say each family member’s name) help their friends (read the list the family members made) have joy when they feel sad or happy, by loving them like Jesus. We love You, God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

-
Some story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported license.

Some story illustrations are in the Public Domain.

All story illustrations are the property of their respective owners.
-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Early Christians Shared Everything

Image
Acts 4:32-37 Our story comes from a book of the Bible called Acts. That name is short for “the Acts of the Apostles.” The word "Apostle" is another word to describe a helper of Jesus. Our Bible story tells us about some people who loved Jesus. The people were gathered together in a room. Buzz, buzz, buzz. The room filled with talking and laughter. The people called themselves Christians because they did what Jesus Christ said to do (Christian means "follower of Christ"). The Christians knew that Jesus was God’s Son. They wanted others to know about Jesus, too. Grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, and children met together in homes. They would pray, sing, and learn about Jesus together. All these people loved Jesus. They were like one big, happy family. Because they loved Jesus, the Christians happily shared what they had more than others. Everything a person had was happily shared with the rest of the Bible-time Christians. They shared food so every
Read more

Abraham and His Family Moved to a New Land

Image
Genesis 12:1-9 Our story comes from the book, or part, of the Bible called Genesis. Genesis means "the beginning." A man and woman lived in a land called Ur. The man was named Abram and the woman was named Sarai. Abram and Sarai were husband and wife. God called Abram and Sarai and gave them new names! Abram means “nobel father.” But God changed his name to “Abraham,” which means “father of many.” Sarai” means “princess.” But God changed her name to “Sarah,” which means “mother of nations.” Now they were Abraham and Sarah, "father of many" and "mother of nations!" Abraham grew up in the land called Ur. When he was grown, Abraham moved with his family to a new land called Haran. But then, in the land of Haran, God appeared to Abraham and told him to leave his country. God told Abraham to move to a new land. God promised to be with Abraham and show him where to go. God also promised to give Abraham children, grandchildren, and many g
Read more

Jesus Knew All about Nathanael

Image
John 1:43-49 Our story comes from the Bible. It is found in the part, or book, of the Bible called John. John was one of the special helpers of Jesus. Jesus traveled to many places to help people and tell them about God. But Jesus wanted some helpers as He traveled and talked about God. Jesus was visiting a town called Bethany. He decided to go to another town called Bethsaida, near a lake called Galilee. Before Jesus left Bethany, He met a man named Philip. Philip was the kind of helper Jesus wanted. So, Jesus told Philip, "Follow Me." Philip was excited about being Jesus' helper. He went to find his friend Nathanael. Philip found his friend Nathanael sitting under a fig tree. It was a nice shady place where Nathanael could study. He liked to study the Scriptures, God's Word. Philip said, "Nathanael! I just met the person Moses talked about long ago. He's the one all the Scriptures tell about—God's Son! It is Jesus from
Read more