THINK TOGETHER.
What’s the best gift you ever received?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 11:11-13. 11“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
For my sixteenth birthday my father got me a great gift, a boombox. A boombox was a big, portable, radio with giant speakers. This boombox had a dual cassette player. Not just one cassette player, but two. This meant that you could make copies of your friend’s cassettes (cassettes are plastic rectangles with a tape that held recorded music on them). Trust me, it was very cool. And very expensive. I had never had a gift as cool or expensive as that one in my life before.
Have you ever gotten a great gift from your father or mother? Parents love to give their kids great gifts. At Christmas. On birthdays. Just because. Jesus says that good fathers give their children the good things that they ask for. If a child asks for a fish, a good dad will give them a fish, not a snake. Or if a child asks for an egg, a good parent won’t give them a scorpion.
In the same way our Heavenly Father is very good. He doesn’t just give us fish and eggs. He gives us the Holy Spirit.
But we have to ask him. God doesn’t give the Holy Spirit to everyone. He gives him to those who ask. How do we ask for the Holy Spirit? By asking for Jesus. When we ask for Jesus to come into our heart and take away our sins, when we ask for Jesus to save us, when we ask to receive Jesus, we are asking for the Holy Spirit.
If you have Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. And if you have the Holy Spirit, you have Jesus. But the only way to have Jesus and the Holy Spirit is to ask the Father for them. God is offering to give you the Holy Spirit as a gift, but you have to receive that gift.
Have you ever asked God to give you Jesus? If you have then you have the Holy Spirit. And he’s the best gift ever (way better than a boombox).
Because of the Holy Spirit we can have God’s best gift ever – himself.
With the Holy Spirit we have Jesus with us too.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Have everyone find one of their favorite gifts that they have received. What makes this gift so good? Ask, “What does it do for you?” “Can it love you?” The gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of God himself and his love for you.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, you are a good dad that only gives me the best, the Holy Spirit (and Jesus). God, thank you for giving me yourself so that I can always be loved and cared for by you. Amen.
TLICfamily 