Head: Know God's Word | Heart: Love God | Hands: Follow God's Way 

Read Matthew 1

Head 

This chapter starts out by going through a very long family lineage starting with Abraham all the way to the birth of Jesus. That includes “fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah”. That is a lot of people! We then see how Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Even though Joseph was planning on leaving Mary out of fear, an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid for Mary will have a son and this son will save his people from their sins. When Joseph woke up, he listened to the angel and he named Him Jesus just as the angel told him to. 

Heart 

The beginning of this chapter may seem unimportant and boring as it lists a lot of different names; however, one important thing to take away from this very long family history is that since Abraham was obedient to God, the nations were blessed through his descendants by the birth of Jesus. We see this back in Genesis 22:18: “And through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed - all because you obeyed me”. So, even though Joseph was scared to marry Mary once he found out that she was pregnant, he learned to be obedient to God and to trust in his plan- for God will fulfill his promises. 

Hands 

Think about a time when you were scared to trust in God’s plan for your life. What steps can you take to put your trust more in God rather than in your own hands? 

Prayer: Dear God, thank You for showing us what it means to trust in You and Your promises. Thank You for showing us what it means to be obedient to You and all of the goodness that comes when we trust in You. Help us to understand that even when we go through the many different challenges that life throws at us we can always put our trust in You.