P.R.A.Y

PAUSE

REJOICE & REFLECT

ASK

YIELD

Personal Worship

We end our week with John giving us our second test. If we are walking in the light there will be no room to hate our brother.

Together we will pray (P.R.A.Y.) each day – ‘P’: Pausing to be still as we come into the presence of the Lord. ‘R’: Rejoicing as we remember who our God is and what He has done, and Reflecting on His word. ‘A’: Asking God to help us and others. And ‘Y’: yielding to His will in accordance with His word.

Pause

As I come before you to pray, I still my thoughts and quiet my mind. I seek to make you the center of my focus.

Prayer of Approach

O God, for you alone my soul waits in silence in this moment. I wait in your presence for my salvation comes from you and from you alone. You alone are my rock and my fortress. In you I place my trust. (Psalm 62:1-2) I ask that your Holy Spirit would fill me as I enter in.

Rejoice and Reflect

We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 146…

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in princes,
    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
    on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
he Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 146

Today we are reflecting on the words of Jesus in 1 John 2:7-11, where we read:

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 2:7-11

John follows test #1 with test #2. The first test he gave us was obedience to the commandments of God. The second test he gives us is love. John is showing us that walking in the light includes love. That if our heart lacks love and is full of hate for our brother that shows us we are living in darkness. Our response towards other people especially those we see as enemies or as irritating is evidence of our Christian character, which is evident of our heart. The heart of the gospel is about Jesus loving us while we were his enemies. Jesus calls us to love like he did. A love that finds no hatred in it. Our world lives contrary to this. We live in a world where we define who we are by what we hate. As Christians we are to run from this behavior and be defined not by what we hate, but by what we love.

Ask

Lord, reveal to me the hate in my heart. I live in a world that thrives off hatred. Show me where the hatred of the world has leaked into my heart. I ask that you would give me a name or a brother or sister that I am harboring hatful feelings toward. Show me where in my life where I lack love and am full of hatred.

Reflection Questions:
1) Do you hate someone right now?
2) Do you hate a certain group or do you hate people who hold certain beliefs?

Lord, I come to you on behalf of our country and the world. I am living in an age that is full of hate. I ask that you would soften the hearts of your people in our nation. Would you please give us a culture of love that is light in a dark world?

Yield

As I read the passage again slowly, I listen for anything that You would say to me in it. Help me see how to position my life in order to yield to your word…

Yielding Prayer

Lord, I surrender the hurts and traumas that are causing me to hate my fellow brother or sister. I surrender my anger that is causing me to remain in hate. I surrender my pride that keeps me from loving. I surrender my life to you. Make it a life that is defined by love and not by hate that I may walk in the light with you.

Yielding Promise

And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 5:6-11…

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

Closing Prayer

As I go from here, may I feel your love as my Father, your presence as my friend, and your mercy as my Savior. Fill me, Holy Spirit, that I may walk in step with what you would have for me today! Seal in me the truths declared from your Word. Teach my heart to bow before you as my Lord in every opportunity you give me today.