P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Jesus continues praying for his people today!
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.
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
Lord, as I enter into your presence I am trusting your promise that when I draw near to you, you will draw near to me (James 4:8). As I draw near to your throne in prayer meet me here, right where I am at in my life. I approach your throne with the utmost confidence knowing that you are the God who controls all things. Not just that, but that the God who controls all things loves me as his child and wants to hear from me.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 23…
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23:6
Today we are reflecting on the words of Jesus in John 17, where we read:
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
John 17: 14-19
Jesus in his prayer for us doesn’t want us to leave this world like him. In fact, he actually asks the Father to keep us here. Why would he do that? He wants us to be his hands and feet in this world so that more people would come to a saving relationship with him. We live differently in this world though because we have been sanctified by his word. He knows that Satan wants differently for us. Jesus asks the Father to protect us from the evil one and God does that for us. Jesus sends us into the world with his truth that sanctifies us. We are put on mission in this prayer of Jesus as his people!
Jesus, I ask that you would transform me to not be of the world. Show me where in my life I look more like the world than I look like the truth that you have given us. Give me your Spirit to see where I doubt the truth that you have given me.
1) What does it look like for me to be in the world, but not of the world?
2) Am I turning to the Bible to find truth or am I seeking it elsewhere?
God, pour out your Spirit of unity on your Church in South Florida. Break us of our pride and ego that wants to divide and build our own little kingdoms. Revive our hearts to the truth that you are a God of unity. Let us unify under the banner that Jesus Christ was crucified for his people. Let our unity be seen by a world that is searching to be known and loved. Unify us so that you are glorified.
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…
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
John 17: 14-19
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I surrender to your truth. I yield to whatever the Scripture says. Let me not obey only when I feel like it or it is easy for me, but let me do it because it comes from you. I desire to be sanctified by the truth. Pour out your Spirit on me and transform me to look like you and not like the world.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 16:33…
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
Closing Prayer
Lord, bury the truths that I have read today in my heart. Teach my heart to trust you as I live the life you have called me to today. Fill me with your Spirit. Pour out your love in my life so that from that overflow I may love people well. Make me your light in this dark and broken world so that I may glorify you with my life. Amen.