P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
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.
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
Jesus, as I enter into your presence now I ask that you would help my unbelief. I am like the father of the boy in Mark 9, I believe, but I need your help in my unbelief. You say all things are possible for one who believes and as I enter your presence to pray help me to believe that you are the God who controls all things, knows all things, and in that, you hear your child speak to you at this moment.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 34…
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.”
Psalm 34: 19-22
Today we are reflecting on the words of Paul in Romans 10, where we read:
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:14-17
Jesus can save people miraculously in whatever way he desires, we know that. Paul shows us though that the primary means of evangelism that Jesus has chosen is his people. Paul hits us with the rhetorical questions that lead us to that fact.
Who is going to tell them? It’s us!
Jesus, I ask that you would show me where I fit in all of this. I know I need to go, but show me who I need to tell specifically in my life.
1)Who is one person specifically I need to be praying for to know Jesus?
2)When will I next have an opportunity to tell them about Jesus myself?
Lord, I ask that you would visit your people again. I ask that you would pour out your Spirit in a supernatural way for a season of time where your glory would open the eyes of all that see it. Would you do what only you can do? Would you do what you have done before in history? Revive your Church, revive your people, and revive your world.
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…
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:14-17
Yielding Prayer
Lord, make me beautiful by making me your laborer. I surrender this life to you knowing that you can be trusted. Take my fears, worries, and anxieties right now. I lay it all at your feet. Make me the one who speaks. Make me the one who tells. Make me your hands and feet, not for my glory but for yours alone.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 10:15 …
“As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:15
Closing Prayer
Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given us, for all the pains and insults that you have borne for us. Most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more dearly, day by day.
Amen
St. Richard, Bishop of Chichester
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.