P.R.A.Y

PAUSE

REJOICE & REFLECT

ASK

YIELD

Personal Worship

This week we begin a new series titled, “There Is More.” In this series, we will study the Person and the Work of the Holy Spirit.

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

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me now as I seek your face, Lord. Still, my mind and heart as I prepare to meet with the God of my salvation. I invite you to invade my thoughts, Lord, and to fill me with your peace. Finely tune my hearing so that I can hear clearly what you have to say. I ask these things in the precious name of Jesus.

-Mark Rosewell

Rejoice and Reflect

We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 104:

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
  O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
covering yourself with light as with a garment,
    stretching out the heavens like a tent.
He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
    he rides on the wings of the wind;
he makes his messengers winds,
  his ministers a flaming fire.
He set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.

Psalm 104:1-9

Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in John 14:25-31, where we read:

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

John 14:25-31

Jesus has begun his final discourse to his disciples as he prepares to head to his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. You can imagine walking with Jesus for three years and at the height of his ministry in your eyes he is going to die, be resurrected, and ascend back to the right hand of the Father. Knowing in his absence fear and doubt have the ability to enter in and he prepares them for it. Jesus doesn’t promise them a plan or a strategy, instead, he promises them a person. Not just another human or a community to walk alongside them, but the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He describes the Holy Spirit in this text as the Helper. A Helper who will teach them all things and bring remembrance to all Jesus has said. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in the name of Jesus to be our Helper. It is astounding the care Jesus has for his people. With the cross in front of him, his concern is his people once he is gone. Over the next couple of days, we will look at specifically what the Spirit will do to help us, but for today in prayer and through questions we will explore the idea of a Helper in our lives.

Ask

Father God, I ask for the Holy Spirit in my life to be sent to me in the name of Jesus. Would you open my eyes to the need I have for him? Show me who the Holy Spirit is.

1)How would I define and describe the Holy Spirit?
2)What do I know about him and what he does?
3)Do I believe I need the Holy Spirit’s help in my life or am I content in my own power?

Lord, we ask that you would pour out your Spirit on your people in a supernatural way for this season of time. As we seek your face would you give us your Holy Spirit to empower, purify, reveal, and unify your people? We are expectant for a movement of your Spirit in our 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.

John 14:25-31

Yielding Prayer

Lord, I surrender this life to you and I desire all that you have for me. Grant me humility at this moment and open my eyes to the need I have for the Helper in my life. I want an untroubled heart and the peace you have for me. If there is more would you give it to me as I explore what that means?

Yielding Promise

And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 14:16

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

John 14:16

Closing Prayer

Lord, thank you for choosing me to be your messenger today. I am willing, Lord. Send me out from here to speak the good news of Jesus with boldness and clarity. Equip me with your Spirit and pave the way before me. Prepare the hearts of anyone I will come into contact with today. That they may see Jesus, not me, and be transformed by Him.

-Mark Rosewell

*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.