P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Peter and John face the questions of the religious elites and their answer is a powerful one.
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, you are so gracious to me that you would bend your ear to me. You are the God who is not only good, but you are near. So meet me with you nearness now. Open my eyes and my heart to what you will speak to me today.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 95:
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Psalm 95:6-11
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Acts 4, where we read:
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:5-12
If the Sadducees and the temple captain were not enough the heavy hitters enter the scene to see what Peter and John are doing. Peter has a choice to make. He has opposition to what he is doing that has power and influence. Peter has to decide who he is going to serve at this moment. Remember, these are the same guys that crucified Jesus and now Peter has their attention. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, doesn’t back down. He boldly proclaims that Jesus is all-powerful. The very same power they refused to see is now blatantly being used in their faces for the glory of God. Put yourself in Peter’s sandals for a second. That would have not just been an uncomfortable situation to be in, but a scary one. It would have been easy to recant and to back down and without the Holy Spirit’s power, it might have happened. God is gracious to give us boldness when we ask and when we need it. We need his boldness in our current world, just like Peter needed it then. We need to become people who boldly look at our culture and our world and we preach the gospel openly and honestly. We need the Spirit to fill us in order for that to happen!
Lord, I ask for eyes to see this world the way you do. Give me discernment to know when to speak and when to listen. Fill me with your Spirit, a spirit of boldness!
1)Where is there opposition against Christianity in our culture?
2)Where have I allowed my beliefs to change because of that opposition?
3)Where do I need the Holy Spirit to fill me with boldness?
4)Will I pray for it now?
Jesus, revive our hearts. You have come to give your people abundant life. An abundant life that can only come from you. Break us of our desires for this earth that promise to satisfy us, but leave us empty inside. Give us a spirit of repentance to turn from the ways of this world and come back into union with you. In our brokenness would you fill us mightily with your Spirit? May all the glory and praise belong to you.
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.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:5-12
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, fill me with your boldness to be the light in the dark world. Encourage me that if you are for me then nothing can stand against me. Break me of my love for this world and for my reputation in it. Let me love you above all else and let my obedience to you show that. Give me boldness today to make you known!
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 2 Timothy 1:7:
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7
Closing Prayer
Lord, fill me with your Spirit in a way that causes me to go out from here in boldness. You have not given me a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and self-control. Let me live this day in that way as I seek to be a light in my home, my workplace, my school, and wherever else your Spirit will lead me.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.