P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Which family do I belong to?
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
Guide us, O God, by your Word, and Holy Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth find freedom, and in your will discover peace; through Christ our Lord, Amen.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 84:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
Psalm 84:11-12
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Galatians 4:28-31, where we read:
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Galatians 4:28-31
Paul ends this chapter with the practical application. The false teachings in Galatia stemmed from them believing that they are children of Abraham. Paul has shown us that is not enough. Abraham had two sons. What matters is which one you are. Hagar and Ishmael were cast out. If we believe we can do it on our own merit than we too shall be cast out of the family of God. Thanks be to God though that all it takes to be a child of God is to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. When we believe and trust in that then we are the children of promise. What a freeing truth! That God comes to us in our brokenness and knows we can’t fix ourselves. He makes a way through his own Son that we can have life again.
Lord, I thank you that you made a way for me to be in your family! Let me rest in that truth that you love me enough to send your own Son to die for me.
1)What implications come into my life because I am a part of the family of God?
2)What changes about my life because I am a child of God that has been set free by the work of Jesus and not based on my own merit?
Wake us up, Lord! Remind us to live aware, to redeem the time, to listen to your words, and to be willing to make a difference in the places you’ve called us to be. Thank you for your mighty power that acts on behalf of your children. Out of your kindness, please extend to us your grace and freedom. Cover us with your protection. Empower us with your strength. We ask for an awakening of your presence in our own lives and in the world around us, as never seen before. We pray for your help to be faithful to proclaim your name, and that all the enemy’s plans to silence the name of Jesus would be crushed.
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.
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Galatians 4:28-31
Yielding Prayer
Lord, today I am grateful that I can be a child of the promise not based on my own work, but based on what you accomplished on my behalf. Let me leave the old ways behind and walk in freedom today!
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Galatians 5:1:
For freedom Christ has set us free
Galatians 5:1
Closing Prayer
Lord, enable me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to love you today with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to serve you today, by loving and caring for others as I do my own self; and, to exalt you today, by telling the people in my world about the abundant and eternal life found only through faith in Jesus.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.