P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We enter into Psalm 139 and learn the first step in the process of self-examination.
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 approach you today I rest in the words of 1 John 4:18:
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All things things were created to, through, and for you, and yet you shower me with your perfect love. Let that perfect love drive out any fear I have as I come into your presence today.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 118:5-7:
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
Psalm 118:5-7
As I read the passage, I am asking the Lord to reveal a word or phrase that stands out to me.
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:1-12
As I reread the passage, I am reflecting on the questions, “How is my life touched by this word?” and “How does this passage connect with my life?”
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:1-12
Self-examination is the practice that facilitates an awakening to who we really are, but it first begins with an awakening to who God really is. We see that in this Psalm that David pens. Who does he begin with? Not with his own self-examination, but with God. He states the truth that seems pretty obvious but sometimes holds us back due to fear. If God really is who he says he is then these verses are obviously true. He should know where I am and who I am all the time. David is inviting us into the beauty of who God is as we enter into his presence. He’s the God who knows us completely and yet he still hems us in behind and before and he lays his hand upon me. There is no safer place for me to be than right there at that moment. Self-examination is only terrifying if we doubt the veracity of these Scriptures. Marjorie Thompson puts it like this:
“While the truth that we cannot escape God’s all-seeing eye may weigh us down at times, it is finally the only remedy for our uneasiness. If we wish to hide from the penetrating gaze of holy love, it is because we know it falls on what is unholy and unloving within us. Only under God’s steady gaze of love are we able to find the healing and the restoration we so desperately need.”
Lord, let me see you today for who you truly are not who I desire you to be or have made you out to be. Flood me with an experience of who you are.
Lord, revival begins in me. As I focus on self-examination this week would you create in me a clean heart? You are the God who brings life out of death and I ask that you would do that in my life. Restore to me the joy of my salvation.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen for how the Lord is inviting me to respond to him. Where in my life do I need to yield in obedience to what he has for me?
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:1-12
Yielding Prayer
Lord, take my uneasiness and fill it with certainty. Help me to see how much you love me and care about me. Let me know that the answer to you knowing everything about me isn’t fear, but it is an invitation to invite you in. So Lord in obedience I fall at your feet because you are God and I am not!
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Lamentations 3:22-23:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
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.