P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Jesus closes out the Lord’s prayer by urging his people to ask for his power to fight temptation, sin, and evil.
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 enter into your presence through prayer would you open my eyes to see you? Open my eyes to the glory of who you are. Open my eyes and let my heart follow. Show me who you are and let everything else fall away during this time in your presence.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 34:
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Psalm 34:4-10
As you read the passage, ask the Lord to reveal a word or phrase that stands out to you.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:13
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?”
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:13
Jesus’ offer to us today is absolutely beautiful and freeing. He knows that Satan is prowling looking to tempt and destroy us. Jesus also knows that we cannot fight against temptation in our own power. He is inviting us today to ask for help. That Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God wants to give us his power to not fall into temptation and to fight against the sin that clings to us. And the question is will we humble ourselves and ask for it?
Jesus, I ask that you would reveal to me where Satan is seeking to tempt me. Would you give me eyes to see that you love me too much to fight this battle on my own? Show me your protection and power today.
Lord, I ask that you would rend the heavens and come down. Meet with your people again in a supernatural way for a certain period of time. Reignite your people’s hearts and bring those who are far off to faith in you. Let your glory spread in this dark world.
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?
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:13
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I surrender my life to you knowing I can’t live this life without your power. I humble myself and ask you to not lead me into temptation. I yield to you knowing that you can and will deliver me from evil today. Protect me I pray.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Matthew 7:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11
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.