P.R.A.Y

PAUSE

REJOICE & REFLECT

ASK

YIELD

Personal Worship

Today we will look at how to seek additional Spiritual gifts.

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

Lord, I will proclaim your greatness! Exalted be your name! Picturing you now seated upon your throne, ruling over all, I am in awe! And I am humbled by the fact that you bend all the way down from there to listen to my prayers! Who am I, O Lord, that you are mindful of me? What am I that you care so deeply for me? Meet me in this time of prayer, my heavenly Father, and open my ears to your voice of love and faithfulness! (Based on Psalm 34, 8, and 116:2 NLT)

Rejoice and Reflect

I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the amazing promises of our God, as I see them in Psalm 37:

“Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.”

Psalm 37:3-6

As I read the passage below, I am asking the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to me.

“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.”

1 Corinthians 14:1-5

As I reread the passage, I reflect on the questions, “How is my life touched by this word?” and “How does this passage connect with my life?”

1 Corinthians 14:1-5

Maybe you read the different lists of the spiritual gifts yesterday and thought, “Oh, I would really like to have THAT one!” Well, in commanding us to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts,” Paul here is telling us to seek after the ones that we don’t yet have. Yesterday, we learned that we have all been given at least one gift from God, and that was before we even knew to ask! But here we are told that, like a child who writes up a Christmas list for his parents, we can (and should!) desire and pursue additional gifts from God. So how do we do that?

First, we should ask God for them. In 1 Corinthians 14:13, we are told that the one who prays in tongues should pray for the gift to interpret tongues. In other words, he has one gift, but he’s now commanded to pray for another. We’re also told to eagerly desire (and the clear implication is therefore to pursue) all of the gifts, especially the gift of prophesy. Well, how would we do that apart from prayer? Prayer is fundamental to our pursuit of spiritual gifts.
Secondly, we should always ask with the right motives. Even a cursory review of all of the gift passages makes it clear that God gives us these gifts, not for the building of ourselves, but for the building up of the church. And they are to be exercised in (and governed by) love for God and for others. (Cf. 1 Cor. 13).
Learn about the gift you would like to have! I, personally, would like to have the gift of healing. There are many around me who live with ongoing, horrible pain, and it grieves me! Since the word tells us to pray for those who need healing, and since I believe that God can heal through his people, I seek to understand this gift more thoroughly through the study of Scripture and through books written by people I trust are faithful to the scriptures (and who have experienced God’s healing power working through them).
Seek opportunities to try out or utilize a particular gift that you desire (for the Lord may exercise that gift through you in that moment). For example, in my continued desire to see people healed, I simply continue to pray for them (and by the way, we have seen many healings at Rio, both immediate and over time)! Small groups, friends, and prayer meetings are good places to be honest about your desire and to try to exercise these gifts.

In the end, we should actively use the gifts that we know that we’ve been given, ask for more as directed above, and then trust the Lord to give us what he has designed for us. (1 Corinthians 12:11, 18)

Ask

Lord, I lay these 2 commands before you: “Pursue love” and “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts,” and I ask you to help me examine my life in relation to them. Am I pursuing love? What does that look like in my life? It seems like life is so busy that most days all I can do to keep up with my own life and family! How can I intentionally pursue loving others in my church?

Have I ever considered pursuing a gift I don’t have? Certainly, there are many on the list that I would desire, but do I believe that, if I asked you for it, you would then give it to me? God, forgive my unbelief! And ignite a fire in my heart to go after that gift that I looked at yesterday and thought, “Oh, I would really like to have THAT one!” All for your great glory and praise! Amen.

Lord, I want all of you that there is to have! I want that personally, I want that for Rio, and I want that for the Church here in South Florida! So, give us faith for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our day! And teach us to wait on you, to listen for your voice, to pray persistently for your Empowering Presence, and then to walk in your power. Do a great work through us for the sake of your Kingdom and your glory!

Yield

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?

1 Corinthians 14:1-5

Yielding Prayer

George MacDonald, pastor, teacher and writer, said “O God, one day we will laugh ourselves to scorn that we looked to so little from you.” Dear Jesus, I know that this is true and so I ask that you help me look to you in new ways, for new things that I haven’t yet seen or believed that you can do! Do them through our church body I pray! And may many come to know you and experience your love and power through them!

Yielding Promise

And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 15:

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

John 15:7

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.