P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we will explore the fruit of joy!
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
My Father, your word speaks of your steadfast and unfailing love toward me. So, I come now to hide under the shadow of your wings and to simply enjoy that love! Let me “feast on the abundance of your house” and “drink from the river of your delights!” I know that with you is the fountain of life; fill me to overflow as I meet with you today! For, where the river flows, life abounds. (Based on Psalm 36:7-9 and Ezekiel 47:9b)
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the faithfulness and power of our God, as I see it in Isaiah 55
“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
Isaiah 55:6-12
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
“Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Psalm 43:4
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. …More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Romans 5:2-5, 11
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13:50-52
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?”
“Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Psalm 43:4
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. …More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Romans 5:2-5, 11
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13:50-52
The definition of joy in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” Maybe you can relate to this definition! When everything is going well, your relationships are good, kids are thriving, you have money in the bank, your job is fulfilling and secure, you feel happiness! But, as we see in our passages for today, the Biblical definition of joy is much deeper and richer than mere happiness caused by favorable circumstances.
David begins our Psalm for today by essentially saying, “where are you God? Come and vindicate me! Defend my cause! Deliver me!” Things are not going well and he is accusing God of not coming through for him. But, then, it’s as if he remembers that his source of joy is not his circumstances, but God himself. He makes a decision to go to the altar of the Lord and praise, knowing that it is there that his connection with God can be renewed and his joy restored. Again and again in the bible, we see the people of God, in the face of very great suffering, living in joy. In fact, many times they don’t even ask to be delivered from their painful circumstances. How is this possible?
It is because the joy they were experiencing came from God himself. In our Acts 13 passage, we see that the people’s joy came simultaneously with the filling of the Holy Spirit. And in the 1 Thessalonians passage, their joy is given to them by the Holy Spirit. Even if you find yourself in a hard place where everything is dark and insecure, you can still have joy because your spirit is in direct contact with God’s Spirit. Joy is not found in our circumstances. It’s found in a decision of the will to go to the Lord. Only in him can we receive true joy.
In our Romans 5 passage, we see an interesting progression of joy. In verse 2, Paul tells us that we are to rejoice (or have joy) because we hope in the glory of God. In verse 3, he tells us that we rejoice even in our suffering, because of the character that can only be produced in us through that suffering. So, even though we may not like it, we do know it’s doing a good work in us! And finally in verse 11, we see that our greatest joy comes from knowing that, through Jesus, we have been reconciled to the Father. True fullness of joy comes in his presence. It comes through just being a child of God! When we have faith in these truths, praising him in spite of our trials, he pours out his joy in fullness upon us!
Dear Lord, how do I typically respond to less than optimal circumstances? Am I facing one now that might serve as a good example? Do I, like David, jump immediately into accusations and anger? Or do I turn to praise and hope in the God who loves me to find my joy? Or is it something in the middle?
Help me to store up your word in my heart so that I can access truths when trials come my way. Empower me to hope in your glory no matter what I am going through. Help me to trust that you are doing a work in and through my suffering, growing me in character, and making me look more and more like you. And enable me to rest in the ultimate cause of joy: the fact that you have reconciled me to yourself and I am your child. Show me Lord how to quickly turn to you in my suffering.
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!
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?
“Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Psalm 43:4
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. …More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Romans 5:2-5, 11
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13:50-52
Yielding Prayer
Martin Lloyd-Jones said, “He is our joy and our happiness, even as He is our peace. He is life, He is everything. So avoid the incitements and the temptations of Satan to give feelings this great prominence at the center. Put at the center the only One who has a right to be there, the Lord of Glory, Who so loved you that He went to the Cross and bore the punishment and the shame of your sins and died for you. Seek Him, seek His face, and all other things shall be added unto you.” Dear Jesus, are you at my center? Help me to make space for you there!
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Psalm 16:
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 16:11
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.