P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We begin a new series this week that will take us all the way to Easter titled “From Death to Life”. Jesus will call us to follow him today and over the next 5 weeks, we will journey with Jesus to the cross as he illustrates for us what it looks like to be his disciples.
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 your throne today fill me with your Holy Spirit and remind me that I am a beloved child of yours. I come knowing that you give good gifts to your children because you love us. Meet with me in this time.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Hebrews 13:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:23-27
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?”
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:23-27
From now till Easter, we are walking with Jesus as he goes to the cross. Our focus is on what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. What does it mean for us to follow after him? Jesus doesn’t hide any of this from us, but he makes it very clear what it looks like for us to follow after him in this world.
He looks at the crowd in Luke 9 and he doesn’t divide them into two groups for this talk. He doesn’t look at just his 12 disciples and say this is for them because they are on some different level. No, everyone in the crowd that day heard this same call to follow after Jesus. The crowd that day and if you are anything like me really likes the first and the last thing in verse 23. We want to go after Jesus and follow him. It’s difficult to swallow denying myself and taking up my cross. Jesus doesn’t give areas where we should deny ourselves. It’s not just the sinful parts of us, but it is all of us. We are no longer all about us. Think about what the crowd would have heard about taking up a cross. They saw people literally take up a cross and walk to their execution. Their ears heard that differently than ours. The call is serious, but it is a beautiful call on our lives. For all the sacrifices we get to be in a relationship with Jesus. It is a call that is not to be taken lightly though.
Lord, I ask that you speak to me now. Show me what you have for me in this passage. Touch not just my mind, but my heart as well.
A.W. Tozer once said, “Our mistake is that we want God to send revival on our terms. We want to get the power of God into our hands, to call it to us that it may work for us in promoting and furthering our kind of Christianity. We want to still be in charge shouting “Glory to God,” but modestly accepting a share of the glory for ourselves, calling on God to send fire on our altars, completely ignoring the fact that they are our altars and not God’s.”
Lord, I pray that you break us as people of the inkling we have that any glory should be ours. Show us where we are holding onto our own altars. Fill us with your Spirit so that all we desire is for you to be in charge and have all the glory. Send fire on your altars and not ours. Revive us Lord in a way that only you can do!
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 he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:23-27
Yielding Prayer
Lord, I desire to follow after you. I’ll be honest, at times it seems daunting to do that. Forgive me for the countless times throughout my day that I blatantly choose to not deny myself and to not take up my cross. Fill me with your Spirit. I have no ability to do this without your power moving in me. Transform my heart and my desires so that I’ll see the beauty to follow after you in this way. Show me a greater way to live this life by following after you in all things.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 16:33:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
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.