P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
This week we are looking at the idea that following Jesus means staying ready for the Great and Final Day to come.
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 remind me that you are in my midst. You are the mighty one who will save who rejoices over me. You quiet me with your love and you exult over me with loud singing. Meet me now and let me hear from you.
*Adapted from Zephaniah 3:17
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 16:
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
Psalm 16:1-2
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks
Luke 12:35-36
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?”
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks
Luke 12:35-36
Following Jesus, which is our goal, means staying ready for the Great and Final Day to come. Jesus knows it is easy to lose focus on everything, but he knows it is especially easy for us to be distracted by this earth and lose our focus on the Great and Final Day to come. That changes the way we live and he wants to bring our focus back. Part of living for the Great and Final Day to come is actively preparing for something when we don’t know what date it will happen on. This means for us that we have to live each day like it is the Great and Final Day. It is in that ethic that we stay ready for it.
Lord, I ask that you continue to show me why you spend so much of your time here on earth talking about the Great and Final Day. Give me eyes and a heart like yours when it comes to living this life.
Wake us up, Lord! Remind us to live aware, to redeem the time, to listen to your words, and to be willing to make a difference in the places you’ve called us to be. Thank you for your mighty power that acts on behalf of your children. Out of your kindness, please extend to us your grace and freedom. Cover us with your protection. Empower us with your strength. We ask for an awakening of your presence in our own lives and in the world around us, as never seen before. We pray for your help to be faithful to proclaim your name, and that all the enemy’s plans to silence the name of Jesus would be crushed.
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?
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks
Luke 12:35-36
Yielding Prayer
Lord, let my life be lived in obedience to you. In a world that has forgotten that you are not just our God, but you are also our Lord who deserves our worship let my life of worship look like a life of obedience. Teach me what it looks like to stay dressed for action. Fill me with your Spirit that I may have life in you and you alone.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
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.