P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
The master returns home today and has a reward for the servant who stays dressed for action.
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:
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
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Luke 12: 37-40
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?”
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Luke 12: 37-40
Jesus calls the servant who stays awake and dressed for action blessed. When Jesus speaks of a blessed life our ears should perk up a little. What’s the promise here? Jesus who is the master in this gets dressed himself. He allows us to recline at his table. Then he serves us. What a beautiful picture of who Jesus is. And he manages our expectations a little. He speaks of being ready on the second or third watch. And all this leads us to is a desire to know the time, but we are not going to get one so we live every day really every hour be ready for his return.
Lord, give me a desire to see you return. Let me see the beauty that you will come again and that day will be a Great and Final Day for your followers.
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?
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Luke 12: 37-40
Yielding Prayer
Lord, meet me in this time. Speak to me and reveal to me what you have for me in this passage. I want to do all that you have for me. Give me your Spirit to learn how to live alert and ready in a world that tries to distract me at every turn.
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.