P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we look deeper at the promise that we have been reminding ourselves of all week.
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, I long to know you deeper. Meet me in this desire. Reveal yourself to me that I may know you deeply. I want to experience all that you are willing to offer me. Speak to me through your Word and your Spirit now.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 33…
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Psalm 33:22
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
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?”
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
The different covenants throughout Scripture may seem at odds. Abraham’s was one of unconditional promises from God whereas the one with Moses required the peoples obedience in order to obtain the promise. How can we hold both of these? The answer is Jesus. He is the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. He obeyed the Father perfectly when we have failed, yet he was put to death and experienced the wrath that I deserved for all of my mistakes. I receive his righteousness not through my own work, but through Jesus’.
Jesus, I thank you for who you are and how you love me. I ask that I would see and experience what you have done on my behalf.
Lord, begin by reviving my own heart this week. Meet with me and show me where I am in sin or holding a part of my life back from you. Fill me with your Spirit and give me abundant life in you. I am desperate for a move of your Spirit this week.
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?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, let me see the beauty of what you have done for me and let that draw me deeper into obedience. You became sin for me so that I might have life. Fill me with your Spirit and let me be an abassador of that message today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 2 Corinthians 5…
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
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.