P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We see Jesus’ vision for his people’s lives today.
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, take me deeper into my relationship with you today. In a world full of distractions I ask that you pour out your Spirit on me now. Meet me where I am at, but don’t leave me here. Give me grace where grace is needed. Give me strength where obedience is needed. Hear my prayers and speak to me now.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 34…
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:15-18
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38
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 calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38
Jesus calls the crowd to himself and gives them the call on their lives. It is not one of comfort, but one denial. It is one that goes against everything our world tells us we should chase after. Jesus says this knowing he will go to a real, physical cross and this is what he calls us to do in return. This should be our vision for the kids in our church. Above all things we want to raise them to be disciples of Jesus that deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow after him with everything they have.
Lord, let this be the call of my life and what I chase after with the time you give me on this earth. Let this be the call that we point our kids to in this church knowing that without you we are nothing.
Oh, Lord, would you rend the heavens and come down? Meet with your people for a season of supernatural revival again. Pour out your Spirit. Set the captives free and bring faith to those who lack. Do not forsake us in our errors, but come again in power and 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?
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38
Yielding Prayer
Lord, you are good. Let me see the lengths that you went through to set me free. Let this passage be the call on my life. This passage is difficult and I need your help to achieve it. Forgive me for where I go wrong and fill me with your Spirit that I can obey your Word today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 6…
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:35
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.