P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We long for more today than this world has to offer.
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 come into this time with you, show me who you are and show me who I am. Let me see that you are God and I am not. Let me see your faithfulness towards me in all seasons. Draw me close to you now.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 36…
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.
Psalm 36:5-6
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5
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?”
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5
As we look at this world, it becomes clear that there has to be more than all of this. All of the troubles and brokenness cannot be all that we are left with. Praise the Lord that there is heaven. There is an eternity with God for those who believe in Jesus. The Bible is honest about what this earth will cause us to do. On this earth, we groan, and we long for something more. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee that God will prepare a place before us and help us to finish the race well.
Lord, I ask that you give me a longing for heaven. Let me long for an eternity with you in the midst of this world.
Come Holy Spirit. Come into my heart now. Fill me with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Fill me with faith and hope in God. Pour out your power on me today.
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?
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5
Yielding Prayer
Lord, you have prepared a place for me. What a thought. That the God of all the universe wants me to spend eternity with him. In obedience, I rest in the truth that this is not all there is. I groan at the things of this world with the hope that all of the sufferings of this earth will disappear one day. Fill me with your Spirit.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 14…
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:25-27
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.