P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We look at quite the scene in Noah’s life 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
Heavenly Father, I come before you with a humble heart, seeking your presence and guidance. You are holy, loving, and full of mercy. Draw me closer to you, that I may walk in your light and know your truth. Cleanse my mind, renew my spirit, and fill me with your peace. Teach me to trust you more each day and to follow your will with faith and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 92…
How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.
Psalm 92:5-9
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
Genesis 9:18-29
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?”
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
Genesis 9:18-29
Noah faithfully obeys God and builds an ark for decades, expecting a flood like they have never seen before. He is blameless before the Lord and enters the ark with his family and the animals as the only things to survive this judgment. At this point in the story, you may wonder if Noah is the savior that they have been waiting for, but all that ends rather quickly when Noah gets drunk and ends up naked in his tent. Ham comes in and sees his father, and tells his brothers. His brothers, though, walk backward and do not see their father until he is covered. Noah responds and curses Ham’s son Canaan for what he has done. This seems like an extreme punishment for seeing your father naked. So extrabiblical texts try to make it make sense by saying Ham sodomized his father, but that is just not in the Bible. Ham’s sin was dishonoring his father by seeing him in shame, and instead of covering him, he spreads his father’s shame to his brothers. The people of God do not spread shame, but they do anything to cover it by the grace of God.
Lord, meet with me now. Show me who you are and how I am in light of that.
Lord, visit your people again with the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way for a period of time. Pour out your glory, and let us see you. Bring us to repentance and transform our hearts.
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?
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
Genesis 9:18-29
Yielding Prayer
Lord, make me an ambassador of your peace and love. Let me not spread shame, but let me reduce it with the gospel of good news in people’s lives. Fill me with your Spirit and love today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 26…
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3
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.