P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
This coming Sunday, we have the unique privilege to hear from Brian Brookins, Pastor at Riverside Church here in Fort Lauderdale. Our focus this week will be on hearing from God.
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 this time with you today, let me see your glory. Remind my heart that you are a good Father who loves me. Where there is anxiety, bring peace. Where there is pain, bring healing. Where there is doubt, bring confidence. Where there is sorrow, bring comfort. May your joy become my joy in this time.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 145…
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
Psalm 145:1-3
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
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?”
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Paul writes to the church in Corinth and reminds them how he came bringing the testimony of God. He didn’t do it with lofty speech or wisdom. What he brought them was the truth of Jesus Christ and his being crucified. He wanted them to know God, not because he put together a good argument, but because the Spirit moved in them when they heard the good news of the gospel.
Lord, just like Paul, I ask you to show me what it means to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Lord, I cry out to you today and desire to see your presence made manifest on this earth. Would you do what only you can do, and would you rend the heavens and come down? Would you meet with your people in their iniquities again? Fill me with your Holy Spirit and let me continue to cry out until you move.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen to 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 I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Yielding Prayer
Lord, in obedience, I come to trust in you above the wisdom of men. Show me a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Fill me with your Spirit and fill me with faith.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Revelation 3…
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20
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.