P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We end the week in 2 Corinthians.
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 cry out with the saints and the angels, “Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love. There is none like you.” Pour out your Spirit now and transform me as I behold your glory.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 131…
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
Psalm 131:1-3
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
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?”
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
We do not lose heart. That’s tough to do a lot of the time, but Paul reminds us why. Even though our outer self is wasting away, God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is renewing our inner self day by day. Paul of all people is not minimizing the suffering that we face in our lives. He is maximizing the eternal weight of glory that we will one day receive. He is saying that all of our suffering is doing something. Charles Spurgeon once said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” Paul tells us how not to lose heart in all of this. He says to look to the things that are unseen, for those things are eternal.
Lord, I ask that you teach me what it looks like to look to the unseen, eternal things.
Lord, we come before you with humble hearts, longing for your presence to fill us once again. We confess our complacency and ask that you awaken our spirits. Breathe new life into dry bones and stir our hearts with holy fire. Let your truth pierce through every shadow and your mercy flow like a river. Revive us, God—not just for our sake, but so the world may see your glory through us. Let your kingdom come and your will be done, in us and through us.
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?
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Yielding Prayer
Lord, seal this passage in my mind and heart. Fill me with your Spirit and let me not lose hope. Let me see that you are doing something with all of my suffering. In obedience, I look to the unseen, eternal things now.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 6…
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
John 6:37
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.