P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Every child needs to be taught.
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
Gracious Father, I come before you with a heart that longs to hear your voice. I lay aside the burdens and distractions of this day, asking you to quiet my spirit and open my eyes to your truth. Speak to me through your Word and let the Holy Spirit guide me in this time. I draw near to you trusting that you are drawing near to me. I ask that you would meet with me in this time.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 29…
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
Psalm 29:1-2
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
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?”
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is known as the Shema. It is the personal command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. It doesn’t end there, though. We are to take our personal experience with God and pass it down to our children. It is not just the teaching of our mouths, but it is the lesson that our whole lives belong to God.
Lord, I ask that you teach me to love you with all that I am and everything that I have. Let your Words be the guide of my life.
Join us for Pray First, set your heart on God this week, asking Him to awaken a deeper longing for His presence.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
Pray: Father, I ask You to reveal to me what this blessed life of complete satisfaction would look like. What shifts would I see in my daily life? What would be different? I will take a moment to be still and listen. And Lord, I pray not just for myself, but that You would create within my family and our entire church a consuming hunger and thirst for Your righteousness.
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?
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Yielding Prayer
Lord, in obedience I come to you with all my heart, soul, and might. Teach me that my life is not my own, but it all belongs to you. Pour out your Spirit on me. Let me pass these truths to my children.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 49…
Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
I would not forget you!
Isaiah 49:14-15
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.