P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We come to the beginning of Saul’s destruction.
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, there is no waste in my time with you. As I enter into your presence, fill me with the joy of my salvation all over again. Remind me that I have a Father who loves me and has a plan for me.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Isaiah 40…
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Isaiah 40:29
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.
1 Samuel 31:1-2
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2
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?”
Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.
1 Samuel 31:1-2
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2
Saul entered battle with armor, weapons, and soldiers, yet when pressure came, none of those things could hold him. His strength failed because the Spirit of the Lord had left him long before the battle began. David opens Psalm 18 very differently: before victory, before rescue, before deliverance, he names God as his strength.
The contrast is real: one king collapses when the battle intensifies; another has learned where strength truly comes from. Even being an earthly king with everything that comes with that cannot replace inward dependence upon God. The deepest battles of life often reveal whether we have been depending on ourselves or the Lord.
I love you, O Lord, my strength. You are my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. I take refuge in you today. I ask that you be my stronghold.
Revive us, oh Lord! Meet with a broken humanity who is returning to the dust. Save us from ourselves and from the Enemy who seeks our destruction. Bring many to faith and deliverance in you. You are the God who saves, and that is what we desire to see.
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?
Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.
1 Samuel 31:1-2
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2
Yielding Prayer
Lord, I confess how quickly I trust in what I can control. Teach me to call you my strength before I ask you to change my circumstances. When I feel weak, become my refuge today. Where I feel unstable, steady me in yourself.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Psalm 27…
The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Psalm 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