P.R.A.Y

PAUSE

REJOICE & REFLECT

ASK

YIELD

Personal Worship

Jesus’ genealogy is filled with messy and broken people, and that’s good news for us!

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.

Pause

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 consecrate this time. I get to do the most wonderful thing in this moment: meet with you. You are a gracious God who meets with his children. Speak to me now.

Rejoice and Reflect

I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Joel 2…

I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten

Joel 2:25

As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.

and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

Matthew 1:3-11

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?”

Matthew 1:3-11

Matthew includes names marked by brokenness, weakness, and surprising mercy. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and David all remind me that God does not erase flawed stories when he builds redemption. Instead, grace moves directly through them. Jesus entered history through a family line that openly displayed mercy, teaching us that redemption is stronger than failure.

Ask

Lord, I ask that you remind me of your great mercy in history and in my own life.

Where do I struggle to believe God can use imperfect parts of my story?
What does this genealogy teach me about grace?
Where have I seen God redeem what once felt broken?
What part of my past do I need to surrender more fully to him?

Lord, revive your people. We are dead unless you move. We ask and expect a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit that we are longing for. Come and do what only you can do.

Yield

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?

Matthew 1:3-11

Yielding Prayer

Lord, thank you that your grace reaches into broken histories. I yield every wounded part of my story to your redeeming mercy.

Yielding Promise

And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 8…

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

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