P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today, we ask God to help us hold tightly to Jesus rather than allowing religious practices, spiritual experiences, or human expectations to take his place.
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
Jesus, let me behold you today. By the power of the Holy Spirit, let me see you for who you are! You are the God who deserves all honor and glory forever. Open my eyes to your Word today.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 73…
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Colossians 2:16-19
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?”
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Colossians 2:16-19
It is possible for good religious practices to become dangerous when they begin to replace Jesus as the center of our faith. Paul reminds us that many outward practices were only shadows pointing toward the reality that has now come in Christ. We can easily become focused on appearances, traditions, experiences, or comparisons and slowly lose sight of the One they were meant to lead us toward. Our spiritual life does not grow because we impress others or accumulate impressive experiences; it grows as we hold fast to Christ. Everything the body needs comes from its Head, and everything we need for true spiritual growth comes from Jesus.
Lord, I ask that you teach me what it looks like to hold fast to you.
Lord, revive us by bringing Jesus back to the center of everything we do. Strip away pride, comparison, empty religion, and spiritual distraction. Cause your church to hold fast to Christ and receive our life, strength, and growth entirely from him.
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?
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Colossians 2:16-19
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I choose to hold fast to you. Keep me from chasing appearances, approval, or spiritual experiences that distract me from knowing you. Be the center of my worship, my obedience, my identity, and my life today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Hebrews 12…
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
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