P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
As we celebrate 85 years of God’s faithfulness, we accept the responsibility and privilege of telling the next generation about the greatness of our God.
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, as I come to you today I am reminded of who you are. You are the God who is faithful to his people. Not just for decades, but for thousands of years and will be faithful through eternity. I praise you and I ask for all that you have for me today by the power of the Holy Spirit through your Word.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 100…
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100:5
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Psalm 145:1-7
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?”
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Psalm 145:1-7
Psalm 145 pictures one generation declaring the mighty works of God to the next. That is one of the beautiful responsibilities God gives his people: we receive the story of his faithfulness, live faithfully within that story, and then pass it on. Eighty-five years represents generations of people who worshiped, prayed, served, sacrificed, taught Scripture, raised families, and shared the gospel. We are beneficiaries of their faithfulness, but now the responsibility belongs to us. The greatest way we can honor the generations before us is not simply by remembering them, but by faithfully proclaiming the greatness of God to the generations coming behind us.
Lord, I ask that you show the immense responsibility and privilege it is to pass along the faith to the next generation.
Lord, raise up another generation that knows you, loves your Word, treasures the gospel, and boldly declares your greatness. Let the story of your faithfulness continue through us and far beyond 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?
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Psalm 145:1-7
Yielding Prayer
Father, I surrender my life to the part you have given me in this generation. Make me faithful with the gospel I have received and give me courage to pass it on to those who come after me.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Deuteronomy 7…
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.
Deuteronomy 7:9-10
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