P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we remember that Jesus invites us into a family whose deepest bond is our shared relationship with him.
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 your beauty today. By the power of your Holy Spirit let me experience the grace and love that can only come from a relationship with you.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 27…
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Psalm 27:3-4
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-35
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?”
And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-35
When Jesus asks, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he is not dismissing the importance of biological family. He is revealing that belonging to him creates an even deeper and eternal relationship among his people. Those who belong to Jesus now belong to one another. Biological families are temporary gifts, but the family created through Christ stretches into eternity. Jesus therefore reorders our relationships around himself and gives us brothers and sisters throughout his church.
Lord, I ask that you give me eyes to see the beauty that I get to be a part of your family purely because of what you have done on my behalf.
Lord, revive your church with genuine love for one another. Break down the walls that keep us distant and teach us to live as brothers and sisters in Christ.
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?
And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-35
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, reorder my relationships around you. Help me open my life to the family you have given me through the gospel.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Hebrews 2…
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
Hebrews 2:10-11
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