P.R.A.Y

PAUSE

REJOICE & REFLECT

ASK

YIELD

Personal Worship

The Holy Spirit teaches and illuminates.

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

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me now as I seek your face, Lord.  Still, my mind and heart as I prepare to meet with the God of my salvation.  I invite you to invade my thoughts, Lord, and to fill me with your peace. Finely tune my hearing so that I can hear clearly what you have to say.  I ask these things in the precious name of Jesus.

       -Mark Rosewell

 

Rejoice and Reflect

We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 104:

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
    In wisdom have you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the sea, great and wide,
    which teems with creatures innumerable,
    living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
These all look to you,
    to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
    when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
    when you take away their breath, they die
    and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

       Psalm 104:24-30

Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture, where we read:

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

        John 14:26

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

    John 16:13

In our world and culture where there are so many voices and so much information how do we know who to trust? When we sit down and do things like Personal Worship or read Scripture who is there to help us understand? The answer to both of those questions is the Holy Spirit. He has been given to us to guide and reveal the words of God to us. Let’s take those Scriptures above and at face value. The Holy Spirit is the one who will teach us all things. What a gift he is! Not just that, but as we in 2023 look back at the life of Jesus in Scripture he will bring to remembrance those things that have already taken place. The Holy Spirit can be trusted to guide us in all truth. He is the one we need to be asking for all things in our life. He is our Helper to walk through life day by day, moment by moment, decision after decision. God is so good to us to not leave us on our own to figure it out on our own. All we need to do is ask the Holy Spirit and he will guide us and reveal exactly what we need.

Ask

Jesus, I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life. You never leave me alone because the Spirit walks with me. Today I ask that you would pour out the Spirit of Truth in my life so that I may know the truth. Guide me today in all that I will face by the power of the Holy Spirit and let me trust what you say through the Spirit.

        1)Where do I turn to for truth?
        2)For all my decisions, opinions, and choices do I ask the Holy Spirit for help?
        3)Where do I need the Holy Spirit to guide me today?

Lord, we ask that you would pour out your Spirit on your people in a supernatural way for this season of time. As we seek your face would you give us your Holy Spirit to empower, purify, reveal, and unify your people? We are expectant for a movement of your Spirit in our world!

Yield

As I read the passage again slowly, I listen for anything that You would say to me in it. Help me see how to position my life in order to yield to your word.

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

        John 14:26

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

    John 16:13

Yielding Prayer

Lord, I surrender to the Holy Spirit. I yield to his guidance and his illuminations in my life. Break me of my desire to see after the truth anywhere else. Give me trust in the Spirit that is greater than my trust in this world and the truths they try to sell. Pour out your Spirit on me now. Give me ears to hear and eyes to see the Holy Spirit’s guidance in my life.

Yielding Promise

And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 14:16

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

           John 14:16

Closing Prayer

Lord, thank you for choosing me to be your messenger today.  I am willing, Lord. Send me out from here to speak the good news of Jesus with boldness and clarity.  Equip me with your Spirit and pave the way before me.  Prepare the hearts of anyone I will come into contact with today. That they may see Jesus, not me, and be transformed by Him.

       -Mark Rosewell

 

*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.