P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we see the unity that comes with other believers when we enter into the family of 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, your word promises that if I draw near to you, you will draw near to me (James 4:8). I believe your word and claim your promise now as I spend this time with you. May your Holy Spirit draw close and fill me anew today in a way that I have not experienced before. Grow your fruit in me today Holy Spirit. Let me hear your voice, that I may receive and act upon the things you give me.
-Mark Rosewell
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 107:
Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Psalm 107:19-22
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 12, where we read:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Paul keeps on bringing us back to the foundation of the gospel in all of this. He is reminding us of the beauty and the power of what the gospel has done in our lives. The truth that Jesus died and rose again has transformed our lives. It has brought us into a family of people who would have never chosen or wanted to be in one together, sounds harsh, but there’s truth in that. Remember the Jews and the Greeks (gentiles) were living as different of lives as you practically could and didn’t want to be in a relationship with one another, yet the gospel brings them together when they confess Jesus as Lord. Paul likens this new family that Jesus has created as living like they are one body. You can’t be any more unified than that!
Jesus, your gospel is beautiful in my life. You have transformed everything about me. I praise you for making me your child. I praise you for all those that you have unified me with. Open my eyes to the beauty of what you have done.
1)How has the Lord transformed me after confessing him as Lord?
2)How does this change the way I view other believers in my life?
3)What does it look like to be unified with other believers in the family of God practically?
Lord, would you humble your people at your feet? Open our eyes and show us that it is in you alone that we find life. This world has nothing for us. Break us of our desire for the mute and lifeless idols of this world. Give us a longing for more. Give us a desire to have whatever it is you want to give us. Pour out your Spirit in a supernatural way during this season of time as we seek your face. To you alone be all glory and honor.
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.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Yielding Prayer
Lord, you have drawn me and others into one body through the power of one Spirit. Show me what it looks like to live like that. Teach me what it looks like to be a unified body with those around me. Show me the beauty of differences being destroyed because I hold you in common with all other believers in this world. Keep me connected to you as I seek to live this life honoring you. To you be all the glory and the power forever.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Ephesians 3:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21
Closing Prayer
Holy Spirit, may I display your fruit today to everyone that I meet. Help me to love more; to radiate joy and peace; to be patient in trying situations; to be kind and good when my natural reaction may be to lash out; as you have been gentle and faithful to me Lord, help me to be so to others today. Grant me the self-control I will need to triumph for your kingdom today, bringing glory to the name of Jesus
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.