P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Jesus will show us today what it looks like to ask for what we need in this life.
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 enter into your presence through prayer would you open my eyes to see you? Open my eyes to the glory of who you are. Open my eyes and let my heart follow. Show me who you are and let everything else fall away during this time in your presence.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 33:
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm
Psalm 33:6-9
As you read the passage, ask the Lord to reveal a word or phrase that stands out to you.
Give us this day our daily bread,
Matthew 6:11
As I reread the passage, I am reflecting on the questions, “How is my life touched by this word?” and “How does this passage connect with my life?”
Give us this day our daily bread,
Matthew 6:11
Jesus teaches the disciples and likewise us what it looks like as we come to him with our needs. He takes our minds back to the wilderness outside of Egypt. Manna would fall from the sky to feed the people and they were told to only get enough for the day. If they took too much it would spoil. Jesus is showing us who we are as people. We need him daily for sustenance. Prayer isn’t meant to be a rarity, but a constant desire for him. He is teaching us that consistency in prayer matters. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He is saying we have a great need for him daily and he wants us to bring all of that to him. He cares about us enough to hear all of the mundane that comes with life on this earth. It is astounding the access we have been given to the God who controls all things.
Jesus, I ask that you would shift my focus to my daily needs. Teach my heart to look at the day ahead of me and give all of my concerns to you. I ask that you would encourage my heart to remember daily that you are the bread of life who satisfies my every need.
Lord, I ask that you would rend the heavens and come down. Meet with your people again in a supernatural way for a certain period of time. Reignite your people’s hearts and bring those who are far off to faith in you. Let your glory spread in this dark world.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen for 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?
Give us this day our daily bread,
Matthew 6:11
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I give you this day. I surrender this day to you. I bring all of my worries, desires, and concerns for what lies ahead of me today to your feet. I trust that you will provide for me in every way that I need today. I trust when that provision doesn’t look like I expect it to, that it is exactly what I need because you are good and you love me.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Matthew 7:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11
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.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.