P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Jesus turns our eyes to what it looks like to receive forgiveness and to give forgiveness as we pray.
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 34:
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Psalm 34:1-3
As you read the passage, ask the Lord to reveal a word or phrase that stands out to you.
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12
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?”
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12
Jesus teaches us that in prayer is where we find forgiveness. That we come to him and we can confidently bring our faults, mess-ups, and sins because he is the place where we find forgiveness. Jesus Christ died so that we can receive his forgiveness. We can be honest with him about who we are. Jesus also teaches us that because we are forgiven people, we are called to forgive others. We need his power and his spirit to transform us to forgive all who have wronged us. So we ask for his help!
Jesus, I ask that you would reveal to me the sin in my life. That you would fill me with courage and honesty to lay it all down before. Teach my heart that you died to cover my debt, so I can bring it to you and receive your forgiveness. I ask that you show me where I am not forgiving as you have forgiven me.
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?
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I cannot save myself no matter how much I want to or try to. I confess to you all the sins that I have committed today. I receive your forgiveness because you died to pay my debt. Lord, there are people I do not want to forgive today. I ask that you would fill me with your power to give forgiveness as worship to you today. I forgive those who do not deserve it because you forgave me when I didn’t deserve it.
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.