P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
With the security of knowing he is safe with God, David now is able to confront the darkness and brokenness.
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 approach you today I rest in the words of 1 John 4:18:
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All things things were created to, through, and for you, and yet you shower me with your perfect love. Let that perfect love drive out any fear I have as I come into your presence today.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 118:26-29:
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God; I will extol you.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 118:26-29
As I read the passage, I am asking the Lord to reveal a word or phrase that stands out to me.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:19-24
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?”
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:19-24
Psalm 139 moves into an imprecatory psalm when we hit verse 19. David expresses emotions of righteous anger and hatred towards God’s enemies in ways that were common for God-fearing Jews. It would be easy to dismiss this as David pointing the finger at others, but how does he end it? He ends it by not asking God to search them but to search him. He looks out at a broken and sinful world and realizes it is not just out there, but it is in him as well. Here’s the process that David showed us to seek out self-examination. We begin with God. We begin with God knowing all things about us already, he learns nothing new about us during this process. So self-examination is really me inviting God to help me know myself better. The only reason we can do that is because we are safe in his arms. He’s not going to cast us out because of what we uncover. Then we celebrated who God made us to be. Now, we get to the part where we can be honest about the darkness and brokenness within us. We can ask God to search us and point out the grievous ways within us.
Lord, I ask that you would search me and know my heart. I ask that you try me and know my thoughts. I ask that you would see if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Lord, revival begins in me. As I focus on self-examination this week would you create in me a clean heart? You are the God who brings life out of death and I ask that you would do that in my life. Restore to me the joy of my salvation.
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?
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:19-24
Yielding Prayer
Lord, you are so good to me and you deal so honestly with me. Let me yield in obedience that there is darkness within me. Darkness that you don’t want to stay there. A darkness that in your presence is transformed by the light. Fill me with your Spirit and let me deal honestly with you and my soul.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Lamentations 3:22-23:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
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.