P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We begin a new series, “Why the Family?” Today we begin by remembering that family is not simply a human institution or cultural tradition; it begins with God’s good purposes.
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, you are the God who created all things! You instituted the family, and sin often leads us into confusion about it. In this time, I ask that you speak to me through your Word by the power of your Holy Spirit. Quiet my heart so I can hear all that you have for me.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 100…
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 100:3
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28
As I reread the passage, I reflect on the questions, “How is my life touched by this word?” and “How does this passage connect with my life?”
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28
From the opening pages of Scripture, we see that our lives and relationships begin with God. He creates humanity in his image and calls them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Marriage, children, and family are therefore not human inventions but gifts woven into God’s created order. Our families are meant to reflect something about the character, generosity, creativity, and love of the God who made us. Before we ask what our culture says a family should be, we begin by listening to the One who created us.
Lord, I ask that you renew in my heart the truth that I and everyone I interact with are created in your image.
Lord, revive your people by restoring in us a deep trust in your good design. Help our homes and relationships reflect your character to the world around us.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen to 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?
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26-28
Yielding Prayer
Father, I surrender my ideas, expectations, and relationships to you. Teach me to receive your design as good and to live faithfully within the relationships you have given me.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Ephesians 2…
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10
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