P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we remember that although every earthly family is marked by brokenness, God graciously welcomes broken people into his family through Jesus.
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 68…
Psalm 68
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17
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?”
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17
No earthly family perfectly reflects God’s design because every one of us has been touched by sin. Romans 3:23 reminds us that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But the gospel does not leave us outside and alone. Through Christ we receive the Spirit of adoption and are welcomed as sons and daughters who can cry, “Abba! Father!” Our deepest identity and most permanent belonging are ultimately found not in the perfection of an earthly family, but in being received into the family of God through Jesus.
Lord, I cry out “Abba Father!” Fill me with your Spirit and remind me that I am your child.
Lord, revive your church with the wonder of the gospel. Heal what sin has broken and make us a people who welcome others with the grace you have shown 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?
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17
Yielding Prayer
Father, I receive my identity as your child. Help me extend your grace to imperfect people just as you have extended grace to me.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 1…
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13
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