P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we remember that following Jesus means not only believing the gospel, but belonging to the body Christ has created.
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
Jesus, let me behold your beauty today. By the power of your Holy Spirit let me experience the grace and love that can only come from a relationship with you.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 122…
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Psalm 122:1
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Romans 12:3-5
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 by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Romans 12:3-5
Paul says that although believers are many, in Christ we are one body and individually members of one another. That language is intentionally stronger than casual friendship or shared interests. Christianity is deeply personal, but it was never intended to be private. God gives different gifts, personalities, experiences, and callings so that his people need one another. Healthy Christian community begins when we stop asking only what the church can give us and begin asking how God has called us to belong, serve, and love.
Lord, I ask that you show me how you created purposefully to be a part of the Body of Christ, that is the Church.
Lord, revive your people by freeing us from isolation and self-sufficiency. Teach us again how to depend on you and on one another.
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 by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Romans 12:3-5
Yielding Prayer
Father, I surrender my independence to you. Teach me to humbly receive from others and faithfully use my gifts for their good.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 1 Corinthians 12…
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27
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