P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We enter into a new series this week! For the next three weeks, we will join with churches all across South Florida as we study and meditate on the prayers of Jesus. We kick off the “As it is in Heaven: Praying the Prayers of Jesus” with the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.
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 33:1-3…
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Psalm 33:1-3
Today we are reflecting on the words of Jesus in Matthew 6, where we read:
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Matthew 6:9
Jesus is going to teach his disciples and likewise us what it looks like to pray. We actually see in Luke’s corresponding version of the Lord’s prayer the disciples actually ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. That shows us two things. First, out of all the things the disciples could have asked Jesus to teach them, they asked to be taught how to pray. They didn’t ask how to build a church, influence people, or even evangelize. They asked Jesus how to pray. They knew how important prayer was because they saw Jesus constantly taking the time to pray. The second thing that we see is that praying is able to be taught, which means that it is a practice/discipline. It is a discipline the more we do it the more we will understand it. With that baseline, Jesus begins to teach them how to pray by giving them a prayer. He is modeling what prayer should look like, that is how they will learn to pray.
He begins by rejoicing in who God the Father is. He starts the prayer by lifting God up in praise. Jesus is teaching us that our prayers should revere and honor God for who he is. Our starting point in prayer is remembering who God is. That he is high and lifted up. That he sits on the throne in all of his glory. Our eyes turn up to see him. He is not like us. He is deserving of our worship. We pray to a God, who is great and powerful and whose glory knows no end. It leads us naturally to humility. When we see God like that we see that his holiness sets him apart from humanity. Prayer begins with praise. We rejoice in who God is.
God, I ask that you would show me your glory today. That you would lift my eyes to see how wonderful and praiseworthy you are. I ask that because of that you would allow me to humble myself at your feet, and remind me that I come in prayer to the God who is all-powerful and all-knowing today.
Reflection Questions:
1) What characteristics of God can I rejoice and praise him for today?
2) Why does Jesus teach me to start my prayers in this way?
Jesus, I ask that you would teach your Church in South Florida to pray. Fill us with your Spirit that draws us to our knees in prayer. Release us from the bondage of control and revive our hearts. Make your Church desperate for a move that only you can bring. Unite us as we pray
As I read the passage again slowly, I listen for anything that You would say to me in it. Help me see how to position my life in order to yield to your word…
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Matthew 6:9
Yielding Prayer
Lord, I surrender to your glory today. I yield to you and put you on the throne. You are holy, wise, and just. You alone deserve the praise, so I give it to you. Break me of my need for recognition and glory. Let my life be an offering that when people see me they see you. Receive my worship and let it be honoring to you.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Matthew 7:7-11…
“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
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. Amen.1
1John Wesley