P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
John comes to us today with a warning about what we love.
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, I wait expectantly to hear from you today. Fill me with your Spirit and illuminate what you have for me. Let my heart trust that you are the God who meets with his people and you will meet with me at this moment.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Romans 8…
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4
Today we are reflecting on the words of John in I John 2:15-17, where we read:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:15-17
John has a warning about what we love. He knows the truth about the human soul that we are what we love. If our heart is set on the world that is where we will spend all of our time, talent, and treasure. He wants to save us from wasting this life in pursuit of a world that won’t last. He proclaims the truth that this world is passing away and all of the worldly desires that we strive for will not be found in eternity. What is eternal is the one who does the will of God. We cannot serve two masters. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. It seems like a harsh warning, but if we are honest we need it. It’s so easy to get fully caught up in the here and now that we forget eternity is waiting for us and all of the stuff of this world won’t be going with us. And we waste our lives chasing after the temporary pleasures of this world.
Jesus, I ask that you would reveal where my heart loves the things of this world. Spirit, show me where the desires of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life have captivated me more than the truth of your Word.
Reflection Questions:
1) Where do I love the world
2) Where has my heart grown cold to the Father’s love because of my worldly desires?
3) Where am I living for the world that is passing away?
Lord, save your people from the love of this world. Make us a people that know that this world is not our home and let our lives be lived out in hope that we were made for a better world. Fix your Church’s gaze on eternity and not on the things of this world.
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…
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:15-17
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I can’t do this on my own. I cannot stop loving this world in my own strength. Give me your Spirit to transform my heart. Teach my soul to cry out for help to you in every movement and decision where this world wants to enslave me. Holy Spirit would you fall in power in my life, that the fleshly desires would die in me? I yield to the urgings and the direction that the Holy Spirit would give me today. Transform me by your power.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 8:9-11…
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:9-11
Closing Prayer
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.1
1Divine Hours, Phyllis Tickle