P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We leave 1 John for just a brief moment and enter into the Gospel of John to take a deeper look at the Holy Spirit.
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 1 Corinthians 15…
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
1 Corinthians 15:3-11
Today we are reflecting on the words of Jesus in John 14, where we read:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:15-17
Jesus’ promise to his disciples as he was about to ascend back to heaven is to leave them with someone to help them. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity who dwells with us and is in us. He is described as a counselor or advocate in other passages. The Greek term parakletos literally means “to come alongside of.” The Holy Spirit is given to the children of God to fill them with power and truth. He is a guide. He is living in us to help us and guide us. It’s the Spirit’s power that transforms us. The Holy Spirit fills us with his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. The Spirit activates and equips us in this life. We only need to ask.
Jesus, I ask that you would fulfill the promise that you gave to your people before you ascended in my life today. Give me the Helper. Fill me with the Holy Spirit that I may walk with you today.
Reflection Questions:
1) What has been my experience with the Holy Spirit?
2) Do I call upon the Holy Spirit to fill me with his presence and power on a regular basis?
Lord, would you protect your children around the world from the lies? Would you give us the discernment and ability to seek and root out any false teachers with big and small platforms? Protect the purity of your Church worldwide, so that the truth of the gospel can be proclaimed.
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…
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:15-17
Yielding Prayer
Today our yielding prayer is an ancient prayer used for thousands of years by God’s people. If you would, as you pray this open your hands in a posture to receive and wait expectantly for what the Holy Spirit has for you today. Pray this:
“Come, Holy Spirit.”
A prayer to be used to cry out for help and power in all situations we may find ourselves in. Use it often and see what the Lord will do with it.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 15:13….
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13
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