P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We spend our final day in the High Priestly Prayer of 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, as I enter into your presence I am trusting your promise that when I draw near to you, you will draw near to me (James 4:8). As I draw near to your throne in prayer meet me here, right where I am at in my life. I approach your throne with the utmost confidence knowing that you are the God who controls all things. Not just that, but that the God who controls all things loves me as his child and wants to hear from me.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 100…
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100: 1-5
Today we are reflecting on the words of Jesus in John 17, where we read:
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17: 20-26
Jesus begins this section of prayer by praying for the people that will come to know him in the future through the words of his followers. It is amazing that we can track our spiritual family all the way back to the disciples and the other believers in the 1st century. Jesus’ prayer also invites us to be on mission. If we heard because someone told us about the gospel then we too are called to share it with those that we know. The next request that Jesus petitions the Father for is that his people would be unified. Our unity as Christians over the primary aspects of the gospel will be light in a dark and divided world. The way we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ has an evangelistic component attached to it in the mind of Jesus. Jesus then wants the Father to keep us until we are with him in Heaven or Jesus returns! Jesus’ focus is on the Father giving us the power to continue and persevere in our relationship with him. Jesus ends with a beautiful petition for the Father to shower us with the love that he has been given by the Father. That we would be connected with him in an intimate way. Jesus loves us and prays for us. He shows us the power of prayer as he prays for us in these verses! I hope that you were encouraged this week that as Jesus was on his way to the cross he paused and he lifted you and me up in prayer to the Father.
Jesus, I ask that you would fill me with the desire to share the gospel that was shared with me. Show me what unity looks like with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me experience the love that the Father has loved you with today.
1) What does unity look like in the family of God
2) How would you describe the love that the Father has for Jesus?
3) Have you experienced that love yourself?
God, pour out your Spirit of unity on your Church in South Florida. Break us of our pride and ego that wants to divide and build our own little kingdoms. Revive our hearts to the truth that you are a God of unity. Let us unify under the banner that Jesus Christ was crucified for his people. Let our unity be seen by a world that is searching to be known and loved. Unify us so that you are glorified.
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…
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17: 20-26
Yielding Prayer
Father, I yield to you today. I ask that you would replace my fear of sharing your gospel with those around me with courage. Make me a doer of your word. Father, I surrender all of the obstacles that keep me from unity with my brothers and sisters in your family. Give me the wisdom to know what unity looks like in this world. As I lay down my life to walk in step with your word, fill me with the same love that you loved your only Son with. Let my life flow out of that love today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Hebrews 12:1-2 …
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Closing Prayer
Lord, bury the truths that I have read today in my heart. Teach my heart to trust you as I live the life you have called me to today. Fill me with your Spirit. Pour out your love in my life so that from that overflow I may love people well. Make me your light in this dark and broken world so that I may glorify you with my life. Amen.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.