P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today, we go back to the Old Testament to see what abundant life really looks like on this earth.
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
Father, as Jesus taught in Matthew 18:3-4, I come to you as a child and humble myself before you. Open your arms to receive me, Lord. Incline your ear toward me as I climb onto your lap to share my heart with you now. Hear my prayers Lord and speak clearly to me that I may know your heart and that you may know mine.
-Mark Rosewell
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 71:
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
Psalm 71:17-21
Today we are reflecting on the words of Jesus in 1 Kings 19:19-21, where we read:
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.
1 Kings 19:19-21
It seems we need some backstory here. Elijah is the prophet of God in a day when the people of God want nothing to do with God. That makes Elijah’s life very very difficult. In fact, Elijah is public enemy number one and the king and queen at the time want him dead. In spite of all the amazing and miraculous things that God has done through Elijah, Elijah is broken and depressed in the scene just before this, because he feels alone. So God tells him to call his successor Elisha and that is where this story picks up.
There is a lot in these 3 verses, but our focus is what does an abundant life look like on this earth? Our culture comes to us and says an abundant life looks like wealth, power, and security. An abundant life is one with a huge bank account and the top job description at your office. It looks like marrying this type of person and having this kind of family. In essence, an abundant life looks like having all the earthly blessings we can manage. In this text, Elisha has that. He lives in a place that literally means “dancing meadow.” In an agrarian society, he has the perfect land to grow crops on and it looks like it is working. He has all the resources to make it happen (oxen and servants). And because of all of that, we can see that he is wealthy. He has the abundant life that everyone would be looking for until Elijah enters with an invitation. Elijah throws the symbol of the office of the prophet onto Elisha, which invites him to become the next prophet of God. Elisha has a decision to make. Does he leave all of this and become the next prophet of God? Because the life of a prophet does not look like an abundant life from the outside. It is a life where Elijah is running for his life alone. Why would Elisha leave the abundant life he has for that one? Elisha does go and with that, he reframes what an abundant life looks like on this earth. An abundant life here on this earth can be found with a lot of earthly blessings and a scarcity of earthly blessings. It can be found in both of those because what an abundant life looks like is one that is lived with God. One that will go with God on any mission he calls us to because we know that abundant life can only be found with him. This earth has nothing more worthwhile than God.
Jesus, give me eyes like Elisha. Eyes that see the things of this earth for what they are and you for who you are.
1)What things could have stopped Elisha from taking the call from Elijah?
2)Where have I placed my trust that is not Jesus? Do I need to let go of anything that I am holding onto too tightly in this life?
Jesus, revive our hearts. You have come to give your people abundant life. An abundant life that can only come from you. Break us of our desires for this earth that promise to satisfy us, but leave us empty inside. Give us a spirit of repentance to turn from the ways of this world and come back into union with you. In our brokenness would you fill us mightily with your Spirit? May all the glory and praise belong to you.
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.
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.
1 Kings 19:19-21
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, I surrender this life and all of the things of this life to you. Forgive me for trusting in the good gifts you have given me instead of you the giver. Transform my heart to trust in you above all else. Break me of the lie of this world that says an abundant life can be found without you. Protect me from the evil one that comes to steal, kill, and destroy and give me an abundant life found in you.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
Closing Prayer
Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with Your Spirit and Life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our souls. Let them look up, and see no longer us, but only Jesus!
Cardinal John Henry Newman
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.