P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Jesus shows us today that the heart of a disciple is a heart that fears God more than men.
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 approach your throne today fill me with your Holy Spirit and remind me that I am a beloved child of yours. I come knowing that you give good gifts to your children because you love us. Meet with me in this time.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the love and provision of our God, as I see it in Psalm 34:
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Psalm 34:10
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:4-7
As I reread the passage, I reflect on the questions, “How is my life touched by this word?” and “How does this passage connect with my life?”
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:4-7
Jesus is building on the lesson about integrity because fear plays a huge role in our hypocrisy. When we fear men over God that is when the actions of our life don’t match the beliefs of our hearts. Jesus is preparing his disciples for what’s to come. In Luke 11, right before this, Jesus laid into the religious leaders in such a way that when he left they began to lie in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. Jesus knew his journey would end on the cross, but Jesus also knew his disciples were headed for suffering so he began to teach them how to set their minds. He’s instructing their hearts and ours that there is more to this life than our physical bodies. There is a life yet to come for all of eternity that isn’t based on how our physical bodies come to an end, but on who our hearts learn to fear. Fear is not terror in this passage, but awe and reverence. Who we fear, we give our heart and trust to. Jesus has the power to cast into hell. We should care what he thinks. Jesus seems harsh here, but man is he gracious. We don’t have to fear, because we are valuable to Jesus. Not because of what we have done, but because of what he has done. It is amazing to be called by Jesus in this life, no matter what it costs us here on this earth.
Jesus, I ask that you show me what it looks like to fear you above men. Reveal to me where my heart really fears men above you. Fill me with your Spirit now as I seek to study my own heart in this matter.
A.W. Tozer once said, “Our mistake is that we want God to send revival on our terms. We want to get the power of God into our hands, to call it to us that it may work for us in promoting and furthering our kind of Christianity. We want to still be in charge shouting “Glory to God,” but modestly accepting a share of the glory for ourselves, calling on God to send fire on our altars, completely ignoring the fact that they are our altars and not God’s.”
Lord, I pray that you break us as people of the inkling we have that any glory should be ours. Show us where we are holding onto our own altars. Fill us with your Spirit so that all we desire is for you to be in charge and have all the glory. Send fire on your altars and not ours. Revive us Lord in a way that only you can do!
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen for how the Lord is inviting me to respond to him. Where in my life do I need to yield in obedience to what he has for me?
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:4-7
Yielding Prayer
Lord, I ask that you let me experience my value in your sight. Let me see me as you see me. I need that starting point because so often my perspective is filled with what everyone else on this earth thinks about me and I get so caught up in it and my heart begins to fear the opinion of men. Reveal to me your love for me. Give me grace where I fail and give me perseverance to continue on in this life.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 16:33:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
Closing Prayer
Lord, enable me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to love you today with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to serve you today, by loving and caring for others as I do my own self; and, to exalt you today, by telling the people in my world about the abundant and eternal life found only through faith in Jesus.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.