P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we will explore the relationship between sin, confession and the fullness of God.
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
When I come to you and your word, Lord, I come (albeit subconsciously) with preconceived thoughts and notions about who you are and how you feel about me that are also, perhaps, shaped by my experiences. I don’t want any of those things to change or affect the way I hear or receive your truth today. So, please help me this day to both see and then set those things aside so that I can hear you more accurately and clearly. And help me to believe everything I hear and every word I read in your scriptures and to trust that you will meet with me here and transform my heart as I seek to align it with yours.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 66…
“Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!”
Psalm 66:16-20
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
Psalm 51:1-12
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?”
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
Psalm 51:1-12
Psalm 51 is the broken and honest prayer of David, written after he was confronted by Nathan the Prophet who awakened him to the severity of his sin (2 Samuel 12). David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, which led to the murder of her husband, the covering of his sin, and ultimately a hardness of heart toward God.
What we see in this Psalm is a man who understands the weight of what he has done, and who he has done it against. David gives us a great model for how to feel about our sin and how to bring it before God in repentance. He also helps us to understand the impact of our sin on our relationship with God.
We see that a true confession includes no excuses, no self-justification, no mitigating circumstances. It is simply “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” Repeatedly, David asked for forgiveness and restoration. It was clearly not a light thing in his eyes and there is almost a wrestling in his spirit as he seeks to return to the place he should be with God. He understands that God must restore, but he also knows that God is willing to restore him (that he desires to do so) and that restoration will bring joy and gladness.
Likely because of what David witnessed in the life of Saul (the previous king of Israel), it seems that David’s greatest fear is that the Lord would take his Holy Spirit from him. In the New Covenant the believer already has a new heart and is promised the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. However, as we saw in Day 2, when we sin and do not confess it, our relationship with God becomes distant and the fullness of his presence is diminished. Let’s look at our lives now in light of these thoughts.
Gracious heavenly Father, David’s confession reveals both his own horror at his sin and the pain of the separation it caused between him and you. Lord, send me a “Nathan” to wake me up to anything I need to see in my life. Allow me to feel the weight of any unconfessed sin on my part and the distance it’s caused between us, so that I might turn from it and back to you.
My God and Father, I understand that you meant prayer to be the great power by which your church should do its work. It is when we ask, not only for ourselves but also for others, that you answer and heavenly blessings are brought to earth. What a wonderful privilege it is to partner with you to have your kingdom come! So today, I ask that you would bring revival, first into my heart, as I seek to align myself rightly with you, and then into my home, neighborhood, workplace and the world!
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?
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
Psalm 51:1-12
Yielding Prayer
Holy God, how hard it is for me to feel the weight of my sin in the way that you do. How lightly I often take it! Please forgive me, Father, for the sins that you have identified today and restore me to the joy of your salvation and the fullness of your Spirit! Help me to trust that as I step out in a new obedience, seeking your help to walk in the ways we have discussed this week, your Spirit will come in power to assist me! And as when I sin, make me aware of it and quick to repent, so that our relationship can remain intact! Thank you for your promises that you are faithful, and that you wait for me to return to you, so you can forgive me and receive me back into your arms.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 30…
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
Isaiah 30:18a
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.