P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We get our first look at the Tower of Babel today and the reason it was built.
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
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
*Ephesians 3:14-19
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 145…
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
Psalm 145:8-9
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:1-4
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?”
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:1-4
With all one language, it was too much temptation to follow after the cultural mandate in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:28) to fill the world and subdue it. Instead, they all gather together and in that moment they build a tower. This is not a tower like we imagine in a downtown highrise in a city. It is a stepped pyramid that starts large at the bottom and gets smaller and smaller as it is stepped up. What was the reason they wanted to build this tower? They wanted to build a city and a tower for themselves. They wanted to make a name for themselves. They didn’t want to be dispersed over the face of the whole earth like God had called them to. They wanted to be God for themselves.
Lord, open my eyes to where my life is all about being God for myself. Show me where I confess with my mouth that you are God, yet I am white-knuckling different areas of my life for myself.
Lord, awaken my soul. Fill me with your fire again. Let me see me for who I am, but let me see you for who you are. You are the God of resurrection, please resurrect the dead inside of me. Let me walk in the Spirit today.
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?
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:1-4
Yielding Prayer
Lord, forgive me for all the ways that I disobey you and go my own way. Forgive me for all the times that I think my way is the best way and I ignore what you have for me in your Word. Fill me with your Spirit that seeks obedience to you above all else. Let my life not just be lip service, but let me serve you in word and in deed today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Ephesians 3…
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
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.