P.R.A.Y

PAUSE

REJOICE & REFLECT

ASK

YIELD

Personal Worship

Welcome to Holy Week! This week we will journey alongside Jesus as he marks his way to the cross.

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.

Pause

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, by your Spirit would you allow me to enter into Passion Week alongside you? As you walk the road that for me, open my eyes to all that you suffered. As I see your suffering would you show me how loved I am by you and that you would endure all of this for me? Seal these affections deep in my heart and transform me through them.

Rejoice and Reflect

We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Matthew 11:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Luke 19, where we read:

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Luke 19:41-44

The gospel narratives slow down as they begin to elaborate on what took place to Jesus during Holy Week. That is instructive for our hearts this week as we seek to intentionally slow down as we journey with Jesus to the cross. Feel the freedom throughout this week to not have to accomplish it all, there are no medals at the end of this journey for speed. If any element of the text that we look at each day grab hold of you, sit, meditate, and wrestle with what the Holy Spirit has for you at that moment.

Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as King on Sunday, but the shouts of “Hosanna” that began the week will be replaced with shouts of “Crucify him” by Friday. As Jesus sees Jerusalem, the city that will murder him, his reaction is as shocking as it is beautiful. As he approaches the walls he weeps over the city. He weeps over the inhabitants of a city that do not know what they do. The truth of who he is and what he has come to do are withheld from their vision. They will carry out the crucifixion of God’s Son. Jesus doesn’t weep for what will take place to him that week, but he weeps for their future. He knows that in 70 AD the Romans will destroy the city. All because they didn’t see the peace-filled mission of God through Jesus Christ his Son.

Think about how Jesus approaches the city that he knows will hang him on a cross. He’s not angry. He’s not bitter. He isn’t filled with hatred. He grieves for their hearts over their lack of faith. Jesus’ heart is for these people even in the midst of what they will do for him. A weeping Savior may seem like no Savior at all in our world, but it is the heart of a Savior that this world needs. It is the heart of a Savior that you and I need. A Savior whose heart is drawn to weep for all those whose faith falters.

Ask

Jesus, fill me with your Spirit that I may see your heart for me. Let me see that you are gentle and lowly in heart. Show me your heart for me today.

1)What does Jesus’ weeping reveal to me about who he is?
2)What is the heart of Jesus towards me at this moment?
3)What would my heart be filled with as I approached a city that I knew was going to crucify me?

Lord, of all weeks to manifest your presence through the Holy Spirit would it be this Passion Week? Pour out your Spirit on this nation. Open our eyes to a Savior who was crushed and resurrected for weary sinners. Wake those who have fallen asleep. For those stuck in guilt and shame show them that you are the Savior who was crucified in order to set them free. Pour out the same Spirit on us that raised Christ from the dead, so that you may have all the glory.

Yield

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.

Luke 19:41-44

Yielding Prayer

Jesus, you are the Savior who weeps. Your heart towards me is one of grace, mercy, and love. You do not look at me with anger or contempt. Break me of the lies of Satan that give me a different picture of your heart. Fill me with the truth that today your heart towards me is gentle and lowly. Transform my heart to look like yours. A heart that weeps over those who have a stubborn lack of faith. Break my heart for what breaks yours.

Yielding Promise

And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 53:

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:4-6

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.