P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We look at the Lord’s Prayer today, which is the anti-Babel charter.
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 Luke 11…
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:9-13
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13
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?”
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13
The Tower of Babel was all about making their names great, making a kingdom for themselves, and following after their own will. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray he teaches them the exact opposite. The Lord’s Prayer begins with making God’s name great. It continues not to ask for the our kingdoms of this world to be great, but for God’s kingdom to come on earth just like it is in heaven. Whose will is in the driver’s seat for disciples of Jesus, it’s God’s. We seek not to chart our own course, but in obedience to follow all that Jesus has for us. Today put them up against one another. Think about all the times in history or all the times in your life personally that you either followed after the ethics of Babel or the ethics of the Lord’s Prayer. Which one worked out better in the long run?
Lord, I seek all that you have for me. I ask that you draw me deeper into intimacy with you through the Lord’s Prayer today.
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?
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13
Yielding Prayer
Lord, I confess today that too often I am drawn to the ethics of Babel in my life. Forgive me for that. Show me today that a flourishing life is one that praises you and invites your kingdom and your will to move in my life. Your will and not my will be done in my life 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.