P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Abram responds to God and sees what his future holds today.
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 enter into this time today would you allow me to lay down all fears, worries, and anxieties at your feet? Allow me to set this time apart as a space where I can meet with the God who created all things and loves me personally. Fill me with your Spirit and give me eyes to see what you have for me in your Scripture today.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Deuteronomy 31…
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Deuteronomy 31:7-8
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Genesis 12:4-9
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?”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Genesis 12:4-9
Again, we are walking in the sandals of Abram in this story really trying to feel and see what he felt and saw. God called him in the previous verses that we looked at yesterday and we see Abram’s response today. No questions just action, Abram went. That’s all the Bible says. We start to get a bigger picture of what a call on his life this was. Abram is 75 years old. Yes, they lived longer than we do, but still, that is quite the change at that point in life. He packs everyone and everything up and he goes. What does he find when he gets there? The land that God has promised him is already occupied. That would take the winds out of anyone’s sails at that moment. God repeats his promise. What does Abram do? I’m sure he has a thousand questions and thoughts for God, but he decides in the midst of the unknown to stop, build an altar, and worship.
Lord, you call me to all kinds of things in this life, and often times I am paralyzed by fear, doubts, and questions. Show me what it looks like to worship in the unknown and to trust you even when my perception feels backward.
Lord, you are the resurrection and the life. I ask now that you revive what is dead in me and draw me deeper into intimacy with you. Pour out your Spirit on my life and breathe new life into me.
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?
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Genesis 12:4-9
Yielding Prayer
Lord, make my life one of obedience that pours out praise in all circumstances. Give me eyes of faith that don’t see all the obstacles and all the questions, but see the God who walks with me through them. Fill me with your Spirit, because I cannot produce that in myself.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 1 Corinthians…
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
1 Corinthians 1:20-22
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.