P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Our final day of Personal Worship in the Book of Galatians!
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 your presence, I wait expectantly to hear from you today. Fill me with your Spirit and illuminate what you have for me. Let my heart trust that you are the God who meets with his people and you will meet with me at this moment.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 68:19-20:
Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.
Our God is a God of salvation,
and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
Psalm 68:19-20
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Galatians 6:17-18 and Galatians 5:1, where we read:
From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Galatians 6:17-18
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
Paul ends with what he began with. His credentials as one who spreads the true gospel. Paul has been going from city to city preaching the gospel and because of that, he is referring to the literal scars on his body from being tortured, imprisoned, and beaten throughout those cities. These are scars the false teachers do not have because their false, popular, self-salvation gospel does not receive any pushback. Paul is a true minister and apostle of the gospel and we have seen his love for the people of Galatia and the gospel of Jesus. He signs off with exactly what he has been preaching, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.” The grace of Jesus is the entry point to and the only way to continue in this life. It is all we will ever need in the Christian life. We begin by grace, and being justified in faith by the work of Jesus on the cross. This gospel sets us free so do not return to the slavery that is a performance, self-salvation gospel!
Lord, seal in my heart what you have taught me through this letter. Let me live and experience the freedom that is found only in you and you alone!
1)If I had to sum up the message of the whole book of Galatians in a few words, what would I say?
2)How can I remind myself of what I have learned and experienced throughout this book?
Jesus, revive our hearts. You have come to give your people abundant life. An abundant life that can only come from you. Break us of our desires for this earth that promise to satisfy us, but leave us empty inside. Give us a spirit of repentance to turn from the ways of this world and come back into union with you. In our brokenness would you fill us mightily with your Spirit? May all the glory and praise belong to you.
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.
From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Galatians 6:17-18
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
Yielding Prayer
Lord, it is for freedom that I have been freed. I praise you for what you have done on my behalf. Seal these truths into my heart and fill me with your Spirit that I may not run back to slavery after this.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Ephesians 1:3-10:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:3-10
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.