P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We turn to the Psalms today and see that the Psalmist has unwavering trust that God will restore his life.
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, I cry out with the saints and the angels, “Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love. There is none like you.” Pour out your Spirit now and transform me as I behold your glory.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 71…
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Psalm 71:1-3
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
Psalm 71:17-21
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?”
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
Psalm 71:17-21
Thank God for the Psalms that help us figure out how to live this life in the realities we face. I love these verses that show the power of a long obedience in the same direction. God has taught the Psalmist from his youth, and even now in his old age, he proclaims the truth he has been taught! He still holds to the need to ask God not to forsake him. It feels like being forsaken by God is the thing he desires the least. Skip down to verse 20 and just read it again. God has made the Psalmist see that many troubles and calamities will revive him again. He has faith that in the end, God will increase his greatness, and he will be comforted again. It seems bold to say that God will increase my personal greatness, but that’s the beauty of a God who restores. He’s making all things new in the midst of the calamities of this life. That is the hope to hang onto.
Lord, I join the Psalmist and ask that you not forsake me. Hold me close and do not let me go.
Lord, we come before you with humble hearts, longing for your presence to fill us once again. We confess our complacency and ask that you awaken our spirits. Breathe new life into dry bones and stir our hearts with holy fire. Let your truth pierce through every shadow and your mercy flow like a river. Revive us, God—not just for our sake, but so the world may see your glory through us. Let your kingdom come and your will be done, in us and through us.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen to 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?
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
Psalm 71:17-21
Yielding Prayer
Lord, thank you for meeting with me today. Thank you for the hope of restoration for your people. In obedience, let me see that all of the troubles and calamities will revive me again. From the depths of the earth, you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. Fill me with your Spirit to experience those things.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 6…
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
John 6:37
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.