P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We end our week with a focus on truthfulness.
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 approach you I remind myself that you are the God who is in my midst. You are the God who is mighty to save. You are the God who rejoices over me with gladness, you quiet me with your love, and you exult over me with loud singing. Speak to me now.
***Adapted from Zephaniah 3:17
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 85:10-13:
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
Psalm 85:10-13
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Matthew 5:33-37, where we read:
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus takes us to the idea of oaths and truthfulness. Some have taken this passage to the extreme where one cannot even take an oath in court. That is not what Jesus is getting at. The Jews in Jesus’ day had begun to only tell the truth when it came to giving an oath. They didn’t see the need to be entirely truthful unless they were taking an oath in the name of the Lord. They were doing deceptive things like if the oath only has to do with heaven and not earth then it was time to be truthful. If the oath considered things of the earth like in verse 36 then there was no need to be entirely truthful. The heart behind this whole section is that Jesus is saying the heart matters in all of this. It is not just about being honest when you are forced to, but the life of a Christian should be about letting your yes be yes and your no be no with no deception or change. In every aspect of life truthfulness matters. In the big things and the small things. God has given his people the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, to be our guide in this quest for truthfulness.
Lord, I ask that you fill me with your Spirit. Convict my heart when I don’t desire and act in truth. Transform me to look like you today.
1)Does our culture delight in truth?
2)Why is Jesus so concerned with the truth?
3)In what situations in my life do I tend to avoid truthfulness?
4)When I seek to be untruthful what is my motivation behind it? What am I trying to protect?
Lord, we ask that you would pour out your Spirit on our lands. Will you meet with your people again? Revive us with the power of your Spirit. Transform us and let us see your glory.
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.
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Matthew 5:33-37
Yielding Prayer
Lord, you came so that we may have life and have it abundantly. Do not let me be conformed to the patterns of this world where truth is relegated to the back. Fill my heart with the motivation that truth matters. Give me the Spirit of truth and fill me to live in that truth today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in James 1:17:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17
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.