P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Paul begins to close out his letter this week by introducing what it looks like for his people to walk by the Spirit.
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, you are the living water. I approach your throne thirsty and desperate for your presence. As I enter in allow me to lay it all down at your feet because there is no better place for me to bring all of my praise, all of my fears, and all of my needs today. Meet with me and fill me with your Spirit.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 63:1-4:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
Psalm 63:1-4
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Galatians 5:16, where we read:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:16
Paul has spent this letter fighting for the true gospel. A gospel that is grounded in Jesus alone. He has fought against legalism and licentiousness. So now how do we live so that we do not run back to the law or that we don’t live in lawlessness? Paul as he ends this letter points us to what it looks like to walk in the Spirit. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit one part of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit alone has the power to set us free.
There are two natures at work in every Christian. The first is the Spirit. Jesus promised to give the Holy Spirit as a helper to his people when he ascended back to Heaven after his resurrection. The other nature is the flesh or as some refer to it as the “sinful nature.” Paul pits the two against each other. There are times in the life of the Christian when we will live by one and not gratify the other. Paul’s encouragement is to live by the Spirit. The “flesh” or the “sinful” nature in the New Testament, when opposed to the Spirit, does not refer to our physical nature, but to our spiritual nature. It is the sin-desiring aspect of our whole being as opposed to the God-desiring aspect. The flesh is our sinful heart. It is the part or aspect of our hearts which is not yet renewed by the Spirit. We have been justified fully by the work that Jesus has done through his death and resurrection, by faith we receive that. As we seek to walk in the Spirit and not gratify our sinful desires, the Spirit is at work in our sanctification process. The process of making us more and more like Jesus in this lifetime. A process that will not be fully realized until our glorification at our death or when Jesus comes again.
Jesus, I ask that you renew in me a desire today to walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of my flesh. Pour out your Spirit in me to pursue holiness as I seek to become more and more like you.
1)How would I describe what walking by the Spirit looks like in this life?
2)How would I describe the desires of the flesh?
3)Where do I see this battle playing out in my own life right now?
Lord, look upon your people and have mercy on us. We are lost like sheep without a shepherd. We need your Spirit to be poured out on us. Fill us with your Spirit and allow us to walk by the Spirit in this world. Revive our hearts and change our desires in this life.
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.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:16
Yielding Prayer
Lord, this day I yield again to your purposes in my life. You died on the cross and sent your Spirit that I may have life and have it abundantly. Open my eyes to what it looks like to walk by the Spirit. Reveal to me my need for a supernatural transformation that only you can bring into my life. Help me with my desire to kill the sin that clings close to me and set me free to walk in your freedom today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
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.