P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today, we come to Jesus with the people who are hardest to love, asking him to form the Father’s love in us.
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 ask that you would meet with me. By the power of the Holy Spirit, would you enter into my world? Where you are able to be praised, let me praise you. Where I need to confess and repent, let me do so quickly. Where I can obey, you let me do so without pause. Transform my heart to look more like yours.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 103…
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:8-12
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48
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?”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus’ call to love enemies may be one of the most challenging commands in the Sermon on the Mount. It is natural to love those who love us, greet those who greet us, and bless those who bless us. But Jesus calls us into a love that reflects the Father, who gives sun and rain even to the evil and unjust. Enemy-love is not pretending evil is good. It is choosing to pray, bless, forgive, and seek another’s good because we have first been loved by God. Jesus ends with the call to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. This is not a call to self-made flawlessness, but to a whole-hearted, undivided love that reflects the character of God.
Lord, give me a heart like yours. A heart that says, while we were still your enemies, you died for us.
Lord, revive your love in me. Soften the places in my heart that have become cold, selective, or resentful. Teach me to pray for those who hurt me, bless those who oppose me, and love beyond what comes naturally. Let your mercy toward me become mercy through me.
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?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48
Yielding Prayer
Father, I yield my enemies, my difficult relationships, and my wounded places to you today. I confess that I cannot love like you apart from your Spirit. Teach me to pray instead of curse, bless instead of repay, and show mercy instead of withholding love. Make me more like Jesus, who loved me when I was still a sinner and gave himself for me.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 5…
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-8
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