P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We enter into the Book of Judges to look back at their culture and take a look at ours on the way.
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, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. As I approach your throne this morning I ask that you give me life according to your word. Let me experience your presence as I read and meditate on the word you have for me today.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 119:
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
Psalm 119:9-16
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Judges 2:11-15; 21:25, where we read:
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
Judges 2:11-15
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25
We live in a culture today that has gone crazy and we are on the edge of passing our crazy onto the next generation. That was exactly what happened in the Book of Judges. The theme of Judges is that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. We look at our world and that same theme can be seen. The theme of Judges is that the people would turn from God to worship Baal. Then calamity and bondage would happen. They would cry out to God and he would raise up a judge. This judge would deliver them and they would live in peace for a time. Eventually, though they would run back to the idols of the culture and forget about God. The cycle would begin again. As you read the book of Judges you wonder what these people are thinking, but then you realize this isn’t a problem that modernity has solved. We have just gotten better at hiding the problem. Our world comes to us just like them and wants us to worship all the created things and not the Creator. We look at our world and we fall into the same cycle as they did and we need to cry out to God for deliverance in our own world.
Lord, I ask that you show me where I live according to what is right in my own eyes. Show me where I have abandoned you and lead me back to the truth.
God, revive our hearts through the reading of your Word. Raise up a generation whose hearts are on fire for your teachings. Show us 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.
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
Judges 2:11-15
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25
Yielding Prayer
Lord, open my eyes to the ways of this world. I live in a world that desires my worship and only you deserve it. Break me of my desire to live according to this world and the gods of this life. Deliver me and bring me back to you.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 40:8:
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40:8
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.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.