P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
As we consider how to guard our hearts, we will explore the concept of what God calls a pure, or perfect, heart.
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
Father, we set aside these three weeks as a time of prayer and fasting, that we might humble ourselves before you and seek from you: a safe journey for ourselves, our children, all our possessions, and for the world around us. You are our mighty God who holds all of us in your hands! (Based on Ezra 8:21)
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 36:
Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Psalm 36:5-10
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in 2 Timothy, where we read:
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:21-22
The scriptures speak of four men who were “perfect” before God (or had “perfect,” or pure, hearts): Noah (Genesis 6:9, blameless), Job (Job 1:8, blameless), David (1 Kings 11:4, wholly true), and Asa (1 Kings 15:14, wholly true). Yet, the bible also makes it clear that none of these men led perfect lives. David, for example, famously committed adultery with Bathsheba and then subsequently murdered her husband to cover up the resulting pregnancy. So what does it mean to have a perfect, or pure, heart? And is that something we can achieve?
The bible teaches that people with a pure heart are those who are wholly committed to the Lord, holding nothing back, whose perfect confidence is in the Lord. Using David as our example again, we read that God “found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my (God’s) heart, who will do all my (God’s) will.” (Acts 13:22)
Like the 4 men mentioned above, we, too, will not do this perfectly! Yet, our verse in Timothy tells us that if we cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable (through repentance and new obedience), we will be transformed into a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work! If we flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, then we will be as those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
This is the work that God wants to do in us as we wholeheartedly surrender our hearts into his hands, repent of our sin, and step out in faith to walk with him. Can we have faith to believe that God will accomplish in us what looks impossible to us, if we will surrender our heart completely to him?
In this season of PrayFirst, we ask the Lord to help us personally and corporately:
Personal:
How important is true cleansing to you? Is there, right now, anything in your heart that is dishonorable? Pray that the Lord would wipe the slate clean as you come to him in confession. Ask him to show you the things in your life that will need to change in order for you to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. Consider before him if your heart is poised to be ready for every good work?
Corporate:
Pray for Rio Vista Church and our sisters churches in this county and around the world, that God would stir in our hearts to passionately pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace and therefore be ready for whatever good work God would put before us. That we would be a mighty force for good in the darkness around us.
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.
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:21-22
Yielding Prayer
Jesus, your call to have a pure heart can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, today I offer my heart to you once again and step out to pursue righteousness, believing that you will do in me what I am unable to do on my own. Fill me up Lord with love and peace as I trust in you.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 2 Chronicles:
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9
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.