P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we will examine the dangers of “external compliance” as we look at the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son.
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 thank you that we have been given the bread of life in you, and that our spiritual hunger has been forever satisfied! As we humble ourselves before you these three weeks and sacrifice something that is important to us in favor of receiving more of you, we offer you our response of love and wait for your blessing here at your feet. For we know it is only you who can satisfy our souls. (Based on John 6:35 and Jeremiah 31:25)
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people 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.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:8-14
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Luke 15, where we read:
“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'”
Luke 15:25-32
In this passage, we see the response of the older son to the father’s forgiveness of his younger brother. Jesus, through this parable, is not only speaking to tax collectors and sinners, who, like the younger son, understood that they were lost, but also to the Pharisees, who, like the older son, did not.
The anger that rose up in the heart of the older son when the father forgave the younger son revealed that he (like the Pharisees) was trusting in his performance to earn from his father what he really wanted: his father’s possessions (as opposed to a love relationship with the father himself). In truth, he was no different from his younger brother! He wanted the same thing from his father (his possessions); he just had a different means for getting it. As a result, he was working for the Father as a servant, instead of a loving son. And yet we see the gracious and generous heart of the father who does not get angry, but compassionately pleads with his son to come into his house and partake of his feast.
There are 2 dangers we should recognize relating to this older son (and the Pharisees). First, external “compliance” can blind us to the true state of our hearts. Are we trusting in our works for salvation, or have we truly understood that we all are broken sinners in need of Jesus’ saving grace? And second, once we are saved, we must guard against the trap of working in our own strength for the approval of our Father, as unbelieving servants. We are now sons and daughters of the King! He is always with us, and all that he has is ours! We must, in faith, believe that this, and all of the other promises of God, are true. He stands willing to fill our hearts with his presence, power and love for our journey. Let us not stop until every trace of doubt is gone and we are living in the fullness of our God!!
In this season of PrayFirst, we ask the Lord to help us personally and corporately:
Personal:
Ask the Lord to reveal if you have inadvertently trusted in your performance for your salvation or for his approval of you. Ask him to assure you of his great love for you as his son or daughter. Examine your heart before the Lord. Do you believe that he is always with you and that all that he has is yours; that he can fill you with his power and love for your life? Has this hindered your growth in your Christian life?
Corporate:
Pray for Christians in our church and the world, that we would recognize any self-reliance in our lives, and repent of it! Pray that we would have faith for God to work in us and through us as his beloved children.
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.
“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'”
Luke 15:25-32
Yielding Prayer
My Father, I can clearly see the ways I think my strength is sufficient for my life. I can easily fall into just doing things myself and choosing not to rely on you for the supernatural life you want to give me. Forgive me for this and help me to trust you for a life lived in your power and love.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in 2 Peter 1:
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
2 Peter 1:3-4
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.