P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we look at the fact that God often uses affliction and failure in our lives to teach us to walk in freedom and holiness!
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 119:
“In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.”
Psalm 119:88-93
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Hebrews 12, where we read:
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:5-11
This can be a hard truth. Many times we walk through life without being consciously aware of the fact that we live under the watchful gaze and authority of a heavenly “parent,” if you will. Instead, we consider our lives to be our own, and proceed accordingly. But that is simply not the case! The Bible says that the Father purchased us at a great cost (the precious blood of Jesus) and that we are not our own, but his (1 Cor. 6:19-20). And just like you have an agenda for raising your own children, God has an agenda in “raising” you.
What goals did your parents have in raising you? Or, what goals did (or do) you have for your children? Surely, all of them were intended to enable you (and/or your children) to grow up into happy, well adjusted, functioning adults, who also loved Jesus! And probably they, (and/or you), didn’t do that perfectly.
But, unlike our parents (and unlike us), God is the perfect parent. And his discipline is always just what we need and it’s intended for our greatest good, so that we can look more and more like him in holiness and the peaceful fruit of righteousness. The sin in our lives brings bondage to us. We may not always recognize its negative effects, but God does. And his goal for us is freedom and fullness and power. It is for us to walk in victory (and, not only for our well-being, but for the well-being of everyone around us). Will you surrender to his discipline in your life and allow him to go to work in you through the afflictions he brings, knowing that many blessings are on the other side?
In this season of PrayFirst, we ask the Lord to help us personally and corporately:
Personal:
My Father, when afflictions come my way, help me to remember that they have come from your hand for a good purpose. Help me to see if there is something in my life right now that you are doing in order to make me look more like you and to bring me greater freedom and victory and all of the many blessings mentioned above. Help me to surrender to this shaping and to trust you through every trial in my life!
Corporate:
Lord, it feels like more and more affliction is coming to the church in the United States. As our freedoms are attacked and our country grows darker, I wonder if you aren’t inviting us, on a wholly new level, to live out our purpose of being light in this world. Jesus, how to do that is not always obvious to us, but I know that as you answer our personal prayer above, and grow us in holiness and power, we will be better equipped to be the spiritual army you want us to be. Renew in us our commitment to you today and send us out in power for our nation!
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 have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:5-11
Yielding Prayer
I say yes, Father. Make me like you, that I might share in your holiness and all the other blessings that come with my surrender. That feels a little scary, but help me to trust that you only ever give exactly what I need, for your (and for my) greatest good. Thank you that I am greatly loved by you.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in John 8:
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
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.