P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today we explore how to walk in greater victory!
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 22:
“You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
Psalm 22:23-28
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Romans 8, where we read:
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Romans 7:25- 8:1-9, 13
In the verses immediately before the text provided above, Paul transparently reveals some of the struggles (and failures) that he’s had in keeping God’s law, when he says: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing, (verses 18-19).” And then he notes that God uses this failure to bring him to the very end of himself (and to bring him to Jesus), when he cries: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death (vs 24)?” Well, Jesus will! (vs. 25).
It is here (at the end of ourselves) that we begin to understand that it is only through the Holy Spirit that we have the power for obedience and victory and for real holiness: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (vs 8:2)!” It is God who works in us to will and to work (Phil 2:13). The will was permanently changed upon salvation but the power to work must be continuously received from the Holy Spirit.
These verses tell us that we must choose the life of the Spirit. We must yield to and set our minds upon the things of the Spirit; and, then, in his power, put to death the deeds of the flesh (vs. 13). Practically speaking, this starts with the open, wholly committed heart that we learned about last week. And then it looks like staying close to Jesus, through his word and prayer, so that he can lead and empower us to put to death those aspects of the “flesh” that need to go (which, as we saw yesterday, only bring us harm). It looks like agreeing with him about our sin and asking him to fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can do all that he asks. This sounds easy, but it’s often not. We are often quite fond of our sin and don’t actually want to see it go. In those instances, we need to ask him for the will to do what he wants us to do and for his power to accomplish our surrender to that work. Then we must TRUST that our God, the one who created the heavens and earth and everything in them, can do the impossible in our little lives. It is by our faith that we will overcome (1 John 5:4)!
In this season of PrayFirst, we ask the Lord to help us personally and corporately:
Personal:
Ask the Lord to reveal to you if you have been trying to “do” this Christian life in your own power. Have you simply relaxed about your sin because you have thought that pursuing holiness was impossible? Pray that the Lord would show you anything you hold on to that blocks this life of the Spirit in you. Pray for the power to confess and get rid of it in your life. Ask for God to fill you with his Holy Spirit right now, that you would sense the truth of what we learned today. Nothing is impossible with him!
Corporate:
Pray that the church, both at Rio and around the world, would repent and take seriously this call to life in the Spirit. Pray that we would no longer be satisfied to leave any “flesh” in our lives, but we would pursue holiness, obedience, power and fullness of the Spirit in 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.
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Romans 7:25- 8:1-9, 13
Yielding Prayer
I praise you Father, that you have accomplished the victory over sin and death and are willing to work out that victory in me! Jesus, forgive my unbelief and help me to wholeheartedly trust that, as I surrender, you will do it through me!
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Matthew 19:
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26
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.