P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Today, we ask God to make us prayerful, watchful, wise, and gracious as we represent Jesus to the people around us.
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
Jesus, you are above all things and everything in my life. I humbly come to your feet in worship. Remind me by the power of your Word of who you are, of who I am, and what you have called me to in this life. Fill me with a desire to behold you now.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 19…
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:1-6
As I reread the passage, I reflect on the questions, “How is my life touched by this word?” and “How does this passage connect with my life?”
Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:1-6
Paul closes this section by calling us to lives marked by prayer, attentiveness, wisdom, and grace. We are invited to remain devoted to prayer while watching expectantly for what God is doing around us. At the same time, we should recognize that our everyday interactions with those who do not yet know Jesus are opportunities to display the beauty of the gospel. Wisdom helps us recognize those opportunities, while grace shapes the way we speak within them. As we enter the day, we can ask God to open doors for the gospel and give us the right words when those doors appear.
Lord, I ask that you seal all that you have spoken to me throughout the Book of Colossians in my heart today. Pour out your Spirit in me and let you be over everything in my life.
Lord, revive your church in prayer and awaken us to the spiritual opportunities all around us. Open doors for the gospel and give your people wisdom, courage, and grace to speak about Jesus.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen to how the Lord is inviting me to respond to him. Where in my life do I need to yield in obedience to what he has for me?
Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:1-6
Yielding Prayer
Father, I yield my schedule, conversations, words, and opportunities to you today. Make me watchful in prayer, wise in the way I live, and gracious in the way I speak so that others might see Jesus through me.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 50…
The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
Isaiah 50:4
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