P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Serve Generously
As we continue in our fourth core value: Serve, we see today that our weakness is the secret of our strength!
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
My Jesus, I position my soul to wait for you! As we focus this week on “Service,” I ask that you make me to know your ways, and teach me your paths. Lord, lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)
We choose to rejoice today, with all God’s people, in the love and provision of our God; for as Peter says…
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
Today we reflect on God’s power in us:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
One of the first things we notice as we set out to serve Jesus, is how difficult it is! People do not receive Christ despite our best presentation; they’re not always grateful when we give something to them; and they’re not interested in hearing why we are doing it. Sometimes it feels like you pour yourself out and see no results at all. We want to give up!
But as we abide in Christ, we receive new courage and strength to carry on. Jesus has told us that he will bring blessing to the world through us, so we must trust that his power will work through us to accomplish it. Admitting that we are weak, but carrying on, convinced the Lord is working through us, is a huge step forward! We tend to think that our weakness is our greatest obstacle to serving God, but God tells us in the above passage, that it is the secret of our strength! It causes us to press into him and it gives him opportunity to reveal his great strength.
We must have faith to see that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us! As we concentrate on our relationship with him, denying ourselves and placing our lives at his disposal to work in us, his strength will flow powerfully through us!
My Jesus, have I been trying to serve you in my own strength? Am I only open to doing the things I feel comfortable and equipped to do in my own power? Or do I step out in faith in your power? Help me, Lord, to daily trust in your strength and power! Help me to walk in this truth!
Lord in heaven, strengthen the feeble hands of your saints all across the world right now, I pray. Remind those that suffer for your name that you are with them and in them and that your power is sufficient in their weakness! Come for those who are weary and tired and remind us that you are our rest and peace! Remind us that we can do all things through you, for you are our strength!
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…
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Yielding Prayer
Father, Hebrews 12:2 says that it was, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” I trust that as I daily take up my cross, you will give me the strength of your joy by which to carry it as I follow you. In my weakness, Lord, show yourself strong!
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me says to me in 2 Corinthians 4…
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
2 Corinthians 4:5-7
Closing Prayer
Dear Lord, as we rise to meet each new day, please let us be filled with your Spirit. Wherever we go, let us spread love, joy, peace, goodness, and faithfulness. Let us desire to become more like you and to worship you in all we do. Help us desire these things so much more than the sin that entices us. Thank you for always going before us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.1
1Dr. Charles Stanley