P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
Welcome to Holy Week! This week we purposefully journey alongside Jesus as he makes his way to the cross.
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
Lord, by your Spirit would you allow me to enter into Passion Week alongside you? As you walk the road that for me, open my eyes to all that you suffered. As I see your suffering would you show me how loved I am by you and that you would endure all of this for me? Seal these affections deep in my heart and transform me through them.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Revelation 4:
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
Revelation 4:9-11
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.
Mark 11:15-19
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?”
And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.
Mark 11:15-19
On Monday, the day after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus goes to the temple. At that moment he is filled with righteous indignation and an insatiable zeal that consumed him. Jesus does not seem so gentle and lowly at this moment. His heart though is not only for the glory of God but for the poor who were being taken advantage of. Here’s why Jesus was filled with righteous indignation.
The temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, but the Jews had transformed the Court of the Gentiles into a massive marketplace. In a land that was plagued by poverty, many visiting pilgrims were forced to purchase animals for the coming Passover. Greedy merchants saw this as an opportunity, not for religious worship for all people, but as a money-making scheme. They set up tables in the temple courts to sell cattle, sheep, and doves at very high prices thereby exploiting those who came to the city to worship. To add to the disgusting tactics that were happening in the temple. Jewish officials refused to accept foreign currencies from the people claiming that those currencies would defile the temple. So the people had to exchange their currencies for coins deemed acceptable by the priests. Under the guise of piety and religion, the money changers would then exploit the people by charging outrageous exchange rates. The poor and the foreigners were left with no other options, but to be taken advantage of.
This was a scathing moment not for the Romans like the Jews expected but for the Jews themselves, especially the religious leaders. Jesus is showing that his heart is for the poor and the foreigner against the culture of the day.
Jesus, show me your heart for me and for those who are left out and forgotten. I ask that you guide me and transform my heart to look more like yours.
Lord, of all weeks to manifest your presence through the Holy Spirit would it be this Passion Week? Pour out your Spirit on this nation. Open our eyes to a Savior who was crushed and resurrected for weary sinners. Wake those who have fallen asleep. For those stuck in guilt and shame show them that you are the Savior who was crucified in order to set them free. Pour out the same Spirit on us that raised Christ from the dead, so that you may have all the glory.
As I read the passage for the final time, I listen for 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?
And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.
Mark 11:15-19
Yielding Prayer
Lord, pour out your Spirit on me and give me the faith to follow wherever you lead me in obedience. Break me of the way that I have been formed by the culture around me. Give me the courage and the strength to live differently in this world. Transform my heart to be for the least and the left out.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Isaiah 53:
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4-6
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.