P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
As we look forward to Ash Wednesday, we begin the week by reminding ourselves of the call of Jesus on all Christians’ lives.
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, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end. You formed me in my mother’s womb. You know every hair on my head. You have ordained the path of my life. With all of that in mind, I approach you at this moment, knowing you not only did all of those things, but in the midst of all of that, you care for me. Let me experience your love and mercy. Speak to me through your Word today.
I choose to rejoice, with all God’s people, in the powerful promise that God gives us in Psalm 131…
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Psalm 131:1-2
As you read the passages below, ask the Lord to cause a word or phrase to stand out to you.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38
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 calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38
Jesus comes to not just his disciples, but anyone who wants to follow after him and gives them the criteria to do so. The first step is self-denial. Jesus knows that in our sinful hearts we always want to be first and to do what’s best for us. In the Kingdom of God though that changes. He then moves onto taking up our cross. That would have been unimaginable for those in the crowd that day. All they know is that the cross is the place where the worst of the worst get executed by Rome. Why would they want to do that? Again, Jesus is showing us that his call isn’t for the faint of heart. The journey as a Christian is one of difficulty and suffering, yet it is all worthwhile because we are with Jesus in the midst of it.
Lord, I ask that you fill me with your Spirit. Let me hear your call on my life anew and let me boldly seek after you in it.
Lord, while I was not at the Red Sea with the Israelites, there are moments in life where it feels like my back is up against a Red Sea of my own. At that moment, you call me to trust you. Oftentimes, I am overwhelmed with a spirit of fear. I repent of that spirit of fear, and I turn back to trust in you. I cling to the promise of 2 Timothy 1:7, which reminds me that you have not given me a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. As I empty myself of fear, would you fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me a spirit of power, love, and self-control?
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?
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38
Yielding Prayer
Lord, let me see self-denial and taking up my cross as beautiful acts of obedience. Break me of the culture standard that says my life is the most important and fill me with your Spirit. Keep me far from the temptations of this world and deliver me from the evil one today.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Lamentations 3…
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.“
The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24
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.