Praise • Repent • Ask • Yield
Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield (P-R-A-Y) is a path that helps refine our hearts to be in alignment with God’s and our requests to be unified with his.
We all want to speak with God, but at times it can be difficult to know how to. P-R-A-Y is an acronym that you can follow that is a helpful guide for your conversations with God. Simply follow the acronym as you speak to God, as if you were sitting at his feet:
Praise
Tell God how amazing he is to you. Praise focuses on what is excellent about God and what he has done. Praise reminds you that God is powerful and kind and wants to be personally involved with you. As you praise Him, your heart aligns more closely to His and moves you with gratitude through your prayers.
God, I praise you because of your tender care for me. You are so powerful yet you take time to be with me and listen to what I have to say. I am grateful that you have saved me, strengthened me, and stay with me through every circumstance. . .
Repent
Tell God what you are turning away from in your life and what you are turning toward. Tell him the worst about you because he meets you with the best of Jesus when you do. Repentance is not about shaming, it’s about God freeing you and taking your sins far from you. He is close to you as you open up to him about your life and move toward him. As you are humble before him, he comes to you to care for you.
God, I am repenting. I am turning away from my anger and shouting and turning toward self-control and forgiveness. . .
Ask
Speak to God about what you need or the needs of another person. He is ready to listen and respond. He wants you to tell him what is on your heart and talk with him about ways he can help. Even when you can’t find words to express yourself because of the difficulty you face, the Holy Spirit takes your emotional responses to God so your needs are presented on your behalf.
God, I need you to hold me together today and give me the wisdom that I need to face the challenges of my day. . . .
Yield
God knows that you don’t have the power and ability to live the Christian life without his help. It is comforting to know that He has given us His Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide us. We yield to the leading of the Spirit and ask for Him to lead us. We want to keep in step with the work of the Spirit in our lives.
God, I am putting myself under the leadership of your Spirit today. I need the Holy Spirit to help me so I can live out the commitments that I have made to you . . .
Pathways is meant to show you key avenues to commune with God, so that our lives are characterized by living them with him. Through Pathways we can KNOW GOD, GROW IN GOD, and GO WITH GOD.
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