The P.R.A.Y. model is a tool to help guide you into the presence of God during your personal devotional time.
P — Praise/Thanksgiving:
R — Repent: Ask God to show you what you need to repent from, then seek His forgiveness. End this time by asking God to transform you with His power so that you would choose differently the next time you’re tempted in the same way.
A — Ask: Throughout the Bible we are encouraged to bring our requests to God. This is where you lay your requests before Him.
Y — Yield: Take some time to just sit and listen to Jesus. Jot down whatever phrases, pictures, or scriptures come to your mind in this time. It’s probably the Spirit speaking to you.
This is only a tool that is meant to inspire you and encourage you to pray. Jesus often went off to solitary places to pray in quiet…following His example is a good idea for us, too.
PRAISE / THANKSGIVING:
Every prayer should begin with praise. Praise takes our thoughts and directs them vertically – towards God – worshiping Him for who He is and for what He has done. The “P” of praise reminds us that the beginning of prayer is focused on recognizing and praising God for His attributes…sharing with God what we appreciate about His character and why. Praise God for who He is and what He has done, offering Him your thanks.
Psalm 100:3 — “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”
Psalms 103:1 — “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
“Dear God, I praise you because you are ___.”
REPENT:
After praising God prayer moves into repentance. We must clear out all the old ashes if we desire a new fire. Although we’ve been forgiven for all our past, present and future sins. We realize that we still fall into sin which disturbs our connection and communication with our Heavenly Father. During this time, invite the Holy Spirit to reveal your sins. If you struggle with thinking of where you stumble try to jog your memory by thinking of some of these areas: sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of thought, sins of attitude, sins of relationships, sins of self-centered conduct, or sins of relying on self.
I John 1:9 — “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
Psalms 51:9-12 — “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
Isaiah 30:15 — “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
2 Corinthians 7:10 — “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
“God, I am sorry for ___. I receive your forgiveness based on 1 John 1:9.”
ASK:
After our hearts are focused on praising God and cleansed through our repentance, our hearts are prepared to ask. This is where we “wait in expectation” as David says (Psalm 5:3).
Hebrews 4:16 — “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
James 4:2 — “You do not have, because you do not ask”
Matthew 7:7-8 — “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”
Philippians 4:6 — “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
The asking segment can be broken up into two categories. First we intercede and pray for others, then we enter supplication where we lay our personal requests before God.
Intercessory:
Ezekiel 22:30 — “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”
Supplication:
Matthew 7:7 — “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.”
“God, please ___.”
YES / YIELD:
Matthew 26:39 — “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
“Thank you God, for ___.”