The PRAY acrostic is an excellent way to spend time with the Lord alone, in a small group, or a large group (such as an entire congregation). The PRAY acrostic helps us remember the four key elements of spending time with the Lord. PRAY stands for 1) Praise, 2) Repent, 3) Ask, and 4) Yield.
However, before praying, it is usually good to hear from God by reading his word. In fact, the passage we read can often be turned into prayer as we seek God to produce that in our lives. However, the text shouldn’t limit our prayers as we can bring other things to the Lord as well in prayer.
BIBLE READING
Read the Bible: Reading the word allows you to hear from the Lord before you speak in prayer (next). God’s word is also a mirror in which we can see our weaknesses and repent to correct them. Choose a Bible book and systematically read a short section daily (e.g., one to three chapters daily). Highlight verses that speak to you or grab your attention. To study the text further, you could do a topical study or a character study. Choose a topic or theme like holiness, love, grace, or peace. Gather passages that speak on it and consider them together. Memorize them and meditate on them. You could choose a person (character) in the Bible and study their life, pray for insights, and apply the lessons to your life.
“Pray the Bible: We are transformed when we take the Bible into God’s presence and interact with Him. Read a
verse and then pray it back to God, speaking directly to Him. (Pray Psalm 1, 23, 103, 139)
Meditate on who God is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (see “Who Is God?” list). Read one Scripture at a
time and thank Him for who He is.
Meditate on who you are in Christ: (see “Who I Am in Christ” list). Read one Scripture at a time and thank
Him for who you are in Christ as a new creation.
Memorize the Bible: see ‘Scripture Memory Strategies.’“ Jimmy Seibert.
After reading the word and reflecting on it, we follow the PRAY mnemonic as follows:
PRAISE
Praise, thanksgiving, and worship: Enter God’s presence by praising and thanking Him for specific things (Psalm 100:4). Gratitude is a powerful spiritual discipline. The Bible commands that we give thanks in all circumstances and at all times. Scientific research shows that practicing gratitude helps us be healthy and happy in many ways.
Worship: Worship God for who he is (his nature or attributes). Here, you could sing to the Lord a new song from your heart or create a playlist of worship songs that easily lead you into God’s presence. An example of a short playlist that I use can be found here.
Check out the Spirit-led Thanksgiving, Worship, and Intercession article.
REPENT
Repent: Repent (change your mind and ways), confess your sins to God, and rely on the Lord Jesus to help you produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
ASK
Ask God through petitions and intercessions. Continue to fellowship with God, and this time, ask him to intervene in your life and that of others in the world around you. A good pattern to use here is the ripple prayer.
Petition (Pray for yourself): Pray over your day (in some detail). Don’t just God bless my day. Think of your daily activities and work responsibilities and pray for each. Think as though your day was scheduled on a calendar in 20-30 minute intervals where you focus on different activities. Then, pray for each activity. Also, consider creating a list of scriptures to pray over yourself. For example, Jimmy Seibert gives the following examples:
John 15:9 – As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
Prayer: “Jesus, I ask for grace to abide in Your love today.”
Ephesians 3:16 – [I pray] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
Prayer: “God, strengthen me today with Your power by the Holy Spirit.”
Intercession (Pray for others): Continue the different circles of the ripple prayer. “Pray for your family, friends, coworkers, leaders, and those who don’t know Jesus. Pray for your city,
nation, nations, and unreached people groups.
Ask the Lord for a specific prayer assignment in this season.
Prayer: ‘Lord, is there a person, a place or a purpose in Your heart for which You are inviting me to pray?'” Jimmy Seibert.
YIELD
Surrender and obey. Surrender yourself to Christ and commit to following him wherever, whenever, and however he leads you.
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
The Lord presented his will (what he wanted), then said, “not as I will, but as you will.” That is an excellent example of yielding when you’ve prayed. In prayer, we take our will to God (which we believe is also according to God’s will) but then surrender to Him because our understanding of his will may not be perfect. God may want something other than we want or want it later than we want it.
When we yield after praying, we yield to his time, his way, and his choices. That’s a crucial part of prayer (which is often difficult for us). However, it’s how we learn to trust God fully.
Listen and journal: In addition to surrendering to God’s will, we may also listen and journal anything we believe God is saying to us that aligns with God’s word and nature. We must test every spirit.
Do any thoughts or ideas come to mind? Journal them. Some Christian leaders recommend the following:
“Ask, “Father, is there anything You want to speak to me today?” Write in a journal the words, images and Scriptures God speaks to you. His voice will always align with Scripture and with His character. Ask other specific questions. Wait in His presence with a listening heart. Enjoy being with Him.
Ask, “Lord, is there anything You want to exchange with me?” (E.g., burdens for His peace, fear for His perfect
love or heaviness for His joy)
Ask, “Father, is there anyone You want to encourage? What do You want to say to them?” Listen for words of
encouragement that He speaks for others, write them down and give it to them or pray it over them.” Jimmy Seibert.
**Note that if you don’t like journaling, you don’t have to. You’d be glad to know that the Lord Jesus and the apostles and all the heroes of the faith didn’t journal. It wasn’t possible to journal as we do back then because resources weren’t readily available. Also, there is no indication in the Scriptures that they ever did. Journaling has been proven both through Christian tradition and the sciences to be helpful to many people, but it’s not required for being a faithful Christian.
NB: You can repeat PRAY several times in the same meeting and spend several hours praying. For example, if you are praying with a group, you can take turns praising and thanking God for what he has done for a few minutes, then you can play a worship song or two that helps you worship God for who he is. Then, you can read a passage like a Psalm or a book chapter. Each person can read a few verses, personalize them, and pray them back to God on behalf of the group. Then, you can repent for failure to obey that scripture. You can take turns doing this till the passage is finished or you’ve done enough. You can also repent of other things that are not in the text. You can follow that by asking through petitions and intercessions. Finally, you can yield (and listen) and pray to close the meeting or go over another cycle of PRAY.
