P.R.A.Y. is a memory help to encourage us to include in our prayers different elements, not just asking for something.
It stands for Praise, Repent, Appreciate, and Yearn. Here’s an elaboration of each of these:

Praise

The Psalms especially are full of calls to praise. For example,
Ps135:1    Praise the LORD.
    Praise the name of the LORD;
    praise him, you servants of the LORD, (NIV)

and
Ps 146:1    Praise the LORD.
    Praise the LORD, O my soul.
2    I will praise the LORD all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. (NIV)

The apostle Paul echoes this in Romans;
Rm15:11 And again,
    “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
    and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” (NIV)

Someone has said that praise pierces the clouds and brings us into God’s throne room in heaven.
It reminds us that He is the sovereign Lord and so is a fitting way to begin our prayer.


Repent

Jesus began his public ministry with a call to repentance:
Mt 4:17 From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent you; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (ASV)

The apostles continued this call in their preaching:
Ac 3:19 Repent you therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come
seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; (ASV)

And the Psalms imply it
Ps 24:3    Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
4    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, (NIV)

Acknowledging our sins and repenting of them cleanses our hands and hearts and enables us to remain in His presence.


Appreciate

We praise the Lord for Who He is; we thank Him for what He does. Scripture is full of appeals for this also.

Psalm 118:1    Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
    his love endures forever. (NIV)

2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift (ASV)

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; (ASV)

1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (ASV)

Psalm 105:1 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done. (NIV)

Thanking God for what he has already done for us recognizes Him as the source
of all the goodness we have received.


Yearn

What do we yearn for that we want God to supply? Now we are ready to bring it to His attention and ask for it.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
    and he will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV)

Matthew 7:7-8 7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 for every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened (ASV)

John 14:13-14 And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you shall ask anything in my name, that will I do. (ASV)

John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done unto you. (ASV)

James 4:2-3 You lust, and have not: you kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: you fight and war; you have not, because you ask not.
3 You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (ASV)

1 John 3:21-22 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;
22 and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. (ASV)

1 John 5:14 And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us:
15 and if we know that he hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. (ASV)


ASV – scriptures adapted from the American Standard Version

NIV – Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION,
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zonderevan Bible Publishers.


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