Unanswered Prayer

Living Rock Church

Unanswered Prayer

Session 05

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:10

Key verse
“Your will be done” – Matthew 6:10

In this session we’ll be tackling the challenges and realities when our prayers aren’t answered.

Bible passages
Mark 14:32-36, Daniel 3, Romans 5:3-5

Summary points

The Bible is honest about unanswered prayer – we are part of a faith that is all about wrestling.
God’s world, God’s war, God’s will.
God’s silence is not the same as his absence.

Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?
Q. How has the reality of unanswered prayer affected your relationship with God?
Q. Have you ever felt God’s silence/absence in seasons of your life and faith? How did you respond?

Pete says, “We are part of a faith that is all about wrestling”.

Q. How do you think we can get better, as communities, at dealing with the realities and challenges of unanswered prayer?
Q. How can we encourage one another in “faithfulness” as well as “faith”?

Pete says that, “Even when we don’t understand, we can still trust”. Take time to stop, pause and recommit to trusting God together as a group. You might like to play some worship music and spend time sitting and reflecting.

Why Pray?

Pete Greig

This first session of The Prayer Course, we’ll unpack the importance of prayer and the different topics covered across the course. 📖 Bible passages Luke 11:1-4 Matthew 6:6-8 (MSG) Romans 8:26-28 💬 Discussion Questions Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? Q. What do you find difficult about prayer? What do you find easy? Why do you think prayer can often feel hard? Pete says the best piece of advice is to “Keep it simple, keep it real and keep it up.” Keep it simple: “your prayer life is at its best at its simplest” Q. What do you mostly talk to God about? Keep it real: “Don’t role-play before God” Q. Do you feel like you have to act a certain way before God when you pray? Why or why not? Keep it up: “Don’t give up praying too soon” Q. Do you find it challenging to persevere in prayer? How can we be encouraged to keep going?

Adoration

Pete Greig

🔑 Key verse “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” – Matthew 6:9 📖 Bible passages Acts 4:24-31 ⭐️ Summary points • Start by recognising God is God. • Worship puts things back into perspective. • Use P.R.A.Y – Pause, Rejoice, Ask, Yield. 💬 Discussion Questions Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? Q. Why do you think that we most often associate prayer with asking, rather than worship and adoration? “In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him” – http://c.s.lewis Q. Do you enjoy spending time with God? When are the times that prayer feels most enjoyable? Q. Pete says that prayer is primarily about relationship with God: “It’s relational, not transactional”. How does this change your perspective of coming to God in prayer? Q. In the Acts passage, the early church put their own crisis into perspective by worshipping. What are the practical things you could do this week to foster an attitude of worship in your daily routine? 🎯 Do it Practise thanksgiving and praise by reflecting on Psalm 8. As a group, read Psalm 8 out loud together. You might like to delegate different verses to different people, or encourage just one person to read it out. Then, take time to Pause and Rejoice: Pause: Take a moment in silence and invite the Holy Spirit to help you reflect on what you’ve just read. Rejoice: Encourage group members to speak out prayers of adoration. Invite everyone to reflect and to thank God for one or two things in their lives. They might like to use the Psalm as inspiration, too.

Petition

Pete Greig

📖 Bible passages Matthew 7:7-11, Matthew 18:19 ⭐️ Summary points • The Father loves to give good gifts. • Traffic lights: Yes, Wait, No. • Sometimes we need to “stack dominoes” and persevere in prayer Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? “Although God knows our need, he does still want us to articulate it to him” Q. Poppy pointed out that it’s often easier to believe God can change things in our hearts rather than believing in things can see in the world. Do you agree? Q. How often do you ask God for what you want as well as what you need? Pete uses the traffic light analogy to describe different ways God responds to our prayers: Green: Yes Amber: Wait / Persevere Red: No Q. Are you experiencing a “green”, “amber” or “red” response to any specific prayers at the moment? Share your experiences together.