Contemplation

Living Rock Church

Contemplation

Session 06

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:10

Key verse
“On earth as it is in heaven” – Matthew 6:10

In this session, we’ll discover how spending time with God in silence can enrich our relationship with Him.

Bible passages
Psalm 19, Psalm 62, Psalm 46, 1 Thessalonians 5, Matthew 6:6, Isaiah 6, Psalm 1

Summary points

Contemplative prayer is silent enjoyment of God’s loving presence.
The contemplation journey has 3 stages:
Meditation: “Me and God”
Contemplation: “God and me”
Communion: “only God”

Discussion Questions

Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?
Q. What is your initial reaction to the practice of contemplation? Does it excite you, scare you or bore you?

“It’s not how much we do but how much love we put into the actions that we do.”

Q. How does this quote from Mother Teresa challenge our culture’s attitude to social justice or practical action?
Q. It can be difficult to make time to pause and contemplate God. What rhythms could you put in place to grow this type of prayer in your life?

As a group, stop to practise contemplation:

“We are seeking to focus our minds fully on Jesus”.

Encourage everyone in your group to sit quietly and comfortably and take time to be still. Group members could quietly reflect on a Psalm, such as Psalm 19, if they like.

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.