📺 The Prayer Course

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.

Intercession

Pete Greig

Key verse “Your kingdom come” – Matthew 6:10 Bible passages 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, Exodus 17:8-13, Genesis 18:22-33 Summary points When God’s people intercede, God intervenes. There is power in our free will. 4 steps of intercession: get informed, get inspired, get indignant, get in synch. Discussion Questions Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? Q. How do you feel about intercessory prayer – do you find it’s something that comes naturally or is it more of a challenge? “Our free wills are powerful; they can release or restrict the purposes of God.” Q. How does this affect the way that we come to God in intercessory prayer? Q. Have you ever had a feeling that you needed to pray for something or someone? What happened? “Prayer isn’t about trying to get God to say amen to what I want; prayer is about me saying amen to God’s will for my life” Q. What would it look like for you to pray this week with this perspective?

Unanswered Prayer

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.

Contemplation

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.

Listening

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:10

Key verse “Give us today our daily bread” – Matthew 6:10 In this session, we’ll unpack the practical ways we can tune into hearing God’s voice. Bible passages 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Summary points We are designed to walk and talk with God. Slow down, Soften up. When listening to God, remember ABC: Advice, Bible, Common Sense. Discussion Questions Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? Q. Do you feel like your connection to God’s voice is like “wi-fi”, “cell phone” or “snail mail”? Do you find it’s obvious when God is speaking to you? Pete mentioned that we all hear God differently: “It’s okay to hear God the way he’s made you.” Q. Do you experience hearing God’s voice in a specific way? If so, how? Pete suggested two ways we can tune into God’s voice: “Slow down” Q. What practical actions could you take this week to make time for listening to God? “Soften up” Q. How can we encourage one another to “keep our hearts soft” in the busyness of our daily lives? Practise listening to God together. There are a few different ways you might like to do this, depending on your group: Split into small groups of 3 people, and take it in turns listening to God for one person at a time. Remind your group members to apply the “ABC” acronym for anything they think God is saying! Practise the Lectio Divina together as a group. You might like to explore the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:13-16 Remember to: Read it – Familiarisation Explore it – Imagination Pray it – Conversation Enjoy it – Celebration

Spiritual Warfare

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:13

Key verse “Deliver us from the evil one” – Matthew 6:13 In this session, we’ll look closely at the ways we can pray God’s kingdom come in the midst of a spiritual battle. Bible passages Ephesians 6:11-14 Summary points The Bible is clear that we’re in a spiritual battle. Jesus was speaking into a culture of different world-views. Remember the armour of God. Pray it. Practice it. Preach it. Discussion Questions Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video? Q. How do you find that you approach spiritual warfare: do you relate to any of the world-views of the Sadducees, Essenes or Pharisees that Pete mentioned? Q. How do we get the balance right between the reality of spiritual warfare and focusing on Jesus? “When we pray for God’s Kingdom come it’s because it’s not automatic… we have to pray it in.” Q. How does this reality affect the way that we do spiritual warfare? Q. What are the strongholds – greed, arrogance etc – in your home, work or community context? How can you live in the “equal but opposite spirit” this week? In smaller groups, revisit the goals that you set at the beginning of the prayer course to grow in prayer and your relationship with God. Encourage everyone to share one thing that they’ve learnt and will take away from The Prayer Course into their daily lives.

Living Rock Church

An eight week journey through The Lord's Prayer

Why Pray?

Pete Greig

Adoration

Pete Greig

Petition

Pete Greig

Intercession

Pete Greig

Unanswered Prayer

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:10

Contemplation

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:10

Listening

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:10

Spiritual Warfare

Pete Greig • Matthew 6:13