Small Group Notes on Prayer
January – March 2017
Introduction
This set of small group studies looks at the area of Prayer. I suspect thinking about prayer will evoke lots of different feelings/responses within the group:
- It’s going to be boring!
- It’s going to make me feel bad because I don’t do it enough.
- It’s going to make me feel inadequate because I don’t know how to do it.
- I don’t want to think about prayer because I feel God has let me down in the past by not answering my prayers.
My prayer is that this series excites, encourages and enables our small groups to encounter God in prayer as individuals and as a small group. Prayer is such a vital part of our individual lives and for the life, growth and purposes of God to be fulfilled in our church. As a Leadership Team we have felt God’s prompting that we as Leaders need to pray more together and individually, but also to inspire and encourage us as a church to do so.
As part of that, we have put together a preaching series and small group notes on Prayer which is based on Matthew 6:9-13, which has been used to form the basis of the Lord’s Prayer.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one’
Matthew 6:9-13
Each sermon and small group session takes one aspect of the Lord’s Prayer and expands upon it.
Session One:Introductory Session
Session Two:Our Father in Heaven
Session Three:Hallowed Be Your Name
Session Four:Your Kingdome Come
Session Five:Your Will Be Done
Session Six:Give us This Day Our Daily Bread
Session Seven:Forgive us Our Sins As We Forgive Those Who Sin Against Us
Session Eight:Lead us Not into Temptation
Notes for Leaders
I do understand that many of you have been leading small groups for some time and encourage you to change/adapt and do what you want with these notes. Listed below are guidelines to help those that would like it.
Each Week:
Spend time in the week before each session reading through the session outline and praying for the session and those who are part of your group.
Start each session with a prayer, asking God, by his Holy Spirit to meet with you and teach you his ways. Pray too that each member of the group would be open and ready to hear God speak to them.
Feed back on the last week/2 weeks following on from the discussions of the previous session. Have people managed to put into practice the decisions and prayers from last time? How did they find it? What has God been saying, doing in people’s lives over the past week(s)? Maybe start this time off yourself by sharing your experiences. Make sure you allow people to remain silent and to also be honest and admit if they haven’t managed to live out what they wanted – encourage them and don’t make them feel guilty. [This will hopefully grow into a time of encouragement as people see and hear how God is at work, and will give them confidence and excitement to continue/to start to go for it with God.
Work through the session outline and questions. You may want to adapt the questions and structure to better suit your group – please feel completely free to do that. Each group is different in its make-up, depth and understanding of Christianity and the topics we are covering.
Include a time where people can respond to what God is saying to them individually. Either through worship, prayer, play a song that fits in with the subject, silence – anything that allows people time and space to think and to respond in some way to God.
Close the session formally with a prayer asking for God’s help and empowering to prioritise him in the week ahead, and to begin to put into practice and apply what has been discussed.
Reading the Passages:
There are various ways you as a group can read the bible passages – try and vary what you do:
- Read them individually in silence;
- Read them through as a group, with 1 person reading aloud;
- Read them through as a group with 2 people reading them from different translations;
- Go around the group with everyone reading 1 or 2 verses;
- Ask for volunteers to read.
Prayer Times:
Again, it is important to vary prayer times – different ways of praying are:
- The leader prays for the group.
- Offer it open to anyone to pray, whilst staying together as a group.
- Split up into 2s and 3s and encourage people to share and pray for each other [Please remember that not everyone is comfortable in praying out loud – give people permission to pray silently in their hearts if that is easier].
- Write down people/areas/prayer requests on paper, post it notes or a big sheet of paper and have yourself or 1 or 2 people pray for all that is written down.
- Buy a prayer journal for the group, and write down specific prayer needs – go back to the journal regularly to see how God is at work and answering prayers and also those prayers you need to preserve with.
At the end of each session, there are 3 areas for prayer that I would like to encourage each small group to spend time praying into:
- Prayer on Today’s Topic
- Prayer for What is Going on in Our Lives
- Prayer for Those Who Don’t Yet Know Jesus
As this is a series on prayer, it would be great if we could get as many people praying as possible and share amongst the group, and with me and the wider church answers to prayer you see throughout the series.
Session One: Introduction to the Series on Prayer
Introduction:
Jesus’ disciples had spent time with Jesus and seen how he lived his life and what was important to him. As part of that, they witnessed and were part of his prayer life. They asked him to teach them to pray, and this session helps set the scene and build the foundations for the sessions to follow.
Ice Breaker:
Tell us a bit about the schools you attended.
Do you have any funny school stories you can share with the group?
What kind of student were you?
The disciples asked Jesus to “teach us how to pray”.
If you could ask Jesus to teach you one thing, what would it be?
Why would/wouldn’t it be teach us how to pray?
How confident do you feel in the area of prayer? What would you like to learn and grow in?
Choose either of the bible readings and questions:
Bible Readings:
In the bible, we see Jesus made time to pray. If he needed to, how much more do we?!We see he prayed in two different ways:
- Alone
- In Community (With other people)
Jesus Prayed Alone:
35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35
39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, Luke 22:39-42
Exercise:
Explain to the group to individually fill out the Questionnaire that accompanies this session that looks at our own individual prayer life. Once everyone has filled it in, encourage people to split into 2s and talk about their answers to the questionnaire.
Once people have shared in their 2s, ask if any want to share with the wider group – perhaps start yourself to get the ball rolling.
Questions:
“The key is not to prioritise what in on our schedule, but to schedule our priorities”
Stephen Covey; The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
How do you find time to be alone in prayer? Ask the group to share some of the things they have found helpful to inspire and encourage others.
What do you find is unhelpful when you want to spend time in prayer?
What do you do when you are alone in prayer – what do you pray about?
Do you have a set way of doing things?
What advice would you give someone starting to pray for the first time?
Bible Readings
Jesus Prayed With Others (in Community)
28About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. Luke 9:28
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
Questions
- What do you think the benefits are of praying in a group as apposed to on our own?
- Have you been to any of the prayer meetings at church? (Day of prayer/week of prayer/mission prayer meeting/prayer for the persecuted church etc) What was good? What wasn’t so good?
- If you haven’t been to any of the prayer meetings, why is that?
- How do you feel about praying in a group setting? What is good about it? What is difficult about it? What would make it easier?
Prayer:
1. Today’s Topic:
Split into 2s and 3s
Encourage the smaller groups to share as much or as little as they want about their prayer life personally and how they feel about praying out loud. Pray for each other accordingly and pray for greater passion and desire to meet with God daily in prayer.
2. What is Going on in Our Lives
Encourage the smaller group to share how they can pray for some of the things going on at the moment in their lives.
3. For Those Who Don’t Yet Know Jesus
Encourage the smaller group to share how they are getting on at building relationships and sharing their faith. Encourage them to pray for those they are seeking to reach that they would be open and responsive to God. Pray for each other that you would see who God is at work in and partner with him in sharing the love of Jesus.
Introductory Session Prayer Questionnaire
Please tick the boxes that describe how you feel and answer the questions at the bottom.
My life is so busy, I don’t have time to regularly sit down and pray
I find it easy to find the time and space to pray
I find it difficult to pray because I have been disappointed in the past
I find it easy to pray because I have seen God answer my prayers
I don’t pray because I don’t always know what to say
I don’t pray big prayers because I don’t have enough faith
When You Pray, How Many Times Do You Keep on Praying for that that Area?
I Leave it at Once
A Couple More Times
Regularly
Until Something Happens
What Do You Enjoy About Praying?
What Do You Find Difficult About Praying?
Session Two: Our Father in Heaven
Introduction:
Prayer is one of the greatest privileges we have. We are welcomed into the presence of God to meet with him, talk openly and honestly with him, and for him to speak into our lives, bless and encourage us. The bible uses the picture of a loving father and child to illustrate what our relationship with God can be like. For some, this session may be a difficult one because of their experience of earthly fathers. Please do be sensitive as we go through it recognising some may struggle and not putting them on the spot to say or do anything and not highlighting their difficulties to others as well.
Icebreaker:
If you could meet any famous person alive or dead, who would it be and why?
Ask the group to share who the most famous or important person is they have met in their lives. This cannot be a member of their family or an ‘ordinary’ person.
How did you feel when you met them?
Was there any special protocol you needed to adhere to?
How close could you get to them?
How long could you meet with them for?
Choose either of the bible readings and questions:
Reading:
Very often, when we meet someone famous or important, there are lots of restrictions placed upon us. But, we have an open invitation to meet with THE most important person, God Almighty, any time and in any place. We won’t be kept at arms length or be limited in the time we can spend with him. The bible paints the picture of a loving father’s relationship with their precious child to illustrate how God, the most famous, powerful and most important person on this earth welcomes us with open arms to be with him and talk with him.
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” Gal 3:26
14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:14-17
Questions:
When we follow Jesus, we automatically become ‘Children of God’ and ‘co-heirs with Christ’. What do you think it means to be a ‘child of God’ and a ‘co-heir with Christ’? What does that look like in the life of an ordinary believer?
How does that make you feel and affect the way you see your relationship with God?
What are some of the pros and cons of likening our relationship with God to that of a father and a child?
How should that affect the way we encourage and help each other in our relationships with God?
16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.One of the roles of the Holy Spirit it to testify/remind/help us know and believe we are God’s children. Do we regularly ask him to do that in our lives? If not, why not?
How could we incorporate it into our prayer lives?
Reading:
Our earthly parents may have been good and given us a helpful glimpse of what this relationship with God can be like, or they may have been unhelpful. Either way, it is good for us to spend time reminding ourselves of what the bible tells us about God as our Father, so that over time we can trust and believe in that truth, rather than rely only on our experiences.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Mathew 6:25-26
Questions:
What do we learn about God’s character and abilities through nature?
How can we apply that to our lives and our relationship with him as our Father?
Reading:
9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:9-12
Questions:
What do you think the “good gifts” are that God wants to give us?
Can any of the group share times when you asked God for specific things and God provided?
What stops us asking God more regularly for him to provide and do good things in our lives?
Readings:
27No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. John 16:27
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 1 Cor 1:3-4
4Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
5A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
6God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;