COVENANT PRAYER CIRCLE GUIDE
Week of March 26, 2017 On the Journey
Prayer Focus: The challenge of staying on the disciple’s path for the rest of my life
Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:7b – 8: Train yourself for a holy life! While physical training has some value, training in holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now and the life to come. CEB
Train, as a verb, has several definitions, none of which I like. There’s “to develop or form the habits, thoughts, or behavior by discipline and instruction” or “to make proficient by instruction and practice” or “to make a person fit.” I don’t like words like discipline and practice. These are hard, challenging words.
Do I really want to be fit? Especially if it takes so much discipline and practice!! Well, the neat thing I learned, through this study, is that I’m never really alone during all this hard stuff. The Holy Spirit is with me. Jesus said in John that He would send a Companion to be with me forever.
Another thing I learned is that on this path, the disciple’s path, the disciples’ (plural) path, there are other disciples traveling, training with me. Oh, at certain times, it might feel like there’s no one else around. At other times, the path might be really crowded—the way it feels right now when so many of us at White Plains are learning together. And at even other times, the times I imagine as the most common, there will be with me a few close friends, or those who will become close friends, walking on this path together. We’ll encourage and support and nudge each other along the way. We might stop here to admire the view or smell the roses. We might stop here to figure out the way as multiple paths appear (sticking to the right path can sometimes be very challenging!!). We might become stalled as we try to figure out how to work our way around the swamp or the bog or the quicksand that’s suddenly appeared. But the cool thing, the really exciting thing is that—because we’ve committed to this journey—alone and together—we will make it. We’ll go over and under and around and through and when we do get to the end, there will be Jesus—cheering us on, with a huge grin and an even bigger hug.
Questions/Discussion:
1. Have you ever had to train for something—a test, a marathon, etc? Describe the challenges you faced and how you overcame them.
2. Why is maintaining discipline so hard? Is it harder today than it was when you were younger? Why or why not?
3. How about making a commitment—is that a challenge for you? Why or why not?
4. How have you experienced God this week?
Prayer: (from John Wesley)
Dear Lord, I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.