Habits of Grace//Have His Ear (PRAYER)

Introduction

Do you want more grace in your life? Things like kindness, beauty, generosity, forgiveness? Author David Mathis explains that tapping into grace is like getting a refreshing drink of water. We can turn on the faucet, but we’re not the source of the water. Similarly, God has designed rhythms and habits of life that can connect us to the flow of His grace, but we’re not the source of the grace.

In Mathis's (very readable!) book “Habits of Grace,” he groups these practices/disciplines into three categories: Hear His Voice (Word), Have His Ear (prayer), and Belong to His Body (fellowship, or community). This week we will be exploring Hear His Voice (Word).

To get the most out of your group time, we invite you to look over the questions below and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group.

Ice Breaker Questions

Here are some possible ways to get a conversation started:

1. What is the ideal temperature for the day?

2. How do you feel about snow?

Getting Started

Open up with some prayer – some possible prayer topics:

• God would lead your time of discussion.

• That this study would help our understanding of who God is and who we are in light of that.

• Put into practice one of the suggestions:

  • Praying through the Bible

  • A.C.T.S. prayer

  • Lord’s Prayer
  

Discussion Questions

1. Putting away what we may think is the right answer, what do we think that God thinks about our prayers? Do we feel he is disappointed in us? Why is that? Read 1 John 5:14-15 and Ephesians 1:18. What does Scripture say about how God views our prayers? What does that mean for us?

2. If we were honest, how do we view prayer? Is it helpful? Do we see it as useless? Do we see God answering our prayers? Why do we hold the view that we do? How does 1 John 5:14-15 help us in understanding God answering prayers?

3. What is one practical step you can take this week to help grow your personal prayer life? Maybe it is creating a “prayer closet”, setting a routine, setting reminders, etc.

4. Since we had a whole Sunday on prayer it would probably be good to spend the rest of your night practicing praying together publicly. Some things to maybe try

   1. Pray shorter sentences, but multiple times

   2. Pick a topic and pray on that topic for 5 minutes

   3. Pray through Psalm 23 (video for reference)

   4. Pray through A.C.T.S. format

Closing Prayer

Prayer can often be somewhat of a weird time, and we understand it can be awkward to pray out loud, but as your group grows in comfortability ask people to pray out loud. Prayer is a very effective tool the Holy Spirit uses to draw our hearts closer to God. It is also a time you as a group can come together and come before the throne of God and make requests and just experience Him.

Some suggestions:

• Ask if there are any prayer requests.

• Pray that Jesus would use the week to reaffirm the truths discussed here.

• If time allows pray through Psalm 37.

Personal Spiritual Practice

This section is for anyone that wants some practical steps to try throughout their week. they are not required, but maybe a great way to reinforce what has been discussed during group. Maybe this could even be a way to check in either during the week or the next time you meet as a group.

Prayer Journal: Take this week and start developing a prayer journal. This journal is a place where you can write down prayer requests that you or others may have and alongside it record when God answers that prayer, even if that prayer is “not now”. Here is a link to some tips on making a prayer journal

Pray For Others: Take each day this week and pray for someone in your group or someone at work. Pray for them each day asking the Lord that they would come to know the Lord if they do not or strengthen their relationship if they do. Maybe even ask them if there is something you can be praying for. Pray for their work, life, marriage (or relationships), temptations, joy, etc.