INTRODUCTION: What was your understanding of prayer as a child?

READ: Luke 4:42-44; Luke 5:15-16

WATCH SERMON

DISCUSS
1. What do we learn about Jesus’ passion, teaching, and practice of prayer from Scripture?
2. Is there a physical place that you tend to go to when you pray? Is there a person or place that creates a longing in you to grow in prayer?
3. What doubts and questions have you wrestled with in your own prayer life?
4. How has prayer changed over the course of your life? When was a life of prayer easier for you? When has it been more difficult?
5. In the face of tragedy, do you tend to lean toward prayer or toward doing justice? What would change in your response to tragedy and injustice if you embodied “acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God?”
6. How have you been transformed because of prayer?
7. Using the analogy of a transformer – In what areas of your life has prayer slowed your down? In what areas has prayer sped you up or redirected you a different direction?
8. “You must want what your wants lead to”. If you want to be transformed through prayer, what desires, thoughts, and actions must you have in order to put yourself in a position to be transformed in this way?
9. We see Jesus seeking out lonely, solitary places in order to be transformed through prayer. What is scary, difficult, or hard about you seeking similar places with God? What is exciting about it?
10. What do you sense Jesus saying or calling you to this week so that you might be transformed through prayer?

PRAY
Take some time to summarize what you have heard your group share and how we can pray for one another.

What are some themes you have heard others share about being transformed through prayer? How does that lead us to praise Him? What are some needs and concerns that were shared?
How can we pray specifically for you this week?

FOR FURTHER STUDY
The following is not meant for large group discussion but can be done as an individual study to grow in your understanding of Scripture and the way it transforms our lives.

→ Read the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) in 3-4 different versions of the Bible (ESV, NIV, NLT, HCSB, Message, etc). What do you observe in these different versions? What is the same/different? What do we learn about prayer from this passage? What is powerful about this prayer?

→ Wondering about how to grow in your prayer life? These resources contain some helpful, challenging training to help you grow in this area of your life:

Learning to pray: https://christianuniversity.org/lessons/learning-to-pray/?course=courses/spiritual-life-basics
Discernment and Prayer: https://christianuniversity.org/lessons/true-spirituality-knowing-and-loving-god/?course=courses/foundations-of-spiritual-formation-ii-the-disciplines-of-life
→ Scripture has so much to say about prayer that it can be overwhelming. What about starting with Lord’s Prayer as a way to teach and grow you in the transformative power of prayer? Follow this link for a different way to pray the Lord’s prayer: https://renovare.org/articles/the-lords-prayer-as-a-transformative-pattern