INTRODUCE: Which comes more naturally for you, prayer or Bible reading? Why do you think this is so?
READ: James 5:13-16
Begin the time by praying together.
DISCUSS
1. Share your prayer practices. What times of day, prayer postures or practices help you shift your focus to God?
Share occasions where you have seen clear answers to prayer.
Share occasions or issues in your life where prayer has felt futile.
Pastor Joey describes images of God as the “angry guy in the sky”, the “faraway figure” or the “transactional God”. Share your reactions to Pastor Joey’s statement “When you change how you see God, it changes how you see prayer.”
READ: James 5: 17–18
Comment on the description of Elijah “Elijah was a human being, even are we are.” The King James says that he was “subject to passions as we are…” How does this encourage us in our prayer life?
How might praying in Jesus name affect our attitude toward prayer?
PRAY: Thank you Loving Father, for this community where we can live out our faith together. Thank you for Pastor Joey and his awareness of You working in him through the joy and stress of being a new father. Thank you for that overwhelming love for a baby that show us how deeply and fully You love us. Help us to embrace our circumstances be they painful, joyful, or both, and to take these things to You. Thank You that you desire our prayer and that you hear our prayers. We pray in Jesus’ name.
IN SMALLER GROUPS SHARE AND PRAY:
- Share one need for which you would like prayer today.
- Invite the Holy Spirit to guide your time
- Listen to the Lord for guidance in how to pray for one another and then pray
- Take time to pray for one person at a time.