Engaging in prayer

Mentor guide

Background

Key practice

Prayer

Tools

  • Prayer method - 3 Rs – Repent, Rejoice, Request

  • Prayer diary or app

Objectives

  1. To be encouraged and motivated to pray.

  2. To know how to pray – different aspects of prayer.

  3. To build a practical foundation for consistent and regular lifelong prayer.                               

Key points   

  1. Prayer is the key way that we communicate with God.

  2. There are several different aspects of a well-rounded prayer life.

  3. The 3Rs – Repent, Rejoice, Request – is a tool that helps to keep these different aspects in mind.      

4. There are other ways to engage in prayer (introduced in the article and explored further in the Additional Resources).

5. Consistency in our devotional life is more important that quantity.

Session guide

Review questions

  1. How are you going with Bible reading? Any challenges?

  2. Any questions coming out of the article?

  3. How is your prayer life at the moment? Are you happy with it? Any challenges?

Key Passage

Mark 1:32-37 – Jesus getting away to pray

Other passages

John 15:5-7 – the promise of answered prayer

1 John 1:9 – confession and the promise of forgiveness

Psalm 100 – a psalm of praise and rejoicing

Philippians 4:4-7 – asking God and the promise of peace

Ephesians 3:20-21 – God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think

Questions

  1. What do you find makes it hard to get a regular time to pray?

  2. What motivates you to pray?

  3. Do you find that you tend to focus on one aspect of prayer more than others, eg asking for myself or others more than praise and thanks

  4. Do you think there are changes to the way you pray that may be helpful? If so, what are they?

To think about and do

  1. If you don’t have one already, find a regular time to pray that you think will work and put it in your schedule.

  2. If you don’t have another method, try using the 3Rs method of prayer.

  3. If your feel your prayer life is going well, consider some other options in the Additional Resources such as getting away to a beautiful place, taking an extended time of prayer and solitude, spending time in worship and listening to Christians songs, building your own play list, etc.

Preparation for next meeting

Read or listen to next article (Called to transformation - meeting in a large group)

Header photo by Ben White on Unsplash