Living Prayer Study
Supplemental Leader's Notes
 

• Week One:  Getting Our Bearings and Beginning the Adventure (p. 16)

  • Welcome & orientation to the Study Plan for each session

    • Daily Personal Study Format

      • Devotional and Bible Reading

      • Reflecting and Recording

      • During the Day

    • Weekly Group Study Format

      • Sharing Together of previous week's experiences (see each week's Group Meeting section)

      • Brief Overview of each upcoming Week

      • Discussion of the Bible Readings and Topics in preparation for the coming week

      • Prayer Together (see each week's Group Meeting section)

  • Sharing Together of previous week's experiences
    (This week, discuss prayer experiences of the week before the study begins)

  • Brief Introduction of Week One:  Accept the Mystery and the Power (p. 16)

  • Discussion of the Daily Topics and Bible Readings for the Coming Week

    • Day One:  It is Natural to Pray (p. 18)

      • Psalm 63:1

      • Matthew 5:6

      • James 1:5

    • Day Two:  It Is Not Easy to Pray (p. 20)

      • Mark 14:32-42

    • Day Three:  "O taste and see that the Lord is good." (p. 22)

      • Psalm 34:4-8

    • Day Four:  God is Good, and I Can Communicate with God (p. 24)

      • Matthew 6:25-26

    • Day Five:  Prayer is a Privilege, Not a Duty  (p. 26)

      • Psalm 63:1-8

      • Psalm 23

    • Day Six:  Pray to Experience God as Real (p. 29)

      • Psalm 63:1

    • Day Seven:  Prayer is Relationship (p. 31)

      • Psalm 91:1-2

      • Psalm 27:1

  • Praying Together

    • Prayer concerns

    • Prayer by participants as each feels led

    • Close with the Lord's Prayer

• Week Two:  With Christ in the School of Prayer (p. 35)

  • Sharing of experiences and highlights of the previous week's studies (Week One Group Meeting, p. 33)

    • Most meaningful day

    • Most difficult day

    • Mountains we are struggling with (p. 54, Praying together point 1a)

  • Brief Introduction of Week Two:  Accept the Mystery and the Power (p. 36)

    • Quotes

      • "Jesus modeled prayer."

      • "Though the will of God may be tough and demanding, it is not to be dreaded."

      • "God's will will not take us where God's grace will not sustain us." (p. 37)

  • Discussion of the Daily Topics and Bible Readings for the Coming Week

    • Day One:  "When you pray, go into a room by yourself." (p. 37)

      • Bible

        • Matthew 6:5-6

      • Quotes

        • "Prayer is a personal matter." (p. 37)

        • "... we name ourselves as we are before God." (p. 38)

        • "Personal decision for Jesus Christ means accepting him in the totality of one's private life..." (p. 38)

        • "God cannot and does not relate to what we are not." (p. 38)

        • "... when we pretend something we aren't, there is no real presence with which god can truly be present." (p. 38)

        • "God wants to be present with the real you." (p. 39)

    • Day Two:  "When you pray, be not like the hypocrites." (p. 40)

      • Bible

        • Luke 18:10-14

        • 1 John 1:9

      • Quotes

        • "It is when I am alone that I can bring all these things together and go beyond them." (p. 40)

        • "See if you can catch yourself playing games with [other people]." (p. 42)

    • Day Three:  "When you pray, don't rattle off long prayers" (p. 42)

      • Bible Readings in the Lesson

        • Matthew 6:5-8

        • Isaiah 40:31

      • Quotes from the Book

        • "Thomas Moore saw seclusion as a kind of spiritual greenroom to which actors returned in their hired graments from the heat and public display of the stage."  (p.42)

        • "In the world that Jesus knew, the gods of the people were remote, unpredictable, far removed from the affairs of earth."  (p.42)

        • "Prayer for the most part, in much of the religious practice of that day, was the effort on the part of an individual to win attention."  (p. 42)

          • Bill's Notes:  Elijah and the test of fire with the prophets of Baal.  (1 Kings 18:20-39)

        • "Jesus is making the important point that it is not God who has removed God's self from us, but we who have removed ourselves from God." (p. 43)

        • "God's nearness makes all conversation with God intimate." (p. 43)

        • "So we come to God regularly, not to 'rattle off long prayers' but to spend time in reflection, simply to be alone with God and to gain perspective for living." (p. 43)

    • Day Four:  "When you pray... Your father who sees what is secret will reward you." (p. 44)

      • Bible Readings in the Lesson

        • Isaiah 40:27-31

      • Quotes from the Book

        • "Our own strength and other human support is not enough." (p. 45)

        • "The God with whom we can communicate is capable of answering our prayers."  (p. 45)

        • "consequence (reward) of God's presence... power... guidance.." (p. 45)

        • "By its very nature, prayer encourages a receptive mood." (p. 45)

    • Day Five:  "Ask, and it will be given you." (p. 46)

      • Bible Readings in the Lesson

        • Matthew 7:7-11

      • Quotes from the Book

        • "All the resources of God are available to those who will enter into a praying relationship with God."  (p. 47)

        • "... keep on bringing our desires and longings to God until we are clear in our own thinking about our needs." (p. 47)

        • "When we live in that relationship, we learn the spirit of the Father, we come to know his will, we act as a part of the family (the kingdom), we seek and find."  (p.47)

        • "Don't underestimate the power of God that comes to us through prayer."  (p. 47)

        • "God's answers to prayer are always better than our asking, and God is always more ready to hear than we are to pray." (p. 47)

    • Day Six:  "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed..." (p. 49)

      • Bible Readings in the Lesson

        • Matthew 17:20

        • Mark 11:23

        • Luke 17:5-6

        • Matthew 9:22

        • Matthew 15:28

        • Mark 5:34

        • Mark 10:52

        • Luke 7:50

        • Matthew 13:58

      • Quotes from the Book

        • "Faith is one of the chief elements required to mobilize the answer to our prayers." (p. 49)

        • "At the least Jesus is saying that very great hindrances can be removed by faith, that faith is a power that can take up quite insurmountable obstacles and lift them from our path, that it can change the whole landscape for us, that it can make possible what looks impossible." (Lewis Maclachlan, p. 50)

        • "Ask God to make you bolder in your trusting and in your prayers." (p. 50)

          • Bill's Notes:  We often pray to be made more bold in our witness rather than in our trusting and our prayers.

    • Day Seven:  "If two of you agree..." (p. 51)

      • Bible Readings in this Lesson

        • Matthew 7:7-8

        • Matthew 17:20

        • Matthew 18:19-20

      • Quotes from the Book

        • "I hope that our minds are expanding to claim the promises Jesus offered [in Mt 7:7-8 and 17:30]." (p. 51)

        • "So, while your mind is yet staggered by these promises, here is still more good news from Jesus: Matthew 18:19-20... 'If two of you agree on earth'" (p. 51)

        • "Here he is saying that the mind and will of God come to us when we pray with others." (p. 51)

        • "The implication here that we need to concentrate upon is the focus that can come to our praying when we share with another or with a group." (p. 51-52)

        • "Be confident that Christ will honor the promise to be present with you, and that God will answer your prayer."  (p. 52)

  • Praying Together

    • Prayer concerns

    • Prayer by participants as each feels led

    • Close with the Lord's Prayer

• Week Three:  When All Else Fails, Follow the Directions (p. 58 )

  • Sharing of experiences and highlights of the previous week's studies (Week Two Group Meeting, p. 53)

• Week Four:  Basic Ingredients of Prayer and Discovering Your Pattern (p. 81-106)

  • Philippians 4:6-8

  • Sangster Pattern:

    • Adoration

    • Thanksgiving

    • Dedication

    • Guidance

    • Intercession

    • Petition

    • Meditation

  • ACTS Pattern:

    • Adoration

    • Confession

    • Thanksgiving

    • Supplication

  • Awareness of the results of our prayers:

    • Obvious answers

    • Subtle, deep changes of heart and mind

• Week Five:  Pray Without Ceasing (p. 108)

  • Day Six: Awareness

    • The True Vine:  John 15:1-8 "Praying and Living in Christ" (Day 7, p. 124)

    • "The glory of God is each of us fully alive"

    • "Continue responding to the signals that call you to prayer."

    • Four levels of awareness

      1. Self

      2. Others

      3. The World

      4. God

    • The Jesus Prayer
      "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

    • "I will either be Christ to or receive Christ from every person I meet today."
      (Decision, p. 126)

• Week Six:  Resources for Praying (p. 130)

  • Two extravagant promises of Jesus in John 14:12-14

    1. "Greater things than I have done will you do."

    2. "I will do whatever you ask in my name."

  • "Christ in you"  Colossians 1:23-27

  • Dr. Dunnam's Guidelines for the use of imagination and mediation with scripture as a means of prayer (p 139):

    1. Center down, deliberately placing yourself in the presence of God.

    2. Be quiet before the Word.

    3. Be passively open.

    4. Deliberately focus your mind on the scripture.

    5. Listen to the scripture speaking to you.

    6. Make whatever application to your life that seems appropriate.

  • Praying the Psalms (p 142)

  • "Soak Your Soul in the Great Models" (p 145)

    • "It is God's will here below that we shall distribute to one another by prayer the treasures with which [God] has enriched us."  Thérèse of Lisieux

    • "We believe, not because we know but so that we may come to know." Augustine

• Week Seven, Eight & Nine:  Resources for prayer

  • Bible Passages

  • Hymns

  • Devotional Materials

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