Prayer Basics
LG Leader Guide
Welcome
Briefly welcome the group & pray before eating.
Welcome to life group! Life group is a safe, committed community to walk out our journey with Jesus together. Let’s pray and then eat!
Dinner Discussion (30-40 mins)
Usually dinner discussion will focus on reflecting on last week’s practice. Tonight, spend time first connecting with each other before diving into more focused discussion on last week's topi. Here are some questions to get you started. Encourage people to share, not report.
Welcome to life group! Life group is a safe, committed community to walk out our journey with Jesus together. Let’s pray and then eat!
Dinner Discussion (30-40 mins)
Usually dinner discussion will focus on reflecting on last week’s practice. Tonight, spend time first connecting with each other before diving into more focused discussion on last week's topi. Here are some questions to get you started. Encourage people to share, not report.
- How did awareness of your schedule being part of a rule of life affect your time and choices this past week?
- Were you able to implement any of the changes you felt led to? Why or why not?
- Do you feel like prayer is a strength or a weakness in your apprenticeship to Jesus? (Put another way, is this an area you want to grow in? Or an area you feel great about already?)
- Does prayer feel hard for you? If so, why do you think that is?
Vision / Prayer / Bible Reading
Vision & Prayer (5 mins) (optional)
This is to help transition into the night’s practice.
We are going slow, we don’t need to change everything or overhaul our lives now. We are purposely not building a rule of life this week as we need time to engage deeply with practices over the coming months. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but instead allow Jesus to set the pace. As we practice various means of apprenticeship to Jesus, the intent is for us to engage with them as part of our Rule of Life, following the guide of the Holy Spirit. Feel free to share any of these thoughts and expectations with your group.
Tonight, we’re going back to the basics with prayer, using the Lord’s prayer as an example. Let’s first pray over the evening again.
Father, help us to have open eyes to see you, ourselves, and others clearly.
Jesus, help us to engage each other in light of your sacrificial love.
Holy Spirit, help us to walk in your grace and power.
Amen.
This is to help transition into the night’s practice.
We are going slow, we don’t need to change everything or overhaul our lives now. We are purposely not building a rule of life this week as we need time to engage deeply with practices over the coming months. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but instead allow Jesus to set the pace. As we practice various means of apprenticeship to Jesus, the intent is for us to engage with them as part of our Rule of Life, following the guide of the Holy Spirit. Feel free to share any of these thoughts and expectations with your group.
Tonight, we’re going back to the basics with prayer, using the Lord’s prayer as an example. Let’s first pray over the evening again.
Father, help us to have open eyes to see you, ourselves, and others clearly.
Jesus, help us to engage each other in light of your sacrificial love.
Holy Spirit, help us to walk in your grace and power.
Amen.
Practice: Basics of Prayer through using The Lord’s Prayer
Overview (5 mins. Read through this together.)
Let’s be honest, for most of us, prayer is a weak point in our apprenticeship to Jesus. Most of us don’t really enjoy prayer. We feel bad, even guilty, about how little we pray. When we finally do make time to pray, we often don’t know what to say. Or we’re so distracted we can’t focus.
Yet for Jesus, prayer was central to life with God. Most people define prayer as simply, “Talking with God.” Prayer is a back and forth conversation that comes out of a depth of relationship. But at an even more basic level, prayer is a junk drawer word for all of our relationship to the Father.
That’s why prayer was such a huge part of Jesus’ life. We read he, “often withdrew into lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5v16) And for Jesus, prayer wasn’t a drag or a duty. He seems to genuinely enjoy his Father’s company. I think that’s why the disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” (Luke 11v1) Jesus’ answer was “the Lord’s prayer,” which wasn’t a liturgy to recite, as much as a template to follow when you pray.
Our practice of prayer will start there. This week, we’ll just set up a time and place to pray, do a little breathing prayer to center our mind and body, and pray through the Lord’s prayer. It’s an easy exercise that you can do in two minutes, or over two hours. The main point this week is just to get into the rhythm of daily prayer.
Lord’s Prayer Meditation (10-30 mins)
Guide people to put away your phones or any other distractions, and get into a comfortable, but alert position. Invite the Holy Spirit to come… Then pray through the Lord’s prayer, like this…
“Our Father…”
Close the time in a prayer of gratitude to the Father for hearing you.
Practice for the coming week (10 mins. Read through this together.)
This week’s practice is just to do the exact same thing as above, but by yourself throughout the week. It’s that easy. You can do this in two minutes or over two hours each time - it’s up to you. Go as fast or slow as you want.
If it’s helpful, here are two exercises to help you focus and be intentional in the time you set aside.
Exercise 1: (10 minutes during week)
Exercise 2: (2-10 minutes during week)
If you have a hard time with distraction, here’s a little breathing exercise you can begin with, before you start into the Lord’s prayer.
Closing Discussion (10 mins) (optional)
Come back into smaller groups (3-4 ideally). Consider the following questions:
Let’s be honest, for most of us, prayer is a weak point in our apprenticeship to Jesus. Most of us don’t really enjoy prayer. We feel bad, even guilty, about how little we pray. When we finally do make time to pray, we often don’t know what to say. Or we’re so distracted we can’t focus.
Yet for Jesus, prayer was central to life with God. Most people define prayer as simply, “Talking with God.” Prayer is a back and forth conversation that comes out of a depth of relationship. But at an even more basic level, prayer is a junk drawer word for all of our relationship to the Father.
That’s why prayer was such a huge part of Jesus’ life. We read he, “often withdrew into lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5v16) And for Jesus, prayer wasn’t a drag or a duty. He seems to genuinely enjoy his Father’s company. I think that’s why the disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” (Luke 11v1) Jesus’ answer was “the Lord’s prayer,” which wasn’t a liturgy to recite, as much as a template to follow when you pray.
Our practice of prayer will start there. This week, we’ll just set up a time and place to pray, do a little breathing prayer to center our mind and body, and pray through the Lord’s prayer. It’s an easy exercise that you can do in two minutes, or over two hours. The main point this week is just to get into the rhythm of daily prayer.
Lord’s Prayer Meditation (10-30 mins)
Guide people to put away your phones or any other distractions, and get into a comfortable, but alert position. Invite the Holy Spirit to come… Then pray through the Lord’s prayer, like this…
“Our Father…”
- Take a moment and think about the idea of God as your Father, with good intentions toward you. If you want, imagine God in your mind’s eye. Picture his face. Make eye contact with him.
- Take a moment to think about the idea that God is all around you. As you breathe in and out, imagine yourself breathing in and out more of the Holy Spirit.
- Spend a few minutes just sitting with the Father in joyful, grateful, worship. You might want to sit in silence for a few moments. Or sing a chorus. Or rattle off a list of things you’re grateful for. Or praise God with specific things you love about him.
- If you are in a group, encourage people to make their expressions of praise and gratitude out loud, one at a time. (E.g. “Father, thank you for your kindness.” “Father, thank you for loving me.”)
- Spend a few minutes asking for God’s will to be done in your city/church/community/life.
- Think of specific things to pray for.
- One at a time, spend time as a group verbally giving to God specific things in your life that you’re wrestling with control over. A simple prayer of, “Your will be done in ______," is a great place to start.
- Spend a few minutes praying for specific needs and wants in your life or that of your community (this is a great time to pray through your “prayer cards”!).
- This is also a great time to pray over specific people in the community who need something: a job, healing, wisdom to make a decision, etc. Get them in the middle of the room and pray over them.
- If you are in a group, consider splitting into groups of 2-3 and having each person share one area of need in their life. After each person has shared, pray for one another, asking God to meet that need.
- Spend a few minutes in quiet asking God for forgiveness for specific areas in your life, and releasing others to forgiveness.
- Spend a few minutes praying against temptation (the word can also be translated trouble) in your life.
- Pray against specific sins….
- Pray against any kind of evil - spiritual evil (demonic), human evil, natural evil, etc.
- Pray against bad things in your life or community, and for God’s blessing - the divine flow of good things into your life and community.
Close the time in a prayer of gratitude to the Father for hearing you.
Practice for the coming week (10 mins. Read through this together.)
This week’s practice is just to do the exact same thing as above, but by yourself throughout the week. It’s that easy. You can do this in two minutes or over two hours each time - it’s up to you. Go as fast or slow as you want.
If it’s helpful, here are two exercises to help you focus and be intentional in the time you set aside.
Exercise 1: (10 minutes during week)
- Get out your calendar or journal, and set a time and place to pray that is quiet and distraction free. For most, the mornings are a good time. But you might prefer an afternoon walk or evening
- Set a modest goal - daily is ideal, but if that’s too much, shoot for three times a week, for 10-15 minutes, or something that feels a little challenging, but doable.
- Fill in 1-3 prayer cards: At the top put a name or subject, then write out a few bullet points of criptures, dreams, or requests you have. Remember, be specific!
Exercise 2: (2-10 minutes during week)
If you have a hard time with distraction, here’s a little breathing exercise you can begin with, before you start into the Lord’s prayer.
- Take long, deep, slow breaths (if you want, count 4 seconds in, 4 seconds wait, 4 seconds out, repeat). Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth.
- Start to pay attention to your breathing. Just “watch” your breath go in and out.
- Release the constant chatter in your mind. Let each thought go as quickly as it comes, and just focus on your breathing.
- Your mind will seize this opportunity to run wild with thoughts, feelings, memories, to do’s, and all manner of distractions. That’s okay. Don’t judge yourself, feel bad, give up, or worry. When you notice your mind start to wander, just recenter with a quick prayer word, like, “Father…” or “Jesus, have mercy” or “Holy Spirit,” and come back to your breathing.
- In the beginning, just 1-2 minutes of this is a huge win, and 10 minutes is a home run. When you feel like you’re ready, move from breathing to praying.
Closing Discussion (10 mins) (optional)
Come back into smaller groups (3-4 ideally). Consider the following questions:
- Any thoughts, creative ideas, or feedback on this coming week’s practice?
- How do you normally pray? What creative ideas would you add to this practice from your own prayer life?
- What does it normally feel like when you spend time just “being” with God?
Closing
End in a time of prayer, sharing short prayer requests if time permits.