Prayer Training Week 3

Pray before we start as a group,
Introduction

Anybody have anything they want to share from previous week?
Anything that has changed, any prayers been answered

Group Time: “Notice, we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for whom we pray! For prayer is a great deterrent. --Leonard Ravenhill”

What do you think to the previous statement?
Have you had high and low points in your prayer life?
Do you enjoy praying for others?
Have you ever been part of a prayer group, what were your thoughts on this?
Have you ever felt God speaking to you? In what way did he communicate?
Anything to share from last couple of weeks with prayer


Prayer headlines prayer sheet from last week


Wilderness time
What happens when you feel far away from God, how do you pray through it – we will all go through this, it might not just stop with prayer, it might actually be a church and God thing. We feel far away from everything and can’t understand how to come close to God again, it’s easier to walk away. And yet Christians who have been through this talk about praying through it, even if it’s only a short prayer. This is when we can go back to prayer being a relationship (although it might not work). If we are having problems in any friendship or marriage just cutting ourselves off from the other person can feel needed but if we want to stay in that relationship how will we know things have changed unless we carry on conversing. We are more likely to get stronger if we still try with God. If we just walk away and ignore him he is going to struggle to make us listen even more.
This is when it’s good to pray with others, to hear their words. Hearing what others say in their prayers can help that, witnessing a relationship with God and basking in the presence with others can help.
God is listening – no matter what is happening we can remember that God loves us and is listening, we might just be having problems searching for the right frequency.
What about when prayer is a burden – sometimes there is a reason for this, a period of suffering, a problem that isn’t resolving, something deeper but working through our problems with prayer and other means is the better option.


Video clip – Bruce Almighty
Richard talking about prayer using the website

Group time
What experience do you have praying for others (when they are with you)
What do you think Highbury needs to do to develop prayer further?

Praying for others, when they are with us
What it involves, general intro to it =
As Christians who have allowed the Holy Spirit into our lives we have the ability to do so many things we would never have thought possible. One of those is praying for others. We might always jump to the scariest thing that could happen and yet frequently when praying for others it is just sitting with them and reminding them how much God loves them. Some people just want to know they’re cared for.

However it can be scary.

It tells us in the bible that as disciples not only should we be going out telling people about Jesus and caring for the poor, it also says we should heal the sick – maybe not healing broken legs or anything but people can be sick in lots of ways.

Why we should do it?
The reason we are intending to do it in church after the service is that sometimes things from talks have touched people, they might have been going through pain, emotional or physical, from the week and have had a bad week and want someone to meet with them and God. It’s a reminder that God loves with them whatever they are going through and might be wanting to change or challenge them.

James 5:13-18

“anyone” can do it – (Philip Yancy book, top of page 256)

It can be scary as you do not know what will happen when you pray for someone, what God is going to do and what is happening in people’s lives but we can pray for people in pairs and we have God with us. There are others around who will have done it before and have more experience. Sometimes we just don’t want to do it, or underestimate ourselves. (me at Soul Survivor…)

But Romans 12:9-13 talks of how we should be there for each other.

Practicalities (see separate sheet)


Group task
Praying for each other


Conclusion
Prayer is a mystery – sometimes things just happen, not a coincidence
Prayer is a relationship, speaking to God
We are aligning ourselves to God, seeing the world as he sees it, seeing where we can do his work
Prayer will change us – ask those who have had a prayer full life and those who have been reached through prayer
Some prayers will be answered just as we expect, some won’t -
God works through people and on this earth through prayers and when answering prayers (human agents), it’s like the story where there is a man on a house, there has been a flood and he asks God to help him. A person goes by on a boat and offers help but he refuses help saying God will help him. Then a helicopter goes by and offers help but he refuses again saying God will help him. Ultimately he goes up to heaven and asks God why he didn’t help him. That’s when God tells him that the boat and the helicopter were sent by God. God answers the prayers of others through us, we are his human agents on earth but we have to stop and listen to what he has to say, rather than just tell him all the things we want.

Homework:
Read four of the Psalms and Job 39, try and expand your image of God, pray with these Psalms, focusing on a different one for each prayer time
Sit in stillness, sit for a couple of minutes, shut out all the noise and activities and wait, ask God to speak to you and then empty your mind. See if anything happens.
If you always pray in one particular way then try something new, e.g. praying little bits all day or just a long time in the morning, or try being artistic, etc


Pray to close

Practical:

Start by praising God, confessing your sins, having a clear heart, ask him to work in people, that those who need prayer will ask, allow yourself to become an agent for him
Pray for someone who is the same sex as you, if possible pray in pairs or groups
Introduce yourself
Ask them what they need prayer for (they don’t have to tell you) or ask “how can I pray for you?”
Some find it hard to be still in God’s presence – let them know it’s their time to be prayed for, they don’t have to talk
You can put your hand on their shoulder, encourage them to hold their hands out
You can sit down or stand up
Ask God to guide your prayers,
Laying on hands is a biblical step for healing and blessing (but be careful where you lay on your hands and you may want to ask permission, and don’t push)
Pray with the person, aloud or in your head – pray for them and the situation, you don’t have to go on and on, just ask God to work with the issue they are dealing with – the more you know the easier it can be to pray
Reassure the person you are praying for (not constantly)
If you feel God telling you something you don’t have to share it immediately, it may be wise to ask someone with more experience if it is something that should be shared
You might want to look up at the person, see what is happening, occasionally ask them if your not sure what is happening – something obvious isn’t always happening
People can respond physically, or in many different ways - don’t worry (don’t worry about tears), let it happen (you may want to grab tissues)
If you feel them waver slightly you might want to make sure you are surrounded by a clear space and also signal someone to help, just in case they will fall.
if you feel out of your depth get someone to come and pray with you (or if you feel bad in some way)
When you and the person you are praying for feel it is an appropriate time to stop then stop, talk over if they felt anything change or happen
Ask if they would like you to continue to pray for them over the next week
the person may need someone to chat to in the long term, don’t feel you have to be counselling people, pray for them and maybe encourage them to see Richard, myself or a member of the pastoral care team
It is a general rule that you keep the prayer secret, however you might have to tell someone depending on the circumstances. You should never promise to keep the prayer secret, especially when dealing with youth – however that doesn’t mean that you go around telling everyone.