Learning to Pray - Learning to Practice Prayer
There is not an instructional video with this section of the class. Here is my rationale. Yes, prayer can be taught. As Jesus does so in the Gospels. The Apostle Paul often "prays" for his churches rather than "teach them how to live a holy life." But prayer, at its most effective, is learned by practicing it! May this be an experiencial time together as we talk to and commit ourselves to the Lord in prayer.
In True^North chapter 5, the necessity of prayer is discussed. It is not presented as a mere perfunctory practice before we engage in something spiritual. It is the bedrock upon which we build our Bible Study skills. The chapter details several key issues surrounding the integration of prayer and Bible Study. I am asking you as the disciple-maker to do more than merely learn this material so you can teach it. I desire for you to embrace this yourself. If you have never seen these aspects as key components, I will kindly ask you to make them part of your “Second Reading of Scripture.” One cannot learn the word without praying for the Lord Himself to open your eyes so you can recognize Him (Luke 24:31) and open your mind so you can understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). May I give this to you in a simple axiom? “You cannot give what you do not possess.” If you attempt to disciple someone else in the practice of Prayer yet only give it secondary importance. May I urge you to calibrate your prayer towards a True^North that begins with listening to His voice. Listen to Jesus as the Good Shepherd,
“When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice”
(John 10:4-5)
The overall trajectory of True^North Bible Study is to pray, read, interpret, and apply the words of Jesus to our lives. This is the journey we are on.
Slowly move through the different sections of True^North chapter 5 and personally wrestle with both the content and with the implications for its importance (that is the “What” and the “Why”).
Ponder and respond to this statement, "Everything rests on prayer." Does our daily practice display this? Should our response be more than apology but true repentance for our lack of faith in the practice of prayer?
Ponder and respond to this statement, "True^North Bible Study requires prayer for protection." Do we realize that the reading and study of the Word makes us a threat the to empire of the evil one? What other discussion points in this section of True^North impact your heart for the word?
Ponder and respond to this statement, "True^North Bible Study requires prayer for healing." What do your think about being called deaf (Ps 40) and needing the Lord to open our ears to be able to hear His word?
Ponder and respond to this statement, "True^North Bible Study requires us to pray Biblically." Maybe I would word it this way, "Do our prayers sound like those in the Bible?" Do we pray like Samuel, Mary, Jesus or Paul?
Once you are persuaded of these truths surrounding prayer; then and only then are you ready to transfer this to your your disciple-in-the-making. Could each of you in your small group choose one of the prayers and share what is the most moving part for you? Prepare to share over the prayers found in 1 Samuel 3, Luke 1, John 17, and the prayers of Paul.
I have loaded here PDF’s which contain several model prayer bookmarks which you can give to your disciple-in-the-making to always remind them to pray biblically before they enter a “Second Reading” of Scripture. I print them off on card-stock and give out to everyone I teach.
Let’s remember that True^North is not merely about educating the mind. But it is a call to the whole person to pray-read-interpret-apply the word. So, as you finalize your thoughts on prayer, we must individually respond to the voice of the Lord. The only proper faith-filled response is, “yes.” Anything short of that does not have the Triune God on the throne of your heart.
One final "pondering." Maybe even include if prayer has been lacking in your own life up to this point. Transparency is a gift we can give to one another.