Following the Call
Kingdom Devotion
When You Pray
Pages 168-174
TOGETHER read the devotional and the scripture.
INDIVIDUALLY take notes in your journal on what stands out.
Luke 5:16 (NIV) Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 9:18 (NIV) Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
Romans 8:26-27 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV) Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
TOGETHER pray for one another.
INDIVIDUALLY answer the questions in your journal - process your devotional notes and pray.
Are your own prayers too wordy? Why might that be?
Why, Heschel asks, do our collective prayers lack soul? What is the answer?
If prayer is about God, and not about us, how might this change the way you pray?
EXTRA READING:
“We have no right to our possessions; they have been entrusted to us for the good of all. Let us then invest with the Lord what he has given us, for we have nothing that does not come from him: we are dependent upon him for our very existence. And we ourselves particularly, who have a special and greater debt, since God not only created us but purchased us as well; what can we regard as our own when we do not possess even ourselves?
- Paulinus of Nola (354 - 431)