13 Sep Discussion Guide: A Prayer For – Week 1
Before We Get Started
For our discussion today we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.
Prayer
Because the main goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for, or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together.
This Week’s Topic
Today we begin a new series called A Prayer For…where we will be taking a look at the book of Psalms to learn not just what to pray, but how to pray. We see all through the Psalms a rawness, an authenticity, and a passionate love for God’s presence and God’s heart regarding the brokenness of the world around us. Over the next 6 weeks we will journey together as we focus on developing a life of prayer and seeking God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Today’s Topic
A Prayer for Self
Discussion Questions
How has your understanding of, and experience with, prayer changed over the course of your life?
Let’s take a look at Psalm 40 in its entirety. As we read it I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to highlight some part for you.
Psalm 40:1-17
I waited patiently for the Lord ;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord .
Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord .
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
As for you, O Lord ,
you will not restrain your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!
For evils have encompassed me beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
Be pleased, O Lord , to deliver me!
O Lord , make haste to help me!
Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!
Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord !”
As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!’
What part of this Psalm stands out to you? Why?
What does Psalm 40 show us about ourselves?
What does it show us about God?
What does it show us about prayer?
Has Christianity Failed You?
“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”
“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”
What keeps us from praying the way we ought to, or want to?
What changes can you make (if any need to be made) to begin to develop a better rhythm of prayer in your life?
Philippians 4:5-7
How might remembering the love Christ has shown us help us continually pursue the heart of God in prayer?
Closing Thought
Let’s take a few moments together to pause, take a deep breath, and pray together, asking God to give us a deeper desire to meet with Him in prayer throughout our days and weeks.