Episode 1, Icebreaker
Pose the following three questions and then go around the room asking persons to answer one of the questions.
What was your earliest experience with prayer?
How did you learn to
pray?
What is your earliest memory of prayer?
After everyone has contributed to the ice breaker, pass out the reading page entitled Dangerous Prayers (from Prayer by Bill Hybels, Kevin and Sherry Harney, Zondervan, 1997) and ask everyone to read it carefully.
Episode 2, Search Me Distribute Bibles to each person and ask them to read Psalm 139: 1- 12 and 23-24. Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite comments on the questions.
Hybel Snapshot: A “search me” prayer invites God to aim the
search light of his holiness at the inner recesses of who we are and expose what is there. When David wrote Psalm 139, he was reflecting on the greatness and grandeur of God and acknowledging that there is no mystery that God does not understand. David was praising God for being omniscient saying, “There is nothing that confuses you about what is going on in the universe or in my life. You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” David then invited his Creator to search his heart.
Why is it dangerous to invite God to search our hearts?
What would make us reluctant to pray this prayer?
Episode 3, Break Me: Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite anyone to answer the questions. However, do not force anyone to answer the questions, since the answers could be quite personal. After a few moments, if no one answers, pass on to the next episode.
Hybel Snapshot: Ecclesiastes 3:3 says there is a time to tear
down and there is a time to build up. As you move on in our
Christian journey, you will discover that you need to develop new patterns in our lives. You will find that some old habits and some old patterns of living and some old ways of thinking are not productive and you need to tear them down. To do this, you need God’s help. You need to invite God
to break down those things in your life. You need to learn to pray the dangerous prayer, “Break me.”
What is one area of your life that God is breaking down?
What is one area of your life in which you need to ask God to help you break down walls?
Episode 4, Stretch Me: Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out the snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite anyone to answer the questions. However, do not force anyone to answer the questions, since the answers could be quite sensitive. After a few moments, if no one answers, pass on to the next section.
Hybels Snapshot: As we grow as followers of Christ, we get to a point where we say, “I am no longer content with the status quo in my life. I am tired of being in a spiritual rut.” We begin to pray, “God, you created me to be dynamic and growing, but I am stuck. Please stretch me. Grow me beyond where I am to where you want me to be.”
Describe a time in your spiritual life when God really stretched you.
How did it feel at the time?
How does it feel now as you look back?
What is an area in your life in which you need to begin praying for God to stretch you?
Episode 5, Lead Me: Read Hybels snapshot out loud. Then pass out the snapshot with two questions. After folks have had a minute to think, invite anyone to answer the questions. However, do not force anyone to answer the questions, since the answers could be quite sensitive. After a few moments, if no one answers, pass on to the next section.
Hybels Snapshot: “God lead me, I take my life, gifts, talents,
resources, energy, and future and put it all in Your hands” A couple of years after I became a Christian, a deeply committed follower of Christ challenged me to let God lead my life. … I said to God, “I will give you my whole life. You can lead m life until it seems to me you are untrustworthy, and then all bets are off.” Despite the immaturity that characterizes my youthful conversation with God, “I can tell you that God has
been totally trustworthy. He has led me every step of the way.”
Can you relate a time in which you experienced God’s leading in your life?
Put your finger on one area of your life you need to turn over to God and allow Him to start leading you.
Episode 6, Prayer Time: Move into prayer time. You can handle it any way you wish … silent prayers, verbal prayers …. In addition to prayer needs that are mentioned at the end of class, remember again any that have been mentioned in the class discussion.
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