Life Group - Study Guides

Have you ever felt like real, effective prayer is for the “professionals”? Both Matthew and Luke record the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. He did just that: The Lord’s Prayer is that model prayer for us. It is not what to pray but how to pray. It is a lovely, unifying prayer when Christians of many denominations gather for a service or memorial. Even in our private prayer times, Jesus’ prayer is the template, not just the recitation, that we should use to develop our own prayer life with the Father. He wants us to pray effectively!

Do you ever feel like you are missing something? You're doing what you think is right, but God is not showing up in miraculous ways. He seems silent and you feel defeated. Maybe it’s time to study and see exactly what God wants from us.

Jesus gives us the ultimate example of what it means to be a servant: He taught, healed, and cared for all types of people. More than that, He laid His life down for us all. If we want to follow Jesus, He calls us to live as He lived: being a servant in every room and every aspect of our lives. Let's look at scripture and discuss how we can apply this in our lives.

We tend to think of worship as a song set in the weekly service, or something we can watch but not take part in doing. Real worship—worship in spirit and in truth—comes from a heart that is earnestly seeking God throughout the days and weeks. It’s not limited to an hour at the church building. This week, we are challenged to build an altar and worship continually with our lives.

We all grow tired of even the best things. It can also be true of our faith. This week, we learned that we must be intentional about keeping our hearts tuned to God. When our faith becomes dry and boring, we must seek Him to find joy in His presence. Let’s learn how to keep our hearts tender and seeking after God.