AIC 11: Learning to Develop My Prayer Life

1. State 3 reasons why we should pray.

2. Explain some hindrances to effective prayer and how to overcome them.

3. State some principles of effective prayer.

4. Pray conversationally with the group.

5. Challenge his own potential disciples for a discovery group.

1. What are some reasons why we should pray?

2. What are some hindrances to effective prayer?

3. What are some principles of effective prayer?

4. What are the three basic rules in conversational prayer?

How to Challenge for Discovery Group:

Consider the world we live in - family breakdown, injustice, dishonesty, violence, social decay, and immorality are everywhere.

The basic problem is sin (Romans 3:23) and the heart of man himself (Mark 7:21-23).

The solution, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17 is Jesus Christ.

What about you? Mark 4:1-8 contains a parable of Jesus about four kinds of soil. Let’s read that passage. Sometimes these things can be hard to understand, but Jesus went on in verses 14-20 to explain what He meant.

What is sown? (the seed, God’s Word)

Note the four kinds of soil - hard path, rocky, thorny, and good.

What does each type represent? (The hard path represents people who hear God’s Word, but Satan comes quickly and takes it away. The rocky soil represents people who hear the message with joy, but they did not have deep roots. The thorny soil represents people who hear the Word of God, but then it is made unfruitful by worries, and desires of wealth and other things. The good soil represents people who hear the word and accept it, and grow in a healthy way.)

What kind of soil are you right now? You don't have to tell me if you don’t like, but the most important question is, what kind of soil would you like to be?

I would like to share about something which can help you become that good soil. This is a Discovery Group. A Discovery Group is a group of three or more people who are discovering who Jesus is, and how by following Him, they too can make a decisive impact for Christ on our society.

Some of the benefits of a Discovery Group are these:

1. An opportunity to examine further the claims of Christ.

2. Interaction with others who are interested in Jesus Christ.

3. Opportunity for fellowship and Bible study.

4. Information on how we can live the kind of life God designed us to live.

The things we will be looking into have made a difference in my own life. I will be leading the group and would consider it a privilege to share what I have learned about Christ; and to get to know you better.

Let me summarize the material we will be going over. We will be meeting for six weeks, for about one hour per week. We will also be studying a book called “The uniqueness of Jesus'' to help us learn more about Him. It is important to come to each session because there is a progression of content, and you won't want to miss anything.

Would you like to join us?

1. Start a prayer diary. A prayer diary is meant to serve a purpose - to remind you of what God has done so that you might praise and thank Him.

Here are some steps in starting a prayer Diary:

a. Buy a notebook preferably a loose- leaf on with dividers so that you can add pages easily.

b. Label the divisions:

• Personal - include your goals, concerns and desires.

• Family/Relatives -their personal desires, development, concerns and circumstances.

• Disciples/Personal Ministry - character development, concerns, spiritual multiplication.

• Friends - salvation. Needs, concerns, commitment

• Miscellaneous - day-to-day things that don't fall under any of the categories.

As you praying life expands, you may also want to include:

• Government leaders

• Church and missionaries

• Other countries

c. Under each heading, list the person, date, the requests, applicable Scriptures, actions to be taken answers and date answered, as record of God’s guidance and faithfulness. As you start filling this out, you may want to use blue for long-range requests and red for short-range requests.

d. Take your prayer diary with you each time you have your quiet time to enter new things God has shown you to pray for or to keep track of His answers.

e. “The prayer of the upright is His delight” (Proverbs 15:8b) don’t allow your prayer time to become mechanical. Fellowship with Him and let your prayer diary be a record of His blessings and faithfulness.

2. Complete Lesson 4 and Lesson 5 of Ten Basic Steps to Christian Maturity Step 2 (The Christian and the Abundant Life).

3. Read Transferrable Concept #9 (How to Pray with Confidence) and take note of key points that strike you about prayer.

4. Begin challenging at least three potential disciples to be part of your own Discovery group.