Prayer Practice | Week 6: Listening to God (B)
Prayer Practice
Listening to God B: Week 6
Communities @ Grace
45 minutes: Welcome, Eat + Mingle
Use this time to continue really getting to know each other. What better way to build community and build relationships than over a meal?
15 Minutes : Prayer for Each Other
Use this time to celebrate each other’s praises and pray for each other’s needs.
15 Minutes: Share Experiences from the Past Week
Did you find any of last week’s exercises difficult?
Do you have any stories of answered or unanswered prayer?
What did you sense God doing in you as you prayed?
20 Minutes: Lectio Divina
This follows closely to the first exercise from the companion guide. Ask God to bring a scripture to mind to use for this time with your group. Trust his guidance and that he will lead you to the right verses for your group.
With your group
Pray: Ask God to guide your listening time together and for him to speak through his Word.
Read: Invite your group to listen for that word or phrase that jumps out to them as you slowly read the verses God has chosen for your group. After you read the verses, take 2 minutes of silence as the group sits with the word or phrase that has jumped out for them. After the 2 minutes are up, invite your group to share their word or phrase with no additional explanation.
Reflect: Invite your group to again listen to the verses as you slowly read them. This time they will continue to reflect and meditate on that word or phrase that jumped out for them. After you read the verses, again take 2 minutes in silence for your group to continue to reflect and meditate. After the 2 minutes are up, invite your group to share what they are hearing from God.
Respond: Invite your group to listen to the verses again as you slowly read them. This time they will listen to how God would like them to respond to what they have heard. After you read the verses, again take 2 minutes of silence as your group continues to listen for that response God is calling them to make. After the 2 minutes are up, invite your group to share.
Rest and Pray: Close in prayer, thanking God for his Word and how he spoke through his Word in these past few minutes and how he will continue speaking in the coming hours and days. Rest in his goodness and in his loving and caring Word.
Take 5 minutes to debrief this time. You can use questions like this to help guide the discussion:
What was this experience like for you?
Where was there delight?
Where was there resistance?
15 Minutes: Doodle Prayer
Everyone will need a blank sheet of paper and a pen or pencil.
Explain that during this exercise, you are going to play some soft music in the background. While your group listens to the music, they will “doodle”, letting the Holy Spirit guide their doodling. They may end up drawing something while they listen to the music. They may end up writing down some words that apply to a specific situation they are facing. It is totally open. The key is to let go, to listen, and to let God guide them to what they “doodle” on the paper.
Before they begin, have them draw a box in the bottom right hand corner of their paper. This will be their “parking lot”. At any time during the exercise, if they get distracted with a thought that comes to their mind (i.e., something they forgot to do at work), they can write that thought or “park it” in the parking lot for later and then get back to their doodling.
The suggested time is 10 minutes but if you feel this may be too much for your group, you can do 6 minutes. A good song to play and loop in the background is Take Me Over by Michael W Smith - https://youtu.be/eRj5GI_VA04
After the music is done, invite your group to share their “doodling”.
Use the next 5 minutes to debrief the prayer experience
What was this experience like?
Where was there delight? Resistance?
10 Minutes: Close in Prayer
Pray using your favorite Psalm
Or
Closing using one of the night prayers from the Lectio 365 App