James, Prayer and Praise: Week 27 (May 8-14)
Prayer and Praise Practice: Week 27| May 8-14
Communities @ Grace
Goal for Week: Grow in the practices of prayer and praise in everyday life.
45 minutes: Welcome, Pray, Eat + Mingle
What environment or activities cause you to feel close to God?
Share something we can praise God together for.
15 Minutes : Review of last week’s practice experience
Review:
Take time to look back in your life to a period when you’ve faced trials and then list how you’ve commonly responded to them. Compare your response to those in the lesson and note how you can improve your response in the future.
Read the following passages that describe how God wants us to view trials and respond to them. Reflect on what God says about trials. How can the passages guide you as you face trials?
1 Peter 1:6-7
2 thessalonians 1:3-5
Hebrews 12:1-3
Reflect on how trials show the limits of our ability to control the events in our life. Write down how you are going to seek God’s wisdom when you encounter difficulties in the future. Place the results somewhere that you will see your response, like the refrigerator or message board, when a situation occurs in the future.
How did this practice go for you? What is the Holy Spirit doing in your heart as a result of practicing this last week?
45 Minutes : Introduction of Practice + Discussion Questions
This week we are exploring the idea of praising God and being with him through prayer as a daily practice no matter what our circumstances are.
This week we are going to combine our teaching with our “practice together” time. We will read scripture together and then take about 5 minutes in silence to respond individually to the prompts. After we have read all the passages we will have a time for sharing. (Leader: Please print a copy of the last page for each person in your group to use during the lesson time. Allow 5 minutes for each scripture reading and response)
Read:
James 5:13
What is troubling you? Write a short prayer expressing your concern.
What are you happy about? Write a short prayer of praise
Psalm 34:1-3
When you hear “I will extol [praise highly] the Lord at all times,” is there a situation that comes to mind that makes that challenging?
Has someone else's faith or praise encouraged you to rejoice during a personal affliction?
Acts 16:22-26
What are your thoughts about how Paul and Silas chose to respond to their imprisonment?
Has there been a time you responded similarly?
Habakkuk 3:17-19
What do you feel like you are lacking?
What can you praise God for in the midst of your lack?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Do you find this teaching challenging?
Why do you think this would be God’s will for us in Christ?
Now invite each community member to share something they wrote from the questions above.
See next page for Practices next week, consider giving a copy to each member.
10 Minutes : Pray for One Another + Close
Consider praying as a whole group or in triads for personal prayer requests.
End on time in order to honor everyone’s time.
Scriptures to meditate on:
James 5:13
What is troubling you? Write a short prayer expressing your concern.
What are you happy about? Write a short prayer of praise
Psalm 34:1-3
When you hear “I will extol [praise highly] the Lord at all times,” is there a situation that comes to mind that makes that challenging?
Has someone else's faith or praise encouraged you to rejoice during a personal affliction?
Acts 16:22-26
What are your thoughts about how Paul and Silas chose to respond to their imprisonment?
Has there been a time you responded similarly?
Habakkuk 3:17-19
What do you feel like you are lacking?
What can you praise God for in the midst of your lack?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Do you find this teaching challenging?
Why do you think this would be God’s will for us in Christ?
5 Minutes : Practices for Week Ahead
Choose one of the scriptures (shown above) from today’s lesson to meditate on each day and journal what you hear from God.
Think of a worry or difficult situation, pray about the situation and ask God to show you how you can trust and praise HIm.
Reach out to a friend or loved one to support them in prayer, praise or rejoicing.