Prayer

Opening question: If you could ask God any question you wanted to ask, what would it be?

Q2. How do we know there’s a God out there somewhere who can listen to us?
Q3. Have you ever prayed to God? If so, what did you pray?

Read and talk about the following words from the Bible about prayer:

Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks will receive. He who searches will find. The door will be opened to the one who knocks. Suppose your son asks for bread. Which of you will give him a stone? Or suppose he asks for a fish. Which of you will give him a snake? Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11

Discuss what the Bible says about unanswered prayer in the following verses:

But your sins have separated you from your God. They have caused him to turn his face away from you. So he won't listen to you. Isaiah 59:2

When you ask for something, you don't receive it. Why? Because you ask for the wrong reason. You want to spend your money on your sinful pleasures. James 4:3

Q4. What are the conditions for answered prayer, according to the following?

There is only one God. And there is only one go-between for God and human beings. He is the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

There is one thing we can be sure of when we come to God in prayer. If we ask anything in keeping with what he wants, he hears us. If we know that God hears what we ask for, we know that we have it. 1 John 5:14,15

Without faith it isn't possible to please God. Those who come to God must believe that he exists. And they must believe that he rewards those who look to him. Hebrews 11:6

Pray for each other in your group.