About This Guide: This weekly groups guide, “The Bread of Life,” is designed as a companion to our Lent 2022 teaching series, fostering discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting. Join a group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
Rhythms of Resistance: How Jesus faced temptation
Teaching Text: Luke 11:1-13
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Temptation
Presence
Take a moment of silence and think about these questions:
Take 2 minutes of silence.
Notice your body, all the aches, and pains. Notice your emotions. What rises to the surface?
Notice your mind. What thoughts keep coming to you in the silence? (It might help to have a pen and paper ready to write them down so you don’t feel the urge to be distracted by them during the time)
Meditate on these words of God from today’s text: “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
What comes to mind when you think of prayer?
What intimidates you about prayer?
What obstacles do you have to overcome to engage in prayer?
How does it look when prayer is “successful”?
4 dimentions of a healthy prayer life:
Relationship - relationships are build in conversation
Transformation - We are influenced by those we are around
Authority - understanding what God has given us to effect.
Recall a conversation with someone that deeply impacted your life.
We get changed by the people we spend time with. Conversations / relationships change lives by default. Who are you being shaped by most?
4 Prayer Postures
Taking at God
Talking to God
Listening to God
Being with God\
Have you experienced these? Which do you default to?
Prayer is about relationship
Prayer transforms us and everything/everyone around us
Our prayers reach the ear of the One who has all authority
In prayer we get to exercise our God-given authority.
Jesus’ disciples asked about prayer because they saw the power of a life of prayer in Jesus.
Emphasis on prayer in Luke’s Gospel, especially Jesus’ praying before important occasions (3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 10:21; 11:1; 22:39-46; 23:34, 46).
In the Greco-Roman world the father was responsible for everyone in the family. The father takes care of the inheritance. The Father has authority. – Dr. Judy Fentress Williams
Prayer is the portal that brings the power of heaven down to earth. It is kryptonite to the enemy and to all his ploys against you.”
Priscilla Shirer. Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan to Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer
“Jesus didn’t teach like someone who studied scripture, He taught like someone who wrote it.” – Mark Charles
Read this prayer slowmly and ponder each line and what it means for you.
Now pray it together in your group: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Resources:
Love
Read these notes and discuss the questions below:
Who can you be praying for this week? What do they need?
Set aside time daily this week to pray for these people. Set reminders on your phone if you need.
Isaiah 58: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. The heart of fasting as a follower of Jesus is to give up something good to seek something greater, God and God’s Kingdom. Though it is certainly a good idea, when we give up something that is already damaging or sinful, that is not exactly fasting. That is repentance.
Every Wednesday during Lent We are inviting us to fast together as a church, from sunrise to sundown, or skip lunch, or give during fasting times.
The biblical record of fasting primarily involves willingly giving up food for a period of time as a response to a grievous sacred moment in life. This could be anything from death, sin, fear, threat, need, sickness, period of preparation, or time of seasonal renewal such as Lent. We respond to these moments with fasting.
So let’s Fast on Wed. When we fast we pray with our bodies. We say and demonstrate that we are hungry for God. We fast as an expression of love.
Pray for one another in the group.
