While recently speaking in our church Peter Grieg from 24/7 prayer said that ‘if we only ever pray about the big things occasionally, we’ll only see a few miracles. But when we learn to pray about the small things continually, we get to live with greater gratitude.’

Through this connect group study series we are going to explore the wonderful world of prayer. As we explore prayer, we will find that this journey is more about learning to pray than learning how to pray.

In addition to exploring prayer, we are going to learn that prayer itself is “exploring”. You can read the title both ways. Prayer is a gift from God that when used properly becomes the means by which we explore the wide-open life to which God has called us.

Prayer is not just how we speak to God, but it is how we communicate with God. Communication goes both directions. Communication is vital to any relationship, therefore learning to pray is vital to our journey as followers of Jesus. By the end of these studies, our hope is that we have not just learned about prayer, but that we have personally established a new depth and rhythm of prayer in our lives that breathes fresh passion into our spiritual journeys.

So many of us come to God wanting a formula. Our thinking might be that if only we learn the right way to pray, then God might be more inclined to answer our prayers in the way we want. The truth is that God does not give us a formula. He gives us something far greater. He gives us His presence discovered in prayer.

When leading these studies, be sure to allocate time to practice what you are learning. Manage discussion time in such a way so that you have at least 20 minutes set aside to spend time in prayer together before you conclude.