REALLIFE STUDY GROUP
"The
Truth About Intercession & Divine
Intervention!"
ICEBREAKER: What is your favorite cookie? (What am I
thinking about?)
INTRODUCTION:
Many citizens of America have lost the
art of prayer. Prayer is the art of communicating with God and ascending to the
High Court of Heaven to put a restraining order on the works of darkness. The
church, translated from the word ekklesia in Greek, meaning the assembly of the called out
ones, must take her rightful place in the legislative assembly of heaven. When
the church is silent the enemy wins.
According
to Pastor Tim Smith:
Prayer is a declaration of war on
self-sufficiency, as we become more and more dependent on God.
It’s war on independence because you
have to admit that you can’t do
it
alone.
It’s war on self-importance as you
praise something greater.
It’s a declaration of war on anxiety
as you trust that God will
provide.
It’s a war on the temporary pleasures
that the world has to offer around us, as we praise the Giver of all gifts
above his gifts as an end in themselves.
It’s a declaration of war on the
frantic pace of life that all of us fall into as we take time to be still and
to think and to listen and to try to hear from God and what he has for us.
It’s a declaration of war on
justification by results as you have to acknowledge that it’s God who works in
you.
It’s a declaration of war on cynicism
and unbelief as we step out in faith that he hears and answers.
Prayer, as I’ve been convicted, is a
declaration of war on this
self-centered,
short-term, whatever’s-in-front-of-my-face kind of
living.
CONFESSION:
·
A day without prayer is like a
day without breathing.
·
A day without prayer is like a
meal without food.
·
A day without prayer is like
playing sports and never winning.
·
A day without prayer is like a
rainbow without color.
·
A day without prayer is like a
song without music.
·
A day without prayer is like a
battle without a victory.
·
A day without prayer is like a
building without a foundation.
·
A day without prayer is like a
car without an engine.
·
A day without prayer is like a
rose without its fragrance.
·
A day without prayer is like a
shower without soap.
·
A day without prayer is like an
ocean without water.
·
So I will choose to take a
timeout for a prayer appointment every day with God.
DEFINITION:
Intercession: (Hebrew) “Paga” meaning:
1.
Prayer
that hits the mark.
2.
An
encounter, to meet with or to make physical contact.
Proverbs
17:12 Better to meet (paga) a bear robbed of her cubs
than a fool in his folly.
Psalms 85:10
Love and faithfulness meet together (paga), righteousness and peace kiss each other.
3.
To
push against, to strike, hit, attack, or rush at someone with hostility or
violence.
2 Samuel
1:15 “Go strike (paga) him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.
4.
To
entreat, intercede for help, lay upon or burden.
Isaiah 53:12
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession (paga) for the transgressor.
Isaiah 64:5 You come to the help of (paga)
those who gladly do right, who remember your ways.
5.
To
reach, or as far as, to touch, in descriptions of dividing up territory.
Paga
praying presses the righteous boundaries of God.
Genesis 28:11 When he reached
(paga) a certain place, he stopped for the night.
Joshua 17:10
On the south the land belonged to Ephraim, on the
north to Manasseh. The territory of Manasseh reached (paga)
the sea…
6.
To
border upon, to cause to fall upon, to lay upon, or to urge a desired request
by petitions
Jeremiah
7:16 So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea
or petition for them; do not plead (paga) with me for
I will not listen to you.
Job 21:15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying (paga) to him?
OUTLINE:
Who
Ought To Pray?
1. People in trouble ought to pray
Psalm 34:6
King James
Version (KJV)
This poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
2. People who need wisdom ought to
pray
James 1:5
King
James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to
all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him.
3. People who need power ought to
pray
Luke
11:11-13
If a son
shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
4. People who want revival ought
to pray
2 Chronicles
7:14
If my
people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
5. People who want cleansing ought
to pray
Psalm
139:23, 24
Search me, O
God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
6. People who want to know God’s
ways ought to pray
Exodus 33:13
Now
therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew
me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and
consider that this nation is thy people.
7. People who want to be saved
ought to pray
Matthew
14:30; Luke 18:1
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought
always to pray, and not to faint.
TEXT: Matthew 6:5-15
STUDY
GROUP QUESTIONS:
1. Remind
us of a prayer in the Bible and who prayed it.
2. Identify
a type of prayer
a. Prayer
of Agreement
b. Prayer
of Authority
c. Petition
d. Intercession
e. Supplication
f. Consecration
g. Worship
h. Prayer
of Deliverance
i. Prayer
of Repentance
3. Which
of the 6 definitions of intercession spoke to you?
4. Why
does God want us to pray?
5. Name
one benefit of prayer?
6. Who
has been one of your greatest prayer warriors on your behalf?
7. Who
are you called to lift up in prayer daily?
8. Name
one thing you can tell about a person by listening to them pray.
PRAISE
REPORTS & PRAYER REQUESTS:
ACTION
POINT: This week I will pray __________
minutes each day!