When You Pray
When You Pray: A Study of Six Prayers in the Bible
By: Kelly Minter, Jackie Hill Perry, Jen Wilkin, Jennifer Rothschild, Jada Edwards, & Kristi McLelland
“Life often hurts, and we need to know how to pray when it does.”
“Prayer isn’t about saying what we think the Lord wants to hear from us. Prayer is an honest, intimate, and intentional reaching for the Lord in truth, in reality, in the actuality of our lives as they are.”
This is a video-based, seven-session Bible Study about prayer.
I completed this study with other women from my church and I thought it was a great study.
I loved that there were 6 different teachers, each taking a different prayer in the Bible and showing us how/when to pray like it.
Kelly Minter takes us through the Lord’s Prayer and shows us the elements of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. She also emphasizes how believing the goodness of God informs our prayers.
Jackie Hill Perry looks at prayers of petition and thanksgiving by looking at Hannah’s prayer. She reminds us that we can’t define God by our circumstances and that prayer is about going to Person who can give us anything we need, including joy if our circumstances bring sorrow.
Jen Wilkin takes us through prayers of adoration. The prayer she focused on was Psalm 139 and helped me see that well-known psalm in a new way. She pulls out the attributes of God that are on display and how easy it is to praise God for all the things he is. So much of our prayers depend on who God is, so we should know about him and trust his authority in our life.
Jennifer Rothschild walks us through prayers of lament. Looking at a variety of passages, including Psalm 13, she helps us identify the pattern of lament, how to recognize if we’re just complaining, and to remember that prayers of lament should lead us to the character of God and “gives us an opportunity to agree with God’s will.”
Jada Edwards teaches us prayers of intercession. Her week focuses on Ephesians 3 and encourages us to pray for those we find difficult to love because it changes our hearts. She also emphasizes maintaining our connection to our Source and staying rooted in Christ. Intercessory prayer is a way to stand in the gap for others and to partner with Christ and build unity with others.
Kristi McLelland’s prayers focused us on oneness and unity in the body of Christ. She covered John 13-17— the Upper Room discourse— and Jesus’s last prayer before the events of his death and resurrection. Tapping into her knowledge of the cultural context from her time spent in Israel, she helps us see why Jesus would want his last words to the his disciples to remind them to be one in Christ.
As we reflected on what stuck out to us the most with this study, one of my friends said that it was like taking a two-dimensional thing and making it 3D. I liked that analogy because they really did take something as simple as prayer and then showed us all the facets of it.
Prayer is simple yet complex. We don’t always know how to pray or what to pray for. These ladies do a great job of giving examples of how we can pray. It was also so good to just be reminded of the power of prayer.
Jackie Hill Perry when talking about Hannah’s problem of barrenness says how “she used the strongest weapon one has— prayer.” We often feel like prayer is useless or passive. We want to DO something about our problems or our desires, but in reality, prayer is truly an active and meaningful thing because it connects us to the all-powerful and all-wise God who can actually do something with our requests and with our hearts as we present them.
And not only that, but doing this study reminds us that prayer isn’t just about making requests and asking for things, though it’s clear God wants us to do that; it’s also just about connecting with our Creator.
If we make prayer a regular habit, we can’t help but be changed because we are communing with the One who made us. It changes our perspective on who we are and what our lives are about. It helps us see others the way God sees them. It’s about bringing glory and honor to Him who deserves all the praise.
To be honest, I was a little wary of leading this study because I don’t like to pray out loud. But I wanted to be challenged in that area because I believe in the importance of praying and praying with and for others. This study definitely helped me to find the courage to pray out loud.
It also made me think about how to teach my own kids about prayer. What is my prayer habits and prayer life teaching my kids about prayer? It is convicting!
So if you are like me and you don’t like praying out loud, I would encourage you to do this study with others and let God work on your heart and help you praise, lament, intercede, and petition the Lord in a deeper and more habitual way. Let prayer be a connecting point for you and your friends, family, or church community because it does bring a unity that nothing else can.
Study Formatting & Details
Each week there are five days of homework. Because each author/teacher approached their week differently, the homework varies in formatting and the amount of time you spend on it. Some weeks have a lot of cross-referencing or marking up the passage. Other weeks are more reflective and text-heavy with thoughtful questions.
As a group, we really appreciated the video teaching sessions that went along with the study. They usually covered everything we had been doing in our homework so those who were unable to finish the homework were still able to glean the information and participate in the discussion.
The book has a website link and code in the back so anyone with the book can access the videos. That was also nice because those who missed a week could still watch on their own. It also makes this study something you can do on your own or again with a different group of people.
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend this study. You can do it on your own, but I would recommend getting at least a couple other people to do it with you so you can also be praying for one another whenever you meet together.
These ladies will being a lot of encouragement to your life and your relationship with your Creator.
Some weeks may resonate more with you than others, but that’s why meeting with others will bring some variety and depth in how the Lord is speaking to different women through different verses.
A few other books on prayer that I would recommend:
Prayer by Timothy Keller
The Lord’s Prayer by Kevin DeYoung
The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop (this book is all about lamenting)
I’ve also read other books by Jackie Hill Perry and Jen Wilkin that you can browse using their hyperlinked names. They are two teachers I always learn so much from!
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