PRAYER I

First of all, WELCOME JASPER! It's great to have you. I hope you find a home away from home in the La Vitans, as we journey together as a lifegroup, to sow and grow in our relationship with Christ and each other in-Christ!

And Martin, it was good to see you at the meeting. The La Vitan Meetin' finally fell on a night that you can come. :)

Boy, am I excited!
I truly believe that as we learn more about PRAYER, we're embarking on a wonderful, life-changing adventure together!

So this is the plan,

Over the next 5-6 weeks, we're gonna embark on this journey of learning more about prayer and actually using what we learn, in our daily lives.

We all have our Prayer Journals, so let's do this together!

So this week, we start by:

Firstly, commiting ourselves to record our prayers in our journal (starting from the back page) with the start date, the item you're praying for. When the prayer is answered, tick it off with the date on which it was answered.
(Be creative in this and try a different approach to recording your prayer needs, coz I know different people do things differently. Do what works for you!)

Secondly, PRAY! Let us commit ourselves to really taking the time out each day to get together with God, not talking on the run, but carrying on substantial, soul-searching conversations.
(Let's not just talk about prayer, but actually PRAY! and see what prayer can do in our lives.)

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A recap of what we talked about on the 5.09.06 La Vitan Meetin'

What is prayer? We thought:
- cellphone
- conversations with God/bonding with God
- asking God for favours
- anytime, anywhere 24hours channel to God
- feels like calling and getting voice mailbox/engaged tone sometimes

What draws us to pray?
- troubled times, obligation, good times, belief/faith, love.
What causes us to resist praying?
- guilt/sin, when things are going well, disappointments/unanswered prayers, laziness.
(We'll bear these points in mind and hopefully address them as we go along with this module.)

Why do we pray? We discussed 2 reasons:
1) The most intimate communion with God comes only through prayer.
- Let's get together with God and have substantial, honest conversations with him. Get to know him better, share our lives with him. Build a relationship.

2) Prayer is the key to unlocking God's prevailing power in our lives.
- It boils down to this, if you are willing to invite God to involve himself in our daily challenges, you will experience his prevailing power, wherever it is needing.
-It's hard for God to release his power in our lives when we put our hands in our pockets and say, 'I can handle this on my own'.

Over the next few weeks, we'll talk about:
- God is able, is God willing?
- God's gracious invitation for us to come to him as to a father.
- Habits and attitudes that Jesus said we must cultivate in order to pray effectively.
- The reasons why our prayers are not always answered the way we wish.
- Some reason why our prayer life dries up from time to time.
- How to hear God's leading/God speaking to our hearts.

Can't wait till the next meeting! Love you guys!

-vK-