Wholehearted. Pt 5. Wholehearted Prayer
Christy walks us through 2 Chronicles 2:12-42 (Solomon's prayer at the temple dedication) and shows us how this is a model for pray. Christy reminds us that prayer is about connecting with God and not about impressing Him. She challenges us to consider: What does wholehearted prayer look like for you? What is one area of prayer that you would like to be growing in?
Life Group Questions
Wholehearted: Excerpts from Chronicles. Part 5.
Read: 2 Chronicles 6:12- 42
- What do you notice?
- What stands out to you?
- What observations or questions does this passage raise?
Discuss:
Solomon begins his prayer by reminding God of His promises and asking Him to keep them.
- What promises has God made to us His people that we can call Him to fulfil in prayer? [remember – a proverb is not a promise].
- What is your response to this ‘calling God to fulfil His promises’ style of prayer?
Solomon moves through a series of requests for the people who will use the temple in the future; for justice, for deliverance, for forgiveness, for rescue from disaster, for those seeking God, for victory, and for restoration.
- How do we reconcile the invitation for the foreigner to pray at the temple with the possibility that some of those same people might be the enemies, invaders, or captors prayed about elsewhere in this prayer?
- How might we invite people to try praying to Jesus so they can find out what He is like (even if they are ‘enemies’)?
- What might we need to be doing to get people to consider that they might want to pray?
- There are numerous references to national scale forgiveness (v. 25, 27, 30, 39) so that God will rescue the entire nation. How might this example apply to us, and what would be the national scale sins we might need forgiveness for?
Pray: that we might become people of prayer, not just in church or life group, but throughout our lives so that prayer becomes a connection point for those seeking God.