QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DIG DEEPER FOR YOUR SMALL GROUP OR FAMILY DEVOTIONS:

SUMMARY: God calls us to be persistent in our praying. Something mysterious happens in the process of persistent prayer. Though the situation may not change… something inside of us changes and shifts. It may not be dramatic, in fact, it’s usually subtle. Maybe it’s a softening, or a tenderness, or a sense of compassion that we’d never developed before?  Maybe persistent prayer doesn’t change God… as much as it changes us?

READ Luke 11:5-13 and Luke 18:1-7. Why do you think Jesus tells these stories? Why would anyone want someone else to deliberately annoy them? Why would God?

As for prayer, are you more likely to give up or hang tough? Why?

Do these stories mean that we should keep praying to get rich or to see the coming of God’s Kingdom? Why?

Talk about what some hindrances to prayer might be. You can find some below (Read the following hindrances with Scriptures next to them and talk about each of these and why they would be considered hindrances to our prayers being answered):

• Sin – Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-2
• Silence – James 4:2
• Self – James 4:3
• Unforgiveness – Mark 11:25-26
• Unbelief – James 1:6-8
• The Presence of Bad Marital Relations – 1 Peter 3:7