Growing and Connecting through Prayer

Written by: Joe Sherrieb, Life Group Director

Do you often feel uncomfortable praying in front of a large group or crowd of people? Do you wish to be more confident when you pray? Do you often experience crickets in your Life Group when your leaders ask if anyone would like to pray? Whether you are a Life Group leader, member or not yet connected in a Life Group, I encourage you to reflect on your own personal prayer life. How often do you pray? Hardly ever? Weekly? Daily? Several times per day? It can be easy to get into a rhythm of not talking to God and it can be hard to get back into a healthy rhythm. Usually a lack of prayer means that we don’t have a deep relationship with our Creator, even if we are spending time in his Word. If this is you, I encourage you to spend time in prayer this week. Ask God to draw you closer to him. That you would rely on him, thank him, and confess your sins to him throughout each day. 

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If you pray daily, but find it difficult to pray in front of others, I’d like to present a few ideas to help you grow in this area. First, start small. I call it a “crawl” step. Married couples, start by praying with your spouse. Ask your spouse to designate some time each day to pray with and for each other. Your spouse is the closest human you are ever going to have in your life. Grow your relationship with one another and in Christ by setting time each day to talk to God together. If you are single, find a prayer partner. Find a friend who is willing to make time weekly, or daily, to pray with you. Whether you are married or single, finding a partner to pray with will help you to take a “crawl” step toward confident corporate prayer.

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After you’ve found a prayer partner and have gotten to a point where prayer is comfortable, take a “walk” step. Consider starting a prayer group of 3-4 who meet weekly or monthly to pray with one another. Life Group leaders and members, during your prayer time, suggest breaking out into groups of 3-4 to help hesitant individuals feel less intimidated to pray in front of others. Have someone from each prayer group type out the prayers into the Life Group’s group chat so the rest of the group can pray for them throughout the week. Once the Life Group members feel comfortable in this type of prayer setting, move on to prayer groups of 5-6 and so on. Slowly increase the prayer group size until everyone feels confident to pray in front of the entire group (“run” step). If you are not currently in a Life Group, I’d encourage you to join one, so that others can come alongside you and build you up in prayer, and in Christ. That’s what Life Groups are all about. 

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In addition to growing in your prayer life and becoming confident in praying, group prayer really helps to draw you closer to God and to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. What other creative ways can you grow in your prayer life, both personally and corporately? 

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If you are not in a Life Group and would like to get plugged into one. Fill out our Life Group Request Form. Our Life Group team would love to get you connected. 

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