A Praying Life by Paul Miller
Week 1: Introduction — Learning to Pray Like a Child
Read the Introduction and Part One overview of A Praying Life (through the opening framing chapters).
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Miller opens by admitting that his prayer life was a mess — and invites us to confess the same. Before diving into solutions, this week is simply about honesty.
Discussion Questions
6 questions1.Miller says that most Christians are embarrassed about their prayer lives. Were you relieved or unsettled to read that admission from an author writing a book on prayer? What does your reaction tell you about your own assumptions?
2.He argues that prayerlessness is rooted not primarily in busyness or laziness but in unbelief — a functional sense that prayer doesn't really work or matter. Do you agree with that diagnosis? Where do you see it in your own life?
3.Miller uses the image of a child freely and constantly talking to a parent as the model for prayer. What would have to change in your view of God for you to relate to him that way?
a.What has shaped your image of God — and is that image one that invites you to come freely?
b.Where did you learn (formally or informally) how to pray, and what did those lessons communicate about what God expects?
4.The book promises to address not just the mechanics of prayer but the heart behind it. What do you most hope to gain — or most fear discovering — as you work through this material?
5.Miller suggests that our cynicism about prayer often reflects a deeper cynicism about whether God is actually good and actually present. How would you honestly describe your working belief about those two things right now?
6.How does the gospel — God entering our mess in Jesus rather than waiting for us to clean up first — challenge the idea that we have to have our prayer life together before we can really pray?
Closing Prayer
Father, we come to you the way we actually are — not the way we wish we were. We confess that we have often lived as though you were not there, managing our days without much reference to you. We confess that even when we do pray, we are sometimes just performing. Teach us what it means to be a child who runs to a good Father. Begin in us, right now, whatever it takes to make us people who pray. Amen.
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