About This Study Guide
Fervent by Priscilla Shirer is a bold, strategic call to prayer — not the polite, routine kind, but the fierce, intentional, targeted kind that treats prayer as the primary weapon in a real spiritual war. Drawing on Ephesians 6 and the image of the full armor of God, Priscilla argues that the enemy of our souls has a specific, customized strategy against each of us — targeting our mind, our marriage, our identity, our past, our purpose, and our relationships — and that the only adequate response is an equally specific, customized prayer strategy. The book is organized around ten "strategies" the enemy uses against us, and for each one Priscilla offers a corresponding prayer strategy we can deploy. The thesis is simple but urgent: you are not just invited to pray — you are called to pray fervently, because the stakes are that high.
To get the most from this study guide, read the designated chapter (or section) before your group meets or before you sit down to journal. Priscilla builds in personal prayer pages at the end of each strategy chapter — don't skip them. Write in them. The questions in this guide are designed to follow the arc of each chapter, moving from understanding what the enemy is actually doing to owning a specific, personal prayer response. Whether you are using this guide alone or in a small group, expect to be stretched: Priscilla does not let the reader stay in the abstract. She pushes you toward the personal, the specific, and the actionable.
By the end of this guide you will have a clearer picture of what the enemy targets in your unique life, a richer and more intentional prayer life, and a set of personalized prayers you can return to again and again. More than information, this guide aims to help you leave each session with a prayer you could not have prayed before you started. That is the goal Priscilla sets for every reader, and it is the goal we carry into every week of this study.
14-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — This Means War8 questions
- Week 2Strategy 1 — Your Passion and Purpose7 questions
- Week 3Strategy 2 — Your Family7 questions
- Week 4Strategy 3 — Your Past7 questions
- Week 5Strategy 4 — Your Fears7 questions
- Week 6Strategy 5 — Your Temptations7 questions
- Week 7Strategy 6 — Your Mind7 questions
- Week 8Strategy 7 — Your Relationships7 questions
- Week 9Strategy 8 — Your Identity7 questions
- Week 10Strategy 9 — Your Calling7 questions
- Week 11Strategy 10 — Your Hurts7 questions
- Week 12Building Your War Room7 questions
- Week 13Review & Reflection8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — This Means War
All 8 questions→Read the Introduction of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18.
1.Priscilla describes the moment she sensed God calling her to write this book as a direct response to real spiritual warfare in her own home and family. What was your initial reaction to her framing prayer as a *weapon* rather than a conversation? Did it feel foreign, exciting, or uncomfortable — and why?
2.She insists that the enemy is not a cartoon villain but a real, strategic, personal opponent who has studied *you* specifically. How seriously have you taken that idea in your own spiritual life up to this point?
Week 2: Strategy 1 — Your Passion and Purpose
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 1 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Ephesians 2:10; Jeremiah 29:11.
1.Priscilla argues that the enemy targets your sense of passion and purpose first — because if he can convince you that your life doesn't matter or that God has no plan for you, every other battle becomes easier for him. Does this ring true in your own experience? When have you felt most purposeless, and what effect did that have on your spiritual life?
2.She draws on Ephesians 2:10 — that we are God's "workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand." What does it mean to you personally that your good works were *prepared beforehand*? Does your daily life reflect that conviction?
Week 3: Strategy 2 — Your Family
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 2 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Joshua 24:15; Psalm 127:1.
1.Priscilla opens this strategy by describing the unique ferocity with which the enemy attacks families — because a healthy, God-honoring family is a powerful testimony and a launching pad for kingdom purposes. Does your family feel like a target right now? In what ways?
2.She calls the reader to become a "prayer warrior" for her household — praying specifically over each person's struggles, tendencies, and vulnerabilities rather than offering blanket prayers. What would a more specific prayer life for your family actually look like day to day?
Week 4: Strategy 3 — Your Past
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 3 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Isaiah 43:18-19; Romans 8:1.
1.Priscilla identifies the past as one of the enemy's favorite battlegrounds — not because the past has power over us in Christ, but because the enemy convinces us that it does. What aspect of your past does the enemy most frequently use as a weapon against you?
2.She distinguishes between healthy grieving and destructive rumination — between processing the past and being imprisoned by it. How do you know when you have crossed that line in your own life?
Week 5: Strategy 4 — Your Fears
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 4 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: 2 Timothy 1:7; Psalm 34:4.
1.Priscilla opens this strategy by naming fear as one of the enemy's primary tools — not because fear is always sinful, but because he exploits and magnifies it to keep us paralyzed. What fears are currently exerting the most control over your decisions and your peace?
2.2 Timothy 1:7 says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. What does it mean that fear is a "spirit" — something that can be *given* or *not given*? How does that reframe the way you think about your own anxious thoughts?
Week 6: Strategy 5 — Your Temptations
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 5 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:14-15.
1.Priscilla argues that the time to pray against temptation is *before* it arrives — not in the middle of it. How does that proactive posture differ from how most of us actually respond to temptation?
2.James 1:14-15 traces temptation from desire to sin to death. Priscilla asks the reader to identify the specific desire — the legitimate longing — that the enemy is exploiting in her most persistent temptations. What legitimate longing is at the root of your most recurring struggle?
Week 7: Strategy 6 — Your Mind
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 6 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Philippians 4:8.
1.Priscilla describes the mind as the battleground where most of the enemy's strategy is actually executed — through lies, distortions, accusations, and obsessive thought patterns. Does that match your experience? What does the enemy's most persistent mental attack against you look like?
2.2 Corinthians 10:5 calls us to take every thought "captive" to obey Christ. What does that image of taking a thought *captive* suggest about the nature of the battle — and about what we are supposed to do before a thought becomes settled belief?
Week 8: Strategy 7 — Your Relationships
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 7 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:3.
1.Priscilla argues that the enemy specifically targets our closest relationships — marriages, friendships, church communities — because unity and love between believers is one of the most powerful testimonies to the watching world. Which of your relationships has been under the most noticeable spiritual attack recently?
2.She identifies offense as one of the enemy's favorite entry points into relationships — a small wound that, left untreated, grows into bitterness and distance. Where is there an unaddressed offense in one of your important relationships right now?
Week 9: Strategy 8 — Your Identity
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 8 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Ephesians 1:3-14; 1 Peter 2:9.
1.Priscilla describes identity as foundational — the platform from which every other battle is fought. What does your lived experience reveal about what you actually believe about your identity, as distinct from what you would say you believe about it theologically?
2.Ephesians 1:3-14 piles up identity-defining phrases: chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed, and more. Which of those truths feels least real or least personal to you, and why?
Week 10: Strategy 9 — Your Calling
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 9 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Romans 8:28-30; 2 Timothy 1:9.
1.Priscilla distinguishes between your general calling (to love God and love people, which all believers share) and your specific calling (the particular assignment God has for you in this season). How clearly can you articulate what your specific calling is right now?
2.She argues that the enemy concentrates his resistance precisely where God concentrates His assignment — which means the fiercest opposition you are experiencing may actually be a signal that you are close to something important. Where are you experiencing the most resistance, and what might that be pointing to?
Week 11: Strategy 10 — Your Hurts
All 7 questions→Read Strategy 10 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; Psalm 147:3.
1.Priscilla names hurt as one of the enemy's most powerful strategies — not primarily because pain itself defeats us, but because of what we do with pain: we harden, withdraw, become cynical, or stop trusting. Which of those responses is most characteristic of you when you are hurt?
2.2 Corinthians 1:3-4 describes God as the "Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction." How does the idea that your wounds can become ministry reframe the way you think about the suffering you have experienced?
Week 12: Building Your War Room
All 7 questions→Read the closing chapters and the War Room/Prayer Strategy sections of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: Luke 18:1-8; Colossians 4:2.
1.Priscilla urges readers to designate a physical prayer space — a "war room" — where they can pray specifically and persistently. What is your reaction to that idea? Does it feel motivating, impractical, or somewhere in between?
2.The parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8 is one of the anchor texts for this section. Jesus told it specifically so that "they ought always to pray and not lose heart." Where in your prayer life have you lost heart — given up on something you once prayed for?
Week 13: Review & Reflection
All 8 questions→Review your notes, journaling, and personal prayer pages from all ten strategies of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer.
1.Which of the ten strategies chapters was most personally convicting or most impactful for you — and why? What made it land differently from the others?
2.Before you started this book, how would you have described your prayer life? How would you describe it now? What has actually changed — in your understanding, your practice, or both?
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