Week 1: Introduction — Why We Need a Battle Plan

1.The Kendricks open by comparing prayer to a battle plan — the kind a general prepares before engaging the enemy. What does this military metaphor communicate about prayer that a softer image (like prayer as a conversation or a quiet moment) might miss?

2.How does the book's connection to the film War Room set the tone for what kind of prayer the Kendricks are advocating? What distinguishes a 'War Room' approach to prayer from the way most believers currently pray?

3.The authors assert that prayer is often our last resort rather than our first plan of attack. Be honest: in what areas of your life do you tend to exhaust human effort before turning to prayer?

4.Ephesians 6 describes the armor of God and closes with a call to 'pray in the Spirit on all occasions.' Why do you think Paul caps the entire passage on spiritual warfare with a command to pray, rather than with a strategy for personal effort?

5.The Kendricks suggest that a weak prayer life is symptomatic of a deeper problem — a failure to truly believe that God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. Do you agree with this diagnosis? What does your prayer life reveal about your actual (not professed) beliefs about God?

6.What do you hope to gain from this study? Write down one specific prayer habit you want to develop and one specific area of life you want to bring before God more consistently over the coming weeks.