The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg
Week 8: Chapter 7 — Appropriate Confidence (The Practice of Prayer)
Read Chapter 7 of The Life You've Always Wanted. Key passages: Matthew 6:5-13; Luke 11:1-4; Romans 8:26.
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In a chapter added and expanded in later editions of the book, Ortberg invites us to see prayer not as a religious obligation to fulfill but as a living relationship to inhabit.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Ortberg is honest that many Christians are disappointed with their prayer lives — prayer feels dutiful, rote, or one-sided. Does this resonate with your experience? What has your relationship with prayer actually been like, honestly?
2.He emphasizes that prayer is fundamentally relational — it is conversation with a Person, not a technique for getting things. How does shifting from 'prayer as method' to 'prayer as relationship' change what you expect from it and what you bring to it?
3.Jesus taught his disciples to pray using the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Ortberg unpacks this prayer as a kind of map for all of prayer — addressing God as Father, aligning with his kingdom, asking for daily needs, and dealing with forgiveness. Which of these movements in the Lord's Prayer is most natural for you? Which is hardest?
a.What does it mean in practice to pray 'your kingdom come, your will be done'? Have you ever prayed that and meant it?
b.How does the forgiveness clause — 'forgive us as we forgive' — challenge or convict you?
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