2023
Our Abba
Passage: Matthew 6:5-13 and Romans 8:14-16
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What is your daily rhythm of prayer in this season?
Read Matthew 6:5-13. What ideas or phrases surprise, encourage, or spark questions for you?
A. W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What comes to your mind when you think about God? What has shaped the way you think about God?
There are no singular personal pronouns in the Lord’s Prayer. Every pronoun is plural “our, us, we.” How does this intentional use of language shape the way you pray? How does it encourage or challenge you to pray?
Consider Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” J. I. Packer wrote, “the vitality of prayer lies largely in the vision of God that prompts it. Drab thoughts of God make prayer dull.” How does the way you think about God impact the way you approach prayer? Our might addressing God as “our Father in heaven” specifically inform the way you enter into prayer?
What from this passage do you need to remember, rejoice in, request, or repent of?
PRAYER
Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?
“Almighty, gracious Father, since our whole salvation depends on our true understanding of your holy Word, grant that our hearts – freed from worldly affairs – may hear and understand your holy Word with all diligence and faith, so that we may rightly discern your gracious will, cherish it, and live by it with all earnestness, to your praise and honor, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen” a prayer from Martin Bucer (1491-1551)