"Becoming Myself: The Essential WOrds You Need To Say"
Hear 0 Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 11:29-31.
1. Texts: Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-4
2. Let's say that next week you were going to have a one-hour conversation with God.
What would you want to say to God? How would you prepare for it? How would you
feel as your appointment time approached?
3. What are the topics about which you pray the most? The least?
4. Prayer is the primary form of our conversation with God. What truths of prayer life are
highlighted for you from these comments:
a. Israel Bettan: Prayer is "a direct approach to the throbbing heart of the universe."
b. Thomas Cariyle: "Prayer is and remains always a native and deepest impulse of
the soul of man."
c. Emerson: Prayer is "the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view."
d. Thomas Fuller: Prayer is "the key of the day and the lock of the night"
5. The Psalms are often referred to as prayers. Select and read through some Psalms, noting
the elements and aspects of prayer in them.
6. Think through The Lord's Prayer and expand, in your own words, on each of the key
thoughts expressed.
7. In what ways do you understand The Lord's Prayer to be related to the Two Great
Commandments?
8. Frank Laubach said The Lord's Prayer is not intercession, but enlistment. What does that
mean to you?
9. What are the benefits and the drawbacks of praying The Lord's Prayer every day?
Week of September 16, 2007
The Village Church, Rancho Santa Fe
The Rev. Dr. Jack W. Baca | 