“So I encourage you to pray – not with a bunch of these and thous, but just pour your emotions and angst and frustrations out before God. Not as a means of catharsis or to nurse your grief or wallow in your pain, but because this is how you genuinely feel, this is real. And as you dig into this hot mess, explore those doubts, the confusion, ask the hard even shameful questions, see beneath any Christian veneer that we’re supposed to put on for the world, and let the true God speak into your situation, minister to your soul, and bring real hope.”
Family Worship
Family Worship Devotional Download
Open in Prayer
Worship
• Sing a song or songs about coming to God with our hurts and pleas (O Come to the Altar, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus)
Or
• Read Matthew 6:5-15 out loud and discuss how sweet it is that we can come before God in prayer.
Icebreaker Question: Share a time you lost something really important (or you got lost!). What happened? How did you feel?
Key Verse: Psalm 77:1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.
Key Idea: In our prayers, let us cry out to God!
Discussion Questions:
1. What is your overall mood? Happy, sad, scared, angry, other? Why?
2. Do you think prayer should be more structured and formal or messy and random? Why?
3. What has your prayer life look like? Has it changed during this season?
4. In light of the devotional, is there anything you plan to do differently as you come before the Lord each day?
Spend time in prayer as a family
Prayer Focuses:
1. For the children in our church family
That they will continue to learn what prayer looks like and can bring their cares before the Lord.
2. For the parents in our church family
That they would continue to have a child-like faith and bring their cares before the Lord.
3. For our church family
That in our prayers we may find both specific truth and comfort that speaks into our situation and lives.
