Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools Bible Study Look Inside

PRAYING LIKE MONKS, LIVING LIKE FOOLS

A Bible Study on Learning to Pray Like Jesus

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE | FIVE SESSIONS

BASED ON THE WRITING AND TEACHING OF

TYLER STATON

Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools Bible Study Guide © 2023 by Tyler Staton

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ISBN 978-0-310-16616-0 (softcover) ISBN 978-0-310-16619-1 (ebook)

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A NOTE FROM TYLER

The Christian faith is built on the foundation of Jesus, whose life was unblemished, whose death satisfied sin’s debt, and whose resurrection was an invitation to new, full, and everlasting life for all who’d receive him. It’s a stunning miracle, grace, distinguished from every other spirituality by a God who didn't beckon us to ascend to him but descended to us. God became like us, that we might be remade into his image. In his own triumphant words, “It is finished!”

It’s a breathtaking story. The trouble is that we can’t seem to drive the story of Jesus from our heads into our hearts. We can’t seem to live like we really are forgiven, free, and fully alive. There remains, even for the most devout believer, that nagging part of our lives we withhold from grace, convinced that God can’t forgive us for what we can’t forgive ourselves. We wallow, paralyzed, in shame or turn grace into a diet plan and Jesus into a calorie counter. The heart longs for grace, but the mind resists it. “It is finished!” he cried. But, no matter how fervently we believe it, the redemption accomplished by Jesus just never seems to feel finished.

What closes the gap between the doctrine recited in our creeds, set to melody in our hymns, and tasted in bread and wine and this present day and the mess it presents? Intercession. Jesus’ prayers for you and me.

Justification is a one-word summary of Jesus’ past work. Forgiveness is a done deal—finished. Glorification assures us of our promised future. The end of the story is written and secure. Intercession is the present action of Jesus that pulls at the story from both ends. He is at the right hand of the Father at this very moment applying his victory to you in a booming heavenly echo of intercessory prayer. Jesus’ intercession is a bridge between God’s heavenly resources and our earthly ledges, securing us safely between forgiveness and glory.

If we’re gonna talk about prayer, we can’t start by speaking but listening. Every work we ever utter in prayer is in response to Jesus’ prayers for us. Prayer doesn’t begin with us; it begins with Jesus. His prayers always precede ours.

This is the starting point of a journey that will lead us from receiving the intercession of Christ to joining the intercession of Christ. Along the way we’ll make four stops, summarizing the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught us into four core practices: adoration, confession, petition, and intercession. But it all starts and ends not with our prayers but with Christ’s.

— tyler staton

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

Welcome to the Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools Bible Study. Before you begin, you should know that there are a few ways you can go through the material. You can experience this study with others in a group (such as a Bible study, Sunday school class, or any other small-group gathering), or you may choose to study the content on your own. Either way, the videos for each session are available for you to view at any time via streaming.

GROUP STUDY

Each session in this study is divided into two parts: (1) a group study section, and (2) a personal study section. The group section is intended to provide a basic framework on how to open your time together, get the most out of the video content, and discuss the key ideas together that were presented in the teaching. Each session includes the following:

• Welcome: A short opening note about the topic of the session for you to read on your own before you meet as a group.

• Connect: A few icebreaker questions to get you and your group members thinking about the topic and interacting with each other.

• Watch: An outline of the key points covered in each video teaching along with space for you to take notes as you watch each session.

• Discuss: Questions to help you and your group reflect on the teaching material presented and apply it to your lives.

• Respond: A short personal exercise to help reinforce the key ideas.

• Practice: Each session will end with a prayer exercise to help you move the teaching from head knowledge to a more intimate sort of knowing.

If you are doing this study in a group, be sure to have your own copy of the study guide so you can write down your thoughts, responses, and reflections and have

access to the videos via streaming. You will also want to have a copy of Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, as reading it alongside the study will provide you with deeper insights. (See the notes at the beginning of each group session and personal study section to find which chapters of the book you should read before the next group session.) Finally, keep these points in mind:

• Facilitation: If you are doing this study in a group, you will want to appoint someone to serve as a facilitator. This person will take the lead on starting the video and keeping track of time during discussions and activities. If you have been chosen for this role, there are some resources in the back of this guide that can help you lead your group through the study.

• Faithfulness: Your small group is a place where tremendous growth can happen as you reflect on the Bible, ask questions, and learn what God is doing in other people’s lives. For this reason, be fully committed and attend each session so you can build trust and rapport with the other members.

• Friendship: The goal of any small group is to serve as a place where people can share, learn about God, and build friendships. So seek to make your group a safe place by being honest about your thoughts and feelings, but also by listening carefully to everyone else in the group. Keep anything personal that your group members share in confidence so that you can create a community where people can heal, be challenged, and grow spiritually.

If you are studying Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools on your own, read the opening Welcome section and reflect on the questions in the Connect section. Watch the video and use the outline provided to take notes. Finally, personalize the questions and exercises in the Discuss and Respond sections and close by working through the prayer practice for each session.

PERSONAL STUDY

The personal study is for you to work through on your own during the week. Each exercise is designed to help you explore the key ideas you uncovered during your group time and delve into passages of Scripture that will help you apply those principles. Go at your own pace, doing a little each day, or tackle the material all at once.

Much like in the group section, each personal study will close with a prayer exercise to help you put the teaching into practice.

If you are doing this study as part of a group, and you are unable to finish (or even start) these studies for the week, you should still attend the group time. Be assured that you are still wanted and welcome even if you don’t have your “homework” done. Both the group studies and personal studies are intended to help you hear from God and apply what he is saying to your life. So, as you go through this prayer journey, listen for him to speak to you.

WEEK 1

BEFORE GROUP MEETING

Read appendix 1 in Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools

Read the Welcome section (page 2)

GROUP MEETING

Discuss the Connect questions

Watch the video teaching for session 1

Discuss the questions that follow as a group

Do the closing exercises (pages 2–6)

STUDY 1

STUDY 2

STUDY 3

CATCH UP AND READ AHEAD

(BEFORE WEEK 2 GROUP MEETING)

Complete the personal study (pages 8–10)

Complete the personal study (pages 11–13)

Complete the personal study (pages 14–16)

Connect with someone in your group

Read chapter 3 in Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools

Complete any unfinished personal studies (page 17)

SESSION ONE

THE INTERCESSION

OF CHRIST

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

HEBREWS 7:25 NKJV

WELCOME | READ ON YOUR OWN

If you are familiar with the stories of Jesus’ life, you know that he would often go off by himself to pray. Mark tells us that Jesus would get up “very early in the morning” and go to “a solitary place” to pray (1:35). Luke writes that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (5:16). Matthew relates that after Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000, he sent the disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee while he “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (14:23).

This practice had an impact on the disciples. One time when Jesus was praying like this, the disciples were evidently standing close enough to hear at least some of his words. When Jesus finished, they had a straightforward request for him: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). The disciples wanted to know how to pray powerful prayers like the ones they had just heard their Master pray. Jesus responded with what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer—a model that we will explore in future sessions.

So Jesus had a habit of prayer and he taught us how to pray. But what we often overlook is that Jesus is still praying for us. In fact, it’s what Jesus is doing right now. John writes, “We have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1). Jesus, our advocate, is the bridge between the Father’s heavenly resources and our earthly lives, and right now he is interceding for us, by name.

Prayer begins not with us but with Jesus. Every prayer that we have ever prayed or that we will ever pray is a response to Jesus’ prayers for us. This must be the starting point for any prayer journey. So, in this opening session, we will begin by exploring the intercession of Christ.

CONNECT | 15 MINUTES

If you or any of your group members don’t know each other, take a few minutes to introduce yourselves. Then discuss one or both of the following questions:

• Why did you decide to join this study? What do you hope to learn? — or —

• What comes to mind when you think about Jesus praying for you?

WATCH | 20 MINUTES

Watch the video for this session, which you can access by playing the DVD or through streaming (see the instructions provided with this guide). Below is an outline of the key points covered in the teaching. Record any thoughts or concepts that stand out to you.

OUTLINE

I. Our understanding of belief and knowledge is different than the Hebrew understanding.

A. The Hebrew word for knowledge ( yada) is an experiential kind of knowing.

B. This is a kind of knowing that involves the intellect but lives in the senses.

C. For many of us, what Jesus has done for us tends to stay in the realm of an idea.

D. How do we journey from belief into the yada type of knowledge?

II. The intercession of Christ closes the gap between the head and the heart.

A. The word intercede is the Greek entygchano, meaning “plead, appeal for, petition.”

B. Jesus’ prayers are the bridge between heavenly resources and our earthly lives.

C. Jesus’ prayers for us apply his victory on the cross to this day and the mess it presents.

III. In the New Testament, we see the past and present work of Jesus joined together (see Romans 8:33–34).

A. Romans 5:1 speaks of justification in the past tense—forgiveness is a done deal.

B. Colossians 3:4 speaks of glorification as our future—the end of the story is written.

C. Hebrews 7:25 speaks of the intercession of Christ in the present—it is the present action of Jesus that pulls at this story from both ends.

IV. Jesus’ intercession makes our head knowledge about God real to us in our heart.

A. Jesus makes a way for us to stand, run, jump, dance, and laugh in the face of death.

B. Intercession means Jesus is passionate, interested, engaged, and invested in us.

C. Prayer begins with the vision of a God who has put his feet on the dirt of this world.

V. Jesus’ prayers draw his living presence nearer to us when and where we need it most.

A. When Jesus told his disciples to take courage in the storm, he said, “It is I” (Mark 6:50).

B. This is the same term God used to identify himself to Moses (see Exodus 3:14).

C. Jesus was unmistakably empowering these disciples in the same way God empowered Moses.

NOTES

DISCUSS | 35 MINUTES

Discuss what you just watched by answering the following questions.

1. The ancient Hebrew word for knowledge is yada. As noted in this week’s teaching, it represents a relational and experiential kind of knowing that comes not from studying books but from living life. What are some examples of yada in your life? Why is this kind of knowledge important for us to have when it comes to how we perceive God?

2. The English word intercede is the Greek word entygchano, meaning “plead, appeal for, petition.” What do you picture Jesus pleading for you right now? How does this definition of intercede change your understanding of what Jesus is doing for you?

3. Read aloud Romans 5:1, Colossians 3:4, and Hebrews 7:25. What do these verses say about the finished work of Jesus at the cross? What do they say about the present work that Jesus is doing as it relates to applying your salvation?

4. Read Mark 6:45–52. Notice that Jesus was laboring in prayer as the disciples strained at the oars before descending the mountainside and walking out to them on the water. What did Jesus say to them? How did these words reveal to the disciples that God’s presence was with them in the midst of the storm?

5. Jesus’ life and death satisfied the wages of sin and his resurrection defeated death for those who call him Lord. Where have you struggled in driving this idea from your head down into your heart? What would change if you were truly able to experience and believe that Jesus has this kind of love for you?

RESPOND | 5 MINUTES

Review the outline for the video teaching and any notes you took. In the space below, write down your most significant takeaway from this session.

PRACTICE | 15 MINUTES

As mentioned in the teaching, we are formed not only by what we learn but even more profoundly by what we do. So at the end of each group time, you will conclude with a practice to help you move the teaching from belief to the yada sort of knowing.

This week, the practice is to engage in a form of listening prayer. Before you begin, the group leader should set a timer for two minutes. When the timer starts, ask Jesus this question: “If you were to walk into the room right now, what would you want to say to me?” Ask the question, and then be still and wait for Jesus to share his heart with you.

When the timer goes off at the end of the two minutes, go around the room and briefly share what Jesus brought to mind. Don’t edit your response—share whatever Jesus brought to mind, regardless of how profound, childish, virtuous, or simple it sounds. Afterward, have another person in the group pray that word over you and over the other members. As the person does this, open your hands palm-up as a posture of receiving that prayer over your life.

PERSONAL STUDY

SESSION ONE

This section is your personal invitation to enter more deeply into the wonder and mystery of prayer—to not only know and believe in the love that God has for you but to actually taste it, experience it, and be transformed by it. Each study will offer a short reading along with reflection questions that are designed to take you further into the ideas and practices that you discussed in your group time. As you work through each personal study, write down your responses to the questions and your reflections on each of the prayer practices, as you will be given some time at the start of the next session to share your insights. If you are reading Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools alongside this study, first review appendix 1 in the book.

PRAYING LIKE JESUS . . . WITH JESUS

Hands-on experience is always better than secondhand information. We intuitively know this to be true. No one would choose a surgeon who had read a lot of textbooks but never done an operation. Or trust the replacement of their car’s engine to a friend who watched a lot of YouTube videos but never looked under a hood before. Or do a white-water rafting trip with a guide who had never been down the river.

Secondhand information typically leads to different opinions but not true understanding. As we read in Proverbs 18:2, “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.” When it comes to our relationship with Jesus, is the same dynamic at work? We don’t want to rely on someone else’s secondhand opinion of him. True understanding comes from experiencing his love personally.

Fortunately, Jesus isn’t a distant Savior who just stands by while we try to “do better.” He steps into the storms of life with us, interceding for us, as our advocate. We see this throughout Scripture. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace, Jesus didn't cheer them on from a distance. Rather, in what scholars believe is a pre-incarnate appearance, he appeared with them as the fourth man in the fire. When Jesus later came into the world, he was there in the boat with his disciples during a raging storm. On the cross, Jesus even interceded for those who crucified him, asking God to forgive them. He then interceded for one of the thieves hanging next to him, promising they would be together in paradise that day.

These individuals didn’t just know facts about Jesus—they knew him firsthand. We can as well. We gain hands-on experience by reading the Bible, inviting Jesus to be our Savior, and developing a relationship with him through prayer. As we do, we discover that just as Jesus interceded for the people we read about in Scripture, so he actively intercedes for us now. Intercession is the bridge that helps us move from information to intimacy as Jesus connects the Father’s heavenly resources with our earthly lives. This is why our prayer journey begins with the intercession of Christ. The way we pray forever changes once we recognize that Jesus is actively praying for us, inviting us to pray like him, and asking us to join with him.

READ | Proverbs 18:2; Daniel 3:16–25; Matthew 8:23–27; Luke 23:32–43

REFLECT

1. Proverbs 18:2 cautions us against embracing opinions instead of doing the harder work of seeking understanding. How would this principle also apply to your prayer life?

Intercession takes biblical rumors and makes them real within us. Scripture teaches that God is a loving Father who is interested in the mundane, day-today of my existence, but Christ’s intercession makes that real to me. Scripture says that God is love, that the deep longing of his heart is simply to be with me forever, but Christ’s intercession makes that real to me. Scripture claims that God is ever running out to meet me, clothing me in royal robes, and welcoming me to the home I wandered away from before I really even knew what I was leaving, but it’s Jesus’ intercession that makes that real to me.1

2.

Read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:16–25. How does the appearance of the fourth man in the fire reflect the active intercession of Christ for them? How has Jesus actively interceded for you in the “fires” you’ve faced?

3.

Notice in Matthew 8:23–27 that Jesus didn’t calm the raging storm from a distance. He was right there in the boat with his disciples. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus is a present intercessor—not a distant savior?

4. On the cross, Jesus interceded for those who were crucifying him (see Luke 23:34) and told a repentant thief hanging next to him that they will be together in paradise (see verses 42–43). What do these ways of interceding reveal about the love of Jesus?

In the English language, we typically understand “belief” to be deeper and more personal than “knowledge.” Knowledge is purely intellectual; belief is gut-level conviction. Knowledge is the language of the head; belief is the language of the heart. But that’s not the Hebrew understanding of knowledge. The Hebrew word for knowledge is yada, and it’s a relational knowing. . . . Knowledge, in the Hebrew understanding, was intimate. It was not memorized in a classroom but experienced in a relationship. Spiritual knowledge has to be inhabited, experienced, lived. 2

5. Yada is a firsthand, relational kind of knowledge. What are some ways you can spend more time experiencing Jesus rather than just studying him this week?

PRAY | One simple practice to help you experience Jesus’ presence today is to take a walk. Wherever you live—the hustle and bustle of city streets, the suburban sprawl of cookie-cutter houses and strip malls, the rural hills of farmland and countryside—look around at your surroundings and picture Jesus there with you, interceding on your behalf. Think about where you’ve noticed a gap between your belief and experience—in what ways, today, you feel unloved, unknown, and unforgiven. Ask Jesus to close the gap, to intensify his intercession in that particular area, and to invite you to join in obedience at the invitation of the Holy Spirit.

WE NEED AN INTERCESSOR

When was the last time you interceded for someone you love? Perhaps you interceded for an elderly parent whose memory is fading. Or maybe you interceded for a close friend who was in dire need of help. Or perhaps you interceded for a sick child who required a hospital stay. It stirs something within us to advocate for those we love.

Yet we’re typically less enthusiastic about our need for an intercessor. Perhaps this is because we like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient. We’re doing pretty well, we rationalize, especially when compared to so-and-so down the street. Sure, we need a little assistance now and then, but do we really need a full-time intercessor?

According to the Bible, the answer is yes. The prophet Isaiah doesn’t mince words when he writes about our need for an intercessor, saying, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (53:6). Jesus, quoting a passage in Isaiah, revealed that was the reason he came—to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free (see Luke 4:18–19).

But the fact that we need an intercessor to heal us and set us free shouldn’t be cause for shame but a source of gratitude. Jesus, the long-awaited Savior foreshadowed by Isaiah, was “pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus doesn’t barely save us. He saves us completely. And he doesn’t do it with a sigh. He lives for it. The author of Hebrews writes, “Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (7:25). What we need most is beyond our ability to attain—but Jesus is pleased to stand in the gap for us. He prays for our needs before we even know what we need.

Nothing will jumpstart a life of prayer like knowing Jesus is our intercessor. The only question is whether we will recognize our need. Are we willing to release any illusions of independence and self-sufficiency to the only one who can save us completely?

READ | Hebrews 7:25; Isaiah 61:1–4; Romans 8:33–34; Luke 13:10–17

REFLECT

1. Are there any times when you have missed experiencing Jesus as your intercessor because of a determination to make life “work” in your own strength? What does this realization make you want to change about your prayer life?

Hebrews 7:25 reads, “[Jesus] is able to save completely.” The English word completely translates the Greek panteles, a word summarizing the idea of “comprehensiveness, completeness, exhaustive wholeness.” You’ll only find it one other place in the Bible—Luke 13:11, when Jesus healed a woman who had been disabled for eighteen years. Luke writes that the woman was bent over, unable to straighten up panteles (“at all”). The point made in Hebrews is that Jesus doesn’t just make a way for you and me to hobble through life and make it to the end in one piece; he makes a way for us to stand up straight, run, jump, dance, and laugh in the face of death!3

2. In Hebrews 7:25, we are told that Jesus is able to save us completely because he lives to intercede for us. Which do you find harder to believe—that you are fully saved and healed or that Jesus cares enough about you to constantly intercede for you? Why?

Hebrews 7:25 speaks of intercession in the present: “he always lives to intercede for them.” Intercession is the present action of Jesus that pulls at this story from both ends—the salvation work accomplished in the past and the glory that awaits us in the future. Intercession, stated as simply as possible, brings forth the image of Jesus praying for us, individually by name. And as he does, he wedges us tightly between forgiveness and glory, enabling a deep inner rest sheltered by security, hope, and delight. 4

3. Jesus, quoting from Isaiah 61:1, said that he came into the world to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free (see Luke 4:18–19). How are the present actions of Jesus, as your intercessor, healing you and setting you free?

4. If you sense any shame or guilt over needing an intercessor, let the good news of Romans 8:33–34: wash over you: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” What do these verses do for your heart?

5. Try to imagine the posture and expression of Jesus as he intercedes for you. Do you envision him standing or sitting, joyful or serious? What do you think he is saying, based on what you’re currently going through? Be as specific as possible.

PRAY | Close by picturing Jesus praying for you, individually by name. As he does, he wedges you tightly between forgiveness and glory, enabling you to have a deep inner rest sheltered by his security, hope, and delight. From this place, there is no shame but only joy as he actively heals your broken heart and sets you free. Ask Jesus what he wants to speak into your life as you do this. Be still for a few minutes and just wait for Jesus to share his heart with you.

WHAT JESUS WANTS TO SAY TO YOU

Sometimes, we get so busy telling God what we need that we forget to ask what he wants to say to us. This isn’t just a communication problem between us and God. In our society at large, we’ve lost the art of listening well. Whether we’re sitting across from someone in a coffee shop or in a larger social setting, we tend to think about what we’re going to say next more than what the other person is saying to us. So most conversations aren’t back-and-forth dialogue but more one-sided monologues. We speak at others rather than to them.

We do the same with Jesus. We upload our long list of desires and needs but never stop to ask what his priorities are for us and what he is praying for us. The result are prayers that might sound something like this: “God, I really need that promotion at work because it pays better and finances are really tight right now. Without that raise, I can’t afford the family vacation. And please make my kids behave better too. Oh, and help my friend not be mad at me for telling her how rude she was last week. Okay, I need to run. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Perhaps one of the reasons we’ve stopped trying to hear Jesus’ voice is because we believe he has stopped talking to us. But Jesus says otherwise: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Notice the progression: Jesus speaks . . . we listen . . . he knows us . . . we follow him as our loving shepherd.

The invitation today is to focus more on the presence of Jesus than our perceived needs. Not because our needs aren’t important to him but because he knows our needs better than we do. We just have to stop talking long enough to give our full attention to the one who knows us best—because nothing is more important than hearing what Jesus has to say to us.

READ | Jeremiah 33:1–3; John 10:25–30; Hebrews 1:1–4; Psalm 22:1–31

REFLECT

1. Imagine if you met with a counselor every week but spent all the time talking. You never asked a question or gave the counselor any time to offer his or her wisdom. Does this scenario resemble your prayer life with Jesus? If so, why do you think that is?

Intercession means Jesus is not cool and reserved. He’s passionate, interested, invested, engaged. Even now, as your eyes scan over these words, Jesus is applying the finished work of the cross to you. He’s lavishing you in the Father’s love, assuring you of your forgiveness, binding up your wounds, and breathing courage into your lungs. 5

2. Jeremiah wrote during the time of the “Babylonian captivity,” after the Jewish people—as a consequence of their idolatry—had been conquered and taken into exile. Yet even in that place far away from their homeland, the Lord was passionate, interested, invested, and engaged in their situation. What promise does God give to them in Jeremiah 33:3? What was required on their part for them to see this promise fulfilled?

3. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Before you can ask Jesus what he wants to say to you, you have to first believe that he will speak to you and that you are able to hear his voice. Where do you currently find yourself when it comes to believing Jesus still speaks? Where would you like to be?

Jesus doesn’t speak Jesus speaks, but I can’t hear his voice I can converse with Christ

Psalm 22 opens with an expression of debilitating isolation and emotional turmoil. That’s where it starts, but that isn’t where it ends. . . . It ends not in despair but in exultation, not in isolation but community. When Jesus prayed Psalm 22 from the cross, he was praying in place of all of us. He was interceding. The reality of his atoning work is constant, but the experience of that very work comes in fits and starts, breakthroughs and droughts, moments of divine assurance followed by bouts of human insecurity. And because of that, Jesus is praying for you right now. 6

4. When Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), he was praying the words of David that open Psalm 22—a psalm not of ultimate despair but of exultation. Jesus was interceding for us as he died for our sins in our place. What does this say about the meaning of these words that Jesus spoke from the cross?

5.

Jesus forever secured the victory over sin and death at the cross. But the experience of that victory comes in “fits and starts” and “breakthroughs and droughts.” In what area of your life do you most desire to experience the victory that Jesus won? Will you ask Jesus how he is interceding for you in this area?

PRAY | Picture Jesus walking into your room right now. See his tender gaze. Ask him what he wants to say to you. Then be still and wait, confident that he will share his prayers for you . . . and with you. After you hear him speak, begin to pray his words for you back to him.

CATCH UP AND READ AHEAD

Take time today to connect with a group member and talk about some of the insights from this session. Use any of the prompts below to guide your discussion.

• How did your understanding of Jesus as intercessor change this week?

• Where do you sense a need for more yada in your relationship with God?

• Which topics from this session resonated the most with you? Why?

• What is your biggest hope for experiencing a more vibrant prayer life?

• What obstacles are in the way of this hope becoming a reality?

• How might your prayer time improve by first asking Jesus what he wants to say to you?

Use this time to go back and complete any of the personal study questions from previous days that you weren’t able to finish. Make a note below of any questions that you’ve had or significant insights and breakthroughs that you’ve gained.

Read chapter 3 in Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools before the next group session. Use the space below to note anything that stands out to you or encourages you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tyler Staton is the Lead Pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, and the National Director of 24-7 Prayer USA. He is passionate about pursuing prayer—communion and conversation with God—while living deeply, poetically, wildly, and freely in the honest and gritty realities of day-to-day life. Tyler believes that justice is kinship, stories are a gift, and prayer is an invitation. He is the author of Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools ; Searching for Enough: The High-Wire Walk Between Doubt and Faith; and is the host of the Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools Podcast. He lives in Portland with his wife, Kirsten, and their sons, Hank, Simon, and Amos.

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