Kingdom Spiritual Formation: A Pattern in a Prayer Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to roleplay before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace. This week we are looking at the Lord’s Prayer and what Jesus teaches us about patterns and habits.
Share Your Story What’s a habit you have in your life? What’s a bad habit you adopted without realizing? How was it limiting? Were you able to break it?
Find Your Story in God’s Story What happens to us when we adopt the patterns and habits of Jesus? When we read Philippians 4 this week, we saw Paul encourage us to first think and then put into practice new forms of living. But what’s the result of putting those new habits into practice? In Matthew 6, right before Jesus tells us the Lord’s prayer, he also describes the outcome of a healthy prayer life. That’s not the only time in the Bible we can get a sense of what happens when we understand why we’re adopting a new spiritual discipline, how to practice that new pattern and what happens to us when we’re faithful in those new habits. In fact, we even see how those new patterns affect where we are in reference to God, so we can better follow Jesus.
The Kingdom Prayer
Welcome
WEEK
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Let’s worship God together!
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Finding Direction Through the Lord’s Prayer
READ 1 JOHN 3:1-10
Connect & Grow
What is the difference between the practice of a child of God and that of a child of the devil? According to this passage, why did Jesus come? What does that mean to us?
WATCH THE VIDEO
NorthlandChurch.net/TheKingdomPrayer Afterward have someone read the discussion questions in the “Hear God’s Story” section and start the conversation.
Hear God’s Story READ MATTHEW 6:6 AND PHILIPPIANS 4:8-9 Read the passages together, and discuss the following questions. What are some of the “true,” “noble,” “right,” “pure,” “lovely” or “admirable” things we could spend more time thinking of?
READ EPHESIANS 2:1-10 What changed us from people who practice and live sin to people who practice and do what is righteous? If we didn’t adopt these new patterns and practice following Jesus, what would our lives look like? Spend the next week praying through the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6) in preparation of the study to come.
What in life makes it hard to focus on those things? How do your thoughts inform your habits? What are some things you’ve learned from the Bible that we all need to put into practice? In developing spiritual habits based on biblical principles, what is significant about the God of peace being with us? Would that make our journey easier?
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What does it mean to “practice righteousness” (or “do what is right” in some translations)?
Looking for more questions and reflections so you can keep digging deeper? There’s even more to this week’s study available on Northland’s apps or at NorthlandChurch.net/Studies.
AUGUST 5–7, 2017
DIGGING DEEPER
Matthew 6:6
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