Exercise in Prayer

I thought this was so interesting that I copied the whole thing. I want to try this some time soon.

Kay just guest-led the Friday-night home group. She wanted to teach them the Vineyard prayer model. The last time she did this with a home group, she crammed it all into one evening. This time she wanted to spread it out over two sessions. Since hearing God while you're doing something is a key to effective prayer, she devoted the first evening to it. What a blast. I think it stretched a few people!

Intro: God is speaking all the time, we're just not used to listening. We do not often have the luxury of going off to a personal cave and meditating in silence. We need to be able to hear God in the midst of our busy lives.

Exercise 1: Kay randomly distributed pairs of numbers. Everyone was instructed to find the person whose number matched their own. "This is your partner for the first exercise. You have one minute to ask God for a word for your partner. Ready... go!" Everyone went to a corner to pray, while Kay kept her eye on a watch. After a minute, she called everyone back, then each partner had a minute to share.

The results were mixed, which as Kay pointed out is not bad for starters.

Exercise 2: Kay randomly distributes pairs of numbers again. "Last time it was easy to go off of what you already knew about your partner, so it was easy to mix your own stuff with God's. This time, we're going to make it a little more challenging: you do not know who your partner is. You have two minutes. Ready... go!"

This time the results were far more profound. There were still some weird ones, but even those you couldn't dismiss outright. There were several that were spot-on.

Exercise 3: "This time, I want you to find a piece of art around the room. Everyone go to the artwork that calls you. OK? Now I want you to focus on that art, and ask God to show you something about himself. You have one minute. Go!"

A lot of really cool stuff was shared when we regrouped. I think people were beginning to get the hang of it.

Exercise 4: "That one was easy, because art says things, that's the nature of art. This time..." Kay deposited three items from the kitchen in the middle of the floor: dish detergent, a cup, and a whisk. "We need to hear God while we are doing ordinary things. So I want you to ask God to show you three different things about himself through these three objects."

Good stuff again. But it was getting late due to all the sharing, and people's eyes were starting to bug out a bit, so Kay wrapped things up with... Homework: "During the week, ask God for three words for the church. Also keep a notebook by your bed and ask him for a dream."

As Kay & I were walking out, she shared with me that she had run out of time and hadn't even gotten to the last exercise: "We were going to do major appliances next."