 It would be hard to think of anything in life that is more needed than the power of fervent prayer. If there has ever been a time when every believer in Christ should pray passionately and fervently, that time is now. We need a great movement of God to bring revival to the church, and prayer is essential to this. Unfortunately, the great power of prayer is often neglected. As a disciple-maker, you must lead your D-Group to pray together and to practice the spiritual discipline of prayer in their daily lives. This is a very important part of disciple-making. Jesus taught His disciples to pray. In Matthew 6:9-13, He gave them a model prayer that we often refer to as, “The Lord’s Prayer.” He gave this prayer in response to one of His disciples who said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). The reason why many believers don’t know how to pray is because they have never been discipled in the discipline of prayer. The best way for us to learn to pray is by praying with others who are more mature in faith. Great things happen when God’s people join together in prayer. The late evangelist Ron Dunn said, “Prayer is the secret weapon of the kingdom of God. It is like a missile that can be fired toward any spot on earth, travel undetected at the speed of thought, and hit its target every time" (Ron Dunn, “Don’t Just Stand There, Pray Something”). TEACH YOUR GROUP THE PRIORITY OF PRAYER As a D-Group leader, you should never meet with your group and not pray. Prayer should take priority over other things. No matter where you meet, you must pray, even in public places. By making prayer a priority in your D-Group, you are leading your group to make it a priority in their daily lives. As your group comes together, grab some coffee and spend a few minutes in fellowship together. A great way to transition away from your fellowship time is to ask your group to share prayer requests. Don’t rush this. This is often when someone will open up and let you in, especially those who have been in the group for a while. When trust has been built, he or she may take off the mask and reveal the fears, hurts, addictions, struggles, and weaknesses that might not be shared with anyone else. This will be a breakthrough moment; you must handle it carefully. Take time to really listen. Spend extra time in sincere prayer over the matter. As the leader, you should follow up with this person during the week, express appreciation for the transparency shown, and pray over the matter again. These are special moments of discipleship and one reason why a group of no more than three to five is best. Such openness is unlikely to occur in a larger group. Always remember that openness calls for strict confidentiality. If you violate a person’s trust, he or she will never open up again. As prayer requests are shared, encourage your group to write them down so that they can continue to pray over the requests during the week. The person that you have assigned to pray should lift up these specific requests in prayer each week. If your D-Group meets in a public place, it is not uncommon for others to be watching and listening. Though you must never pray for show, you must not be ashamed of your faith either. You may be surprised at the opportunities for ministry this may open for you. My wife, Rondie, was meeting with her D-Group at a local Panera Bread. An employee for the café had taken a table near them to attend to some work. Though she appeared to be preoccupied with her work, she was really listening. As Rondie was about to wrap up their meeting, the lady came over to the table. See confessed that she was listening in on their conversations and that it was just what she needed to hear. She was going through a difficult time in her life, and the Bible story they were discussing spoke directly to her need. She apologized for listening in but spoke of how encouraging it was for her. Tears flowed as Rondie and her group prayed over her right there in the café. I hear stories like this regularly from disciple-makers around the country. The Holy Spirit is the author of divine appointments. Keep your eyes open for them. They will be peak opportunities for ministry and will lead to many Gospel conversations. MODEL FOR YOUR GROUP THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER How does a new or spiritually immature believer learn to pray? Certainly, one could read some good books about prayer. However, the best way to learn to pray is by praying with other believers. Listening to the prayers of those who are more mature in their faith will nurture the practice of prayer in those less mature. The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer and an example for us to follow. It was not given for us to memorize and repeat. It was given as an example of how we should pray. In this prayer, there is adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. These are the elements of a mature prayer. In leading a D-Group, you and other seasoned believers in the group should model praying a mature prayer. The ACTS acrostic is a helpful tool to help you remember the elements of a mature prayer, which includes:
Mature believers should model mature prayers. In your D-Group, be sure to include all these elements of a mature prayer when you pray over your weekly requests. It’s likely that you will have someone in your group who has never prayed out loud with others and doesn’t feel comfortable doing so. Be patient with this. Perhaps he or she can tell the Bible story or read the text, but there is no reason to assign one to pray who is not ready. Give it time. In a few months of praying with others, this one who has never prayed out loud, may volunteer to pray. This is a great breakthrough in discipleship. He or she might be petrified but is likely to pray a most humble, beautiful, and sincere prayer. It may not be a mature prayer yet, but it will be real. Everyone in the group should applaud and affirm this new prayer warrior in the making. NURTURE IN YOUR GROUP FAITH IN PRAYER I love the story in the Bible where a group of early disciples gathered in a home to pray for Peter’s release from prison. Peter had been seized by King Herod for preaching the Gospel; he was locked up in prison and was being guarded by four squads of soldiers. Herod had bad intentions. His desire was to kill Peter after the Passover. The outlook seemed hopeless for Peter, “but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church” (Acts 12:5). Indeed, prayer is the secret weapon of the kingdom of God. As the church was praying, an angel of the Lord was sent to deliver Peter from prison. The chains miraculously fell off his hands, the gate leading to the city opened of its own accord, and Peter was set free. The humorous part of the story happened when Peter arrived at the house where the church was praying. When he knocked on the door of the house, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, she returned to the prayer meeting with joy to announce his arrival. You think there would be great celebration but not with this group of mighty prayer warriors. They told Rhoda she was out of her mind, and they left Peter standing at the door. Peter was released from the prison cell but couldn’t get into the prayer meeting. As soon as I start to chuckle at this story, I come under conviction. I picture myself in that room, chastising a poor servant girl for interrupting my prayer time with her false hope. It was false hope, wasn’t it? Well, this group certainly thought so. That is, until they finally let Peter in. How often are we just like them? Perhaps, they have one up on us. They at least had the faith to come together to pray. As a D-Group leader, you must nurture faith in the power of prayer. This may be a stretch for you, as it is for me. I often feel like the man who prayed, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)! However, the more I have prayed with my D-Group, the more my faith has grown. Faith nurtures faith. The more answers to prayer I see, the more I begin to believe that prayer really is the secret weapon of the kingdom of God. I believe that no situation is hopeless, chains can be broken, doors can miraculously open, and people can be set free. Sometimes the darkness in our land is overwhelming. Is there any real hope for revival in our land? In The Lord’s Prayer, the first actual request is, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” That petition is a request for revival. As God’s kingdom advances through His church, His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Ultimately, this request is for Christ’s return, but until His return, I long to see revival on earth. If Jesus taught us to pray for revival, then there is hope. In the Bible, God gave us a great promise to claim. He said, “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Do we believe this? If we do, we should pray, “Thy kingdom come,” every day. As a D-Group leader, one thing you must lead your group to do every time you meet is to pray for revival and spiritual awakening in our land. As you take prayer requests, remind your group of this request every week. As a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, I had the privilege to study under Dr. Roy Fish. In a class on Spiritual Awakening, I recall Dr. Fish teaching that there is one thing that has preceded every great spiritual awakening throughout history. That one thing was a grassroots movement of common people confessing their sins and crying out to God for revival. I long to see that movement happen again. I long to see people meeting in D-Groups all over the world, confessing their sins, crying out to God for revival, and praying the words of our Lord’s model prayer, “Thy kingdom come!” D-Life exists to equip common people to be Christ-like disciple makers. Click below to learn more.
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authorDr. Bill Wilks, has a passion for equipping common people to be Christ-like disciple makers. Bill and his wife, Rondie, have traveled extensively to train thousands of believers how to make disciples who make disciples. Bill and Rondie live near Trussville, AL, where he serves as Lead Pastor of NorthPark Church and Founder of D-Life. Archives
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