This book is for Bible study. It is not a stand-alone manual. I hope you will refer to your Bible again and
again, and that you will feel free to mark specific words, underline phrases, or write in the margins of your personal
Bible.
Many good communication books are on the market today. The Bible, however, is God's foremost book about God's
communication with us. It is the source from which we receive new insights and eternal wisdom. It is the reference
book to which we must return continually to make certain that what we hear from other people is acceptable to God
and, therefore, is true wisdom that we can apply to our daily lives. You should read and study the Bible on a daily
basis. It will be far more valuable for you to write what you learn from this study guide into the margins and
end pages of your Bible than for you to write passages of the Bible or insights you may have into this book.
Keys to Study
You will be asked in this guide to identify with the concepts and verses that are presented by answering one
or more of these questions:
• What new insight have you gained?
• Have you ever had a similar experience?
• How do you feel about this?
• In what way are you challenged to act?
Insights
A spiritual insight is something that involves a new degree of understanding. It lies beyond a literal understanding
of a fact or idea. For example, you may have read a particular passage in the Bible many times, and even studied
it or meditated upon it diligently. You may think there is nothing more that you can learn from the passage. And
then, God surprises you! Suddenly, He reveals new meaning to you. That is a spiritual insight.
Insights are usually very personal—most of them involve some way in which the passage has meaning to what you
personally have experienced or are experiencing now. Spiritual insights are the direct work of the Holy Spirit
in our lives. They are a part of His function as the Spirit of truth. It is the Spirit who reveals to us precisely
what is important for us to know or learn at any given moment in our lives so that we might grow in Christ.
Ask the Holy Spirit to give you insights every time you open your Bible to read and study it. I believe that's
one prayer that God delights in answering with a resounding yes! In fact, if you haven't gained new spiritual
insights after reading several passages from God's Word, you probably haven't been engaged in the process of genuine
study. The person who truly studies God's Word with an open heart and an eagerness to hear from the Holy Spirit
is going to have spiritual insights on a regular basis.
As you receive spiritual insights, make notes about them. The benefit to you lies in the future. When you look
back in the margins of your Bible and read what God has shown you or spoken to your heart in the past, and then
reflect on how that insight has manifested in the subsequent months or years of your life, your faith will grow.
I believe it is always a good idea to add a date to the spiritual-insight notes you make.
Experiences
Each of us comes to God's Word with a different background in reading and studying the Bible and with a different
level of understanding about the Bible's content. Therefore, each individual has a slightly different perspective
on the Scripture reading. In a group setting, these differences can sometimes create problems. For example, people
with a long history of regularly reading God's Word may lose patience with those who are just beginning to read
and study the Bible, and beginners may feel overwhelmed or lost.
What we do have in common are life experiences. We can point to times in which we have found the truth of a
Bible passage to be highly relevant to our lives. We can recall times when the Bible confirmed, encouraged, convicted,
challenged, or directed us in some way. We have experiences about which we can say, “I know that truth in the Bible
is real because of what happened to me,” or, “That passage speaks to me because it is directly related to an experience
I am having.”
Our experiences do not make the Bible true. The Bible is truth, period. It is as we share our experiences and
how they relate to God's Word, however, that we discover how far-reaching and amazing the Bible really is. God's
Word applies to human life in more ways than we ever thought! When we share our Bible-related experiences, we see
how God's Word speaks to each person, to every aspect of human nature, and to every human condition or problem.
Sharing experiences is important for your spiritual growth. Not only do you benefit from hearing the experiences
of others, but you benefit from sharing your own experiences. Although your prayer life is highly personal, I encourage
you to share what prayer has meant to you in building your relationship with God so that you might encourage others.
Conversely, although others may have a prayer life different from yours, I encourage you to be open to what you
may be able to learn, adapt, and apply. I caution you to keep these discussions focused on the Scriptures, and
not simply talk about prayer experiences for the sake of experience. I also advise you to use the Scriptures as
your basis for evaluating any prayer experience that a person shares.
Our tendency in sharing experiences is to judge the experience of another person in the light of our own experience.
A judgmental attitude—especially toward a person's very private and intimate experiences in prayer—not only can
do great harm to the spiritual growth of another person, but also can cause great friction within a group. Listen.
Discuss. Talk about what the Scriptures say and mean to you. But be very careful not to judge or to condemn others
as they share with vulnerability the experiences they may have had in communicating with God.
Emotional Response
Just as we have unique life experiences, so we have our own emotional responses to God's Word. No emotional
response is more valid than another. One person may be frightened by the message of a particular verse or passage.
Another person may feel great joy or relief at reading the same words. Face your emotions honestly, and allow others
the freedom to share their emotions fully. Every emotion is valid.
This is not to say that our emotions give validity to the Scriptures or that emotions can be trusted as a gauge
of faith. Our faith is always to be based on what God says, not what we feel. The Scriptures are true regardless
of the emotions they evoke in us. At the same time, we must recognize that the Bible does have an emotional impact
on us. We cannot read the Bible with an open heart and mind and not have an emotional response to it.
Perhaps in no other field of study is this more true than in a study of prayer. Prayer involves the baring of
our innermost being to God. It is an experience in which all emotions are likely to be felt and displayed. Some
people allow themselves to be much more vulnerable emotionally than others. Their responses to particular Scripture
passages about prayer may evoke tears or feelings of great elation, longing, or conviction. Allow for the expression
of these emotions without judgment in your group setting. Recognize that God has created us with emotions and that
the Scriptures do cause emotional response. As we identify how we feel about God's messages to us we often can
begin to overcome any inertia that keeps us from actually applying God's Word to our lives. For example, if we
are afraid of prayer, why is that so? If we feel great sorrow when we read God's Word or pray, why? Answering such
questions can begin a healing process.
Bible study groups sometimes get sidetracked by opinions. This can lead quickly to debate, distrust, and confusion.
Focus your group sharing on feelings and experiences, not opinions. Scholarly commentaries certainly have their
place in teaching us the background of specific passages. But a person's knowledge and opinion actually have little
impact on other people within the context of group Bible study. What God says to us individually and directly is
what we find to be truly significant. And God often speaks to us in the language of the heart—the silent language
of our intuition, our emotions, our innermost desires, and our unvoiced longings. When we share feelings with one
another, we grow closer together. When we share only opinions, we rarely grow closer as a community or find unity
of spirit in Christ Jesus.
Challenges
As we read the Bible, we often come to some passage or insight that seems to speak directly to us. Something
challenges us to change an aspect of our lives, to gulp and say, “I need to do something about that.”
We may feel a conviction about sin in our lives. We may feel a need to correct something in the way we think
or the way we act toward others. We may feel a clear call to do something new—acquire a new habit or start a new
form of ministry to others. In my life God never ceases to challenge me just beyond my ability so that I must always
rely upon Him to work in me and through me. God is never content with the status quo—He always wants us to grow
more like His Son, Jesus Christ. As I read the Scriptures and pray, or talk about the Scriptures with other people
and pray with them, I often feel those challenges to grow and extend myself. I believe it is vitally important,
therefore, for us to be aware of the ways in which God may be speaking to us through His Word to challenge us,
stretch us, change us, or cause our faith to grow.
God's ultimate reason for us to know His Word is that we might share His Word with others—in both our actions
and words. God not only expects us to know and believe His Word, He expects us to do His Word—to keep His
commandments, to be His witnesses, to carry on His mission in the world (James 1:22).
Perhaps in no other Christian discipline is this more true than in prayer. God expects us not only to know about
prayer, but to pray. He longs to meet us in prayer and to convey to us individually and privately what He desires
for us to think, say, and do. Our agenda for each day and for all of life is to be the product of our prayer life.
Our very identity is forged as we pray. My full expectation is that as you engage in this study, God will speak
to you about His desires for your prayer life so that He might develop an even closer relationship with you. Be
open to His wooing, His commanding, His challenges to you.
Personal or Group Study?
This book has been designed for group study. If you don't have somebody to talk to about your insights, experiences,
emotions, and challenges, I encourage you to find somebody. Perhaps you can start a Bible study in your home, using
this book as a focal point. Perhaps you can talk to your pastor about organizing Bible study groups in your church.
There is much to be learned on your own. There is much more to be learned as you become part of a small group that
desires to grow in the Lord.
If you are using this book for a personal study, I encourage you to find someone with whom you can share the
fruit of what you learn and experience as a result. You may be able to share with a spouse, child, or close friend
some of the insights you have into the Scripture or prayer.
You'll find personal benefit in giving voice to what you have learned. Make certain that your sharing, however,
is not in the context of admonition, and that it doesn't degenerate into a debate.
Keep the Bible Central
A tendency of a group devoted to the study of prayer is for the group to become a prayer group rather than a
Bible study group. Keep the Bible at the center of all you do.
Because prayer is intensely personal, and can be emotional, a second tendency of a study group on prayer is
for the group to become a support or therapy group. Such groups have their time and place, but that is not the
purpose of this study. I encourage you to gather around God's Word as if you were gathering around a banquet table
for a spiritually nutritious meal. Remember, your time together should be spent in a study of the Scriptures.
Prayer
As you begin your Bible study, ask God to give you spiritual eyes to see what He wants you to see and spiritual
ears to hear what He wants you to hear. Ask Him to give you new insights, to recall to your memory experiences
that relate to what you read, and to help you identify clearly your emotional responses to His Word. Ask Him to
reveal to you what He desires for you to be, say, and do.
As you conclude your time of study, ask the Lord to seal what you have learned in your heart so you will never
forget it. Ask Him to transform you more into the likeness of Jesus Christ as you meditate on what you have studied.
And above all, ask Him to give you the courage to become, say, and do what He has challenged you to become, say,
and do.
As we discussed in the introduction, open yourself up as you pray—individually and as a group—to God's answers.
Be keenly aware that He desires to have a dialogue with you about prayer. He desires to speak to your heart during
and after your study time.
Consider these questions:
• What new insights into prayer do you hope to gain from this study?
• In what areas have you struggled with prayer in the past? In what areas have you felt fulfillment in your
prayer life? How have you been trained to pray?
• How do you feel about prayer?
• Are you open to being challenged to grow in your prayer life? Do you have a desire for deeper and richer
communication with God?
From Talking With God: Discover New Insights to Help Deepen Your
Prayer Life by Charles Stanley. Copyright 1997 by Charles Stanley.
