Habit #2: Pray for your Life Group
9 Habits to Enhance Life Group Leadership
Habit #2: Pray for your Life Group
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
- Colossians 4:2
"Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's power."
- Elisabeth Elliot
The second habit of Effective Life Group Leaders is prayer. This idea seems so obvious. It seems so simple.
But for some of us, prayer appears to be our last resort or to react to a situation. In his book, Pray First, Chris Hodges points out that we typically use prayer as a reaction instead of a first option. This statement got me to wonder, "How did Jesus use prayer?"
In Luke 6:12 and the following verses, we see Jesus contemplating one of the most important decisions of his ministry:
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
In deciding on His Life group, Jesus withdraws from the world and prays. He goes off alone and prays for guidance. From the context, it seems Jesus has a larger group of disciples. He knows them. They have hung around him for various reasons. Some may have shown up because of healing. Others just wanted an answer from God. Still, others might have realized Jesus was the Messiah. At the end of the night, Jesus named the twelve disciples. These twelve dudes would form the basis for what He could accomplish after He left the earth physically.
So, what does this mean for us? People have entrusted you with their time. They have chosen you to provide ESPN (encouragement, scripture, prayer, and help them take their next steps). We don't always get to choose who belongs to us. However, we can choose how we steward the gift God has given us in them. So here are three tips for praying for your group:
Pray for people by name. I bet Jesus prayed for all twelve of His guys. Pray for Life Group attendees to get more plugged into your group. Pray for their spiritual and physical needs. Some of them may not know Christ. Pray for a deep relationship between them and the Father.
Pray in a place where you won't be interrupted. I am not surprised Jesus chose nighttime on a mountain. My life gets too full and the interruptions squeeze out the time to pray for my group.
Pray for more than just your group. Jesus had his twelve, but he had a bigger group on the fringe around him. Pray they would come to Christ.
Remember, Everyone is Welcome. Nobody’s Perfect. Anything is Possible. Thank you for joining me in prayer as God works in our lives and the lives of those we serve in our groups.
