World Prayer Centre has ten prayer booklets to help people with prayer.  These simple study guides can help small groups learn together about a key prayer theme or issue, and then think through how they can pray in new and more effective ways. The approach is simple – read the booklet (takes 10-20 minutes) before your meetings, discuss the content and work on a new approach to prayer together. Here are some guidelines:

WHICH BOOKLETS CAN I USE?
All of them are easy to read and study. There are some practical ones on strengthening prayer – Praying Scripture, The Call of the Watchman, a Guide to Blessing and Prayer Walking. Others are focused on key areas for prayer and you can decide which will resonate most with your small group. Choose from praying for - Children and young people, A Nation, People at work, Persecuted Church, Health Care Professionals, and Unsaved family and friends.

BE PREPARED
You must read the booklet before the study. It is a guide with some ideas, scriptures and practical actions. As you read, make notes on the guide. Where you find something that resonates with you, or you like it, put a tick. Where you want to explore an issue put a question mark. Highlight or underline passages or lines that you want to remember for the future or refer to when you discuss the booklet. Pray before the meeting that God will speak and guide your group into a renewed focus on prayer.

BE VERY PREPARED
Our prime focus at World Prayer Centre is on the Supremacy of Christ. Study, group time and prayer are only worthwhile when we are consciously and deliberately in His presence. Why not start the study by meditating and praising around key descriptions of Jesus.

He is the Good Shepherd – He will guide our ways as we study
He is Sovereign – we are in a place of obedience to Him
He is the Lord of Hosts – when we pray things happen in the heavenly places
He is the Prince of Shalom/peace – He wants strong whole relationships with himself and between us
He is the Redeemer – He is constantly working to bring people to Himself

Proclaim God's sovereignty over the subject you are studying – and praise Him!

GETTING GOING
Check on the level of knowledge and expertise in the room, e.g. if you are studying the children's guide, get names and ages of children/grandchildren, who has worked in a job with children, been a parent or helped in church work or other organisations.
Review the key messages in the book. This can either be done as a whole group or in smaller groups of 3 – 5 people.

• Ask 3 or 4 people to say (one at a time uninterrupted) what they felt were the key messages in the booklet.
• Ask others what additional things struck them as key messages.
• Who do we know on the front line? Who is working in this particular area? How could we pray for them? How could they help us pray?
• What is happening in our village, neighbourhood/town or city? What should we be concerned about? What might be key things to pray about?
• Are there any testimonies from the group? Personal testimonies of God using them or stories of others from books, the internet, friends etc.
• What were some of the issues the group marked for discussion? Pick 2 – 3 recurring issues and ask – what was the concern? What do others think? What is the way forward?

CREATING A PRAYER ACTION PLAN
This should not be rushed at the end. It needs time because many in the group might not have thought practically about praying for a subject in an informed and determined way before. Each of the booklets will give some ideas for action. We encourage you to listen to what God might be saying to you as a group and then to think through some ways forward.

• Listen to God quietly- some people might want to meditate on some of the scriptures in the guide booklets, others might want to just sit in the presence of God and ask God what is on His heart. God may give you a word, scripture or picture.
• Pray together submitting yourselves to God and asking that you might each know His heart.
• Discussion What happen next? What will we do in the next four weeks?
  • How can we pray for this issue in the future?
  • How can we keep ourselves informed? What more do we want to know or understand?
  • Who can we pray for? What situations or places should we pray for?
  • How do we keep praying for significant change? E.g. for the sovereignty of Christ, for harvest, for strongholds to be broken.
  • How do we make sure we are monitoring on-going issues? E.g. praying protection, releasing blessing, pray for wisdom for key people, etc.
  • How do we ensure God gets the glory? Keep watching for stories, answered prayer, testimonies that demonstrate that God is on the case!
•  How do we sustain this?

Now put it into action!  Visit our store to check out what guides are available and order them for your small group.  

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6.18