This document provides guidance for leading a group prayer service focused on praying Scripture passages. It recommends choosing a short, familiar Bible passage to read in different versions. Participants are then instructed to reflect quietly on the passage, looking for what verse or phrase captures their attention. They are encouraged to dialogue with God within the passage, asking what it means for them personally. Finally, individuals may share any impressions or words they received from God during the prayer time. The overall goal is to use Scripture to inform, renew, and transform participants through the Holy Spirit.

1. Praying Scripture

3. • Welcome
• Scripture: Psalm 95
• Scripture-based Songs
• Prayer Service: Choose a
passage of Scripture to pray
together. Choose one that
might be familiar. Not too
long.
Recommendations: Psalm 23, 46, Phil. 2:1-
11; 4:4-9; Rev. 1:9-18.
Prayer is the
atmosphere of
revelation, in the
strict and central
sense of that word.
It is the climate in
which God’s
manifestation
bursts open into
inspiration.
P. T. Forsyth, The
Soul of Prayer

4. [FIVE MINUTES]
• READ – one of the passages above
(Or, choose another bite-sized
section of Scripture or short
chapter). Have several people read
the passage in different versions.
• Who are the players, people,
places, their words and acts?
• Get a grasp on the main ideas. If
the passage is conceptual,
personalize the characters. Watch
for movement. Observe
interactions.
Breath in me, O Holy
Spirit, that my thoughts
may all be holy. Act in
me, O Holy Spirit, that
my work, too, may be
holy. Draw my heart, O
Holy Spirit, that I love
but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy
Spirit, to defend all that
is holy. Guard me, then,
O Holy Spirit, that I
always may be holy.
Augustine

5. [FIVE MINUTES]
• REFLECT – Now, quietly walk through the
passage with Bibles open before you.
Check for accuracy. Confirm facts, but this
is more about your own heart exploring
the narrative. You are inside the passage,
walking with the Biblical narrator.
• Ask the question: What one verse, phrase,
or one word captures your attention?
• Have people quietly speak out – the word,
the phrase, right out of scripture.
• Don’t fear quiet. Encourage people to
come to the altar with the Bibles, kneel
among the pews. Find a quiet corner. Get
alone, but stay in the group. Listen for
God’s voice out of the passage.
I have been driven
many times to my
knees by the
overwhelming
conviction that I had
nowhere else to go.
My own wisdom,
and that of all about
me, seemed
insufficient for the
day.
Abraham Lincoln

6. [FIVE MINUTES]
• REASON/WRESTLE – Nudge everyone onward,
but stay inside the passage – and in a spirit of
prayer and quiet.
• Whether you are in the ‘heavenly places’ of
Ephesians or in Psalm 23’s mountain pass;
whether you and David are a few feet away
from the towering Goliath or you are on Patmos
with John – ask, “What does this mean to me –
in this moment, this place, on this day?”
• Encourage participants to quietly dialogue with
God inside the passage. Meditate. Consider the
key players. Urge them, “Pray. Use the Bible’s
language and connect your situation to the
narrative.”
• Question – Yes, question. Gasp! Stand in awe at
what the Bible says. Wonder!
• Ideas may explode in your heart. Light will
come, not just about facts and actions, but
motives and character.
Our ordinary views of
prayer are not found
in the New
Testament. We look
upon prayer as a
means for getting
something for
ourselves; the Bible
idea of prayer is that
we may get to know
God Himself. --Oswald
Chambers

7. [FIVE MINUTES]
• REST – Stop wrestling and wondering. Get
still. Quiet your mind. You are no longer
probing the passage for meaning. Let God
read you! Let him talk.
• Urge them quietly: “Don’t hide doubts or
fears. No fake faith. Be authentic. Slow down
the inner dialogue. Prayer is not merely a
spirited conversation with the self over an
open Bible. The Scripture speaks. Logos does
become rhema.”
• God may lift a passage off its hinges and burn
into your heart. But the Holy Spirit also
speaks. His words are consistent with
Scripture, yet, they represent another voice
beyond the inner dialogue.
• Quiet yourself for such a word. Is there an
attitude or action to be changed? A promise
to be claimed? A blessing to be received?
• Ask, “What is God saying to you? Have
individuals share impressions, words from
the Lord, Scripture that came alive,
assurances out of the promises by the Spirit.”
To pray in the
Spirit means
to pray in
harmony with
the Word of
God, which
He has
inspired.

8. [TEN MINUTES]
• RENEWAL/BECOME. Christianity is
not merely a matter of the will. It
is not seeing a Biblical principle
and then by sheer volition,
applying it to our lives. It is not
simply new information, but
transformation, by the Spirit,
consistent with Scripture.
• Let prayer, over the Bible, inform
you. Then, let the Holy Spirit make
that new, renewing your heart,
giving the power to flesh it out
and live it!
• What – in you - is God now calling
to newness?
Prayer is
partnership
with God in
His planet-
sized
purposes.
S. D. Gordon

9. IDEAS
• Have a time of open microphone
praying – people praying out, not
merely sharing - what they
encountered in the Scriptures during
the prayer time.
• Do ‘pop-corn’ praying. This works with
smaller groups. Have them
spontaneously complete the phrase,
“During the prayer time, God
impressed on my heart [thus and so] …
spoke to me … I saw … felt … sensed …
• Break into small groups. First, take
time for people to share their
experience. Then have them pray one
for another.
The mightiest
prayers are
often those
drenched with
the Word of
God.
Herbert
Lockyer

10. Great Days of Prayer
1st Sunday of Each Quarter
Check www.praycog.org for
resources. Fresh resources
each quarter.
P. Douglas Small, Coordinator
of Prayer Ministries
PO 1245
Kannapolis, NC 28082
dougsmall@projectpray.org
704-996-5091
The only
power that
God will yield
to is that of
prayer.
Leonard
Ravenhill

11.  This presentation was created for Personal Prayer Coaching with P.
Douglas Small, president of Alive Ministries: PROJECT PRAY.
 All materials are copyrighted. Your legitimate download of this product
constitutes a ‘single user license’ which cannot be legally or morally
copied and/or reproduced. This license is for ‘one’ entity, for teaching use.
 Any images included here are also subject to copyright laws and therefore
limited to their use in this authorized presentation. Here, they are used by
permission. Alive Publications does not have authorization to extend the
privilege of their use beyond this publication.
 Duplication of this material, except for personal use by the purchaser to
teach this material is not allowed. Unauthorized duplication is illegal.
 This presentation is meant to be used without alteration. It may be used,
however, either in part or whole, in connection with companion material
produced by P. Douglas Small and Alive Publications. Component parts my
be used in various teaching/training in the area of prayer – but may not be
exported or presented in a manner inconsistent with the holistic approach
to prayer presented here!
 It may not be sold, in part or whole.
Alive Publications – PO Box 1245 – Kannapolis, NC 28082
LEGAL USAGE
LIMITATIONS