You can follow the best discipleship curriculum, imitate the perfect discipleship model, and fill your study with Bible verses, but hearts won’t change unless God does the work. Because of this, we cannot neglect the important role of supplication (or prayer) in discipleship.
Here at Life on Life, we want to push discipleship groups to go further, and to more closely follow the model that Jesus used while on earth. We use an acronym to describe the 5 key elements of a transformational discipleship, and that acronym is “T.E.A.M.S.”
The five elements that make up T.E.A.M.S. are Truth, Equipping, Accountability, Mission, and Supplication. In this article, we’re going to dive deep into the topic of Supplication, and seek to understand the transformative role it plays. We’ll explore why prayer is so important, plus provide some practical tips for including prayer in your discipleship groups and personal worship.
Why Pray?
We have a very simple definition for supplication: it is engaging in conversation with God. Truth, Equipping, Accountability, and Mission must all be supported by prayer because ultimately, spiritual maturity and equipping is a result of God’s work, and we must not presume that any material or process is the secret to spiritual growth.
Prayer is so foundational to discipleship, in fact, that the Journey curriculum begins with a 6-week series on the Gospel. Each week, the curriculum includes a sermon about prayer and study questions to help teach people why they need to pray and how they can pray.
In the first sermon, titled Why Pray?, listeners discover three important reasons they should pray:
Prayer Builds Relationship
Can you imagine a relationship with a spouse or close friend where you never talk to each other? Of course not! God invites us into a personal relationship with Him, and one of the ways that we can grow closer in our relationship is by actually speaking to Him.
Psalm 116:1-2 (ESV) says, “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.” These verses remind us that God really does listen to our prayers.
Psalm 145:18 (ESV) says, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” When we pray to God, it brings us near to God – prayer is an incredible gift.
Prayer Begets Peace
The world can be overwhelming and intimidating, but prayer can cultivate peace in our hearts. Prayer draws us closer to God – He is our firm foundation through trials and tribulations.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
It’s normal to feel anxious, but God can use prayer to grant us a peace that transcends all understanding.
Prayer Brings Results:
When we pray for things, God can make them happen. Clearly, this does not mean that God will answer every prayer anyone ever asks, but God does call us to pray and there is power in the prayer of a righteous person.
James 5:16-18 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”
The Five Targets of Prayer
As with all things, we love following the model of Jesus. Not only did He give us a model for how to love others and love God, He also demonstrated a model for making disciples and a model for prayer.
He provides us with a model to pray in Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV) which says,
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
From this model, we can identify five targets of prayer:
1) God’s Honor: Jesus begins His prayer by praising God. So often, we treat prayer as a time to just ask God for things. There is certainly a time and place for that, but the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. When we pray, we should start by honoring and glorifying God.
2) God’s Kingdom: When we pray for God’s Kingdom to come, we should know what His Kingdom is: The Kingdom of God is the reign of Christ the King in the lives of His Kingdom people which grows extensively (broader) and intensively (deeper). The Kingdom of this world is the reign of Satan in the lives of natural man. With this in mind, when we pray for God’s Kingdom to come, we effectively pray that it would grow both extensively and intensively, in our hearts and in our world.
3) God’s Provision: It is good to ask God to provide for us. After all, Jesus asked God to provide us with “our daily bread,” and calls us to ask God for things throughout Scripture. God knows what we need before we even ask, but loves to hear us ask. When we ask God for things, it can bring us closer to Him and allows God to direct our heart toward that which we truly need.
4) God’s Forgiveness: All of us are sinners, which means all of us need forgiveness. When we pray, we should consistently confess sins. Jesus doesn’t just call us to ask forgiveness, however, He also calls us to forgive others. As we have been forgiven much, so should we also be quick to forgive those who sin against us.
5) God’s Power: Lastly, Jesus teaches us to pray for protection from the schemes of the Enemy. Satan and his demons love to see God’s people fail morally, but God has provided us with an adequate defense. We know that Jesus reigns, we have the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), and we have the power of God’s indwelling Spirit.
To dive deeper into these five targets of prayer, checkout the Journey Curriculum.
Practical Ways to Include Prayer in Your Discipleship Group
Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Jesus loves it when we get together and pray, so it’s important to incorporate prayer into your regular discipleship meetings. Sometimes groups can focus so hard on getting through the curriculum that they run out of time for prayer, but we need to keep prayer as an essential part of your group.
Here are a few practical ways to include prayer in your group meeting:
1) Open with prayer: Before jumping into God’s Word, it’s always a good idea to spend some time praying that God will illuminate the Scriptures, bless your discussion, and be present as you seek to understand His truth.
2) Reserve time for prayer requests: It’s important to reserve enough time at the end of group to actually share and pray for each other. Too often, groups end with a couple minutes left and no one really gets the chance to share. Remember, this is a life-on-life group, not a curriculum-on-life group. Don’t be afraid to cut the curriculum time short in order to allow time to pray (or consider sharing requests at the beginning of group).
3) Pray on the spot when appropriate: Have you ever told someone you’ll pray for them, and then totally forgot? Sometimes people share personal things in the midst of your group discussion – if it is urgent then why not pause the discussion to pray on the spot? This shows the person you care and recognize them in the moment.
4) Write requests down: Another way to help reduce forgetting to pray for discipleship group members is to write their requests down. Later in the week you can refer back to those notes and continue to pray for the specific requests each person made.
5) Host occasional prayer meetings: Some groups will schedule a couple of meetings each semester where they take a break from the curriculum and focus entirely on prayer. These give each person a chance to share a bit more deeply about what’s going on in life, and allow for extended times of prayer. Checkout these suggestions for hosting a prayer meeting from Cru.
Practical Ways to Integrate Prayer in Your Personal Worship
It’s also important to keep prayer central to your time of personal worship. Life can be busy, and many people don’t feel particularly gifted in prayer. It’s important to remember that God doesn’t need us to produce eloquent and poetic prayers that cause the earth to tremble, He simply wants to hear from us.
1) Pray first: In the Journey Curriculum, we teach the PRAISE acronym when it comes to reading Scripture. The P stands for “pray first” – again, anytime we open God’s Word it is wise to ask Him to illuminate the Scriptures so that we might understand Him.
2) Make an outline: Spend a bit of time writing down notes or an outline about what you want to pray for. This will help you stay focused, ensure things are remembered, and provide several other benefits to your prayer time.
3) Create a prayer calendar: Got a lot of people you need to pray for? Create a calendar and write down different names or requests throughout the week so you remember to pray for them.
4) Go on a prayer walk: Jesus frequently wandered off to spend time with God. Walking wakes your brain up, gets you into God’s creation, and can free you from distractions like smart phones.
5) Pray in the moment: If you ever feel like you should pray for something or someone, just do it in the moment. It can be short, but just get to it so you won’t forget later.
There are of course many other ways you can integrate prayer into your personal worship. Remember, you don’t have to be a master prayer warrior, you just need to get started.
Conclusion
Prayer is central to discipleship, drawing us closer to God and aligning us with His purpose. It builds intimacy with our Creator, brings peace that surpasses understanding, and reveals His power in our lives. Supplication undergirds every aspect of discipleship—Truth, Equipping, Accountability, and Mission flourish when nourished by prayer.
Jesus modeled the importance of prayer, showing us how to honor God, seek His Kingdom, trust in His provision, confess our sins, and rely on His protection. Whether in your discipleship group or personal worship, prayer is vital to transformation—which is not accomplished by our strength, but through God’s power.
Let’s follow the model of Jesus, and let’s make prayer central to our ministry.