By Cameron Silsbee
Begin with prayer
Gather together as a Community in a comfortable setting. Take a moment to sit in silence in the presence of Jesus and each other. Have one person read over the group 1 Corinthians 14v1-5 and then pray to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
Debrief last week’s Practice and the teaching
- Was there anything noteworthy or meaningful from the last week’s Practice as you read through a story from Acts?
- What has been your experience of prophecy?
- Does prophecy seem to be something Jesus has been leading you to do more? If so, what would that look like in your life? If not, would you like to grow in it?
Begin this Practice right now
For the next three weeks (beginning tonight), spend time practicing listening prayer over each person in your Community.
One way to do this is to have the person being prayed over sit in the center of the group, have everyone lay hands on the person, and invite God’s Spirit to speak over the person. After a couple of minutes in silent listening prayer, begin to share with the person what the group members felt God wanted to say to them. Remember, this is done with humility (“I could be wrong, but I felt like…”), and it is for the encouragement of the person (1 Corinthians 14v3).
If listening prayer is new to you or you’re not very comfortable with it yet, ask Jesus to bring something to your mind that is good about the person or perhaps a verse that might be appropriate for them. In this way, you can still speak blessing over the person with an openness to God’s Spirit.