Questions to think about:

• Why do we need the Holy Spirit to not only give us the power to do what’s right, but also to change our desires?
• What am I struggling to be willing to do for God?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you that you don’t leave me alone in this quest for holiness. I need you to empower me, but also to motivate me. Please change my desires and my will. Give me your desires. One thing I really don’t want to surrender is ___ . Please change my heart, and make me willing to do your will.

Questions to think about:

• If the same power that raised Christ from the dead is living in me, what things do I need to accept his power to do?
• How can I rely on his power more?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you so much for your power! You raised Christ from the dead, and gave me life. Now you use that same power to work on my behalf. God, I really want to see you move in ___ . Help me to trust you and to allow you to work however you see fit.

Questions to think about:

• Is there anything about this verse that I have a hard time understanding?
• Is there any spiritual area in which I have been living in defeat instead of believing God for victory?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for your victory, and thank you that you share this victory with me through faith. Please strengthen my faith. I need to overcome ___ . Help me to look to you. Let your power work in me to do what I can’t do on my own. Thank you Father!

Questions to think about:

• How does this verse shape the walk of someone who is striving for holiness?
• Am I ever tempted to avoid my sin, whether by hiding, explaining, minimizing, justifying, or claiming helplessness?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you that I can be real with you about my sin. Please show me the things you are inviting me to confess to you. I know forgiveness is waiting. I also know change is hard. Please give me grace to sense your clear conviction, and strength to take my sin to you and allow you to heal me.

Questions to think about:

• What does it look like to live as Jesus did?
• In what areas am I succeeding at this? In what areas do I need work?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for the perfect example you give me in your Son, Jesus Christ. I want to be like you. I want to have your heart, your attitudes, and your values, so that my actions and my words naturally flow from inside me and reflect you to those around me.

Questions to think about:

• What does this verse mean by “the world”?
• How can my life demonstrate friendship with God?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, help me to recognize the things around me that hurt you, that are against you, or that draw me away from you. Help me never to compromise my relationship with you, not for anything. Help me to choose you.

Questions to think about:

• In what situations am I tempted to appease people rather than obeying God?
• How can I set my determination or safeguard my steps to make sure that my loyalty is with God alone?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, thank you that you alone know what is best and have all my best interest at heart. You know the pressure I face. Help me never to be deceived or distracted by the many other voices that call me. Help me to recognize what you desire, and to be devoted to pleasing you alone.

Questions to think about:

• What feelings and attitudes are draining my mind and body?
• What steps can I take toward freedom from these things?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, you see my struggle with ____ . You know the effects this is causing in my life and even within me. Please set me free. If I have sinned, I confess that to you and I resolve to turn away from that sin. If I have been wronged, please affirm me, comfort me, and grant me strength to forgive those who wronged me. Help me to let go of every thought and feeling that is slowly destroying me.

Questions to think about:

• How does this verse say that true worship is expressed?
• Am I offering my whole self as a living sacrifice to God? Why or why not?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, I want to be yours alone. I see that worshiping you requires everything. Please fill me with such love for you that I am able and willing to make that sacrifice. You are worth it.

Questions to think about:

• What does my culture encourage me to worship?
• Do my friends know what I worship?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, give me the wisdom to know what truly deserves worship. Guide my heart and my worship. Maintain my focus on you, not on the idols of this world or what others are doing.

Questions to think about:

• Have I been giving in to the temptation to focus on what is visible, or to believe that what is temporary is most meaningful? In what ways?
• How can I practice valuing and setting my focus on what is most meaningful—the things that are eternal?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, I’m sorry for the times I value hollow, temporary things more than your eternal kingdom. Please help me to have your perspective. Help me to focus on and invest in the eternal.

Questions to think about:

• Who am I in Christ?
• Why does citizenship in God’s holy nation make me a foreigner and exile on earth?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for not only changing my status, but also changing me. Help me not to get discouraged when I feel like an exile in the world. Help me to love my new identity in you. Help me to fully come into my new role as one of your chosen, royal, and holy people.

Questions to think about:

• What does it mean to be a citizen of heaven? What can I do to live like a citizen of heaven?
• What will change when my Savior comes back?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for accepting me into your kingdom of heaven. Help me to live by heaven’s values and heaven’s priorities. Help me to eagerly await for you to come back.

Questions to think about:

• How does it change my perspective when I realize that the church will never be defeated?
• How does this change my focus?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, I believe that your church will never be defeated. I know you have already won the victory, and the kingdom you are establishing is eternal. Please give me courage and faith. Help me to put your kingdom first—first in my affections, first in my commitments, first in my loyalties, first in my thoughts, and first in my activities.

Questions to think about:

• If others could see inside of me, what would they see?
• What thoughts, attitudes, or actions do I need to confess and renounce?

Sample Prayer:
Dear Father, sometimes it’s easy to convince others that I’m doing all I should do, but you know the things I struggle with. I don’t want to just have a good image. I want the real me to be what you want me to be. Please grant me repentance of my sin. Please forgive me for ___ . With your strength, I set my heart to turn away from that sin.

Questions to think about:

• What words have been spoken into my life that may not be correct?
• How can I test the words I’m hearing?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, some things I believe about myself and my situation are ___ , but I’m realizing that I need to test these ideas. Please show me in your Scripture whether I should believe these things or not. Fill my mind with your truth. Help me to reject falsehood and hold on to only what is good.

Questions to think about:

• Who gets to enjoy the benefits mentioned in this verse?
• Who is responsible for making sure these benefits come true?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for the privilege of being your servant, and of being under your protection. Thank you that you fight my battles. Help me to quit stressing. I really need your help with ___ . I’ve really want to defend myself. Help me to act and speak only as you lead.

Questions to think about:

• Why can the helpless take heart?
• What will I praise God for today?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, I praise you for ____ . You are ____ . I want to know you more. Thank you so much for who you are.

Questions to think about:

• Do I sometimes resist God’s peace because I don’t understand it? What protection am I missing out on because of that resistance?
• What situation am I thinking about, but not praying about? What are some things I can thank God for even while I’m facing that situation?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, thank you so much for ___ . I see you working in my life. Right now, I need ___ . I trust you to meet my need. Please open me up to your peace, even when I can’t understand it.

Questions to think about:

• When do I find it difficult to feel peace?
• What aspect of God’s character helps me really grasp that I can have peace, regardless of my circumstances? Or, what knowledge would help me to find peace in him?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, I need your peace. You never change, even though my world changes daily. You are in control of it all. Help me to focus on your ___ today instead of my problems.

Questions to think about:

• If I truly believe this promise, what deep things would I ask God to help me understand?
• Am I making it a priority to spend time learning from him?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, you are so good. Thank you for inviting me to call out to you and ask you what I don’t understand. God, I really want to understand ____ . Please show me everything I need to know. Help me to look to you for my understanding.

Questions to think about:

• How can I know the voice of God?
• How can I intentionally listen to him?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, thank you for calling me by name and leading me. Help me to know your voice. Give me discernment. Help me to listen to you and to follow you.

Questions to think about:

• Why do hardships help us grow?
• When I’m facing troubles or challenges, how do I respond? Can I thank God for helping me grow, even when he does it through suffering?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, I often see suffering or challenges as something to avoid. Please help me to appreciate the gift of trials. It’s amazing that you do good things even through hurtful things. I know that you are worthy of all praise. Help me to trust you, and to allow you to work in me to make me “mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Questions to think about:

• What beliefs did the Babylonians have about God (or deity)?
• How do the Bible’s teachings differ from every other religion?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, thank you that you do live among humans! Please live in me and work through me to bless the people around me. Help me to listen and to pay attention to the ways you are working all around me. Thank you that I don’t have to come up with answers or solutions, because you already have all that figured out. Help me to just be a vessel for you.

Questions to think about:

• What are some differences between God’s wisdom and earthly “wisdom”?
• How can I develop the skill of relying on God’s wisdom instead of my own or worldly wisdom?

Sample prayer:
Dear Father, sometimes I feel like I’ve got it all figured out and I don’t need guidance. Thank you for the roadblocks that help me realize I don’t know it all. I need your direction. I need you to teach me. Help me to follow your wisdom, not my own. At the same time, help me to reject the values and philosophies of the world that are against your perfect plan. Help me not to settle for the limited understanding of the world, but to live by your Word.