Small Group Discussion Questions on Prayer (35 Questions + 4 Passages)
Prayer is one of the most practiced and least discussed parts of the Christian life. Many people pray, but few have had a safe place to talk about what prayer is actually like for them: the joy, the silence, the distraction, the unanswered requests.
These questions are organized around four passages, so you can run a single session or a four-week mini-series. Each set moves from observation (what does it say?) to interpretation (what does it mean?) to application (what will we do?). That's the same method we explain in our main guide to small group discussion questions.
Icebreakers (pick one)
- Who taught you to pray, or how did you learn?
- What's a prayer you remember praying as a child?
- When in the day are you most likely to pray?
More options are in 50 icebreakers for adults.
Session 1: The Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:5–15
Observation 4. What two kinds of prayer does Jesus warn against in verses 5–8? 5. List each request in the prayer. Which are about God, and which are about us? 6. What does Jesus emphasize again in verses 14–15?
Interpretation 7. Why do you think the prayer begins with God's name and kingdom before our needs? 8. What does "daily bread" suggest about how often we should depend on God? 9. How is forgiving others connected to praying honestly?
Application 10. Which line of this prayer is hardest for you to pray right now? 11. How could you use this prayer as an outline this week?
Session 2: Persistent prayer, Luke 18:1–8
Observation 12. According to verse 1, why did Jesus tell this parable? 13. What do we learn about the judge? About the widow?
Interpretation 14. Jesus contrasts God with the unjust judge. What point is he making? 15. How does verse 8 change the way we read the whole story?
Application 16. What have you stopped praying about? Why? 17. What would "not losing heart" look like for you this month?
Session 3: Prayer instead of anxiety, Philippians 4:4–7
Observation 18. What does Paul tell us to do instead of being anxious? 19. What role does thanksgiving play in verse 6? 20. What does God's peace do, according to verse 7?
Interpretation 21. Is Paul promising we'll get what we ask for, or something else? 22. Why might thanksgiving and anxiety struggle to coexist?
Application 23. What worry could you turn into a specific prayer today? 24. Try writing a "prayer with thanksgiving" together as a group.
Session 4: When we don't know how to pray, Romans 8:26–28
Observation 25. What weakness does Paul admit in verse 26? 26. What does the Spirit do for us?
Interpretation 27. How does it change prayer to know the Spirit intercedes for us? 28. How should we read verse 28 when prayers seem unanswered?
Application 29. When have you not known what to pray? What did you do? 30. How could silence or simple words ("Help," "Thank you") become a real prayer for you?
Closing questions for any session
- What's one thing you want to remember from tonight?
- How can this group pray for you this week?
- Would anyone like to try praying out loud in one sentence?
- Who in your life could you pray for daily this week?
- What's one prayer habit you'd like to try for seven days?
Tips for leaders
- Never pressure anyone to pray aloud. Offer sentence prayers or silent prayer as options.
- Keep requests confidential unless the person says otherwise.
- Model honesty. Share an unanswered prayer of your own, briefly.
- Follow up: start next week by asking how prayers went.
For a printable structure to put these in, use the sermon discussion guide template.
Preaching on prayer?
If your pastor is preaching on prayer, Amenflow can turn that sermon into a small group guide with questions drawn from the message itself, plus a 5-day devotional and a kids' lesson on the same passage, so everyone in your church explores the same text all week. Try it free on three sermons.