This study guide for
Seeking God’s Face -
learning to walk with God in prayer by Beryl Adamsbaum has been prepared with the aim of enabling the reader, alone or preferably in a group, to personally get to grips in a deeper way with many of the themes of this book. The book is about prayer. The author’s desire is that those who read the book and reflect upon its contents and share their thoughts in group discussions, with the help of this guide, will be drawn closer to God and will come to know him better, as they learn to seek his face in prayer.
Click on the links below for individual chapters
Introduction: The seeking heart
1. What was the author’s aim in writing this book? (See pages 8-11).
2. Read Psalm 27. What do you think the psalmist means when he says, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek’ (Psalm 27:8)?
3. How do you seek God’s face? (See pages 10 and 11).
Chapter 1: A shopping list?
1. How would you answer the question, ‘What is prayer?’ (See pages 12,14,15).
2. How do you ‘delight yourself in the Lord’ (Psalm 37:4)?
3. Think about what constitutes ‘the desires of your heart’. Do you think that your desires correspond to what God wants you to have? Why? Why not? (See pages 12 and 13).
Chapter 2: Dependence and devotion
1. What are your priorities in life? (See page 16).
2. Why do you pray? (See pages 16 and 17, and also chapter 12, pages 79 and 80).
3. What are some of the promises concerning answers to prayer that we find in the Bible? (See, for example, Psalm 50:15; Matthew 7:7; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:9; Jean 14:14; 1 John 5:14,15). Do any of these promises have conditions
attached to them? If so, what are they?
4. Read John 14:13,14. What reason does Jesus give for answering our prayers?
5. Read Matthew 14:23; Luke 5:16; 6:12. How did Jesus renew himself spiritually? (See page 19).
6. Tell the group about any special place you might have where you go to meet with God. (See what the author shares about this, on page 20).
Chapter 3: ‘Teach us to pray’
Read Luke 11:1-4.
1. What prompted the disciples’ request to Jesus: ‘Lord, teach us to pray’? (See pages 21 and 22).
2. How would you explain the difference between ‘Teach us to pray’ and ‘Teach us how to pray’? (See pages 22 and 23).
3. What importance does technique, formula, ritual or posture in prayer have for you?
4. How does the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples give God his rightful place? (See pages 23 and 24).
5. How does it express our dependence on God? (See pages 23 and 24).
Chapter 4: A spark
1. In your own experience, what is the ‘spark’ that sets you off praying? (See what the author suggests on page 26).
2. Read Luke 18:1-8. What is the point of this story told by Jesus? (See page 27).
3. When God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers, what do you do?
- Persevere in praying?
- Examine your motives?
- Try to understand whether or not what you are praying for is God’s will?
- Just leave things with him?
- Wait in expectation (Psalm 5:3b)?
- Give up?
4. Why do we sometimes find it hard to submit to God’s will?
5. What do you think of Sinclair Ferguson’s explanation of the weaning process mentioned in Psalm 131:2? (See page 30).
6. What transformation is God bringing about in us? How?
7. What is your aim in life?
Chapter 5: All the time
1. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in as many different Bible versions as possible.How do you envisage putting that verse into practice? (See pages 32 and 33).
2. Read Nehemiah 2:1-8 to see an example of an ‘arrow’ prayer and how God answered it. Can you think of situations in your own experience where you sent up an ‘arrow’ prayer? How did God answer? What other situations can you envisage where you might want to send up an ‘arrow’ prayer?
3. What can you learn from Brother Lawrence? (See pages 34-36).
4. Can you give examples of difficult or unpleasant situations in your life that have been transformed because of God’s presence?
Chapter 6: Standing firm
1. What can we learn from the example, given by the author on pages 37 and 38, concerning her lack of reaction to Jill’s difficulties?
2. Share with the group practical ways in which you remind yourself of people and situations that you commit to pray for. (See suggestions on page 38).
3. Based on the content of pages 39 and 40, share with the group which is the best time of the day for you to be alone with God, in order to pray and read his Word.
4. What encouragement do you draw from Psalm 5:1-3 and Romans 8:26,27?
Chapter 7: Boldness
1. What ‘amazing truth’ was revealed to the author as she was walking along a street in Geneva one day? (See pages 41 and 42).
2. What does the incarnation (God become man) mean to you personally?
3. What does Philippians 2:5-8 teach us about the incarnation?
4. In what ways – in his life and in his death – did Jesus identify with sinful humanity? (See pages 43-46).
5. In what way was he different from sinful humanity? (See Hebrews 4:15).
Chapter 8: Take it to the Lord
1. How would you answer the author’s question on page 48: ‘Have you ever had the experience – the painful experience – of sharing a problem or deep concern with a dear and trusted friend, only to find that your friend fell far short of responding in the way that you had hoped?’ If you have ever had such an experience, how did you react?
2. Read Psalm 139. How do you react and respond to the fact that God knows you through and through?
3. What is the greatest, costliest demonstration of God’s love for us? (See Romans 5:8, page 49).
4. How can we be sure that God will meet our deepest needs? (See Romans 8:32 and Philippians 4:19, pages 50 and 51).
5. Read Psalm 107:1-32. Which of the circumstances recorded in this psalm correspond literally or figuratively to a situation you have faced? How did you handle it?
6. How, in each example given in Psalm 107, were those who were in distress finally delivered?
7. Read aloud the author’s poem Look Up on page 52, and thank God for his love for you and for his grace, peace, comfort and strength.
Chapter 9: Prayer and faith
1. What situations in your life have caused you to doubt or even to despair? (See page 54).
2. To what extent can you identify with the experience of the author described on page 55?
3. Read Mark 9:14-29. What does this biblical account teach about prayer?
4. How would you contrast living by faith and living by sight?
5. What underlying rebuke is contained in the words that Jesus addresses to his disciples in Matthew 6:30; Matthew 14:31 and Mark 4:40?
6. Read Matthew 8:5-13. What was amazing about the centurion’s faith?
7. Read Matthew 9:20-22. What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Your faith has healed you’?
8. Read Matthew 9:27-30. Why did Jesus heal the blind men?
9. Read Matthew 15:22-28. Why did Jesus qualify the woman’s faith as ‘great’?
10. How do Jesus’ words in Mark 10:27 encourage you in your prayer life? (See pages 59 and 60).
Chapter 10: Spring will come
1. How would you answer Theresa’s question (on page 61), ‘Isn’t God supposed to make me happy?’
2. How far can you identify with Job who cried out to God, ‘Why do you hide your face?’ (Job 13:24), or with the psalmist who exclaimed, ‘Will you hide yourself forever?’ (Psalm 89:46).
3. What do we learn about God on page 64?
4. How do verses such as Hebrews 13:5 and Romans 8:38,39 encourage you in your faith?
5. What are some of the purposes in suffering? (See pages 67-69).
Chapter 11: Tossed by the wind
1. What are some reasons for unanswered prayer? (See pages 70 and 71).
2. Read Mark 10:35-40. What do you think of the request of James and John (v37)? (See pages 71 and 72).
3. Read John 13:1-17. How can we live out in practice this example that Jesus set for his followers? What should our attitude be? (See also Philippians 2:5-8).
4. Use Psalm 139:23,24 (quoted on page 73) as your own personal prayer, or read it together as a group prayer.
Chapter 12: For His name’s sake
1. At what times in your life have you been able to identify with the words of the psalmist, ‘I am too distressed even to pray’ (Psalm 77:4 – TLB)? What did you do? How did you deal with the problem?
2. Accompany the author in her ‘stroll through Psalm 23’. How did God speak to her through this psalm? (See pages 76-81).
3. Share with the group any truths that particularly stand out for you in this psalm.
4. What does the phrase ‘for his name’s sake’ mean to you?
Chapter 13: The fullness of God
1. In Matthew 18:19 and 20, what special promise does Jesus give us about meeting together to pray?
2. Read Acts 12:5-17 to see an example of an early church prayer meeting.
Who was the church praying for? How did God answer their prayers?
What was their reaction? (See pages 83 and 84).
3. Read Ephesians 3:14-19. Summarize the essence of Paul’s prayer. To what extent can you identify with the author’s reaction on page 84?
4. How can we experience Christ’s love in all its dimensions? (See pages 85 and 86).
5. In what way(s) do the words of Ephesians 3:20 encourage you?
Chapter 14: The privilege of prayer
Read chapter 14 aloud in your group and, together, thank God for the privilege of prayer in all its different aspects.
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