Bible Study: March 25, 2026
- Stephen Bell
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Prayer
Since last week, has God answered any of our prayers? Let us know! Or, share something great that's happened in the last week. Then, let’s focus on our present prayer requests: What's on your mind or heart that we can pray for concerning you or someone you love?
Praise
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
Passage: 2Cor 1:1-11
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To the church of God that is in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, 4 who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. 6 If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
8 We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, 11 as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many may give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Ponder
1. What warms your heart from the song or biblical passage above, and why?
2. Look at verses three and four. Paul breaks out into praise: “the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation.” What do you think the difference is between these two natures of God and how would you explain them to someone else?
3. This idea of comfort and consolation that God comforts us with is… “so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction.” Can you think of a time in which you were able to ‘pay it forward’ with God’s comfort and consolation to someone else with the ‘c+c’ you received?
4. Take a look at verses six and seven. Paul says that patient endurance of suffering actually helps us to experience God’s consolation. Huh. So here’s the bigger question: When has your struggle…helped someone else’s struggle? Or maybe it’s the other way: when has watching someone else in hardship given you hope from their reaction?
5. Paul looks back at God’s rescue and says, “He will continue to rescue us… on him we have set our hope.” What past rescue in your life (or in our church’s story) helps you to believe that God will rescue again?
6. In verse eleven, Paul credits the Corinthian's prayers for the blessing he received. How have you seen prayer make a tangible difference in someone’s life?
Purposeful Prayer
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