Silence in response to our most heart-felt prayers is the hardest thing for a person of faith to wrestle with. The world collapses. Then all goes quiet. Words can't explain what we're going through. People avoid you and don't know what to say. So you turn to Him and you pray. You need Him more than ever before. But somehow even God Himself seems on mute. And this sinks into us with a sense of futility... Life's great trials either make you bitter or better, never unchanged. Engage the silence and redeem your disappointments to be a creative force for God. How: These discussions are designed to last an hour (plus 30 minutes for the video) but we have deliberately given you more content and questions than you will be able to get through in this time. Just choose the parts that you feel will work best for your group and don’t worry if one or two questions sometimes take up the whole of the session. We recommend that you always make time for personal prayer ministry at the end.

In this brilliant, poignant, and deeply personal book, Pete Greig explores the experience of God's silence in the midst of suffering. Without dodging the reality of the dilemma--God is powerful and loving and yet our prayers are often met with total silence--Pete leads us through our questions and disappointments to a place of hope. God on Mute is a must-read for anyone facing the bewildering experience of unanswered prayer.' Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing, director, The Oxford Center for Christian ApologeticsI don’t want to remain in this place of sorrow and anger… I want to choose life again, and I want to find life again.” – Simon Thomas The contemporary Western church at large seems to me to have little belief in the afterlife. We are so temporal and comfortable. We can perpetuate the delusions for own immortality for longer than any previous generation, but ultimately, unless our death comes instantaneously in early life, we must think about such things. We will be the poorer if we do not. And so I began a solemn, lifelong pilgrimage that some might deem a little morose. My aim? To find a thrilling vision for the eternity we will spend with Jesus.”

Human beings are God's language. God speaks through us. Other people can help us bear emotional pain. Or a place, a book, a piece of music to remind you of God's goodness.Be honest and have naked trust before God. Lamenting is not only a way of expressing emotion but a fruit of a deepening spiritual life that is able to stand naked before God with no shame or pretence. There were times…when Sammy’s diagnosis merely stirred up the murkiest shallows of my soul, bringing to the surface my inner cravings for sin, sympathy…” Por eso esas palabras de Barth son reconfortantes: Lo que forja a un hombre de oración es que se presente delante de Dios con su petición. Las otras teorías de la oración pueden haber surgido de pensamientos muy profundos y pueden lucir muy bien, pero todas sufren de cierta artificialidad porque carecen de algo simple y concreto: se pierden en las alturas y profundidades donde no hay lugar para el hombre que realmente ora, que simplemente hace una petición.4”

These guides have been designed to provide you with all the content you could possibly need to lead five brilliant sessions, exploring the questions we all ask when confronted with unanswered prayer.Take a minute or two in the silence to reflect on an area of suffering you have experienced, consider ways in which you have been able to find – or might be able to find – some kind of purpose in it or in spite of it. [When the group reconvenes] Next week’s session will explore Maundy Thursday and the most basic heart questions we all ask when we suffer: “How am I going to get through this?” Greig, founder of the international, interdenominational British-based charity 24-7 prayer, responds to his wife's devastating illness.