PRAY101: Prayer & Intercession

Year 1 • 3 Credits • Weekly Syllabus

PRAY101 is a 3-credit course in the Year 1 program at Sozo Bible College.

12-Week Course Outline

1. Week 1 What Prayer Actually Is — Relationship, Not Technique

   Before any method, model, or discipline, students must understand what prayer is at the root: conversation with a Person who is genuinely present, genuinely listening, and genuinely responsive.

2. Week 2 The Lord's Prayer as a School of Prayer

   Matthew 6:9-13 — Jesus did not just give us a prayer to repeat. He gave us a template for all prayer. This week unpacks the Lord's Prayer section by section as a complete education in how to pray:

3. Week 3 Adoration and Worship in Prayer

   Most people begin prayer with requests. Scripture consistently begins prayer with worship — not as a warm-up to get to the real content, but because adoration is itself one of the primary purposes of prayer.

4. Week 4 Confession and Receiving Forgiveness

   Unconfessed sin is a direct obstacle to prayer (Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:2). But many Christians live with a vague, chronic guilt that they never bring to specific confession and receive genuine absolution from.

5. Week 5 Petition and Intercession — Asking in Faith

   Matthew 7:7-11, John 14:13-14, James 4:2 — 'you have not because you ask not.' Biblical petition is neither demanding nor passive — it is the honest, faith-filled request of a child to a Father who is both willing and able.

6. Week 6 Thanksgiving — The Discipline of Gratitude

   Philippians 4:6 ties anxiety and thanksgiving directly: 'in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.' Thanksgiving is not an add-on to prayer — it is built into the structure of faith.

7. Week 7 Listening Prayer — The Neglected Half

   Most teaching on prayer focuses on speaking to God. Far less attention is given to listening — yet if prayer is conversation with a Person, it requires both.

8. Week 8 Praying the Scriptures

   One of the most powerful and underused prayer disciplines is praying Scripture back to God — taking the promises, commands, and descriptions of God in His Word and making them the content of prayer.

9. Week 9 Corporate Prayer — The Power of Agreement

   Matthew 18:19-20 — 'where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there among them.' Something happens in corporate prayer that does not happen in private prayer alone. This week examines the biblical pattern and theology of praying together — the early church in Acts 1 and 4, the prayer...

10. Week 10 Fasting — Prayer's Companion

    Matthew 6:16-18 assumes believers will fast ('when you fast,' not 'if you fast'). Matthew 17:21 connects certain spiritual breakthroughs specifically to prayer combined with fasting.

11. Week 11 Spiritual Warfare in Prayer — Intercession That Confronts Darkness

    Ephesians 6:12-18 connects the armour of God directly to prayer as the context of spiritual warfare. Daniel 10 shows the cosmic dimension of intercession — that prayers on earth engage realities in the unseen world.

12. Week 12 A Lifetime of Prayer — Building Habits That Last

    The final week is practical and personal: how do you build a prayer life that actually lasts across decades of ministry, and doesn't collapse under pressure, grief, unanswered prayer, or the busyness of active ministry?