Small Group Discussion Guide

"How to Pray the Prayer of Faith"

A Message by Pastor Mirek Hufton

1. SERMON RECAP

Pastor Mirek Hufton taught from Matthew 21:21-22 on the prayer of faith, drawing a clear distinction between the "God kind of faith" — which believes in the heart and speaks out of the mouth — and the "mankind kind of faith," which only believes what the senses can confirm. He explained that just as God spoke the worlds into existence by believing and declaring, believers are called to operate the same way in their daily lives. He challenged the group to recognize that faith is not merely head knowledge but something that must be developed, fed, and spoken out loud in order to produce real results.

2. KEY SCRIPTURE

Matthew 21:22 (NKJV)

"And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

3. ICE BREAKER

Think of a time when someone else's confidence in you caused you to believe something was possible that you had previously doubted. What did that feel like, and what changed because of it?

4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The God Kind of Faith vs. The Mankind Kind of Faith

Pastor Mirek described two kinds of faith operating in people's lives. The "mankind kind of faith" says, "If I can see it, feel it, or touch it, then I will believe it." The "God kind of faith" believes first in the heart and then speaks it out of the mouth. Where do group members see these two kinds of faith showing up in their own prayer lives, and what tends to pull them more toward one than the other?

2. The Formula: Believe and Declare

Pastor Mirek pointed to Romans 10:8-10 as a template that goes far beyond salvation. He suggested that the same pattern — believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth — applies to whatever a person needs from God, whether healing, provision, or breakthrough. How does the group react to applying this pattern to everyday needs, not just to receiving salvation? What hesitations or encouragements come up?

3. Head Knowledge vs. Heart Revelation

Pastor Mirek shared a sobering point about a study conducted by Oral Roberts, which found that Pentecostal believers who assumed they understood healing often saw fewer results than those who were new to the faith. He suggested that familiarity with a truth can become a barrier to actually receiving it. How can a person tell the difference between genuinely holding a truth in their heart versus simply knowing it in their head? What practices help move a truth from the mind into the heart?

4. Feeding Faith and Starving Doubt

Pastor Mirek was direct: faith must be developed on purpose. It grows through hearing the Word, meditating on it, attending Bible teaching, and surrounding oneself with people who speak faith rather than fear. What habits or environments in the group members' current lives are quietly feeding doubt? What honest adjustments might need to be made?

5. Speaking Out What You Believe

Pastor Mirek noted that Christians often fail at the final step — actually speaking out what they say they believe. He said the prayer of faith is not a religious, wordy petition hoping something might happen; it is a deliberate, grounded declaration rooted in a specific promise from the Word. What makes it difficult for many believers to speak faith declarations out loud, and how might the group begin to encourage one another in this practice?

6. Faith as a Lifestyle, Not an Event

Pastor Mirek described faith as something that ought to become a reflex — a natural, ongoing response to every challenge, whether large or small. He talked about calling in finances, calling in good weather for ministry events, and declaring health over his own body as normal, everyday expressions of faith. What would it look like practically for each person in the group to treat the prayer of faith less like an emergency measure and more like a daily way of life?

5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE

Before the group meets again, each person should identify one specific area of their life where they have been waiting passively for a change — whether related to health, finances, a relationship, or a decision they are facing. They should find one scripture that directly addresses that need, write it out by hand, read it aloud at least once each morning for seven days, and add a brief spoken declaration based on that verse. At the next gathering, group members will share what they noticed in their thinking, their peace, and any practical shifts that took place during the week.

6. PRAYER POINTS

• Pray that each group member would move from knowing about the prayer of faith to genuinely experiencing it from the heart, and that the Word would take root at a deeper level than before.

• Pray for boldness and consistency in speaking faith out loud, asking God to break off any shame, passivity, or religious habit that keeps group members quiet when they should be declaring.

• Pray for one specific breakthrough that each person is believing for, lifting those needs before God as a group and agreeing together according to Matthew 18:19 that they are received.

7. MEMORY VERSE

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."