03.25.2012 Discussion Guide

Life Group Discussion Guide :: Sunday, March 25, 2012 (JXG)

Sandy Lake Wesleyan :: Rev. Chris Conrad

Dunamis  |  Week 4, “The Odds are Stacked”

(Download this Guide as a .pdf here)

Remember, this Guide is not intended as an exhaustive list of what can be discussed, but is best used as a guide to help your Group process what God is teaching them. Read through the discussion points below and prayerfully consider what the Holy Spirit would have you work through.

 Be sure to pray for, encourage each other, and share the victories God is giving your Group.

------------------------------------------------------

At the beginning of our worship gathering, Pastor Shawn shared an update on Freedom For More; we celebrated what God is already doing through this initiative and were reminded that fulfilling the Freedom For More goal will allow us to do more for more. Pray that God would keep using us to continue taking hope and freedom to those around us in new ways; ask God to show people how they could commit to seeing this take place.

This was also a clear reminder that God alone is our provider. 

In what specific areas of your life are you currently trusting God to provide in significant ways? Share these with each other and pray that God would be seen as “Jehovah Jireh,” our provider. Be sure to update your Group later on how you’ve seen God do this.

This morning’s speaker, Chris, asked a ‘survey question:’ “What one word would you use to describe your prayer life?” What would your answer have been if Chris asked you this question personally? Why do you think this is?

Chris also asked, “What would it look like if our prayer life looked like God intended it to?” How do your answers to these two questions (“What one word…” and “What would it look like…”) differ? How do you sense the Holy Spirit working in your life to align both sentiments?

What are some of the reasons you’ve stopped praying in the past? 

How can your fellow Group members help encourage you and hold you accountable to an active, earnest, and powerful life or prayer?

Chris said, “We can partner with God to see His work done in our lives and the lives of others,” and also shared that there are some things that aren’t determined, but come about as the result of prayer by saying, “Apparently, there are some things that the mighty God of the universe wants to do here on earth in some ways that will only be unleashed if we pray.”

• How have you seen this play out in your life?
• What is significant about God wanting to use us to bring his will about? 
• Why do we so often avoid this? 
• What are the ways we try to step out of this role?

Read 1 Kings 16:29-17:1

1 Kings 18:1; 16-45

• …in what ways do we see God’s supremacy in this story?
• ...what are ways that we tend to forget God’s supremacy and pursue other means of provision and care in our own lives?
• ...what is the significance of Elijah praying for rain...after God clearly proclaimed that rain would come?
• ...how does this remind us of our part in seeing the God of the Impossible do the impossible?

Read Matthew 9:35-38

• Who is the “Lord of the Harvest?”
• Why is the Lord of the Harvest telling us to pray for him…to send workers (not to just ‘do it’)?
• What are the ways you can pray and participate in this call of Jesus?
• What are some of the things the Holy Spirit has been showing you he wants to do in your life/the lives of people around you?
• How is he leading you to pray with power and expectation in these things? Share this with your group before your closing prayer.

What does it look like for your Group members to live in a relationship of accountability about these things? How can you lovingly remind, encourage, and check-in with each other about them?

In closing:

Take time to pray for each other: ask God to again show himself as the one who is FOR you. Ask him to search your hearts and reveal to you the areas where he wants to demonstrate his power in your life. Ask him to help you encourage one another as you get to seek God together.

Identify areas of your lives.the lives of people around you where you know his work will only be done by prayer, and have your Group lay hands on each other as you seek him together.