Breaking Ground
Share a story about a time where something really good or fun occurred that you totally didn’t expect. What happened? How did you respond?
The Dig
This Sunday, we continued our series 12 Words, in which we’re using the 12 Step Program as a tool for experiencing Christlike transformation. In particular, we dove into Step 7: “Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings” & the spiritual principle of dependence.
In our American culture, most people are taught to think of dependence as a negative, totally undesirable word & trait. Do you agree? Why do you think that is? Do you struggle with the idea of being dependent on someone or something else?
Read Luke 11:1-9. Here, Jesus teaches on the nature of prayer. In particular, Jesus points to transformation & aligning ourselves with God’s will as being the purpose of prayer. Above all, Jesus understands total dependence on God to be at the center of all transformative work (individually & corporately).
What does it mean to align ourselves with God’s will? What keeps us from doing so? HINT: consider your character defects & their impact on your internal & relational worlds.
Why do we need God to do this aligning for us? What role does prayer seem to play in this process of aligning ourselves to God’s will & experiencing Kingdom transformation? Why do we need to ask for God to do this on our behalf? HINT: developing willingness, humility, & openness to letting God change our minds.
Close by reflecting on how this Step & Word might speak into your life in this season.
What stands out to you about the language of this step? How does it connect back to Step 6 & naming our character defects? How does it embody the word dependence & Jesus’ own teachings on prayer?
Why do we have to do so much work to see our character defects, only to then depend totally upon God to actually heal them? How does daily prayer help us find & surrender to this paradoxical balance?
How can you begin working this Step & Word this week? What character defects do you want to start handing over to God? How can you start doing so this week?
Finish up your group time by praying the Seventh Step Prayer together: “My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.“
Getting Out of the Hole
In this series, take time each week to reflect upon the Step & Word that we covered in the Sunday sermon.
- Reflect on this step & word. Based upon your work in Step 6, what character defects have you identified as being central to your life (past & present)? Are you ready to give them to God?
- What are the opposites of the character defects you’ve listed? What would it look like to practice them instead?
- Take time this week to humbly ask God to take away the character defects that you’ve listed & to empower you to start practicing their opposites. Consider praying the Step 7 prayer each day as part of this process.
- At the end of each day, take 5 minutes to reflect on where these character defects played out over the last 24 hours. Also look for where you were able to surrender & practice their opposites. Thank God for empowering you to see where you fell short, celebrate where you succeeded, accept His grace, & commit to trying again tomorrow.
Additional Resources*
TheBibleProject.com
Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous by Bill W
The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
Coming Up This Week:*
Sunday, June 29th: Join us next Sunday as we continue our series 12 Words!
* Please see mye3.org for details.