Journey into God’s Good / Small Group Discussion Guide
Walk In The Spirit – Week 4
Starting Scriptures
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Reflection
Life is unpredictable, despite our best efforts to plan ahead. While we may be surprised by the twists and turns we experience, God is never surprised. God wants to use our experiences for good. When we walk in the Spirit, we allow Him to use our experiences for the benefit of both ourselves and others. Walking in the Spirit can be defined as: “An authoritative interpersonal operational system whereby the believer lives in cooperation and communication with the gentle, comforting, and convicting person of the Holy Spirit.”
There are three steps to walk in the Spirit into God’s good: set your mind, relinquish control, and be led. Setting our minds is like setting a car radio station. We scan the airwaves for what is good, and listen closely to what the station has for us to listen to. The enemy can come into our lives and try to get us to listen to other things, but we can choose to find the good to listen to again, despite the enemy’s attack. We relinquish control by believing that we’re “not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in (us).” (Romans 8:9) We find ourselves praying prayers of faith saying, “ God, wherever, whenever, however, whatever. You take control.” And finally, we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit of God when we make ourselves available to be influenced by the Spirit. We’re given more responsibilities and privileges as a son or daughter. God wants us to be Spirit-led so He can give us responsibilities to build His family. (Romans 19:15-17)
Discussion Questions
1. Sometimes we find ourselves in unexpected situations. When was a time you thought you had something figured out but afterwards were left thinking, “Wow. I did not see that coming?”
2. How hard is it for you to “set your mind” on good things? Is it easy for you to slide into a thought process of worry and trying to solve things on your own or do you find yourself relying on God’s peace and His Word before a situation even arises?
3. Do you consider yourself to be a controlling person? Are you more controlling towards certain individuals than others? If yes, what is it about someone that makes you feel like you need to control them or the situation they’re in?
4. How hard is it for you to submit to someone else? In what context would you let someone else have authority over a situation in your life?
5. It can be difficult to trust God to use a situation for His good when we’re caught up in the stress and confusion of it. When was a time God could’ve used a situation in your life for His good but you resisted? What have you learned from that experience?
Going Deeper
Journey into God’s Good Activity
1. Ask each group member to make a timeline of their life and indicate key events.
2. Have members mark via post-it or pen color which events were good or bad for them to experience. (Ex. Write good events on yellow post-its and bad events on blue post-its.)
3. Review the timelines as a group and discuss how the good and bad events correlate with each other. Did a “bad” lead to a “good”?
4. Lead the group members in a reflection on how they feel about their journey before God and with God (as evidenced by their timeline), and how they now feel about the unknowns of the rest of their timelines.
Journey into God’s Good / 1