Next Level 1.17.21

Dreaming Big Dreams – Choosing Faith Over Fear

Are you ready to live out God’s dreams for your life?

Discuss

Have you ever participated in a trust fall exercise? What was your experience like? Did you have trouble trusting others to catch you?

How does praying persistently for a significant period of time prepare us for moments of decision and crises of belief in our lives? Any personal examples?

Study

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Why would the king notice Nehemiah’s demeanor? Why would Nehemiah be “very much afraid?” Why do you think Nehemiah took this risk? What can you tell about Nehemiah’s character from his encounter with the king?

Four months have passed from Nehemiah 1:1 to Nehemiah 2:1. Why do you suppose Nehemiah might have spent four months praying about the situation in Jerusalem?

What were the elements of Nehemiah’s request (2:5)? Importance of those requests (2:7-8)? What were the king’s responses (2:6-8), and what do his responses indicate about his relationship with Nehemiah?

Nehemiah made very specific requests – what does this indicate about his planning?

What’s Next

Compare the prayer in 1:5-11 with the prayer in 2:4. Length and nature of the prayers? Purpose of the prayers? How do these two kinds of prayer complement each other? How can we follow Nehemiah’s example today?

What is something that scares you when it comes to your faith?

Have you ever felt like God has asked you to do something that was out of your comfort zone? What was it? What did you do?

Chad said, “While we’re praying for God to open a door, we need to be preparing ourselves to walk through that door.” Why is it important that we are prepared to walk through the doors that God opens for us? What does being prepared look like?

Prayer

God do something in my life that can only be accomplished because your gracious hand is upon me.

And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.

–Nehemiah 2:8 | NIV84