Connect
If you could perfectly control one thing in your life, what would it be? This could be something serious or completely comical - have fun with it!
View The After Party Video: https://youtu.be/ZRMnxNz09Pc
Feel free to share this link with your Life Group to watch ahead of time or watch together as a group.
Engage
Read Proverbs 3:5-6 together as a group.
• Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
“Trust” is the key word but so is “all.” Which area or circumstance in your life feels most challenging when it comes to trusting the Lord with ALL your heart?
• Lean not on your own understanding.
This is so unnatural to us. We know what we know and we make decisions based on what we know. But what might it look like to lean not on your own understanding when facing difficult situations? Share an example or personal experience that comes to mind for you.
• Acknowledge Him/submit to Him in all your ways.
This is always so much easier said than done! What often hinders you from acknowledging or submitting to God in certain areas of your life? Try to name that stronghold and say it outloud. Confession is the doorway into surrender.
• And He will make your paths straight.
“He” not “we” or “I”. Do you ever doubt the Lord’s faithfulness or wisdom in your life? Maybe that He isn’t going to come through for you or that His ways really aren’t as good as yours? Share honestly with the group and listen to one another with great love and kindness.
Apply
What are some things (or maybe just one thing) that you’re so often tempted to take back from God, that you’ve already surrendered to Jesus but continually find yourself trying to take back into your own hands? Or is there a particular circumstance or relationship that you’re struggling with that has caused you to grab onto for control in an unhealthy way, that you need to release to the Lord? Allow time for everyone to share their “thing” or situation.
Wolfgang stated that, “Surrender is really the only way to experience true life” and he is absolutely right. But what does surrender look like? Wolfgang shared three questions for each one of us to ask ourselves when it comes to surrender:
- Is it worth my concern?
- Is it mine to control?
- Is it for God alone?
Now, consider that “thing” or circumstance you shared just a few minutes ago with the group and in light of these three questions, what do you sense the Lord trying to speak to you? Though this might take longer than time allows in your group, invite each other into this consideration as the Lord so often uses others to help us see things more clearly. And then make it a point to continue to check back with one another during the week to encourage and keep each other accountable. Spend your last few minutes praying together and for one another.
Pray
Father, may we not be anxious about anything. Grant us hearts that choose to trust You in all circumstances. Help us to lay the things we so badly want to control at your feet and guard our hearts from taking them back. May we not lean on our own understanding but rather, choose to acknowledge and submit to you even when it feels so hard to do. Through our lack of control, frustrations, heartaches, and every difficult circumstance, may we become more intimately acquainted with You as we choose to keep our eyes fixed on You. We love you, Lord, and we pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.