Neh 4:14 “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” NIV
As God’s family we are learning how we are fully known and fully loved. This awakens something healthy within us to help us be fully loving. Our families and our households should be influenced and blessed by God’s love as our first priority. Take some time to pray these verses over your family. Purpose to say their names out loud in prayer declaring verses and ideas like these.
Eph 3:14-19For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ESV
God doesn’t just want to merely conquer emptiness. He desires to fill us with all the fullness of God so He can overflow from our lives into our world.
Phil 3:10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him... (AMP)
Pray for your family and your friends! In addition to praying for them do something very spiritual. Make time to have fun with them!
As believers we don’t forget to be Christian. We forget to be human.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavensand the earth. NAS
There is a spirit realm and there is a natural realm and they are intertwined in many ways! Jesus came from heaven demonstrating there is something very practical and deeply human about being spiritual.
Moses, Elijah & Jonah all had one thing in common - depressed to the point of wanting to die. Elijah feared for his life, exhausted, hungry and ready to die.
1 Kings 19:5-6Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. NIV
Elijah was like, “I’m so mad I want to die!” God was like here’s some food. Why don’t you take a nap? Then he felt a lot better. Never underestimate the spiritual value of a snack and a nap.
The angel didn't wake him up and say be delivered from the spirit of depression. The angel woke him up and said eat and be refreshed. We have to take care of ourselves by fighting the battle in the physical realm on a physical level. Eat right, rest well and take care of yourself. We also need to care for our spiritual man to fight the battle well on the spiritual side.
You can't fight spiritual battles in the natural realm. You can’t fight physical battles in the spiritual realm. You must understand both are important. Praise him on through to conquer that stress but eat right, get some rest and consider some exercise!
Prov 17 teaches us how a merry heart does good like medicine.
Stressed, tired and worn out families are not fun to come home to after our day. Recently I heard Rick Warren talking about something he did with his children he called, “Crazy Dad Adventure Night.” On rare occasion, just after midnight he would come into the kids’ rooms and get them up. Immediately they knew they were not going to school the next day. He explained how sometimes they would simply take an ice cream bar run in the middle of the night. Other times it would be more elaborate like a hotel room with the hot tub turned swimming pool with bubbles just to do something crazy and fun.
God wants you to enjoy life, not to merely endure it.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Pick a time this week to create a family adventure!
Watch Disney Pixar, “UP” and discuss what you observed.
Have a game night.
Take a walk and turn it into a scavenger hunt.
Have a family meal and share who has been on your heart lately and anything you sense God may be speaking to you.
The best portion of your life will be the seemingly insignificant moments spent smiling with people who matter to you.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
LEADER’S NOTES: In this season we are addressing how being fully known and being fully loved awakens something healthy within us that makes us fully loving. Our households should be influenced and blessed by God’s love as our first and foremost priority.
THE POINT: God isn’t just wanting us to conquer emptiness. He desires to fill us with all the fullness of God so He can overflow from our lives into our world and this should start in our home. Eph 3:19.
Fully known. Fully loved. FULLY LOVING FAMILY.
Since the action point this week was to watch the movie, Up, consider watching all or a portion of the movie together as a group and then open the discussion to observations and take-aways from the movie to enhance our families.
If this isn’t feasible for your group or if you want to take a different approach you can discuss the following questions:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. What was something that stood out to you from Sunday’s message?
Proverbs 17:22 explains how a merry heart does good like medicine.
Science reveals how laughter exercises the body and stimulates the release of beneficial brain neurotransmitters and hormones. Every muscle in the body can move during laughter providing a kind of ‘internal aerobics’. A joyful belly laugh can exercise thoroughly the muscles, nerves and organs of the main torso. If you could sustain a belly laugh for one full hour, you could laugh off as many as 500 calories! Laughter causes elevated levels of the body’s stress hormones drop back to normal allowing our immune systems to work more effectively. Cells which produce anti-bodies and combat viruses increase in number and are activated providing better overall health. All this occurs as a direct result of laughter!
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
2. Clearly there are wide-ranging benefits from learning to have fun together. What are some fun things you have done with your family over the years that you would suggest to others to increase the joy factor of a home?
The best portion of your life will be the seemingly insignificant moments spent smiling with people who matter to you.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Pick a time this week to create a family adventure!
• Watch Disney Pixar, “UP” and discuss what you observed.
• Have a game night.
• Take a walk and turn it into a scavenger hunt.
• Have a family meal and share who has been on your heart lately and anything you sense
God may be speaking to you.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
3. What is one of these ideas or something else you will do to implement a family adventure this week?
4. One of the ideas involves asking every person in the family to share something they are sensing from God. If there isn’t something specific to share then perhaps a verse you’ve read in your Bible recently or a person who is on your heart to pray for. Let’s conclude by doing this together.