2019-04-10- Healed
SMALL GROUP MATERIAL
WED APR 10 2019 – GROUP DISCUSSION
Why Not? – Healing or no healing.
WHAT’S THE POINT? I don’t know what I don’t know. But Jesus does, so I should really ask.
WORD UP: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (especially verse 7 to 9)
INWARD PRAYER – Prayers for myself
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What stood out to you from the devotional given today? Why do you think it stood out?
- Have you ever prayed for someone who wasn’t healed? What did that make you think? How did that make you feel?
- Why do you think people aren’t healed at times when they are prayed for?
- How do you think God uses suffering, pain or sickness in people’s life?
- Paul shares about his “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12. What do you think his thorn was? How did God use that “thorn.”
- What did Paul do to find out about why the “thorn” wasn’t take away?
- Have you ever asked God specific questions about your life or about healing?
- How do you hear from God? Do you think He speaks to us?
OUTWARD PRAYER – Prayers for others (maybe for healing?)
DEVOTIONAL
WED APR 10 2019 – DEVOTIONAL
Why Not? – Healing or no healing.
WHAT’S THE POINT? I don’t know what I don’t know. But Jesus does, so I should really ask.
WORD UP: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (especially verse 7 to 9)
This is a very interesting, peculiar and debated text in Scripture that Paul writes to the Corinthians. We could ask the question, is he talking about himself when he talks about “I know a man…” or we could ask what Paul’s thorn in his flesh was, and speculate, but for this particular devo, we’re not focusing on those.
Paul mentions this thorn in the flesh that keeps him weak, and keeps him humble. He asks Jesus to take it away. Whether it’s suffering, or sickness or something else, the same kind of principle applies. Paul says he asks God to take it away and Jesus says to him, verse 9:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Sometimes we pray for healing and we don’t see God heal. We think of all sorts of reasons that people aren’t healed: Maybe I have sin in my life. Maybe they have sin. Maybe I haven’t prayed enough. Maybe God isn’t listening. Maybe I don’t have the right formula in the way I am praying. What Paul does, is the right response. He prays and He listens. After asking several times, he hears from Jesus. Jesus lays out the reason.
Paul has a close relationship with Jesus and I believe as we go to pray for healing, after we pray for healing and every time in between, we should be sensitive to what God is speaking to us through His Scripture and through His Spirit. For many Christians, the idea of actually hearing God’s voice, thoughts to our head, visions, dreams, audible voice, pictures, etc is somewhat foreign, but it doesn’t need to be. As we see in the above Scripture, it is pretty normal for Paul, and it can be for us as well. We have talked about hearing God’s voice before in youth but here is a quick practical refresher from a previous message on hearing God’s voice that we had in September 2017.
There are 3 places we can hear from: ourselves, the enemy or God… therefore here are three steps in prayer in order to open ourselves to hearing God:
- Proverbs 3:5-6 and 1 John 1:9 – Submit ourselves to God
- James 4:7 – Resist the enemy
- John 10:27 – Invite and expect God to speak
So a prayer with these three steps might look like:
“Jesus, I want to hear Your voice today and know You more. I submit my thoughts and my will to You, that I wouldn’t hear from myself but You. I believe that you have defeated the devil, the enemy and by your power and in Your Name Jesus I ask that you would silence him. I invite you to speak to me, help me to listen to you, whatever you want to say. In Your Name Jesus…” (and then wait, and listen)
Here are a few filters we can put what we hear through and what we can do:
- It won’t contradict Scripture
- We can ask Godly people (leaders, mentors, other strong believers)
- If someone else gives you a word, get your own guidance and ask God about it
- Obey what the Holy Spirit directs you to do
- Make sure you’re pursuing God, not just words from God
We can ask God to speak to a specific topic or just to speak to us. When it comes to healing, we can invite Him to show us how to pray specifically.
WAKE UP
Here are a couple of ideas for starting off your devotional or during it that could grab the attention of the youth you are teaching:
- Share a personal story of you or someone either you prayed for or someone close to you prayed for that didn’t get the healing that was prayed for.
- Use the opening few paragraphs that share a story from Desiring God – https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/if-god-doesnt-heal-you
- Share a story of how God spoke to you through a time that you were praying for healing
WHY DO I CARE?
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- There are times when we ask for healing and it doesn’t seem to happen.
- If healing doesn’t happen, it can feel like God doesn’t love me or hear me, which isn’t true.
- Hearing God’s voice in my life can deeply impact me and transform my life.
WHAT DO I DO?
- Pray for healing. Pray for healing again…
- If someone isn’t healed, or if I’m not healed, ask Jesus why.
- Go through the steps of listening prayer in the devo above