In this session, we’ll tackle the challenges of persevering and hiddenness in our daily time with God, and how they can help us to grow in faith.
Ch. 8 (Persevering), Ch. 9 (Hidden Life)
Welcome to the Be Still series. We hope that this resource will equip you and your community to explore how to grow and develop a daily quiet time with God.
Each session of the series is designed to take one hour but can easily be adapted for your group’s needs. We recommend allowing time at the beginning to chat and get to know one another, especially if your group is new.
Each session will include a general question to allow groups to talk about what impacted them most – feel free to allow this to shape the rest of your discussion and don’t worry if you don’t get through all the questions! However, if your group prefers to have multiple questions to work through, these are provided too.
We also recommend allowing time at the end for reflection and to pray for one another, especially as each session requires a little vulnerability.
5 mins
In the first session of the Be Still series, we’ll explore the significance of a regular encounter with God.
“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook …” – 1 Kings 17:3 (ESV, emphasis added)
Begin the session by opening in prayer.
15 mins
1 Kings 17-18, Romans 12:2, Matthew 7:7
• In hiddenness we learn about God and are prepared for the moments when we will be visible
• We need to learn the art of perseverance in a culture of immediacy
• “I’ve seen too much of God to give up” – Natalie
25 mins
Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in the video?
Q. How well do we cope with the idea of hiddenness in our culture? How well do you cope with the idea of hiddenness in your life?
Q. Do you have a place of hiddenness with God? Where could you make time and space in your regular routine to develop one?
Q. In the story of Elijah, there were three years between God’s call for Elijah to hide himself and God’s instruction to Elijah to show himself. Are you waiting for God’s command or response in any areas of your life?
Q. What things do you need to ‘ask and keep asking’ for in prayer? How can you encourage yourself to persevere in prayer?
Q. Think about your church community. Do you value hiddenness or focus more on platform culture? How could you better celebrate hiddenness and perseverance?
15 mins
Finish your time together by closing in prayer or splitting into small groups to pray for one another’s specific needs.
TThis week, try not to post anything on social media, or stop using social media altogether!
Be Still: A Simple Guide to Quiet times, Brian Heasley
