things that get in the way of your thankfulness expose what really motivates you each day? 2. As a Christian, describe to me who you truly are…in other words, what is your truest identity? Why do you think it’s so easy to forget who you truly are? What can you and I do to remind one another of our true identity in Christ? Take some time to brainstorm a few specific ideas together. 3. How can something as simple as an attitude of thankfulness change your attitude toward both good and bad circumstances in life? How can we help one another to live life with an attitude of thankfulness each day?
FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION These aspects of the study can be used in between group sessions on your own, either with your spouse or individually as part of your devotional and confessional life. Do Something During the week ahead, turn your learning into doing. 1. Sit down and process what have been the obstacles preventing you from seeing spiritual effectiveness and fruit in your life. Jot down those specific obstacles and ask another trusted man in your life to regularly ask you about how you’re proactively eliminating those obstacles. In addition to that, take time to pray together with that trusted man and ask the Lord to give you the persistence and strength to remove the barriers in your way of spiritual fruit. Be sure to pray for spiritual fruit in his life too. 2. List ways you can “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue” (2 Peter 1: 5) by the power of God’s Spirit, and ask the people closest to you to keep you accountable for that effort. Set practical goals that are attainable within specific periods of time as well. 3. Each week (perhaps on a Sunday after church), gather your family together and have everyone list the things they are thankful for on a slip of paper. Go around and take turns sharing what everyone is thankful for, and then collect the papers and store them each week in a jar or some kind of container. Then at Thanksgiving or Christmas time, gather all the slips of paper together in one large pile and select several to read out loud for your family to hear and remember what they were thankful for from the last several months. When this activity is done, pray together as a group and thank the Lord for all that he’s done for you and your family. Search Me, O God For introspection during the coming week. Ask God to give you a deep sense of thankfulness in your life for his provision in both the big and smaller things. Pray that the Holy Spirit would convict you of the areas of life you complain about and have trouble finding something to be truly grateful for. Ask him to give you the faith you need to live with gratitude, regardless of your circumstances, and ask him to help you model a life of thankfulness for your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and church family members.
Session 3
MEN OF FAITH
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