Imagine Immeasurably More- Week 2

Icebreaker: You’re the host of a late night talk show. Who’s the first person you’d invite on as a guest?

Study:

Read 2 Kings 6:8-23

It may help to split up the story into 4 sections and have 4 different people read. Verses 8-10, 11-14, 15-19, 20-23. 

1- What are your first reactions to this crazy but awesome story? 

• Leader Note: It is helpful to simply discuss scripture without an agenda. Give your group the freedom to talk about this story for a few minutes without any sort of guidance to what was preached on Sunday or what type of answers are desired. We’ll get to Sunday’s message next. 
• If silence abounds, ask: what do you think about God giving away the enemy’s plans to Elisha? 

2- Have you ever felt like God was taking your plans for life and thwarting them like He did with the enemy king? 

GOD’S PERSPECTIVE (v.17)

3- What did Elisha do for the servant in this story? And how did he do it?  

• He helped the servant see God was acting in the situation. He did it through prayer.

4-  Is there anyone in your life currently who can be the Elisha for the decisions, problems, and challenges you face? 

5- What are the circumstances in your life right now (or recently) that could use prayer to see from God’s perspective?

GOD’S PLAN (v.18-20)

6- When reading that chariots of fire were surrounding the enemy and Elisha, our minds immediately jump to conclusions as to how God would solve this problem. How did God’s actual plan differ from the way we might think it should be resolved?

• Leader Note: God’s plan is different from ours, but it’s better. My first thought when reading this, was “oh, the chariots of fire from God are going to kill all the enemies” The Israelite King is also a good example in verse 22. 

7- How do you think Elisha knew what to ask of God when he said “Strike this people with blindness...”?

8- Prayer is a pathway toward understanding God’s plan for our lives. Have you seen this to be true personally? If so, share with the group.

GOD’S PURPOSE (v.22-23)

9- What was different about God’s purposes in this story versus the purposes that man had? 

10- The King of Israel saw a chance at winning a battle. Elisha saw an opportunity to end the war. Why do you think it is difficult for us to pass up momentary satisfaction for long-term peace and purpose? How can you try to pass up momentary satisfaction for the long term purposes of God?

Next Steps:

11- If you wrote down prayer requests and the things people were praying about from last week, ask for an update now! If you did not do it last week, you can use this space to ask: How can we as a group partner in prayer with you this week? 

12- What situations are you praying about right now? How can you pray to see them from God’s perspective?

13- Share with the group how the 21 days of prayer is going for you. (i.e. Have you been consistent? Why or why not? How have you seen change already taking place in your life? What’s something cool that happened in connection with your prayer request?)