Monday mornings are a time when 7 of us men get together for coffee and encouraging each other to prioritize God in our lives. 1 Peter 4:8 says: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” As we learned to live out this verse with deep personal sharing, we have all experienced life changing results!
Having questions to go deeper in conversation is always helpful. These 7 questions allow a person to first of all discover things they hadn’t recognized in themselves. These will be helpful as they bring to mind insights for prayer and celebration with our fellow believers.
There is plenty of room in these questions to go deep into our personal lives to find areas where God would demonstrate His love, grace, and healing. As we share our deep thoughts with those close to us, we find greater strength as we pursue God’s greatest blessings!
Things I am anxious about.
What I am happy about.
Some things I may be ashamed about in my life.
Reasons to celebrate.
Anger, sadness, or bitterness in my life.
Blessings to be thankful for.
What I am pleased about with my life? (Romans 12:3)
What question(s) may you be able to add to these? Your response will be highly valued.
I love how open-ended and straightforward they are. And they’re connected to encouraging emotional honesty, a core part of 12 Steps to God and growing as a Christian.
One practice I learned from the chair of the board of this ministry is to do what’s called a “State of the Heart” exercise at the start of a meeting. It’s one question: What are three words that describe your heart?
What I’ve seen modeled is sharing emotional words and explaining what circumstances, thoughts, or experiences are connected to that emotional reality.
It allows each person to be as open or guarded as they want and to discuss the more significant emotional experiences with each other.
I look forward to hearing other questions that prompt meaningful sharing for small groups. We need to find ways to genuinely connect with one another.
Thank you! I am going to use that question this week. Such a great question! I love the simplicity of it, and potential depths of conversation it opens up.
That was a great discussion starter. Our group had to give considerable thought to come up with the answers. Once we started around, it picked up quickly. Everyone was very blessed as they thought about the good parts of their hearts, and the areas we needed growth.