INTRODUCTION

You can control your destiny. The secret to life is realizing your full potential. Popular self-help messages offer you the chance to take control of your life - kinda god-like. In comparison, Christ's command to "take up your cross and follow me" doesn't sound too appealing. It requires giving up some control. It requires a sense of surrender. But is that a bad thing? If faith is confidence that God is who he says he is, then doesn't it make sense to relinquish control and invite him to come alive in your life?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How much control do we really have in our lives? Are we victims of fate, or do we determine our own futures?
   
   
2. What areas of your life are you unwilling to surrender to God?
   
   
3. Read John 12:49-50. Why does Jesus surrender so willingly to his father? Is this a passive response? Why is surrendering control so hard for people?
   
   
4. Read John 14:13. How does this verse influence the way you pray?
   
   
5. Why does experiencing brokenness or weakness in life help so many people come to faith in Jesus?
   
   
6. What would it look like to live by faith financially, relationally, professionally, morally, at home, as a parent?
   
   

THINK ABOUT IT

Faith is not about moving God to embrace our agendas. It is about being moved to embrace his agenda. As Jesus demonstrates for us, great faith is reflected in great surrender. Lots of people come to this place of surrender on their own or as a result of broken seasons in their lives. Either way, yielding control of our lives to God is an invitation for him to come alive in us in ways that genuinely helps us realize our full potentials. How can you best express your faith?

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

This week, start your days by praying, "I'm going to live as if you are who you say you are and will do everything you have promised to do. Let your will be done in my life."

CHANGING YOUR MIND

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that is we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14-15