9. Carefree

FLASHBACK

What did you experience with God this week?
In the last few days, did you have the opportunity to share an experience with God with someone close to you that doesn’t know Jesus yet? Or could you pray for them or help them practically?
Do you need God‘s help in an area of your life?

■ Pray together: Give thanks for your experiences, ask God for help where you need it.

■ Pray together to learn new things about God and that your relationship with God deepens and gets stronger.

BIBLE STUDY

Read the passage silently. What words or phrases stick out?
One person reads the passage out loud.
One person retells the passage in his/her own words (Bibles closed).
If necessary, the others complement what was said (Bibles closed).

Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Everyone by themselves:
- What words or phrases stick out now? Are there any differences to what you noticed before?
- Why do you feel drawn to those words or phrases?
- What can you learn about people?
- What could God be telling you?
Share in the group.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS & ACTION STEPS

■ Express your trust to God in a prayer. Tell Him that you trust Him that he provides you (and your heart!) with everything you need (see Psalm 37:3-4 and 1 Peter 5:7). In your prayer tell Him what you need (everyone by themselves).

■What concrete steps can you take to bind your heart to God’s Kingdom? Do you need to reset your priorities and, for example, stop doing something (an activity, a commitment, a relationship)? Share in pairs and then pray about it.

■ Ask the Heavenly Father to reveal to you and your heart more of what He’s like.

SCRIPTURE COMMENTS

How are we supposed to deal with worries and sorrows? If someone told you right now that you should just stop worrying – would you be able to do so? Presumably, your answer would be “No!”. Worry and sorrow are a matter of the heart and cannot be solved by the mind.

This is why Jesus first introduces God to us. He calls him “father” and we should call him that, too. First of all, this challenges our human perception of God: The creator of the universe is so good, so much more merciful, loving and closer than we could ever imagine! (Interesting side note: He even delegated the judgement to Jesus, He’s not judging himself! See John 5:22) Jesus challenges us to fully commit to this relationship to the Heavenly Father, to trust Him and to bind us to Him. Only then will our heart come to a rest. What does that mean for us practically?

■ Continuously proclaim who God is for you over your life (hold fast to how the Bible describes Jesus, or God, respectively).

■ Full of faith and expectation, ask for what you need rather than worrying about it (Philippians 4:6-7; James 1:5-6).

■ Make His Kingdom your first priority and invest your treasures (time, energy, money) in that Kingdom. Read Luke 12:32-34.

OTHER LANGUAGES