Message: When Your Dreams Turn to dust
Week of October 18, 2009

Thematic Focus
Learning to lean hard on God when your faith journey leads you into the furnace and your dreams reach a dead end.

Main Points
What to do when dreams turn to dust:

·  Allow God to be your defender?
·  Remember what God can do?
·  Rely on what God has said?
·  Choose God over everything else?

Three ways God delivers us:

·  He changes circumstances
·  He changes us personally
·  He takes us from this life into eternity

Scriptural Lens:
· Daniel 3:1-30
· Habakkuk 3:17-18
· Luke 22:39-46

Pursuing clarity
Use the following structure to guide your personal reflection and/or discussion:

Opening Prayer
Take a moment to recognize Christ’s presence with you.

Opening Reflection
Why do you think people tend to run from God when He is the One who can bring us comfort?

Scriptural Focus
Take time to read the suggested Scriptures.

Group Discussion
Use these questions to reflect further:

1. Describe a time when "it" didn't happen for you. How did you respond to the outcome?
2. Why is running from God the only option other than submitting to Him?
3. Identify a time when you felt far from God. What led you to that place?
4. How do you normally respond when factors outside of your control hold you back?
5. What is hard about saying to God, "Do to me whatever seems good to you?"
6. Referencing Luke 22:42, what did Jesus desire more than anything?
7. How can praying, "Not my will, but yours be done," help a person know they have done all they can or should?
8. Identify times when you have experienced God's faithfulness.

Adjusting Focus
Take some time to reflect upon and answer the following questions:

How can I allow for God to be my defender? In what area of your life do you need to do so?

What do you need to remember about God and what He can do? How can you remind yourself?

Are you relying upon what God says in His word? What promises do you need to meditate upon?

Have you chosen God over everything else? What would this look like for you?

Maintaining Focus
How is God's Spirit prompting you to grow on the faith journey?

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Closing prayer
Take time at the close of your time together to pray for God’s assistance in the journey. Depending on how comfortable group members feel, here are some ways you could pray:

· Write out a personal prayer.
· Have the group facilitator or a designated member of the group pray.
· Have members of the group get into a smaller group to pray for one another.
· Have several members of the group pray aloud and then conclude.

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