Session 3: Being His People (2/4)

1) Being together

Show up! You can't walk together without being together.

And all who believed were together....And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes......

(duh, remember I did say that these are ordered from easiest to hardest)

Emergencies are understandable, but no excuses. Here are some examples of things that are not emergencies: "I am so behind for this exam/assignment", "I need to go see friend/bf/gf", "I am double booked with this other meeting", etc.

I encourage all the groups to set a consistent time early in the semester that everyone is expected to work their schedule around. DG isn't something you can do in your spare time. If you are only willing to give a little spare time for it, please do everyone else a favour, don't join a group.

Story: "my first DG, 5:30am"

Story: "the eager, consistent father of 3"

Be there!

2) Prayer

No one is allowed to say I'll pray for you, and not actually do it everyday.

They devoted themselves...to prayer....

I have to admit, I put this as the second point, but this is actually pretty hard, because prayer is usually one of the first things to go when we get busy. You'll keep at your ministries and your obligations because of other people's expectations, but no one notices (at least right away) when you stop praying.

In my walk over the years, one of the best things to wake up to is to know that I had brothers praying for me, that a bell will resound in heaven for me multiple times a day. Even just the thought of that already strengthens me.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Prayer is not to be a secondary option to our consoling, counselling, or advice, we are not wrestling with just emotions or decisions. We will not gain victory on our own, we must call on Jesus' victory.

Therefore spend a good chunk of your meeting in prayer, don't worry so much that you're not "learning" anything. In all my years in DGs and watching them, prayer has always been the root of change.

Prayer is the simplest act of support for one another in Christ, so if you can't even commit 5 minutes a day to doing that for your group, what are you willing to do?