The Practice of Generosity: March 10-16, 2024
Conversation Starter:
-When have you experienced generosity?
-Share an experience when being generous felt really good
Previous Week Review:
1) Take ten minutes in quiet and solitude and ask God to show you where you have sinned against someone in the last week. It can be through thoughtlessness, neglect, anger or other emotion or action. Write them down and go through them one at a time and ask for God’s forgiveness. Note the result if any from this activity.
2) Ask a close friend or family member to help you see your blind spots. Ask them questions like “What do I do that hurts you?”, “How could I better love you?”, “What is it like to be with me?”, “Do my conversations focus on me primarily or on others?” Take notes and then confess your sin as you are ready to release them to God.
3) With paper and pen, in quiet, ask the Holy Spirit to help you review the last week where you had experiences that resulted in negative emotions and actions. Take time to pray though the list where you felt sin took hold based on your internal and/or external response.
4) Read through a Psalm or other biblical passage and note where you have fallen short on what is written about in the passage and then confess your sin to God. Look for joy as a result of the prayer time.
· What were some successes? What were some difficult things?
Group Readings and Discussion: How is God generous towards us?
Read the following scriptures together.
Genesis 2:7 - Created man
Psalms 46:1 - Refuge, strength, help
Luke 24:49, John 14:25-27 – The Holy Spirit
Romans 6:23- Eternal Life
In what other ways has God been generous to you?
WHAT IS GENEROSITY?
Generosity is the willingness to give away one’s time, talent, money, objects, forgiveness, and presence liberally to others. Practicing radical generosity means being open-handed. It’s also evident when you reserve judgement on someone’s words or actions and give them the benefit of the doubt.
· How does God desire for us to live?
Read Deuteronomy 15:10-11, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
· How does God instruct the Israelites to be generous?
· What does giving grudgingly, reluctantly or from compulsion look like? What might cause you to give in that way?
Matthew 6:1-4
· What does this passage teach about generosity?
Mark 12:41-44
· What do we learn about generosity from this story?
Proverbs 11:24
· How does the practice of generosity work in God’s economy?
· Where have you witnessed this principle around you or in your own life?
· How have you received a generous gift from God through others?
· When do you know it’s God’s prompting for you to help or be generous to someone?
Practice together:
Take 1-2 minutes of silence to pray and reflect on what you have read.
Discuss ways God is prompting you to extravagant generosity.
Ideas for practice this week:
1. Set a goal to show generosity towards someone in a new way this week such as: spend time with them, give more than asked or required, give something you own to someone that would enjoy it, give money in a new way or help someone in need beyond what they ask you to do.
2. Pray for someone you are helping or are being prompted to help.
3. Watch for and jot it down when you see acts of generosity demonstrated to you and others. Thank God and others for being generous.
4. Put some thought into how “scarcity”, the feeling of not having enough, guides your practice of generosity. Write down instances that came up this week when you reacted with scarcity rather than generosity.
5. Notice if you feel begrudging or reluctant to share with others. Do you see a pattern? Are there specific types of people you resist the prompting to help? Examine how you could overcome that in your life.
Preparation for next week:
Come to the Community next week ready to share something from your practice this week.
