Intentional Conversations
Sometimes as believers, we have a hard time prioritizing having intentional conversations about our lives, especially our spiritual lives. Maybe it’s because we’re too busy to slow down and actually process with God and others what’s going on. Maybe it’s that we don’t have a person or people that we feel like we can be open and honest with. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to talk about anything else than to talk about what’s going on in our heart and in our life.
We do need to ask ourselves, at one point does talking about the latest news, our opinions in sports, our favorite tv shows and movies, politics, the weather or anything else nourish our soul? To a certain extent, they are temporarily enjoyable to talk about, but do they really deal with our hearts and tend to the most important parts of our lives? At some point, we can’t just stay on the surface, we have to go below it.
The reality is that I believe intentional conversations about the most important things in life are a discipline. Meaning, you have to establish a rhythm of doing it. Here are 4 intentional questions to guide weekly conversations between your spouse, your children, your friends, your Sunday school class, or whomever you have spiritual relationships with. These questions allow for honesty, accountability, encouragement, and lead you to pray with one another.
1. What's a "high" from the past week where you see evidence of God in your life? (reasons to praise)
2. What's a "low" where you feel desperate for God to show up? (reasons to pray)
3. What have you been doing to "abide" (grow in your trust and relationship) with God? (accountability and encouragement)
4. How are you serving others and sharing your faith? Let’s be praying for one another’s opportunities to serve and share, as well as the “lows” in the coming week. (pray and encourage)
God has brought us together and designed us for intentional relationships. Intentional conversations will always lead to intentional relationships. Take some time this week to initiate an intentional conversation. We were meant for this!
“Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
