The Holy Spirit can seem like a mysterious, ethereal being in our faith journey, but who is the Holy Spirit, how does the Spirit participate in our lives, and how do we become more attentive to the Holy Spirit? Knowing the Holy Spirit is more than just studying him or reading about him in a book; we are meant to experience the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives which impacts our relationship with God and others. 

Group Discussion Guide

To view the Group Leader Guide for this week, click here.
To view a .doc version of the discussion guide, click here.

Introduction

Spend a few minutes checking in with each other as a group: Ask about everyone’s highs and lows of the week, as well as what they are looking forward to for the rest of the year. 

After your time of connecting, begin your meeting with prayer.  

Key Verse for the Week  

*Read this verse, then encourage the practice of memorization through the week. 

John 6:63 

“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” 

**When practiced consistently, memorizing Bible verses can be an important spiritual practice that centers your mind around the truth that God has given us. 

Connect 

• Are you someone who likes to receive help from others? What makes you feel this way?  
• How would your life be different if you always had someone available to rely on for help and direction?  
• What are your thoughts on who the Holy Spirit is? How often do you think about the Holy Spirit and your relationship with him?  
• What is your experience with the Holy Spirit? How do you think you can tell the voice of the Holy Spirit from your own voice or voices of the world? 

Opening Thought  

When thinking about following Jesus, sometimes we can get to a place where we have a desire to follow him but get caught up in the how part. Thankfully, God has given us a helper through Himself called the Holy Spirit! Who is the Holy Spirit, though, and how can he help us follow Jesus? We can learn some answers to this through discovering what the Bible has to say about who the Holy Spirit is and how to interact with him. By learning these things, we can start to answer the question of how we can follow and relate to Jesus well.  

This leads us to our big idea for this week:  

Big idea for the week
We can relate to God through the Holy Spirit

Unpack 

Go around your group and have someone read each of the following verses, then discuss the connected questions: 

Read

John 16:13-15 

Romans 15:13 

Discuss

• Based on these verses, what do you think the role of the Holy Spirit is in your life? 
• How can the Holy Spirit guide us in our lives? How does the Holy Spirit help you understand Jesus better? Why is this important in how we follow Jesus? 
• What do you think “overflowing with confident hope” looks like? How could trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to do this change the way you live? 

Read

1 John 2:24-27 

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 

1 Corinthians 2:11-14 

Discuss

• In what ways do you think the Holy Spirit teaches or challenges us in our lives?  
• How can relying on the Holy Spirit for guidance help us follow Jesus well? How can this lead us to be more like Jesus? 
• Why can you trust what you feel the Holy Spirit leads you to do or say?  
• If you are comfortable, share a time you have experienced the Holy Spirit guiding you in a major decision in your life? How did you know it was the Holy Spirit? Why did you decide to follow this guidance? 

Apply 

Based on the verses we just read, there are some things that we can do in response. Take a moment to discuss these questions as a group to decide what your personal action steps for the week can be: 

• What is one way you will invite the Holy Spirit to be present in your life before doing something challenging over the next couple of weeks? 
• What is one way you will ask the Holy Spirit to teach you more about Jesus and how to follow him over the next week? 
• How will we focus on inviting the Holy Spirit to be present in the way we spend time together from now on? 

Closing 

Read this to your group and then move to the Prayer and Verses section: 

When we spend time with the Holy Spirit, we can connect with God more completely in our lives. Part of how we do this is to rely on the Holy Spirit to illuminate who Jesus is. This week, spend time trying to focus on this relationship so we can learn how to follow Jesus better in our lives and grow closer to God.  

Prayer and Verses 

Ask for prayer requests and conclude your time with prayer then share the Key Verse for the Week and Daily Devotional Verses with the group. 

Daily Devotional Verses  

Talk about the Daily Devotional Verses, send them to your group, and check in next week to see what people are learning in their time spent using them. 

Use the S.O.A.K. method to reflect on the verses below. 

Scripture: Read the verses several times. Reading out loud can be helpful as well. 
Observation: What can you see about the scripture you read? 
Application: What is God wanting you to believe, do, or feel, based on what you have read? 
Kneel in Prayer: This is a chance to talk to God about what you have read and ask him for help in living out what you’ve learned. 

Day 1: Psalm 139:7-8 
Day 2: John 16:7-11
Day 3: 2 Corinthians 3:17 
Day 4: Romans 8:11 
Day 5: 1 Corinthians 12:13 
Day 6: Galatians 4:6 

Key Verse for the Week  

John 6:63 

“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”