Discussion Questions
Choose the questions for your group; no pressure to use all of them.
Start Off
- Spend some time checking in by going around and sharing one word to describe your past week, and why you picked that word.
- Jeff talked about the connection between farming and patience. What experience have you had with farming? Or gardening, landscaping, keeping a potted plant at your desk, growing a Chia pet, etc.?
- Where do you tend to lose patience (ex. traffic, lines, technology, or people)? Why do you think that is?
Reflect on God’s Word
- Read James 5:7-11. What imagery or example (farmer, prophets, Job) stands out most to you and why?
- What does this passage say about what can come from patience?
- Read Romans 5:1-5. Long-suffering is the ability to suffer long, to hang in there when things take too long, to not get so angry, discouraged, or frustrated that we quit doing what we need to be doing. It is the ability to put up with something without giving up or blowing up. How does God use times of suffering long to help us grow?
- Jeff warned against grumbling. What are some subtle (or not-so-subtle) ways that complaining can creep into your life?
Go Deeper
- Jeff said, “God is often doing a deeper work IN you than the work you are asking him to do FOR you.” How have you seen growth in your relationship with God through patience in suffering?
- Who tends to feel the effects of your impatience the most? What would it look like to love them well this week?
- Which of the three takeaways to grow in patience do you most need this week: change your mindset, watch your attitude, or trust God’s bigger plan?
- What is one specific situation where you need to “wait like a farmer” and practice patience this week?
Pray
- As a group, take a moment to share pray about one another’s situations: surrender your timeline to God, ask for patience in the specific situations, and invite God to grow something deeper in the wait.
- You can also end the time with this prayer: God of PATIENCE, by the power of the Holy Spirit, fill us with your PATIENCE, so that it will overflow out of us, each day and every way, in the week ahead. Amen.
VERSE TO MEDITATE ON AND MEMORIZE THIS WEEK
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. (James 5:7 NIV)
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE (BETWEEN MEETINGS)
- Day 1 – Identify the Waiting: Read James 5:7. Patience begins by acknowledging where you feel stuck or frustrated. Write down 1-2 areas where you’re waiting on God. Pray: “God, help me trust you in the waiting.”
- Day 2 – Think Like a Farmer: Read James 5:7-8. Farmers do their part and trust what they cannot control. Ask, “What is my responsibility? What is God’s?” Do your part and release God’s part. Pray: “Lord, help me do what I can and trust you with what I can’t.”
- Day 3 – Watch Your Attitude: Read James 5:9. Waiting often reveals our impatience through complaining or frustration. Go one full day without complaining; instead, replace it with gratitude. Pray: “God, guard my words and help me reflect you to others.”
- Day 4 – Trust God’s Bigger Plan: Read Romans 5:3-4. God uses waiting to grow perseverance, character, and hope. Reflect on a past season when waiting produced growth in you. Pray: “Father, help me trust that you are doing something deeper in me.”
- Day 5 – Choose Slow: Read Psalm 27:14. Waiting is not wasted; it forms us. Intentionally slow down today (drive slower, choose the longer line, pause before reacting). Pray: “God, slow my soul and grow patience in me.”