Read Luke 12:49-56. This week, what signs have you seen in the growth of your faith?
Where is there fire?
What is there divisions?
If you use the image of a weather map to describe your spiritual life, what does it forecast?
Read Luke 12:52-53 and Micah 7:6-7. Luke 12:53 is an allusion/quote of Micah 7:6. How does Micah 7:7 help in dealing with responsive to divisions about matters of faith with family and friends?
How can you tell if it is your faith that strains the relationship or the way you express that faith?
With the promise that God hears, what are you led to pray today?
Read Luke 12:50. Jesus' death was like a baptism - a drowning flood of judgement for our sins. His death washes away our sins. Why do you think Jesus is so eager for this baptism?
What is causing the stress and constraint as He moves toward Jerusalem and the cross?
What will bring relief?
How does the cross bring relief to your times of stress in life? How can you turn the stressor into a prayer.
Read Luke 12:49. What are some positive and negative uses of fire?
How is Jesus using the word "fire" here?
What "fire" is (or has been) blazing at your faith? What has been the result?
When your faith is tested, where do you turn?
What have you learned recently about yourself from such tests of faith?
Read Luke 12:51 and John 14:27. What's the difference between the "no peace" of one and the "offer of peace" in the other?
What has Jesus brought to your faith relationship with your family and friends: division or peace?
How does that lead you to pray for them today?
Read Luke 12:54-56. Why do people care enough about the weather to predict and prepare for it?
Why do people fail to bring such care and preparations for their own walk with God how is the "weather forecast" for your faith life today?