Fervent by Priscilla Shirer

Week 8: Strategy 7 — Your Relationships

Read Strategy 7 of Fervent by Priscilla Shirer. Key Scriptures: John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:3.

The enemy knows that isolated believers are far more vulnerable than connected ones, and so he works overtime to sow division, offense, and distance in our most important relationships. These questions ask you to look honestly at the relational battlegrounds in your life.

Discussion Questions

7 questions

1.Priscilla argues that the enemy specifically targets our closest relationships — marriages, friendships, church communities — because unity and love between believers is one of the most powerful testimonies to the watching world. Which of your relationships has been under the most noticeable spiritual attack recently?

2.She identifies offense as one of the enemy's favorite entry points into relationships — a small wound that, left untreated, grows into bitterness and distance. Where is there an unaddressed offense in one of your important relationships right now?

3.Priscilla calls us to pray *for* the people we are in conflict with — not as a technique to get them to change, but as a genuine act of love that changes us first. Have you ever experienced that? What happened when you prayed seriously for someone you were struggling to like?

a.What makes it hard to pray for someone who has hurt you?

b.What would you need to believe about God for that kind of prayer to be possible?

4.Ephesians 4:3 urges us to be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The word *eager* implies effort and initiative. Who do you need to move toward in your relational world — someone from whom you have allowed distance to grow?

5.Priscilla addresses the particular pain of relational loss — friendships that ended, family estrangements, church wounds. How should we pray for relationships that seem beyond repair? What does hope look like in that context?

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Closing Prayer

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Father, You have called us to love one another as You have loved us — and we confess how far we fall short. We have nursed offenses, avoided hard conversations, withdrawn behind busyness and self-protection. Forgive us. Show us where the enemy has used a small wound to create a lasting wall. Give us the courage and the humility to move toward the people we have moved away from. Teach us to pray for our enemies, our offenders, and the difficult people in our lives with the same love You pray for us. Bind the enemy's strategy of division in every relationship we name before You now. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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