Break the ice. If you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be, and why?

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Read the following verses aloud to the group.

Proverbs 15:13
A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

Proverbs 18:14
A person’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?

Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

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Discuss the text. In Proverbs there is a condition of the human soul that is described as a crushed spirit. Those with a crushed spirit are not foolish; rather, their spirit is crushed because of another person’s foolishness or life in a fallen world. The world God made did not include death, racism, grief, injustice, crime, fractured relationships, cancer, poverty or welfare.The crushed in spirit are not a type of fool; they are the wounded.

1. Who are the wounded?
   
2. What happened to them?
   
3. What do they need?
   
4. What do you say to the wounded? How do you help them?
   
5. Have you ever had a crushed spirit?

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Home Group Focus: Fixed-hour prayer.

Over the last three weeks, we hope you have added at least one fixed time of prayer to your day.

This week, add one more form of fixed-hour prayer to a different part of your day, in a way that works for you, in order to pray for the wounded person in your life. As you honor this intentional moment with God, pause and pray for that person.

Ask God to assure them that He is with them, even though they may feel disappointed, hurt or overwhelmed. By stopping to pray, even if you have to set an alarm, trust God to cultivate an awareness of his presence with your friend, in all things, at all times of their day.