START TALKING

When you were younger, what was something you found unthinkable or simply hard to understand - but yet you still believed it? Even now, what is something that seems unthinkable to you or impossible to understand, but yet you do it or use it or experience it often?

START THINKING

Now that you have a context for everything Daniel saw and the implications of the different elements of his vision, what do you think terrified him the most? What else do you think he was thinking? Can you relate to him saying he doesn't understand?

Read Daniel 8:15-19. How do you think this moment made Daniel feel and what do you think he may have been thinking? What does this part of the story tell you about the character and nature of God, especially when his plan or vision for our lives is so unthinkable?

What words or concepts do you see repeated in this passage? There are at least three. If repetition in the Old Testament acts as a way to emphasis important truths and principles, what do you think these things that are repeated could mean about the character of God and his relationship with those who follow him?

START SHARING

Read Isaiah 55:8-9 and Ephesians 3:1-6. What do these verses teach you or say to you? When have you personally experienced the ways and thoughts of God being higher than your own and/or how have experienced the "mystery of the Gospel"?

Why does what you read above require trusting more than understanding? How do you see Daniel trusting more than understanding in his final response to this vision in Daniel 8:27?

Daniel was terrified when he saw the vision and plan that God had. When have you felt this? What made it hard to understand and what made it "terrifying" or made you feel so unsure? How did you see the "Prince of princes" winning even if seemed that the enemy was winning?

START DOING

What is the vision that God has for you? It may be the starting point of following Jesus and giving Him your life, obeying a specific command or teaching from Scripture, or it may be a prompting or a "word" or "vision" that you believe the Holy Spirit has given you.

What are you going to do next about what you shared above?

How do the people in your life need to see you be a "Daniel" for them? Why do they need to see you resting in the truth that your thinking and God's thinking are on different levels and that you focus on trusting more than understanding? How can they see that through simply having a relationship with you? What do you need to do?

START PRAYING

Pray for what each of you shared in the Start Doing section. Commit to pray for each other through out the week and to hold each other accountable to do what God is telling you to do. Ask God to show you how the Prince of princes has won and is winning each and every day, even when it seems like the enemy is advancing!