Overview

Was that unexpected $50 check from your uncle an answered prayer or a coincidence? What about how you met your spouse, or the encouragement you find in reading the Bible? Does it depend on how you "see" things?

In our modern, scientific world with its tendency to explain everything in human terms, Philip Yancey calls for eyes and ears of faith that bring us into cooperation with God, who is unseen but active in our lives today. This study will help you develop an awareness of how God is working in your life.

Table of Contents

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 55:8–9; Matthew 2:1–2; 10:40–42; 25:31–40; Mark 8:31–33; Luke 2:1–38; John 1:1, 14; Acts 2:1–13; 9:1–5; Romans 8:18–27; 1 Corinthians 2:6–16; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:15–20; Hebrews 11:1–3, 39–40; Revelation 1:4–8

LEADER'S GUIDE

• The Issue

Sample questions:

In what ways do you identify with Yancey’s story from his days on a Christian college campus in which "spiritual" behavior seemed completely "ordinary" to him?

What influences have shaped your view of what is ordinary and what is supernatural?

Why might some people have the opposite tendencythat is, ascribing divine influence to every circumstance of daily life? For what reasons would you agree or disagree with that point of view?

• The Scriptures

Sample Scriptures:

Colossians 1:15–20: What does Christ tell us about God? What is Christ doing that we cannot see physically?

Revelation 1:4–8: How is Christ depicted in this passage? What difference does it make whether we believe this?

• The Application

Sample application questions:

What evidences of the natural and the supernatural do you see in your daily life?

What answers to prayer seem to defy a purely natural, rational explanation?

How do these answers shed a new light on your life and the people in it?

• Recommended Resources

ARTICLE FROM CHRISTIANITY TODAY

• Hearing the World in a Higher Key, by Philip Yancey (August 6, 1986, 24 printed pages)

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