SOAP Entry 4: Acts 26

Acts 26: Paul tells his life story to a king

Scripture: (verse 4-6)
"The Jews all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today."

Observation: 
Do you realize how crazy all this is? In this passage, Paul was taken as prisoner and had to defend his case before a King. Not just a judge and jury, but THE KING. If I was in his position, I know that I would be terrified. Kings had so much power, they could kill you if they wanted to, they had the final say. But Paul boldly told his life story to this King. He spoke of who he used to be, and who he was now. He wasn't even afraid! He honestly believed the truth he spoke and that event the King would believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Nothing he spoke could be argued against, because it is the truth. 


I think that it is so awesome that Paul could tell his testimony before someone who had so much influence. Can you imagine? If the King came to Christ, he could even decree in his lands that no one could be persecuted for being a Christian! He could tear down all idols! He could order true worship in the synagogues (churches)! Paul was in such a great position to share his story.


Application:




I am trying to think of the last time I really shared my testimony with someone. When was the last time that I really shared what Christ has done in my life? I know it has probably been awhile for many reasons: because I have been extremely disobedient to God and didn't want to be seen as a hypocrite, because I didn't think my story had value. But, it does have value. Any testimony of what God has done has value and could influence someones life towards Christ. But I have been hiding that, hiding JESUS, from people because I don't want to "look bad." Because I have been ashamed. 


The only way to apply what I have read is to actually share my testimony with someone. To be honest and truthful about what my life has been like: my mistakes, what I have overcome, what I still struggle with. Because at the end of the day, God's truth will be shown to them, even if I am a messed up person. (Don't get me wrong, that does not mean that I should not change areas of my life that do not line up with God's Word. I definitely need to live a life that lines up! I am just saying that I should not let fear and pride keep me from sharing the Gospel, and how it has impacted me.)


Prayer:
Father, I just pray for boldness. Not only in sharing the Gospel and my testimony, but in making a radical life change so that my life lines up with who you desire me to be. Your word says (in 2 Timothy 1:7, amplified version) "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." I know that means that through your spirit Lord, I have the power to have self-control over my actions. That I don't have to do what pleases myself, but I can choose to please you.  That I can share my story with love and be calm (instead of afraid) of sharing it. I pray for these things in Jesus name. Amen.

SOAP Entry 3: Acts 17

Acts 17: Scenes from Paul's Missionary Journey

Scripture: Verses 16-18 (The Message Version)

Scripture: "The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got—all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols. He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: "What an airhead!" But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: "That's a new slant on the gods. Tell us more."


Observation: The more I read about Paul, the more I want to get on his level. Seriously, this guy was no joke. He went from city to city knocking out anything that was not the Truth about Jesus, and explaining it so clearly that everyone could understand. Everywhere he went he was talking about Jesus.

Application: Now, I don't travel to a whole bunch of towns, so it is not exactly feasible that I can go and share the Truth about Jesus, the Gospel, to every city I come across. But I look at my life and see that there are so many opportunities for me to share Christ everywhere I go. When I go to the store, catch the bus, go to the library, go to campus...every place I go to gives me the opportunity to share. But I never look at it as an opportunity. I'm always so quick to get in and get out, run my errands and be done with it. (Like I have something way more important to do *yeah right*)

Last Thursday I went with my friend Nikki and an on-campus ministry to go do "Contact Evangelism" downtown. I've never done evangelism in this way: just randomly walking down the street, asking people questions about their beliefs in God. It wasn't nearly as nerve wreaking as I expected. Honestly, I had planned to just go watch and learn from the group, because I didn't feel like I knew what to say. But somewhere in there, God used me to talk to a guy who had a similar spiritual background as me. He grew up in the Church, was very involved, but once he came to college he wasn't sure what his relationship with Jesus was supposed to be like, or if he even had one. He lost that community feel from his home-church and kinda just fell of the church scene. I was totally able to relate and through talking to him he was actually interested in coming to church and bible study again.

It's so crazy, it was so simple. Just ask people what they think about God/Jesus, and let the conversation roll from there. If no one wants to talk about it, you just keep it moving. The rejection wasn't even all that bad. I wanted to do that again, and now after reading this passage, I am challenged to do it. There are so many who don't know about Jesus. Who have no clue about who he is. And I could be the one who plants the seed, who gets them thinking about if Jesus should be a part of their life. Hopefully we will be doing that again this week. But if we don't, hey, I guess I can do it all on my own!

Prayer:
My prayer is that I will have a heart that desire to share the Gospel. That my hunger and thirst for God's Word will be insatiable- that I will always want and need more.  That through my growth in my relationship with Jesus, and my experiences with His love will prompt me to want to share that experience with others.

It's funny how...

It's funny how just when you start getting a break through, you get distracted by other things in life. I jus glanced at my last post & realized how the past week has not followed the flow of what I gained at that service. That I went back to how things were before I heard what I did.

I also noticed how I was barely 2 days into studying the Life of Paul before I fell off the wagon. But I'm going to get back on it. I know that my lack of time with God is what allows me to be easily swayed and distracted.

That being said, I intend to get back to my study ASAP (hopefully posting tomorrow morning).

Toodles,
~K~

Somethings about to give...

The service at church yesterday was phenomenal. I mean, it usually is, don't get me wrong, but it was amazing in so many ways.

It was like God was looking into my heart and answering questions I had not yet asked. This was the 2nd time in the past year that someone I completely didn't know spoke life into me. It was first Sunday, which at our church is Baptism Sunday. My best friend Nikki was getting baptized, and we were all excited about it. After the baptisms, our church went into full praise and worship mode. You could just feel God's presence there and I started praying. The scripture reading for the day had been in Psalms 107. So I started reading further and was struck by what I read:

(vs 8-15) Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.So he subjected them to bitter labor;they stumbled, and there was no one to help.Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,and he saved them from their distress.He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men...

I could see myself all in this passage. I was that person who had rebelled against God's Word, and didn't want to hear anything he was trying to tell them. I was that person who was stumbling and couldn't find help anywhere. And then suddenly, here I am calling out to God for help, and he swooped down to save me.  I'm praying and crying and the woman next to me just starts praying for me and speaking to me. I won't repeat everything that she told me (because a- I don't remember everything & b- something things I'm not ready to share) but essentially, she was telling me how much God loved me. How much He just wanted me to trust Him so He could work in my life. How he had great plans for my life that I wouldn't be able to even understand.

Her words echoed the words that a lady spoke to me at a conference last fall. I knew that it was no coincidence, and that God was really speaking to me through this lady. I've been so scared to trust God, not sure of what His plans for me would be, not sure if I'd be able to step up to the plate and do what He wanted. Scared that I would mess up more than I'd succeed. Scared that my messed up life would overpower anything I had to say about God. But even after the past year of disobedience and me being a mess- God was still telling me He wanted to use me. And that I didn't have to do anything to "fix" my life except trust Him.

Right now, I'm looking at my life with a clean slate. Much like the Life of Paul that I have been reading. I messed up like he did- but God is calling me like He called Paul (I am in no way saying I'm at the same level as Paul- please don't get it twisted, I'm just saying I was a hot mess like Paul.) Paul didn't try to fix up what he did wrong in the past. He just moved forward in the new life God gave him immediately. And that has been my problem, not moving into what God tells me immediately. I just kept living life as I had been doing, not making any type of radical change. And of course, I ended up in the same state as I was before.

But this time, I want things to be different. I plan to be a new person. I don't care about who I was, or how I messed up my witness by all the sin in my life. I am not the same person anymore, and I'm going to prove it.
All I can ask is for you to pray for me, that I will be comprehend God's "unfailing Love" and see the work He has planned for my life. And that I will grow in my lifestyle of Trusting Him.

~Kallista~

SOAP Entry Day 2: Acts 16

SOAP Journal Entry 2
Acts 16: Paul's Macedonian Call and Jail Break

Scripture: 
I had a hard time choosing which part of the passage stood out the most to me. I narrowed it down two parts of the story: Acts 16:14-15 and Acts 16:30-34.

Act 16:14-15 "One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us."

Acts 16:30-34 "He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family. 

In both these parts, they talk about someone in their whole family believing in Jesus, being saved, and being baptized.

Observation:
I was just given an awesome reminder of how simple salvation is. Really, it is just "Believing in the Lord Jesus." That statement is so intense. Believing in the Jesus is recognizing him for who He is: The Son of God, the Lord (Master) of our lives, that He truly did die on the cross for our sins and was resurrected to life.  But what is awesome is, that it doesn't have to take forever to believe, you can hear the truth and accept it. With the story of Lydia and the story of the Jailer, they both believed what they heard for Paul and were baptized.  They didn't have to wait to get their lives together, they didn't have to give up something, they just had to believe.

Application:
Honestly, i had to take a step back. The word "Lord" was used 3 times in  this passage, and most of the time I don't take time to think of what being Lord really means. Lord: a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler. I'm quite sure I don't always treat Jesus like he is truly the Lord of my life. I accept him as my savior, but not as my Lord. 

The best way I can think to apply this scripture is to look at Jesus as the Ruler of my life. To place him in the place of the authority that he should be holding, instead of me trying to be the one in control all the time.




Prayer:
Father, I struggle so much with allowing you to be the Lord of my life. But from your Word I can see that being a follower of Christ means letting Him be in charge of my life in its entirety. I pray that you will teach me to be humble, obedient, patient and disciplined. . I pray for reminders daily that I am not in control but that you are. This is a hard prayer to pray because I know it won't be easy and that you are a God who will follow through. But I am excited to see how you  will give me more opportunities to trust you, and seek peace in you. I thank you and praise you in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Soap Entry 1: Acts 9

SOAP Journal Entry 1
Acts 9- The Conversion of Saul

Scripture: Verse 13-16
"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name." But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."


Observation:
I have read the story of Saul/Paul so many times since I was little, but never has this story felt like it applied to me. But as I am reading about Saul, and how he was someone who did things completely against God, I am hit by how God still wanted to use him. In many ways I am not like Saul. I did not persecute Christians. And I have definitely never killed any Christians.

But I have, especially lately, given Christians a bad name. I have walked under the title of Christian, but my lifestyle has been everything but. I have done things I am ashamed of and I know these things are not an example of what a person who is following Christ Jesus would do. So in that way, I am just like Saul. I did things that were completely against Christ.  But still, for some reason I know I will never completely understand, God still wants to know me and even use me.

I also feel like I can relate to Ananias. I have heard God telling me to do things many times, and just did not want to follow it. Thinking it was not the right plan for my life. And during those occasions, I did not obey what God told me to do. But I don't want to be like that. I want to follow in Ananias' example and hear God's voice AND obey what he tells me to do.

Application:
Saul gave me a very real example of someone repenting. He made a complete 180 degree turn in his life. He turned from being against Christians to being a Christian. He went from hating Christ to loving Christ. I feel I can do that too. I can turn from my lifestyle of pleasing myself and doing what I want to truly loving and following God in every aspect of my life. Right now my biggest struggles are in my relationships and dealing with my future (as far as what my career should be, especially if it is not what I planned).

Prayer:
Father, I just really thank you for not letting me read this passage again for the millionth time and not getting  anything out of it. I thank you for helping me to see myself in Saul: my sinful, disobedient self and seeing how just like Saul, I can make a complete turn around and even be someone who does great things in your name. I pray that you will teach me to love you unconditionally. That you will help to get to know you on a real and intimate level. And I pray for you to show me any other areas of my life where I am putting myself before you, so that I can make the necessary changes.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

~Kallista~

Two Weeks on the Life & Teaching of Paul

I was looking at some Bible study guides online, and I found some really great ones online. The one I'm planning to start is "Two Weeks on the Life & Teachings of Paul." My personal Bible study has seriously been lacking as of late, so I think that writing about what I read will also be helpful as far as me reflecting on what I've read. I plan on using the S.O.A.P Devotional Journal Model to do this. 

The SOAP model is:

Scripture: write out a verse for the day's reading that stands out to you

Observation: write down your observations about what the passage is saying

Application: write down how you can apply this passage to your life

Prayer: Pray for Gods help to apply the passage to your life

Anywho,  here is the reading plan I plan to follow & you can follow along with me if you want :)

Two Weeks on the Life and Teachings of Paul

Day 1, Acts 9: The conversion of Saul
Day 2, Acts 16: Paul's Macedonian call and a jailbreak
Day 3, Acts 17: Scenes from Paul's missionary journey
Day 4, Acts 26: Paul tells his life story to a king
Day 5, Acts 27: Shipwreck on the way to Rome
Day 6, Acts 28: Paul's arrival in Rome
Day 7, Romans 3: Paul's theology in a nutshell
Day 8, Romans 7: Struggle with sin
Day 9, Romans 8: Life in the Spirit
Day 10, 1 Corinthians 13: Paul's description of love
Day 11, 1 Corinthians 15: Thoughts on the afterlife
Day 12, Galatians 5: Freedom in Christ
Day 13, Ephesians 3: Paul's summary of his mission

Day 14, Philippians 2: Imitating Christ

Here are some resources for starting your own SOAP Devotional Journal if you're interested.

S.O.A.P. Devotional Journal 

Sample SOAP Journal entry
Zondervan Bible Reading Plans

ttyl, 

~Kallista~