Roni's S.O.A.P.s

roni · roni on October 20th 2008, 10:43 am

This morning I read the wrong scripture, but what I got was good.
S. Job Chapter 9
O. Who are we compared to God? God made all things and knows all things. He is might and must be praised. He is in control of everything. Job asks for an arbitrator between he and God. We now have that in Jesus Christ. Job knew he was unclean and that he could not face God because he was a fallen man. Jesus is the answer to going to God.
A. Am I using Jesus as my arbitrator between me and God?
P. God, I thank you that you sent your Son to die in our place sot hat we can boldly go to your throne through him.

roni · roni on October 28th 2008, 8:29 am

s. Mark 1:17-18 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." at once they left their nets and followed him.

o. Jesus saw Simon and Andrew working at their job which was fishing. The verse tells us that "they left their nets and followed him." They did not stop to discuss it with each other or with anyone else. They obeyed immediately.

a. I have to ask myself, am I going to obey Jesus when he tells me to do something immediately like Simon and Andrew did, or am I going to discuss it with the preacher, friends, others before I do anything. From now one I will obey immediately when Jesus tells me to go or do something for him.

p. Lord, I ask that you give me the strength and wisdom to know when you are telling me to do something and to actually do it.

roni · roni on October 29th 2008, 6:34 am

s. He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernels in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

o. Jesus is comparing the growth of the kingdom of God to that of wheat. When we plant the seeds, we know that most of them (not all of them) will grow and become many more seeds at maturity. It all happens in order. First plant, then stalk, then head, then the full kernels. It is never first plant, then full kernels, then stalk, then head. It is the same with the kingdom of God.. Seeds are planted, but not all of them take root and sprout. We do not know which seeds will produce and which ones will not. But God does. Our job is to plant the seed and let God take care of the rest.

a. I will plant seeds where God says to plant and not worry about the results.

p. Lord, give me the seeds to further your kingdom.

roni · roni on October 30th 2008, 7:48 am

s. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Mark 5:4

o. The man who was possessed by "Legions" could not be bound because of the strength that he had. The same was said about Samson. He had a lot of strength and no one could bind him either. The difference between the two is that "Legions" strength came from Satan, whereas Samson's strength came from God. The man with "Legions" lost his strength when Jesus commanded him to leave because the man wanted to be free. Samson lost his strength when he played games with the devil and disobeyed God. The man with "Legions" had his life restored. Samson lost his sight and his life.

a. As long as I am obedient to God, I will always have strength (though maybe not physical) to do what he commands of me.

p. Lord, help me to be obedient to you at all times.

roni · roni on November 1st 2008, 12:57 pm

s. "I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you-the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121:1-8

o. This Psalm lets everyone know that the Lord is always watching over his chosen ones. He does not sleep, so we do not have to worry about waking him up when we need him.

a. I will let God know when I need his help. I know that He knows when I am in trouble, but it is good for me to voice my concerns to him when needed.

p. Lord, always remind me that you are always there for me day and night and that I only need to come to you as a little child.

roni · roni on November 3rd 2008, 9:14 am

s. But Peter insisted empahtically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." and all the other said the same. Mark 14:31.

o. The disciples were in the upper room with the Lord at the Passover. Peter tells Jesus that he will not disown him even to the point of death. But Jesus lets him know that he will deny Him three times.

a. I will ask my self if I would deny Christ when asked to do so, or if I feel embarassed, or for whatever reason. I will ask for the strength not to when the time comes.

p. Lord, you know my heart better than I do. I do not want to deny you ever and I ask for the strength to confess you at all times.

roni · roni on November 4th 2008, 7:22 am

s. "The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." Mark 15:38

o. The curtain leading to the Holy of Holies was made from fine woven linen on the inside that could only be seen by the High Priest once a year. The thick outer protective covering was of goats hair drapes, and ram and badger skins. These could not be torn apart and had lasted many, many years. The only way that the curtain could be torn in two from top to bottom is for God to reach down and tear it in two Himself. With that in mind, God gave us entrance into His presence, not man.

a. I do not have to fear death when I am in God's presence like those of old did. I must reverance Him.

p. God I thank you that I am able to come into your presence through the blood of Jesus.

roni · roni on November 6th 2008, 8:50 am

s. "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say 'and to seeds' meaning many pepole, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ." Galatians 3:16

o. I don't know how many times I have read this verse, but this is the first time that I am starting to understand what is being talked about. I always thought that it would be through the Jews (plural) that the Gentiles would be brought into the family of God. There have been individual Gentiles who turned to God in the Old Testament, and many of them are in the geneology of Jesus, Ruth, Rahab etc. But this verse is talking Jesus will be the one who will bring in the Gentiles, one man not many. WOW!!!!!

a. I will ask the Lord to teach me the truths that are in His word.

p. Jesus, I ask that you continue to show me the truths that are in your word and to slow down when reading so that I can listen to what you are saying to me.

roni · roni on November 7th 2008, 4:23 pm

s. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

o. The person who is sowing to the flesh will inherit destruction, while the one who is sowing to the spirit will inherit eternal life. This is going to take a long time to accomplish. It is not an overnight thing. It would be nice, but it is not. There are weeds that need to be pulled out after the sowing until the harvest.

a. I need to keep remembering that it is going to take time before we reap the benefits of good seed sown, that there will be times that weeds will pop up that need to be taken care of, if I want to have eternal life. What are my weeds and am I willing to get rid of them?

p. "Lord, I need your help to get rid of the weeds that keep coming up. I do not have the strength to pull them out. Give me strength and wisdom to get them out of my life."

roni · roni on November 10th 2008, 8:08 am

s. "When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscince, you sin against Christ." I Corinthians 8:12.

o. The verse here is talking about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols. Even though a Christian is allowed to eat this meat, because they know that an idol is just sometime made from wood, etc., if another Christian who is weak in the faith and believes that it is wrong and sees someone else doing it, they could stumble because of it. When one Christian causes another to stumble, Paul says that you not only sin against a brother or sister but you have also sinned against God. I believe that this can apply to anything that we do. A note here about stumbling: If a person looks at another of the opposite sex with lust in their hearts and that person is wearing appropriate clothing, the person being looked at has not caused the one looking with lust to stumble. The person looking has done this all by him/herself. So don't accuse someone of causing you to stumble unless they truely have. Look at your motive first.

a. I will do the best I can with the help of the Lord to not sin against my brother/sister. I do not want to sin against God.

p. Lord, it is my heart to not be a stumbling block to anyone in this world. L0ok at my heart to see where I may be sinning against someone or you.

roni · roni on November 11th 2008, 9:02 am

s. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." I Corinthians 10:31.

o. We are to think of others first and not ourselves. If we are doing something that is offensive to someone else that may cause them to stumble, then we should not do it.

a. I will do things keeping others in mind, especially God.

p. Lord help me to be someone who shows who you are at all times.

roni · roni on November 12th 2008, 8:03 am

s. "Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: 'Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?...Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt?...What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one it it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?...Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?" Isaiah 38:1-41

o. God has been listening to the conversation between Job and his friends. There are a lot of things that were said that did not glorify God and showed their ignorance about who He is. God is now asking Job all kinds of questions about creation and where was he when all this is taking place. God is letting them know that He knows everything and takes care of places and animals without the human even understanding what it is all about. God is in control and man is not.

a. God is awesome and I need to remember that no matter what is going on in my life and around the world, God already knows and can take care of those who trust in Him. He takes care of the animals and makes sure that they have food and shelter, He can take care of me too.

p. Thank you Lord for providing food and shelter for me and my husband. Thank you for the huge sales where we were able to buy loads of food. Thank you for the money to go to school. Thank you for the home that we live in, Thank you for my husband who is very patient with me when I go through times of insecurity and not trusting in You. Thank you for the friends I have who love me dispite all my faults. Thank you God for protecting me when I was young and had no one to look to and did not realize that you were there all the time. Put most of all, thank you God for sending Your Son to die on the cross and raise from death so that we may have a personal relationship with you.

roni · roni on November 13th 2008, 9:33 am

s. Job 39 and 40 continues God's dialogue to Job.

o. God is still talking to Job about creation. When you stop to LOOK at what God made and how everything reproduces itself and not something else, you have to know that there is a Creator. Everything is soooo organized. If you really think about it, man cannot distroy the world, he can make a mess of it, but to destroy it totally, only God can do that. Lately, God has been showing me just how magnificiant He is. If you look at how big the universe really is and while you are out there somewhere, look at the earth. You can't see people on it. We are sooooooooo tiny in the scheme of things, but God loves us. We are smaller than ants to our God in comparison. My mind is having a hard time wrapping itself around that thought. But anyway, God is in control and we are not.

a. I will start looking at creation the way that God wants me to see it.

p. God, I ask that you give me your eyes to see the world through them.

roni · roni on November 14th 2008, 9:39 am

s. "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I Corinthians 15:58.

o. This chapter talks about the resurrection from the dead. There are some who believe that once we die there is no after life. So what we do here on earth means nothing. Then there are those of us who believe that there is life after death. We believe that there is Heaven and Hell and that when we die we will go to one or the other place depending on whether or not we accept Jesus Christ as Savior. We are to stand firm in what we believe so that we can inherit eternal life no matter what other people may say. When it seems all is lost, we can stand on the promise that our "labor in the Lord is not in vain." There is a reason to live.

a. I will turn to the Lord at all times in everything that I do knowing that He said that it is not in vain even though it may look like it is.

p. Lord help me to see that what I do for you is not in vain. That there is a reason for the way things are and that you see the bigger picture.

roni · roni on November 18th 2008, 7:42 am

s. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everthing else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?" II Corinthians 11:23-29

o. Paul is talking about all the things that he has suffered in order to preach the gospel to everyone he saw. He did not let any of this stop him from doing what God called him to do. He even had a thorn in the flesh and was told by Jesus that His grace was sufficient and that His power was made great in Paul's weakness. Paul is a true Christian in every sense of the word. Nothing is going to stop him from preaching the gospel and leading people to Christ. And nothing is going to stop him from telling the truth to the Christians who are in sin so that they can stop sinning. He had the love of God in his heart toward all his fellow man.

a. I want to be like Paul in that he did not let anything stop him from doing what God called him to do. He had a heart for the lost and for those Christians who were still in sin. I will start paying even more attention to what God is telling me to do.

p. Lord, I ask that you give me the strength and courage to be like Paul was in dealing with those who are lost and those Christians who are still willfully sinning with the love that only comes from you.

Roni's S.O.A.P.s

Roni's S.O.A.P.s

October 28,2008

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