School Supplies and Biblical Algebra

Don't you just LOVE a new notebook? No? You're not a crazy - lady like I am? :-)
Well, I think I love school supplies more than I love diamonds...for schizzle. A new notebook and a fresh felt tip pen is the equivalent of the hope diamond for me.
That being said, I thought "Hey, if I'm going to start using a new notebook for my daily bible study...why not try a new study method? (I seriously have a problem)
One thing I must say is that CHANGE is VERY hard for me. VERY. But, God WANTS us to jump out of our comfort zone...because it is THERE where He REALLY speaks to us, right? SO...I have had the book,  Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin for some time now. I had read it once and thought, "nah...this method is so different than what I'm doing...not ready for that.
" WELL...the Lord pointed me back to this book, and ya'll... let me TELL YOU I am seeing things through FRESH EYES. AND....it is AWESOME. [Imagine my best Australian accent encouraged by the lovely Christine Caine.]

Make you smile? :-)

Anywho... I made my enlarged copies of the 2nd half of the book of Acts and began my NEW and IMPROVED study method. Well...
Wow.
A quick recap of Acts 16. Paul and Silas meet up with Timothy...they get him squared away (read:circumcised) and Paul has a dream of a man in Macedonia asking for his help.  (Paul had previously been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to travel there to share the gospel) So...Paul takes this vision as an act of permission from God and they head out to Macedonia.
They hang out for a bit...as they do in each place they visit, and then head out on the Sabbath to find a place to pray. They meet Lydia, the purple fabric lady...get her Saved and make friends with her household...which she opens up to them.
AFTER ALL OF THIS they go into town ...Paul commands a demon to leave a slave girl, whom was being used as a money making fortune teller. Her owners got mad, got Paul and his homies beaten up and jailed.
That night- God commanded a giant earthquake that shook the prison and flung the doors open. The jail guard was ready to off himself, thinking that all of his prisoners had escaped - but Paul cries out, "NO! Don't! We are all still here"

THIS MOMENT is what I want to really talk about.

The jailer throws himself at Paul's feet and asks "what MUST I DO to be SAVED?"

5 minutes ago, this man was the enforcer. The Jailer. The one in CHARGE. Yet, be it the fact that God just, literally, rocked his world,  or the fact that Paul cried out and stopped him from taking his own life...either way, he was now ready to bow down to the ONE in charge. He wanted salvation.
So...Paul spoke the gospel and told him that he must welcome Jesus into his heart. Paul took him and his household that VERY HOUR to be baptized and then they all rejoiced because they believed.

This new method of study gave me a whole new perspective of this chapter in the giant "book of all books."

(I used to think this whole chapter was about the Holy Spirit giving permission to go to Asia and then the magistrates being forced to escort Paul out of the city)

NO. The Lord wanted me to see His truth in action. Jesus gave us the formula. Paul had been out preaching it- and this is a perfect example.

Jesus+Baptism+Belief=SALVATION
Salvation = reason to REJOICE!

It is so simple, yet we lose sight of it daily.

Life throws us lemons. It does. Sometimes my days just stink. Dirty diaper stinky!

Some days, I don't feel like rejoicing.

Heck, some days, I sin so bad that I worry that I have lost my salvation.

But, then?

Jesus.

Paul was beaten up. Straight up stripped and flogged, locked in jail with his feet and hands bound.
My crummy days are NOTHING in comparison to the pain and suffering Paul endured to share the gospel. He just kept using the formula.
Jesus+baptism+belief =salvation

We all have a reason to rejoice. His mercies are new EVERY morning.

{beBlessed} and Have a GREAT day!