Sunday Scripture

 

It's time for another Sunday Scripture post!    I worked on a Bible study of Ephesians for the month of January 2022 and used this study to write some Sunday Scripture posts for the remainder of the winter.     I posted these through the end of March and still have a few more to share, so I'm going to continue for awhile, making some springier graphics to use with them.

The study I've been working on is the Ephesians Bible study from Good Morning Girls.  For the Scripture Sundays, I'll just select some of the verses I have worked on and share how I used the SOAP method of Bible study.  For today's lesson, we were to look at Ephesians 4:25-32, but I chose to write out and SOAP verses 26-27 and 29-32, though I will allude to some of the other verses.  Here we go:

S=  "Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath;
"Neither give place to the devil ....
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice; "And be ye kind one to another,  tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:26-27, 29-32)

O=  Paul in this passage is giving his readers many concrete, real-life examples as to what the walk of the believer looks like.  The believer is truthful and honest; he does not steal but works hard for a living.  He speaks words that are good and help to build others up.  He lets go of anger and bitterness.  He is kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.

A=  I've been a believer for many decades now, and these truths ought to be daily realities in my life.  Yet I think that these are areas that we can continually grow stronger in.  We can become more consistent.  For example, I desire for my words to be "good to the use of edifying" and to be words that will "minister grace unto the hearers".  But I'm quite sure that not every word I speak is edifying or gracious.  I can become increasingly more consistent in this and other areas, with God's help and by His grace.

P=  "Lord, I am thankful for the clear teaching in Your Word.  You make it very clear how You would have believers to live and what their daily walk should look like.  This walk is not something I can do in my own strength and determination, but only by Your grace and with Your help.  I praise and thank You for how you will help me to continually grow in these areas.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

And that's our simple study for this week!  I trust it will be a blessing to someone.