The daily reading was Luke 1:26-38.

Here is the link for an online version:

Luke 1:26-38 (NIV)

The SOAP reading was Luke 1:37-38.

37"For no word from God will ever fail." 38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me according to your word." Then the angel left her.

1. The angel points out Elizabeth's pregnancy as a sign that God follows through on what He says, even in what may seem to be the most unlikely of circumstances.

2. Based on the wording of the passage, it seems as though Mary responds to the angel in a calm manner despite the utter confusion she must have been in throughout this encounter.

This passage points out the fact that we need to trust God even when we do not know what is happening or how it is happening. Verse 37 says that God's word never fails and we have to put all of our trust in Him and believer that this is the truth. If we trust Him completely then we will be able to more willingly and more easily surrender to His plan for out lives. We do not know what is going to happen in our daily lives, but we do know that God has promised us so much in His word and He will never fall back on those promises. What He says will happen, will happen. We make look at the circumstances and have no earthly idea of what He could possibly do to chance the situation for the better, but if we put all of our trust and our faith in Him then even the things that seem like impossibilities will happen. 

There will be days when we just look at our lives and think "There's no way this can turn out good."

We will probably also have a moment (or longer) where we think that even God cannot fix the situation and make it work out well and for His purpose.

However, God can surprise us with just how different a situation turns out despite our original thoughts about it.

We just have to willingly submit to Him and His plan and purpose for our lives.

We need to be like Mary.

We need to trust Him and wholeheartedly follow the path/plan He has laid out for us.

This plan may seem completely unrealistic, and maybe from the world's perspective it is, but we have God on our side.

God's plan will always work out even in the face of adversity and hardship.

And I would have to say that just living in this world is part of the hardship.

Yet we know that we will not succumb to the hardship and adversity because God will walk with us the whole way.

God's plans will not fail.

God's word will not fail.

GOD WILL NEVER FAIL. 

Living Like Jesus | Day 1

Today's reading was Luke 1:1-25.

I am not going to type up that whole passage, but for those of you who may not have access to a Bible at this point in time I am putting a link to an online version of this passage below.

---->>> Luke 1:1-25 (NIV) <------

The SOAP reading was Luke 1:1-4.

1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

-Luke 1:1-4

1. In this passage we find out that in this letter/book, Luke is addressing Theophilus.

2. The book of Luke is an account of things that had been fulfilled in the lives of the people and this account is coming from Luke's perspective.

Application: I really do not know that there is much in the way of application for this particular passage seeing as this is just looking introducing and explaining the letter and the overall purpose of the book/letter. It could possibly hint that there will  be more applicable things further in. At this point however, I do not see much in the way of a personal application.

Living Like Jesus | Luke 1-8

For the next 8 weeks I will be doing a Bible Study with/through Good Morning Girls.

The study is over Luke 1-8.

There are daily readings, verses of the day, and memory verses for the week.

Part of this study includes doing the SOAP reading for the verse of the day.

This is what the acronym stands for:

S- write out the scripture passage for the day

O- write down 1 or 2 observations from/about the passage

A- write down 1 or 2 applications from the passage

P- pray over what you have learned from the day's passage

There are opportunities to join groups of other women to do the study in order to keep each other accountable.

However, I decided to do it on my own and to share with all of you what I come across while studying.

I may post everyday or I may post a couple times a week.

This will vary on my class schedules and homework.

There are just going to be days when I am not able to post.

I look forward to this study and what God will show me through it.

I am also looking forward to sharing what God shows me through the study with all of you.

I also will post the weekly reading plans so that any of you can do the readings along with me if you wish.

*NOTE: This week started yesterday. Due to homework I was unable to post sooner.