Study Guide
April 14- April 19

Monday, April 14. Read Acts 9:1-20. This is the one story many of us point to when we think of instant changes.  Saul went from killing Christians to preaching about Christ.  Was his change instantaneous?  No. The change took at least 3 days but could have taken a week.  Still, that is a pretty quick change compared to what many of us have experienced. We have areas where we want to change and we want to change quickly.  We can get everything we want in a short period of time, but when it comes to changing our lives, sometimes it may take awhile.  What needs changing in your life?  How long did it take for you to get to the point of knowing you needed to change?  Can you realistic expect to change something that took a long time to come about in your life.

Tuesday, April 15. Review the process God uses to change us.  Use your sermon notes and note the first three: Concern, Crisis and Choice.  If you are thinking about changing, then you may have already felt like Job and your “heart is troubled and restless” (Job 30:27). You are uncomfortable about something in your life.  Have you experienced the crisis yet?  Read 2 Corinthians 7:10. God can and will use a crisis to get our attention, to help us focus on what we need to do.  That leads to us making a choice.  What are you going to do?  Read Job 34:3-4.  It is our choice.  It is your choice.  What will you choose to do?

Wednesday, April 16. Romans 12:2 says “we can be changed within by a new way of thinking”.  Will you choose to pursue the path of truth?  Will you seek God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?  This phase in the process is about understanding what is going on inside of us and what it takes to really letting God work to change you from the inside out.  Look over your notes again. Phase five is about what we do.  We can make a conscious choice to change and we can have the inner desire and head knowledge to change, but we must DO something.  Read James 2:17.  How does this passage speak to you in light of trying to change something in your life?

Thursday, April 17. What about our part in this process?  Let’s break it down again.  The first phase:Concern. What’s our part?  Be alert to God’s voice.  Job understands that God speaks (Job 33:13-19) and we must be tuned it to listen. The second phase: Crisis. What’s our part?  Accept God’s comfort.  Read Isaiah 42:3. Don’t you think God knows when your soul is troubled?  Turn your thoughts to the Lord (Jonah 2:7).  The third phase: Choice. What’s our part? Ask God for courage.  Read Isaiah 43:2.  God is with you in all of these phases – so rely on Him.  Take some time today listen to God, to accept God’s comfort and ask for courage as you go through a time of change.

Friday, April 18.  James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  The fourth phase is comprehension.  By definition this means we do more than just ‘know’ it, we make it a part of who we are, we internalize it and we simply apply God’s word in our life.  Phase five: Conduct.  What do we do?  We anticipate God’s help. Read Psalm 37:5. It will take more than your willpower, it will take power from on high – from the Lord God Almighty. The last phase is commitment to continue.  What is our part?  Adhere to God’s plan.  Are you sticking to the plan?

Saturday, April 19.  Read Galatians 6:9.  To go back to yesterday…Are you sticking with it?  We can expect God’s best if we will stay the course and stay with the plan to change.  Read Philippians 1:6.  This is a promise you can count on.