My Bible Study has ended.  I have mixed feelings about that.  On the one hand, I am excited to be finished.  It was sometimes challenging to stick with the heavy reading schedule we had (well, almost… ), but God taught me so much by staying in His Word.  On the other, I’m disappointed that I will no longer have the accountability and motivation which came from reading the same chapters with the women in my group each week.

In our last time together, we shared some of the themes and highlights which we had learned while reading through the Old Testament together.  As I prepared, I began reading back through my SPCA forms which we completed each week. 

SPCA stands for Scripture, Principle, Conviction, and Application.  This was an effective tool which helped each of us to Get the Word Out (the title of our study) each week.  It helped us to begin to move from reading toward forming convictions and relevant points of application each week. 

I’m already recruiting a couple of my closest friends to continue to read and discuss our Bible reading and spiritual lives this summer.  I’m excited about learning with them! 

In the meantime, I want to continue to review the things I learned through Get the Word Out by posting some of my SPCAs here on Xanga. 

Here’s the first one: 

SPCA Theme:  God can use anyone — even Abraham.

Scripture:  Abraham’s Failures

Genesis 12: 10-13 Abraham doubts that God will protect Him and Sarah as they enter Egypt.  Taking matters into his own hands, he lies and says that his wife Sarah is his sister.  He did this because he was fearful that the Egyptians would see how beautiful she was and kill him to have her.

Genesis 20 — Again fearful, Abraham lies about Sarah being his sister instead of his wife. 

Genesis 16 — Abraham doubts God’s promise that Sarah will have a son.  He decides to make things happen without God by turning to another woman, Hagar, and having a son with her instead. 

Principle:  When I think of Abraham, I think about him being a Patriarch remembered for his great faith in God.  I remember him as the Father of the Jewish Nation.  Yet these verses remind me that he did not begin as man of such great faith.  He failed.  He lied.  He doubted.  Yet God continued His promise to Abraham in spite of his failures.  In the end, Abraham’s faith grew in God’s provision.  He trusted God even with his most treasured possession — his son’s life. 

Conviction:  God doesn’t give up on us when we fail Him.  He is patient and forgiving as we turn back to Him.

Application:  Failure never has to be and end.  God can use the weak.  The sinful.  God can use anyone — even me!