Pondering Paul

This morning as I was reading in the book of Galations I stopped to consider the apostle Paul, especially his conversion. Before he became a believer he was driven to understand the Old Testament (OT) teachings and he was zealous to protect them. So then Christ is revealed to him and immediately after his conversion he begins to preach the gospel of Christ, salvation by grace.What I never really gave thought to is that he did not go to the church elders until many years later. How did he know if he was preaching the same message everyone else was? I guess he didn't. He must have been totally convinced to make such a radical change and preach it with confidence. Another thing to think about... If the message was consistent between Peter and the other apostles, and Paul. Does that not validate the truth of the message??Think about it. Paul was a master of OT scriptures. There were no New Testament scriptures. He never met Jesus while he walked on this earth. Yet though Paul we see that the OT clearly promises a saviour for all men, not just jews. It promises that we can become children of promise through Abraham's seed, Jesus. That we no longer have to live under the law which we can't keep, and that we can have freedomin Christ.I think Paul was able to just preach the message because when he accepted salvation by grace, the truth, the mystery was revealed to him. It was there in the OT scriptures the whole time. Christ and his salvation are the fulfillment of the OT, and since Paul knew the scriptures so well he is able to show us how the OT points to Christ.As for how his message and the apostles were the same there is only one answer. There is only one gospel and when God revealed it to them that is what he spoke. If they made stuff up they would have preached different messages. At least that is what I think. How about you??

Proof that God is real

Have you ever been just so involved with the frustrating things of life and forget to spend time with the One who can bring order out of chaos. My life right now has some unique challenges. Most times I try to just take it day by day, but sometimes I lose my focus and get discouraged. Well this Saturday morning was one of those days. I was feeling bad because I was missing our church's mission conference. That is usually my favorite time of the year. Well because of some stuff going on in the family and a prior commitment on Thursday I had not made it and wasn't sure if I would make it that day either. So like enough background-fast forward to Sat. morning. I went to Walgreens at 8am to develop photos for a display that I was supposed to have done before the previous Wednesday. Well when I show up the employees were sitting in the parking lot waiting for the manager to unlock the doors. So I decided that I would wait and looked around in the van and found a Bible to read. I had just been praying and telling God that I was sorry for not spending time with Him, and asked him for guidance even though I would understand if he didn't answer me because of my unfaithfulness to him. So anyways, there I sat in the walgreens parking lot and I opened up His word. What happened next suprised me. I opened up and the first verse I read spoke to my heart. It was exactly what I needed to hear. It was Proverbs 14:1 A wise woman builds her house. I really needed to hear that. God places our families in our life for a season. When that season is over then you can never go back. He desires for me to build my house. It did not say 'you are bad for missing a day of the missions conference.' It was so beautiful that I had tears. Then I kept turning to the same Psalm so I read it. Hidden there was another verse that spoke to me, it was Psalm 73:21-24. "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant: I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory.' Even when I stray God is still with me and He will guide me if I truly want to seek him. Well the rest of the day was great. I knew conference or not that he was directing my steps. What a comfort and a blessing to know a God who cares enough to encourage a tired, frustrated mom who had lost her focus on him. Only He could bring all the circumstances of the day and bring encouragement at the precise moment I needed it. I serve an awesome, REAL, God who loves everyone and wants them to know the truth.