Tag: forgiveness

Episode 4: Paul and his conversion

Everything You Need to Know (about God) You Can Learn in Sunday School Series

Have you ever felt like you don’t deserve God’s forgiveness? Have you ever felt like you have done too many bad things for God to love you? I think that most of use have felt this way at some time or another. What if I told you that the man that God chose to write most of the New Testament and was once feared all over the land by Christians. This man was feared because he would hurt believers and even have them put to death! His goal was literally to wipe out all of Christianity. I’m sure you are wondering why God would choose such an awful man to one day be a great Apostle. Maybe after you learn about his conversion you will start to understand God’s plan.

Today we are going to learn about a man called Paul (formerly known as Saul). Paul has become probably my favorite person in the New Testament (other than Jesus of course)! When I really started to study the Bible a few years ago I became fascinated by Paul and his conversion. Whenever I would think about my past or if I could really be forgiven- Paul’s life would give me comfort. Even after I had turned my life to Christ- I would still find myself questioning if I deserved God’s forgiveness. I hope that the story of Paul can give you some hope and comfort as well.

We are going to look at Saul’s conversion to Paul in the book of Acts (written by Luke). To summarize: Saul was an extremely religious Jewish leader, a Pharisee, who had been trained by a man named Gamaliel. Gamaliel was considered the finest Jewish teacher as well a saint and Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law. Saul truly believed that the Christian movement was dangerous to his religion, Judaism, and persecuted any and all of the Christian believers without any mercy.

In the book of Acts it tells us that Saul was traveling far away from Jerusalem to a town called Damascus, where he planned on gathering believers of Christ to bring back to punish. On Saul’s way to Damascus here is what happened:

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Acts 9:3 NIV

After this Saul and the men traveled on to Damascus. The Lord had already spoken to a man named Ananias and told him that Saul would be coming and to go find him praying. Jesus also gave Saul a vision of a man named Ananias would put his hands on him and restore his sight. Ananias was scared because he had heard the stories of Saul. This is what Jesus said in response:

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

The two men finally meet up and Ananias speaks with Saul and prays with him and of the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fall off of Saul’s eyes and he is no longer blind! He got up and was baptized!

Saul started preaching that Jesus is the Son of God! Everyone was amazed and could not believe this was the same man that had been so feared by all of the followers of Christ.

God took one of the worst people at that time and turned him into one of the greatest followers of Christ! Paul spread the word of Christianity even to the non-Jewish people. This had really not been done before. God used him to do something extraordinary that others had not done- and Paul did it extremely well! He used his intensity that he once used for bad to spread the word of God!

If we ever think that our pasts are too bad for God to use us, forgive us or to love us please remember the story of Paul. Who knows…. one day God might use you for something extraordinary too!

The Books of the Bible believed to be written by Paul (according to my Bible: Life Application Study Bible- NIV):

  • Romans
  • 1 Corinthians
  • 2 Corinthians
  • Galatians
  • Ephesians
  • Philippians
  • Colossians
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians
  • 1 Timothy
  • 2 Timothy
  • Titus
  • Philemon
  • Partial- Hebrews along with others

Have a Blessed Day!

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** I am not theologically trained. This is just my explanation at a very basic level and hoping to make relatable for children and adults to understand to grow their relationship with God. The literature from my Sunday School class is from D6 – Elementary Teaching Guide through D6 Family Ministry – I have made all attempts to not reference their materials directly but they are great lessons and this is what I use in my class. I try to take as much from my own learnings from the Holy Bible in addition to the lessons for this blog. **

Episode 2: How to Pray

Everything You Need to Know (about God) You Can Learn in Sunday School Series

When we read the Bible, this is the simplest way for God to speak to us. When we pray to God, this is the simplest way for us to talk to Him. Any relationship needs both sides to participate to make it work. If we want to grow our relationship with any friend we have to communicate with them or the friendship becomes one-sided and falls apart.

Praying may seem simple enough for a lot of believers – but for some children and adults it is very intimidating. When we pray in my Sunday school class it may be in many different ways: we bless the food (when we remember), we take prayer requests and we pray for the class for the upcoming week when we dismiss. Some Sundays I may fail for us to pray as much as I would like because we are trying to get as much of our lesson in as we can in a short amount of time! Our Sunday school classes aren’t that long and we try to accomplish a lot- which makes it’s very similar to our busy lives outside of class. Some days I may get to pray a lot and others not enough. Prayer is probably one of the most important topics I teach the children over and over the most. It is important to build the foundation of a healthy prayer life no matter the age of the believer.

Prayer is the one thing we do every class no matter the topic. It’s one of the core principles along with the story of the Good News (the story of Christ as our savior – His death, burial and resurrection) that is woven into each class. Whatever the lesson one of the foundations of learning about having a relationship with God is learning how to pray.

I think that as adults we over complicate prayer. We hear people say elaborate and complex prayers that use lots of large theological words and we feel we can’t compare in our prayers – which then dampers our prayer life. This is not what God wants for us at all. We may think God wants us to say certain words or to have everything in our lives straight when we pray. In reality, I believe God wants the exact opposite. God wants us to come to Him and pray to Him not just over the big things but especially the small things in life. He wants to be our best friend so we turn to Him and confide in Him always.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/php.4.6.NIV

I can sometimes be a very nervous/worrisome person and stress about little trivial things. This verse has helped me greatly over the years to know that I should turn to God and pray about anything I am worried about throughout the day. I have noticed I have become less stressed and less chaotic since I started turning these little things I’ve to Him. It has also helped grow my faith in Him tremendously as well.

At the end of the Sunday school lesson today I asked the kids in class to pair up and pray together just as they did in the early church. I quickly realized that they were intimidated and didn’t know where to start. Even children in their purest season (especially school aged) become self conscious about prayer. Like anything else sometimes it needs to be taught in a super simple way with an example given and then they know how to follow. I outlined a simple way to pray for them on the board and then I gave them an example prayer for the class.

This is an easy way to start your prayer life and it uses the letters that spell PRAY as a way to remember. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with life but know I need to talk to God. I use this way myself especially when I don’t know where to start:

P – R – A – Y

  • P – Praise- Give God praise for good things in your life. This is a good time to thank Him for any blessings big or small. It’s not a coincidence that this is first so that we can can give thanks before we ask for more. Everyone, including God, wants to be appreciated.
  • R – Repent – We all sin and make mistakes. This is a great time to talk to God about things you feel guilty about or things you need help with to be a better person. It’s just as easy as saying “I’m sorry for….”
  • A – Ask – This is where we can ask for concerns for others. This is very important at this point in the prayer so we can make our requests known for others before we ask for ourselves. We may run out of time or forget others if we start with ourselves. Love others as we love ourselves.
  • Y – Yourself/ Yes – This can stand for two things- this is where you can ask something for yourself (after praying for others first). The Y can also stand for Yes as a reminder that God can do all things and we know He has the power to do anything!
How to Pray using the letters P – R – A – Y

Jesus also gave us an example in the Bible for how to pray. You can use His example or you can start with the P-R-A-Y version which can be found above. Either way, choose one and grow your relationship with God.

The following verses you may be very familiar with and it’s also know as the Lord’s Prayer:

““This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.9-15.NIV

I hope this adds a simple way to add to your prayer life. If you don’t have much of a prayer life right now I hope this helps you start. I also really enjoy writing my prayers down in a journal or placing them in a prayer jar. Placing a date on the prayer also is an extra blessing to reflect on all that God has done on my life at a later date!

Have a BLESSED day!

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** I am not theologically trained. This is just my explanation at a very basic level and hoping to make relatable for children and adults to understand to grow their relationship with God. The literature from my Sunday School class is from D6 – Elementary Teaching Guide through D6 Family Ministry – I have made all attempts to not reference their materials directly but they are great lessons and this is what I use in my class. I try to take as much from my own learnings from the Holy Bible in addition to the lessons for this blog. **