Becoming Brighter: Recent Episodes
Tara Wiley
Exploring Christian spiritual disciplines causing "our lives [to be] gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." (2 Cor. 3:18 MSG)
Nonprofit-to-church relationship building is all about connecting the mission of the church to the mission of the nonprofit. Think like a pastor and you’ll grow a deep and lasting partnership!
You made it to day 30! Congratulations!! Let’s finish our journey with a rich, short passage that invites our walk to match our talk. At the end of today’s recording, I invite you to join me next week for a 30 day journey through the book of John. If you’ve enjoyed this journey, invite a friend and come along next week for season 3.
Today we dive into the Hall of Faith. Get ready to meet some great heroes - and get ready to be surprised at how their lives unfolded. Let’s build our faith by remembering how God has worked in the past, knowing He will be faithful today and tomorrow in the same way.
Let’s consider how our relationships can reflect the humility, obedience and love of Christ. Join me in Philippians 2 today.
What does it look like to live led by the Spirit? What’s the relationship between our salvation by grace and the actions we take? Dive into Galatians 5 to discover Paul’s explanation for us today.
It’s all about love today! Remember - you ARE deeply loved. And from the overflow of that love, we can love and serve others.
Ready, set, ACTION! Romans 12 is filled with opportunities for concrete application. Ask God to show you just ONE step He is calling you to apply today, and rest in His promise to equip you to live it out.
Ooooh this is a favorite chapter of mine! I cannot wait to dive into it with you. Our identity in Christ is poured out in these verses, and God’s actions towards us are so very personal here. Enjoy the beauty of these words from Christ’s heart to yours.
Today’s chapter is a great one to share with a friend who is struggling with what it means to be saved by grace through faith. We are no longer slaves to sin! We are now ‘slaves’ to God, held captive by grace and freedom. Enjoy this rich chapter!
You made it to Day 20! Congratulations! God’s gracious, sacrificial love flavors this chapter focused on our reconciliation to Him through Christ.
This psalm reads like a painting, each verse revealing another brushstroke of a detailed portrait of God. Enjoy a fresh understanding of who He is.
This beloved psalm gives us a picture of an intimate journey with God through all the seasons of life. Enjoy the soap note journey, and then if you choose, at 8:30 in the recording, I will lead you through a guided prayer time using Psalm 23 as our structure. This guided prayer time comes directly from the book “Journey of the Soul” by Bill and Kristi Gualtiere.
In the chaos of the brightest day in history, Jesus meets the many characters in this chapter with clarity, peace, hope, remembrance, and understanding. He still does that today. Let’s lean in and discover which of these He has for each one of us.
‘There they crucified Him.’ Today we walk into the darkest day of history - with great hope, because we know tomorrow’s reading will be filled with brilliant resurrection-light. Let’s imagine our way into this narrative together. (You might look up Psalm 22 as well) . *sorry for the froggy voice today - allergies!
This beautiful chapter, written about Jesus nearly 700 years before He fulfilled it, is truly breathtaking. Discover what He gave up and what you receive as a result in this chapter of The Great Exchange.
This chapter reads like an intense movie! In fact, I’d encourage you to watch it unfold in these two videos (12 minutes total): 1. https://youtu.be/YzW14ysUX6o 2. https://youtu.be/LIWpJf0r1F0 If you are pressed for time, consider focusing on verses 7-38 or verses 39-46. Be ready to enter into a powerful encounter with the One who gave up everything for you.
We are back in Holy Week, the days leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus demonstrates His authority and the way He fulfills prophecy about His coming. Grab a Bible and your SOAP journal and let’s watch Jesus together.
Jesus is getting ready to go to the garden where he will be betrayed by Judas, arrested, and killed. What is the last thing he does before that? He prays for the disciples with him in that moment, and for you and me. Today, let’s join him as he prays.
Today we’re going to dive into three famous parables of Jesus. Get ready for a party! If you would like to learn a little bit more about how to approach parables in the Bible, check out this brief video: https://youtu.be/XX-aAg4_U2Q
Are you finding yourself in crisis today? The words of Jesus in John 14 are meant to bring comfort to his followers. Take a seat in the upper room, your belly full from a wonderful meal with Jesus, and listen to him speak directly to your need.
Jesus’ ministry keeps expanding as He engages with with His followers and invites them into ministry with Him. Grab your Bible and journal and let’s join in!
We are diving into another of the Gospels that come at the beginning of the New Testament, this time the Gospel of Mark. Grab your journal and Bible and let’s lean in to see what matters to Jesus most.
Today we finish the sermon on the mount, Jesus’s teaching found in Matthew 5,6, and 7. Grab a journal and a Bible and a pen, and get ready to open your heart and mind to learn from the Holy Spirit today.
We are continuing in the sermon on the mount today. If you have not listened to the day 4 podcast yet, go back and listen to the introduction to Matthew 5, 6 and 7, and then come back to complete your soap note journey here!
The next three days’ readings are from a teaching of Jesus’ called The Sermon on the Mount. They are filled with challenges to view our world very differently. Lean in close to hear the phrase or verse God wants you to carry along with Him today.
Welcome to day three of our soap note journey, where we dive into the Gospel of Luke and discover Jesus dealing with opposition. Grab a Bible and journal and let’s lean in to listen to God together.
Let’s dive into the early days of Jesus‘s ministry in John 3. Grab your Bible and journal (or Activate Your Faith booklet), find a quiet place where you can spend 15 minutes focused on God‘s word, and let’s get rolling!
Welcome to the Activate Your Faith 30-day SOAP note challenge! These mini podcasts will guide you through the SOAP process along with giving a little bit of context for each chapter that you will read. Grab a Bible and a journal (or your activate your faith booklet), and let’s dive into God’s word together!
I’m so excited to see what God is going to do in all of our lives as we commit to 30 days in his word together. Start your soap note challenge journey here with a few words of encouragement as we begin.
It’s one of our Pursuit Community Group core values: Pray Together. Be encouraged by this story of a group experiencing a miracle through prayer, and consider one idea for making prayer a priority in your group.
We did it! Four weeks of diving into the hope, peace, love and joy we find in Christ. This passage wraps all of these aspects of God’s character into a potent proclamation of how Jesus’ ultimate gift - His life, death, and resurrection - impacts our lives. Take a moment to celebrate what God hasn’t taught you by glancing through your old SOAP notes. And share with me what He’s been doing in your life; I’d love to celebrate with you! Email me at Tara.wiley@thepursuit.church
In this reading we get to discover the God of peace and the peace of God through simple to read but challenging to live out instructions about our thought life and the practices we put in place. Enjoy engaging with the God who teaches us through his Word today.
Merry Christmas!! What a day to celebrate Jesus, the Light of the World! (Yes, this is a slight departure from our printout - I’ve flipped the last two days of reading, so we will sit with Romans tomorrow). Enjoy celebrating these declarations of Jesus’ character as a gift from God to you today.
With humility, let’s go into the presence of Jesus who invites children to come sit in his lap, lean against him, and learn from him. This beautiful passage in Isaiah invites us to experience God‘s perfect peace and learn more about his character. Grab your Bible and journal and let’s see what God has to say to each of us today. Don’t forget to share your thoughts over in the Facebook group!
Christ Himself is our peace! Yesterday, we saw Jesus at peace in a storm, and then bringing peace to a storm. Today we discover another facet of the peace He brings: reconciliation to God and each other. Grab a Bible and journal and let’s dive in! (Day 19’s guided soap note can be found in the Facebook group, a video by Christine Main).
Rejoice! Be joyful! It’s exclaimed all over today’s passage - both as an invitation to us and as a description of God’s response to us. Get ready for a real joy encounter! I’m reading from the Amplified version today.
Oh this is a fun one! Put your imagination to work as we place ourselves into these parables and revel in the fact that heaven celebrates over us.
Today we dive into another song of joy! Grab your Bible and journal and let’s lean in close to see where this beautiful description of a faith journey with a joyful response to God’s character and work intersects with our own lives.
Week Three - JOY! Today we will dive into Mary’s song of joy as she celebrates the coming of Jesus with her relative Elizabeth. Lean into the upside-down kingdom priorities of God in this song, and be on the lookout for Grace Recognized (the Biblical definition of joy) in your life today. With Bible and journal in hand, let’s SOAP out this scripture together.
Let’s finish the week with verses that remind us of God’s greatest gift of love to us: salvation. Grab a journal and let the Spirit lead you through His Word. Sorry for the abrupt finish - recording was interrupted in the very final seconds :)
In the gospel of John, the author refers to himself as the ‘disciple Jesus loved.’ In his letters to the churches (I, II, and III John), he unpacks the concept of love in paragraph after paragraph of examples and explanations. Let’s dive into I John 4 today and discover the one nugget of truth God has for each of us. Grab your journal, and share your thoughts in the Facebook group when you’re done here!
One of my favorite chapters in the Bible ends with a beautiful declaration of God’s never-failing love. Enjoy this rich declaration from God’s heart to yours. Let’s dive in!
In this beautiful passage, we are reminded that God’s everlasting love draws us into restoration - restoration promised in the Old Testament, revealed in Jesus Christ, and ultimately fulfilled when God makes all things new. With Bible and journal, let’s open our hearts to hear what the Spirit wants us to apply to our lives in this wilderness+waiting season.
In this rich passage, we get to discover truths about God, about Jesus, about ourselves, and about our relationships. It’s a beautiful journey, and tucked in the midst of it, Jesus calls us His friends. What would it look like to live from a place of confidence in knowing Christ calls you Friend? With Bible and journal in hand, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to direct us into a transformational time in Scripture.
Let’s grab our Bibles and journals, celebrate God’s love for us, and lean in close to hear what the Spirit wants to teach us today.
You made it! We are finishing Week One’s emphasis with verses that are littered with the word HOPE! In today’s recording, I’m inviting you into some reflection both in today’s passage and on the entire week’s worth of SOAP notes as you prepare to round the turn into week two’s new focus on love. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:4-6 NIV
Do you need a fresh dose of endurance as we end this loooooong year? Me too! Our passages today speak directly to the link between hope and endurance. Gather your Bible and journal and let’s dive in together.
You’ve made it to Day Four! As we get started today, I’m giving you a bonus scripture listing some benefits of studying God’s Word. Persisting in this habit forming is worth it! Grab your Bible and journal and let’s SOAP this beautiful prayer in Ephesians together.
Gather your Bible and journal and join me in diving into God’s word together. Today I’m giving a little context to our scripture reading as well as praying and walking through the passage together step by step. Let’s do this!
Grab your journal and Bible (or Bible app on your phone) and let's do this together. I'll begin with prayer and an overview reading of the passage (I'm reading in the New International Version; follow along with me!). Then I'll re-read the passage as we step into the SOAP journey together, explaining each step, allowing for you to pause and journal before moving on to the next one. If you want to skip to the SOAP note instructions without the prayer and reading, move to about the 6:30 mark on the recording. Let me know if this has been helpful for you!
Credit goes to www.discoveronething.wordpress.com for some of the instructions under each step of the SOAP notes!
Are you in a quiet place, with a Bible (or Bible app on your phone) and a journal in hand? Then let's get started! In this recording, I'll begin with prayer and an overview reading of the passages for today. Then I'll take you through a description of each step of the SOAP note process, allowing for you to pause the recording to complete your journaling, then return to the recording for the next step, and so on. You should be able to complete your guided SOAP note in 20 minutes. Note - I accidentally said ‘Day One’ but this IS the Day Two episode. Credit goes to www.discoveronething.wordpress.com for some of the instructions under each step of the SOAP notes!