Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 21: 2Kings 18-19; 2Chronicles 32; James 5

Scripture: 2Chronicles (NIV) The Assyrian king is challenging King Hezekiah and Jerusalem: 32:14 “Who of all the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand? 15 Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my predecessors. How much less will your god deliver you from my hand.” …
19 They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world—the work of human hands…
21 And the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and the officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace.

Observation: Sennacherib, King of Assyria, had come to capture Jerusalem. He had the greatest army on earth and no one had been able to withstand his advance. But while setting a siege around Jerusalem he awoke one morning to find 185,000 of his men dead! (2Kings 19:35) In his mind he thought Jerusalem’s God would be like all the rest. What a mistake!!!

Application: It might be understandable when God’s enemies underestimate my Almighty God. But I am thinking that it is much worse when I underestimate Him! It dishonors him, I walk in fear, and I can get defeated. That is a mistake I do not want to make! What a difference it makes when I walk in confidence that my God is God above all other gods. That is what He is!

Prayer: Lord, I walk in faith that the power of the unseen God is always greater than the power of any enemy I can see. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 20: 2Chronicles 29-31; James 4

Scripture: James (NIV) 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Observation: It is always nice when people praise us and say good things about us. But who is saying it can make a BIG difference. What an honor to have the King of glory notice us and to speak good of us! Very similar wording is found in Matthew 23:12 and 1Peter 5:6. Other Old and New Testament verses contain the opposite side of this thought—that God brings down the proud.

Application: The more I know God, the more natural it is to be humble. He is so great, so wise, so loving, so holy, and so powerful that there really is no place for pride on my part. The more I understand what He has done for me, the more natural it is to be humble. What an amazing thought that this God will notice and lift me up!

Prayer: Lord, you are awesome. Not only are your deeds awesome, but your character shines above all you have made. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 19: 2Kings 17; 2Chronicles 28; Psalm 46; James 3

Scripture: James (NIV) 3:7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Observation: People who believe that God created man in His image and likeness should show it in the way they talk to and about other people. To curse or speak evil about a person who bears the image of God dishonors God. No wonder Jesus told us to bless those who curse us. (Luke 6:28)

Application: To speak kindly of those who mistreat me does not justify their actions; it shows I also needed forgiveness and that the Great Forgiver now lives in me. I see that they too are created in God’s image and that image is to be respected.
Those guarding the entrances to the military bases where I was stationed always came to attention and saluted whenever a car entered with a gold bumper sticker indicating it belonged to an officer. They did it even if the officer was not present in the car. How much more should I respect the image of God seen in each person?

Prayer: Lord, help me to recognize your image in each person I meet today. Remind me to treat them with respect. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 18: Isaiah 32-35; James 2

Scripture: James (NIV) 2:1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Observation: We have many ways to value people—their wealth, their education, their speech, their clothes, their color, their social status, their health, their physical capabilities, their appearance, etc. But to God, their worth is set by only one thing—the death of Jesus on the cross. He loves them intensely! To treat any person in a way that degrades their value is a sin.

Application: Every single person I will meet today is so valuable to God that he was willing to send His Son to die for them. I am to treat them with great respect! Even those I do not know are valuable to me because they are valuable to Him! If I do not treat them with respect, I do not have a problem with them; I have a problem with God!

Prayer: Holy Spirit, please check my heart and mind when I speak disrespectfully of someone or to someone today. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 17: Isaiah 29-31; James 1

Scripture: James (NIV) 1:23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they well be blessed in what they do.

Observation: It is like the SOAP devotion. It is good to read the scripture. It is good to observe what is being said. But if there is no application then it is just a waste of time.

Application: It is important to stop throughout the day and recall what I read in God’s Word. I need to recall what God said to me, and how I can apply it to my life.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, several times today will you bring across my memory what you are saying to me now. And when you do, I want to take a moment to thank you for being with me and reminding me. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 16: Isaiah 25-28; Hebrews 13

Scripture: Isaiah (NIV) 28:24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of the cart rolled over cumin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.

Observation: The judgment that was coming would be like a plow used by a farmer. The farmer did not plow for the purpose of plowing; it was a way of preparing the land for planting. God was not judging His people because He likes to judge. He does it for a purpose. And the harvested crop is not beaten because the farmer needs something to do; it is beaten to separate the grain from the chaff.

Application: The judgment coming to America is not because God likes to judge, but because He is our Heavenly Father; He is HOLY. Any parent would much rather reward their child for good behavior than punish them for bad behavior. Our Heavenly Father is no different. But our sins have become so great that He cannot ignore them forever. They will destroy us! The civil war was God’s plow. Since then God has sent many warnings i.e. Pearl Harbor, times of rioting, and the Twin Towers. But a time of threshing is upon us. God’s magnificent wisdom will be seen in His appropriate judgment.

Prayer: Lord, like the song goes, “Cleanse me from EVERY sin, and set me free!” Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 15: Isaiah 22-24; Hebrews 12

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

Observation: If everyone undergoes discipline, then how sad it would be to be disciplined by God and not know why! I do not believe that all hardship is discipline, but some of it clearly is. Many of our nation’s problems are because we have ignored God and His laws.

People who have never heard God say “No” or “Stop” to them, probably do not know Him as their Father.

Application: When I experience hardship, I need to listen more carefully to God. If it is because I live in a fallen world, I can trust Him to help me. If it is because I have disobeyed, I need to confess my sins and receive His forgiveness. I need to learn so that I will not need to be disciplined about those matters again.

Prayer: Lord, you know the results of sin. It would not be very loving for you to allow me to continue in sin. Thank you for your discipline! Help me to listen, especially when I might not like what you are saying. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 14: Isaiah 19-21; Hebrews 11

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 11:13 …they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left they would have had opportunity to return.

Observation: One needs only to listen to a conversation to tell what is on the mind and heart of a speaker. Their speech gives them away. Matthew 12:34-35 tells us that the mouth reveals the contents of the heart. The mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart.

Application: It is hard for me to control my speech by trying to watch what I say. My speech is a heart matter. The best way to make sure my speech is about good things is to fill my heart with good things.

Prayer: Lord, may the people who hear my speech easily see that my heart if full of you! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Cleansed from a Guilty Conscience!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 13: Isaiah 15-18; Hebrews 10

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 10:22 Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and have our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Le us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised if faithful.

Observation: We can come to God in sincerity and in full assurance that the sacrifice made for our sins is more than sufficient to cover our offense against God. The sacrifice is so sufficient that it even removes our guilty conscience!

Application: First, the sacrifice made for me was sufficient to meet all the requirements of The Holy God! Second, the sacrifice for me was made by the only One who had no sins of his own for which to pay. In love, He agreed to pay for mine!! Third, it was a sacrifice that ended in a resurrection!!! Fourth, the One who died for me, now lives for me, and lives in me!!!! That is why I can draw near to God with joy and not fear!

Prayer: Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. (Isaac Watts) Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Life in this Stump

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 12: Isaiah 11-14; Hebrews 9

Scripture: Isaiah (NIV) 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Observation: At the end of Isaiah 6 we see that when the trees are cut down, stumps will remain in the land. In this verse we read about a shoot that will spring out of one of those stumps. The glory of the tree will be removed. It was no longer beautiful. It could no longer provide any shade. But the life remained in the stump! The seed promised to Adam and Eve was making its way through Jesse. This is a prophetic reference to Jesus coming as a descendent of Jesse, the father of King David.

Application: As I grow older, it seems like the tree of my life is being trimmed back. I am not able to do all that I once could do. But I am thankful that life remains in this stump! I am not just a stump—I am a stump with life! Fruitful shoots can still grow out of this stump!

Prayer: Lord, what a joy and blessing to have your life in me as I grow older. Even in the senior years there can be expressions of fruitful ministry! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!