Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
June 13, 2022: SOAP #4575: 1Kings 13,14; 2Chronicles 12; Philippians 3

SCRIPTURE: Philippians (NIV) 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

OBSERVATION:  Paul had been an enemy of the church, doing his best to destroy it.  God confronted Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus and rearranged his thinking and gave him a new purpose.  (Acts 9) 

Now Paul was making God’s reason for “apprehending/capturing/taking hold of” him—he was making God’s goal to be his own personal goal.  The reason God chose Paul became the reason Paul walked from town to town, preached day after day, wrote letters to believers, and discipled others.  It was not just the goal of Paul’s ministry; it was the goal for his whole life. 

APPLICATION: When I make God’s purpose for me to be my purpose for me—when I set God’s priority for me as my priority for me, my life becomes focused for the glory of God. 

I may not have a dramatic “Damascus Road” experience as Saul/Paul, but I have something better; I have God’s Word, the Bible!   AND I have the Holy Spirit living within me to apply the scriptures personally to my life!   Every area of my life (husband, parent, pastor, bus driver, etc.) is affected.

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, I see you at work continuing to reveal and to develop the purpose for my life. Speak clearly to me in simple ways I can understand.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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