Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 08, 2023: SOAP #5088: Job 33, 1Corinthians 1-3

(minor rework from the past) 

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us….
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

OBSERVATION:  No one knows how God thinks, except the Spirit of God.  Just like I must live with my own thoughts, so the Spirit of God lives with the thoughts of God.  No one can truly know how I am thinking except myself.  And no one can truly know how God is thinking except the Spirit of God!

If I wanted you to really know how I was thinking, I would need to give you my mind, my spirit.  And if God really wants me to know how He is thinking, He would need to give me His mind, His Spirit.  And that is what He did!

Jesus died on the cross to forgive my sins, making me clean.  Then the Holy Spirit enters my clean heart to show me how to live. This is the SAME Spirit that came upon Jesus when He was baptized by John, so He really does understand how we are to live in this world.

APPLICATION:  This chapter should be hung on the walls of my mind.  I should read it every day. It is not a promise of what awaits me in heaven.  It is a statement of what I have NOW!

This chapter shows why it is so important that I learn to listen to the Holy Spirit!  He will speak to me as I read the Bible.  He will show me how those scriptures apply to me.  He will help me understand what God thinks about the issues I face in life.  He will empower me to live victoriously!

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, I set myself to be a vessel that you can easily work through.   Amen.

Pastor Leon
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