NOTE: Today’s SOAP is a repeat from earlier this year. After doing these SOAPs for 15+ years, I do repeat some, usually taking an old one and prayerfully re-working it. This is the first time I have ever taken one so recent to repeat, and with so little editing. I try to listen to the Lord and send out a SOAP that HE is speaking to me. Maybe this SOAP is only for me, but the Application is breaking my heart.
SCRIPTURE: 1Corinthians (NIV) 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
OBSERVATION: Put prophecy, wisdom and faith in verse 2 and generosity and sacrifice in verse 3 – all on one side of God’s scale. Then put love as the lone quality on the other side. It will not be balanced! What is it about love that makes God give it so much value? I asked the Lord and He dropped these words in my heart:
Having prophecy, wisdom, faith, generosity, and sacrifice makes people love me. Having God’s love makes me love others.
APPLICATION: The important thing is not how much others love me, but how much I love others! It is not about being so “nice” that people love me, it is about being so full of God that I love people, especially those hard to love.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, surely, no one has ever loved you the way you have loved us. I am certain that I have never loved you the way you have loved me. Holy Spirit, help me grow in loving God. Help me faithfully express my love to God by loving those around me, not only in the big ways, but especially in the little ways, and especially when no one is watching but You. Amen
Pastor Leon
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SOAPs by Pastor Leon 