Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 18, 2025:  SOAP #5829: Ps 124, 2Corinthians 11-13

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV)  11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

OBSERVATION:  In order to have people accept his ministry, Paul felt the need to defend himself from attackers. (verses 22-29)   He has just listed some of his accomplishments and some of the trials he had endured.  In reading between the lines, I believe Paul found this a difficult thing to do.  It was too much like bragging.   

When attention is drawn to areas where we are strong people give us praise.  We get the accolades, the “well-done”, the “Atta-boy.”  People appreciate and admire us. 

But when attention is drawn to our weaknesses, people can more readily understand that accomplishments in these areas had to be made with outside help.  We had to have a source of strength and wisdom outside ourselves to accomplish anything.  When people see the source of that strength and wisdom as Jesus, He gets the glory. 

APPLICATION:  Instead of trying to hide my weaknesses, I need to let others know they are there.  If they get anything good from my life, it is because Jesus lives inside and is at work through me. 

Unlike so many politicians of today, I am not trying to get people to elect me.  I am trying to convince people that Jesus is worthy to be “elected” as the Lord of their lives!  If He helps me in my weaknesses, He will do the same for them! 

PRAYER:  Lord, I know you are bigger than all my weaknesses and mistakes.  I have confidence that you can work through me for your glory and the good of others. Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 17, 2025:  SOAP #5828: 2Corinthians 7-10

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 10:3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

OBSERVATION:  Often the toughest strongholds to overcome are the arguments and pretenses in the mind.   If not careful, a person can become a captive of thought processes that hurt them.  Their thoughts can control their feelings and then their actions.  Those thoughts must be taken “captive.” The mind becomes a battlefield. 

APPLICATION:  The biggest battle I will fight today will be in my mind.  I am not a mind, but I have a mind.  With God’s help, I must take control of my thoughts.  I cannot set myself to stop thinking about something, but I can set myself to start thinking about something else.  It seems to me that the way the mind works, I cannot stop thinking about something by trying to stop thinking about it.  I must start thinking about something else.  The strategy is “thought replacement.”  Replace thoughts about your big problem with thoughts about your big God!  The Bible never tells me how to feel but often tells me how to think.    I must choose my thoughts and then use my thoughts. 

Singing praise and worship songs is a good way to replace harmful thoughts with thoughts that will build you up.  As we build HIM up in our thoughts, He strengthens and builds us up!  

PRAYER:  Lord, today I choose to think about how great you are.  I choose to think about how you are more than able to help me…and you are also willing!  I am blest!  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 16, 2025:  SOAP #5827: 2Corinthians 3-6

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 5:4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

OBSERVATION:  What a joy to know that our sins are forgiven and that Jesus lives in our heart!  His Presence in our lives is wonderful.  His help and guidance in our everyday life helps us make sense of what is happening around us. 

BUT, there is so much more.  God did not create us to live forever on this earth.  God places His Spirit within us as a promise that more is coming!  The Spirit is God’s guarantee that something better is coming!!!  As much as we enjoy His Spirit with us here on earth, it does not compare with the joy we will experience as we leave our mortal bodies behind and enter the courts of heaven where we will dwell eternally with Him!

APPLICATION:  You may have accepted Jesus and received His forgiveness because you needed peace or joy or healing, or because you had a life controlling problem that you needed His help to beat.  BUT as great as what He has done for you, He has even more for you.  His purpose for you/me is not limited to our life here on earth!   By giving us His Spirit, He is preparing us for His grand purpose!  

PRAYER:  Lord, I pray you find me usable while I am here on earth.  May you be glorified in and through me.  And I know you have more in your plans for me than what you are doing with me now.  Prepare me for the time I will be with you in heaven.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 15, 2025:  SOAP #5826: Job 41, 42; 2Corinthians 1, 2

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

OBSERVATION: In his early life, Paul had a good understanding of what He would be doing with his life.  He had been prepared for religious leadership by studying under Gamaliel, a well-known Jewish scholar.  But as he saw himself keeping the Jewish religion clean from those who would later be called Christians. 

Paul was miraculously interrupted (Acts 9) and became a great apostle for Jesus!  He clearly knew that God had called and appointed him to carry the good news of Jesus to the world.   He was an apostle of Christ Jesus BY THE WILL OF GOD!   

APPLICATION: How good it is when we can say that what we are is by the will of God.  We should stay in whatever place and job we have when we come to Jesus.  He will use us there.  But when He speaks direction into our lives, we should move to be obedient.  It is not something that we choose and take on ourselves, but that to which we are called.  He gives us an assignment!  

When we are fulfilling that to which HE calls us, then we know that HE will provide for us and equipped us, and even more importantly, HE will be with us.  We are to do HIS will, and not our own. 

PRAYER:  Lord, for those of us who have children, we know your assignment is to be a parent.  We need your help.  In whatever area or situation in which we find ourselves, we need your help to be what you want us to be.  May our ears be keen to hear what you say to us.  May our hearts be willing to respond quickly.  May you be glorified in our lives!   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 14, 2025:  SOAP #5825: Psalm 149; 1Corinthians 15, 16

SCRIPTURE:  1 Corinthians (NIV) 15:3  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

OBSERVATION:  What Paul had received he was willing to share with others.  I believe this was basically true of Paul’s life, but especially of the one most important truth: Christ had died and been buried but He arose on the third day.  And from his study of the scriptures, Paul knew that this had been God’s plan all along. 

What made the death of Christ so important can be seen in a simple three word phrase:  “for our sins.”   Jesus died “for our sins!”   This was the reason Jesus, the Son of God, allowed himself to be beaten and crucified as a criminal. 

And although the truth Paul received about Jesus radically changed his life, he could not be satisfied until he had passed it on

APPLICATION:  Jesus died for my sins!  How important is this truth to me?   Is it important enough to pass on to others? To whom have I passed it on? 

PRAYER:  Lord, more than an Easter celebration once a year, the truth of your death for my sins and your resurrection should be celebrated every day of the year.  I may not be able to explain everything, but surely I can tell someone what you have done for me. Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 13, 2025:  SOAP #5824: Job 39, 40; 1Corinthians 13, 14

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
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 12, 2025:  SOAP #5823: Job 37, 38; 1Corinthians 12

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

OBSERVATION:  In this chapter, Paul uses the human body to teach us about the body of Christ, the church.  Each member is a special part of the body.  What makes them special is their difference! 

If every member of my physical body looked exactly the same, and did exactly the same function, I would not have much of a life.  And if every member of the SOAP ministry did exactly the same thing, it would be a very weak ministry.  It is as each one is faithful to do their part, that God can use the simple thing we do for His glory!   We each have a unique assignment. 

APPLICATION:  I am so glad I did not quit writing SOAPs after the first year.  When I began, 365 (one for each day of the year) would have been a respectable number in my mind.  I would have thought I had done well.  But God had so much more!   Today is #5823 and somewhere along the line, God added you!  Somewhere He add the SOAPs in India and Bangladesh.  Somewhere He added countries in Africa.  As I have been faithful doing my assignment, my part, God has been faithful to grow this ministry. 

We each must be faithful doing our part, even in little things, especially in little things.  Only God knows what He can accomplish with our faithfulness. 

PRAYER:  Lord, thank you for keeping me faithful in loving and serving you.  My life is blest knowing that you are faithful to your promises!  In so many ways, we do reap what we sow.  May you be blest now, and for all eternity, you reap what you have sown.  May the harvest you reap from my life bring you much glory!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 10, 2025:  SOAP #5821: Job 35, 36; 1Corinthians 7, 8

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

OBSERVATION:  The “gospel” is the good news about what Jesus has done for us in dying for our sins.  In this chapter we see some of the sacrifices Paul made to take the gospel to people who did not know.  He worked hard without pay.  He traveled to distant locations.  He crossed cultural barriers.  He worked to support himself and his ministry.  He endured physical suffering and even prison.  And what did Paul write in verse 23 above?  “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.!”

APPLICATION:  What were Paul’s blessings?  The blessings of seeing lives changed.  The blessings of seeing Jesus worshipped and appreciated for Who He is and what He has done!   The blessing of eternity and knowing that his earthly life made a difference.  The blessings of the fellowship in eternity with those who committed their lives to Jesus!  

PRAYER:  Lord, I pray these same blessings on those called to share the gospel through SOAP ministry.  Bless those willing to give time in serving to print and distribute, and travel to distant villages and cities to share the gospel in the SOAPs.  May those who have given money know that they too will “share in its blessings.”  But Lord, most of all, may you be blessed in this harvest time.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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