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

July 24: Isaiah 40-42; 1Peter 3

Scripture: Isaiah (NIV) 42:1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. …
4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Observation: God’s message to the prophet, Isaiah, in these verses have to do with Jesus the Messiah or “anointed one.” Jesus established the only way to become just by making the required sacrifice for our sins. Jesus did not falter; he did not fail to accomplish his assigned task. Jesus did not let circumstances discourage him. Things like religious leaders who refused to hear the truth, things like money changers in the temple, things like sleeping disciples when they should have been praying, and many other things could have been cause for discouragement. But Jesus refused to become discouraged!

Application: The One who faced so many discouraging circumstance yet did not become discouraged and let it stop him—this very one lives in me! He can help me overcome discouragement. In spite of the circumstances he can help me accomplish what he has given me to do!

Prayer: Lord, as I unite my thoughts with your thoughts you lift my thinking above discouragement. Circumstances may not change, but where I once expected defeat you help me expect victory! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

July 23: 2Kings 20; Isaiah 38-39; Psalm 75; 1Peter 2

Scripture: 1Peter (NIV) 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but not you have received mercy.

Observation: This is not what we were; this is not just what we will be; this is what we actually are right now! The following verses continue on to tell us that what we are should make a difference in how we live.

Application: I am humbled to be a citizen of the USA. I did not choose this as my country. I was born here. I did nothing to deserve to live here. I am also proud to be a citizen of the USA. When I wore the US Navy uniform or the US Marine Corps uniform, I was proud to represent my country. I wanted to do nothing that would dishonor my country. HOW MUCH MORE am I humbled, yet proud to belong to the heavenly kingdom of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am a part of a holy nation; I am God’s special possession! My actions, my attitudes, my speech, should all be in keeping with who I am.

Prayer: Lord, it is my special privilege to serve you! Today, may you receive honor through my life! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

July 22: Isaiah 36-37; Psalm 76; 1Peter 1

Scripture: 1Peter (NIV) 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Observation: Role models have such an important place in our society. Sports figures, movie stars, musicians all seem to be saying to their generation, “Do it like I do it. Dress like I dress. Talk like I talk.” Merchants like pictures taken with these people wearing their clothes or eating their food. They are trying to pressure us into people who will wear their brand and eat their food.

Application: I am not to shape my life to conform to the world around me. I am to shape my life to fit into the image of God. Being holy today is so much more important than what I wear or what I eat. The heavy pressure from the outside to conform OR the gentle pressure from the inside to be like Jesus—to which pressure will I submit?

Prayer: Lord, when people hear me talk, or see me reaching out to others in need, may they see you living inside. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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!