Tag Archives: exodus

God loves them too! God loves us all!

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 26, 2026:  SOAP #5898   Exodus 14-16; Acts 2

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”  (also verse 18)

OBSERVATION:  2Peter 3:9 tells us that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  In the verse above, we see that God had the same desire in the Old Testament.

Instead of wanting to help the Israelites accomplish God’s will, the Egyptians were set on keeping them in slavery.  They were working against God.  Yet God wanted them to know Him.  We know God loved the Israelites, but the truth is—God loved the Egyptians too! 

APPLICATION:  When people stand against me and what I believe God wants to do in my life, it is easy to write them off my list of friends.  That may be my way, but it is not God’s way.  He loves them too!  He wants me to love them too. 

He may even have a plan to use me to reach them! 

PRAYER:  Lord, You love my enemies and You tell me to love them too; to bless them that curse me and to do good to them that hate me and pray for them who despitefully use and persecute me. (Matthew 5:44) To do this, Lord, I need your help.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Special Prayer Request:  There will be a SOAP conference in Bo, Sierra Leon on Monday and Tuesday (today and tomorrow.)  Some Muslim missionaries have agreed to attend and will be given a few minutes to make a presentation.  There will be many new believers present with their testimonies of the miracles God has done during the last few months.  There will also be many Muslims present who still need Jesus!   Pray for a mighty moving of the Holy Spirit at these meetings!  

The “you”-es and the “I”-es

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 23, 2026:  SOAP #5895   Exodus 6-8; Luke 23

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 7:2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
6 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them.

OBSERVATION:  Moses needed to remember what God had said.  He especially needed to remember the “you-es” and the “I-es”  God had clearly laid out the assignments.  In the 5 verses above, there are 4 you-s but there are 12 I-s and my-s. 

God gave Moses and Aaron their assignments; He would do the rest!  Their assignment was something they could do.  They were physically able to do what God commanded them to do.  It was not all that was needed, but it was all they could do.  The rest of the challenge of getting Israel out of Egypt, was God’s part. 

APPLICATION:   SOAP devotions did not originate with me, nor was it my idea to start writing them.  God clearly and specifically assigned me to write SOAPs.  Writing them was something I could do, after all He was the one giving the inspiration.  The spread of the SOAPs has all been HIS work.  The supply of needed finances are His responsibility. 

For the past 16 years, I have been faithful to do my part in writing the SOAPs, but what is that compared to His faithfulness for the (soon to be) past 78 years.  And through the SOAP ministry, God has completed some until He directed me into writing and posting SOAPs. 

PRAYER:  Lord, it is my pleasure to do as you direct.  May you be glorified in the fruit of this simple ministry.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Much Better than my “Best-Guess!”

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 21, 2026:  SOAP #5893   Exodus 1-2; Psalm 88; Luke 21

Much better than my “best-guess!”

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 1:22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Exodus (NIV) 2:1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

OBSERVATION:  The Jews in Egypt had grown to such a number that Pharoah made a plan to stop their growth:  he would have each baby boy thrown into the Nile river.  Moses’ mother, tried to hide her baby, but it was impossible to hide him from Pharoah’s soldiers.  So, she came up with a plan, she would hide him in the reeds along the Nile river. It was a God-plan! 

God used the very thing that was meant for the death of the baby boys, the river, to became the salvation of Moses!  Pharoah’s daughter found him and brought him to live as her son!  And Moses’s mother became his nurse! 

APPLICATION:  Oh, how we wish God would deliver us from the trouble and turmoil we see around us.  We complain and ask, “Why…what are you doing…why must I stay here?”  We cannot fully understand God’s plans…that is until we have lived it out.  Only then will we really see how the trouble we are experiencing will be used by God to fulfill His promises and bring Him glory. 

That which the devil would use to defeat us can be the very thing God uses to bring victory!  We should never despair!  God used the very household of the one trying to destroy the Israelites to bring their salvation!

PRAYER:  Lord, I am learning to trust you!   You often work through the trouble around me for my good.  You are Trustworthy!  Your ways are higher than my ways.  You see further into the future than I do.  When I start to make decisions by my “best-guess” I will pause to consider what you are saying.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Our Part

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
September 03, 2025: SOAP #5753: Ezekiel 20-21; Psalm 111; Revelation 8

SCRIPTURE:  Revelation (NIV) 8:3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came, and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.

OBSERVATION:  In Exodus (26:30) we read that Moses was told to build the tabernacle according to what he saw when he was in God’s presence on Mount Saini.  So, in Moses’ tabernacle we see the altar of incense was the last piece of furniture before the ark.  It was the final stop where the priest would take the hot coals with incense to wave before the Lord as he approached the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.  It was piece of furniture closest to the mercy seat. 

Here at the golden altar of incense before God’s throne we see the prayers of the saints being mixed with the smoke of the incense. 

APPLICATION:   The prayers we thought got no higher than the ceiling; the prayers we wondered if anyone heard, but we prayed anyway.  Those prayers mixed with incense help give heaven a beautiful fragrance. 

Consider, in this way we have a part in affecting the atmosphere of heaven!

With all the junk God sees on earth every day (abortion, child molestation, addictions, slavery, abuse, etc.) surely the worship and prayers arising from this altar must be a healing aroma to Him.  He loves the sound of His people calling Him. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, may a portion of those prayers be mine.  May they rise as expressions of faith, a beautiful fragrance to your throne.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com