You might be asking why I would write a blog entitled SOAP. Besides being something good for good personal hygiene it is also a great way to keep up with your personal devotional time. One of the most important things for us as Christians, and perhaps the most neglected, is our devotional time with the Lord. Psalm 1:2,3 tells us that if we delight and meditate in the law of the Lord regularly that He will bless and prosper us. The problem is that often we don’t know how to effectively read our Bibles and get something out of it. Bible reading can become dull and meaningless. Well the other day while listening to a podcast, I heard someone speaking about a method to maintain our Bible reading and devotional time called SOAP. I think it has been around for sometime and there is even a website where you can subscribe to keep up with your devotions. Using this method has really helped me and changed my devotional time. So what does SOAP stand for. It is an acronym that stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.
1. Scripture:
This is where you read your Bible and when there is a certain passage stands out or that the Lord uses to speak to you, you write those specific verses down.
2. Observation:
From there you write out your observation of the passage or what the verse is teaching. This might be more than one thing but it is good to try and focus on one or maybe two things to make it easier.
3. Application:
This is where you write the application to the passage. This would be how you can apply the verse in your own life.
4. Prayer:
The last step is to turn the application into a prayer. Our devotional time is not just about reading the Bible but also turing what we read into a prayer to the Lord.
If your devotional time has become stagnant or almost non existent, try this new method to put life back into your time with the Lord. Here is an example of how I have used this method in my own devotional time.
2 Samuel 24
1. Scripture:
10 And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
17 And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.
24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2. Observation:
Even though David failed in censusing the people he recognized his sin and that it was his fault and no one else’s.
3. Application:
I need to be sensible to the work if the Spirit to recognize my sin and not try and blame someone else.
4. Prayer:
Lord please help me to overcome the pride in my life and to recognize my sin and not try to blame others for my mistakes.