SOAP Method

I am in an online Bible Study.

One of the things we do is called the SOAP method of study.

At first I didn’t think it would be that helpful, but over time I began to see how much I can learn from it.

 

Here’s how it works:

Grab some paper and a pen.

Choose your verse or passage.

S – Scripture. Write out your chosen Scripture. Copy it straight from the Bible.

O – Observation. What do you see? What information or facts are there? What can you pick out of the verse?

A – Application. How can you apply what you observed.? What should you do or stop doing?

P – Prayer. Write out a prayer asking God to help you apply what you are learning.

 

That’s all it takes.

At face value it seems so simple but if you will take your time and really pay attention to what you are reading you will begin to see deeper truths.

 

Don’t worry if you don’t see them at first.

Just keep going.

The more you do it, the easier it is to see things in the passage.

With time you will begin to better understand the Bible and gain a deeper understanding of His Word.

 

Let me know how it goes.

I’d love to hear how it’s working for you.

 

Happy SOAPing!

 

 

For more on studying Scripture, please visit my page, How to Study the Bible

 

 

 

Category: God, Journaling, Lesson Outline, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Filtering Through Pain

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is how to filter my pain through truth instead of filtering truth through my pain.

See, as humans when we’re hurting we often let our pain color our perception of things, people, and actions around us.

We don’t do it on purpose.

It’s that the pain is there and present and in the forefront of our minds so we tend to lead with that and to perceive things from that perspective.

Whether we’ve been disrespected, lied to, betrayed, stolen from, or experienced any other kind of pain, we tend to see others’ actions as potential for that event to be happening again, even when it’s not.

We assume (sometimes without realizing it) that because a person from our past did us wrong this person will, too.

Unfortunately, when we’re expecting and looking for something we tend to see it, whether it’s there or not.

 

God calls us to a higher standard than that.

Instead of filtering our life experiences through our pain, He calls us to filter them through His Word and Truth.

Regardless of how we feel or what we have experienced, we have to put the truth of Scripture first and foremost in our minds and operate according to it and what it says.

 

That can be hard.

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Category: Faith, God, Jesus, Life, Truth | LEAVE A COMMENT

Praying Personalized Scripture – Sunday School Outline

Today’s Lesson is part review, part mash-up of previous lessons. 

We’ve studied how to pray. (read that post here)

We’ve looked at what Scripture is and how to study it. (Read those posts here and here)

Today we are going to combine the two.

Today we are going to practice praying Scripture. 

There are several reasons why we might do this.

It honors God and shows Him we are paying attention to His Word, the Bible, and that we have respect for both it and Him.

It brings us closer to God.
     We can better see how the Scriptures were written for us and that He does understand us.
          Because Jesus came to earth as a man He knows first hand what it’s like to live in this fallen world. 

     It helps us see that Scripture does apply to and affect us.
          Seeing how relevant to us they are makes obeying them easier.

Because the Scriptures are God’s own Word, we know that if we are praying the Scripture we are asking for things that God has already offered, mentioned, suggested, and instructed us about. 
     This means we are praying in God’s will!

As you are going through the Scripture you will see that some, especially in the Psalms, are already written first-person. 

Those are easy to pray. 
     You just pray them as they are written.

This exercise will help you with the ones that aren’t. 

Here’s how to do it:

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Category: Lesson Outline, Prayer, Scripture Study, Sunday School, Teaching | LEAVE A COMMENT