S.O.A.P. Method

Today I was fighting to make time to spend in God's Scriptures & Prayer.  I like to use a simple system called - S.O.A.P. 
It stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, & Prayer

This is how it works. 
You read through a passage of Scripture - it could be anywhere from a few verses to various chapters. Then you Observe what it is that God is communicating to the recipients of that scripture.
Next you seek to find out how you can Apply it to your life in your context.
And finally you write out a Prayer to God to thank Him for what He has shown to you and to help you put it into practice. 
It is a simple process but it helps to keep more of what God is teaching you in your focus and live it versus just reading it and then shutting the book on your duty done. 

I have been reading through the book of Hebrews for the last few days and today I was in chapters 11 & 12.  Chapter 11 is so incredible and yet runs so counter culture to your western mindset.  So often we celebrate the "Faith Chapter" by focusing only on the 1st part of it - what we might call the "success stories."  We dream of the victories won, the miracles God worked, the incredible list of things that are "good" in our mind and represent the answer to "faith." 
But what about the 2nd half of the chapter? 

This area lists those who were rejected, abused, wandered about without being able to have a home, lived in caves and had to wear animal skins, were imprisoned or even tortured and put to death.  Where is the "Faith" here?  Shouldn't they have experienced awesome miracles and deliverance if they "truly had faith?"  - How far we miss it in our western mindset of instant everything and our ideas of what success is.

2 key verses leap off the page at me in this chapter with regard to this theme -
Hebrews 11:26b "...he was looking ahead to his reward," speaking of Moses in his willingness to reject the easy life of the palace in Egypt to identify with the Israelites and to go through so much suffering.  and Hebrews 11:40b "...God had planned something better for us..." 

We put so much focus on the here & now and forget that we live in a massive global spiritual battlefield and that it is not just about "us."  Faith/ Trust/ Confidence in God is about more than "winning" in the immediate.  It is about loving God so much and understanding His love and His purposes that we are willing to do whatever needs to be done in order to see His will be accomplished in this earth and with the people God has surrounded us with.  

Our "reward" and our thoughts can not be just in this life, in the immediate.  They must look forward to the reward, the GREAT REWARD that lies ahead of us.  These thoughts must fuel our drive and our passion, or we will not endure much hardship in this life.  But if we can be like Jesus, "who, for the JOY set before Him (knowing about all of us He was going to save!) ENDURED the cross, SCORNING its shame - and is NOW (finally) seated at God's right hand!  
It IS going to be worth it!  

Good night all & God bless - 
May you draw power from the Great Reward set before you & do great things in God's plan in spite of what the opposition may be 
Paz, poder, habilidad sobrenatural -