SOAP...what's that?  It's a crazy acronym I got from hanging out with Jesus the other day. When we approach God, our relationship with Him, and His Word...this is what God's been encouraging me to be mindful of:

S - Surrender. What if we started our day in a space of surrender?  What if we told God, "I surrender" even before we knew what He was asking us to do?  What if we decided to let go of our own control...and just trust Him?  That's what I'm praying for...more surrender in my life.  I wanna live life with a white flag in hand.

O - Obedience. This one is not so popular.  But this is what God actually calls us to do...to obey...not to simply acquire knowledge.  Obedience is like a muscle on one side of our leg.  If we only strengthen our knowledge muscle, and neglect our opposite muscle of obedience...we will pull it!!  No wonder so many of us Christ followers walk around crippled. Our obedience muscles are too weak for our knowledge muscles. I want to do the faith walk, not the faith hobble.  So we gotta workout both sides of the muscle; grow in our wisdom and knowledge, but match it with BOLD obedience!  At the end of the day, I think our obedience is one of the biggest markers and signals to the world that we are different, set apart, Christ-followers.  We need to let our obedience shine!

A - Adoration. This one is pretty easy.  God's been reminding me to put on the lens of thanksgiving and adoration, continually; to let go of complaining and self-focused-ness...is that a word?  When we pour our praise on Jesus, it gets our minds set on Him.  It re-orients our hearts toward Him.  Adoring God reminds me just how big He is and how small my problems are in comparison.  When we really believe God is who He says He is, we begin to trust Him more. And when our trust grows, the enemy gets his panties in a pinch.  That makes me smile! Seriously...just imagine it.

P - Prayer. My prayer life has always been a struggle.  But God is calling me to turn up the heat!  To get serious about prayer.  When I open the Scriptures...I need to pray first, to invite the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, prompt, lead, and reveal.  When I pray, I need to approach God in a dialogue...a 2-way conversation.  And that means I gotta close my mouth at times, quiet my mind...and LISTEN!!  The more I practice this discipline of listening, the more clear and familiar Jesus' voice becomes.

So let's lather up & get our SOAP on!

I pray this tool helps you in your nitty gritty daily walk with Jesus. Have a great week!

Joyfully,
Rachel B.