5 Steps to Study the Word & Be Transformed (+FREE PRINTABLES)
S.O.A.P METHOD - WITH FAITH ACTIONS
In my early day's as a Christian I was so hungry for the Word I would spend all my days deep in the bible, hungry for truth. However I didnt always understand what I was reading as I clumsily sifted through the pages of my Concordance and KJV Study Bible. I was just so hungry for truth and I praise God that the Lord met me in those early baby steps and led me all the way. Dont you just love how He takes us on a journey of love with such sweet gentleness meeting us exactly where we are?
Studying the Word of God is a powerful means to see our lives transformed. Being in the Word brings so much freedom and life to us.
Joshua 1:8 teaches us to meditate on the Word of God day and night.
Some of the terms of meditate in the Hebrew is to muse, ponder or study and therefore when we come to the realisation that Gods Word is the only way to see transformation in our life, once we come to that resting place in Him we soon realise that we truly want to and need to dwell in His Word day and night.
It is the very life giving, sustaining force in our lives that should govern our every existence in Christ.
I liken it to bathing in Christ, (as He is the living Word) to walk out our lives in His image, after His likeness to truly be followers after Him we need to dive right on in and absorb all we can. This requires consistency and intensity with a deciveness that this is the way in which I will follow and I will go.
So often we have become experts of reading a section of the bible, even reading the entire bible through a few times in our life but never really taking the time to allow the Word to drive our daily decisions/actions.
The Lord wants this to be the case. So when studying the Word we want to practice training our minds and thus our bodies to walk in truth and be led continously by the spirit.
There are many methods to study the word of God, and one of these methods is using the SOAP method. I have used this method for a number of years and found it to be revealing, applicable to my life and draws me into communion with the Lord.
It helps me fulfil the verse that in all your getting get understanding and also lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him.
The SOAP method which I will explain later is a fantastic tool but I found what was lacking is how to proactively apply this to my life.
By going on the journey of renewing the mind and writing Renewing the Mind 101 I came to understand the importance of Faith Actions.
Faith Actions are detailed in the book but it is when we take the Word of God, renew our minds to the truth and then take what we have received and further meditate on these truths by walking these actions out several times a day.
1. RENEW
2. RENEW
3. RENEW
It can be as simple as taking a scripture prayer and reading it out several times a day. It could be everytime you feel like eating a cookie when you know that this is not Gods plan for you that you practice training your mind to say:
"No, my food is to do the will of the Father" or "I choose to dine with my Father".
Declaring these truths several times a day over a series of a day or even longer is so powerful. We are actively becoming doers of the Word and not just hearers. You will begin to see and truly know that the Word is to be experienced in our daily lives.
THE SOAP - F METHOD
That is why I like to take the SOAP method and give it a Power Boost with Faith Actions. And so I call it S.O.A.P - F.
Okay so I know you are probably thinking so how am I going to do this? Hey, you may not even know what the SOAP method is. Well I am here to show you in 5 simple steps. You can choose to do this in as little as 5 minutes but some days you may want to go deeper and longer into a verse i.e. looking into the Hebrew or Greek or reading some commentaries.
S - (Scripture) Write out the scripture of choice.
There is a power in actually writing out a scripture! The revelation that comes from the verses can make you see things in a new and different way. So please make sure you take the time to slowly read the verse first and then write this out focusing on each word at a time.
O - (Observation) Observe the key points in the verse
Look carefully at the scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to help you see key observations in the verse. Write these down. Who is the audience? Did you recognise any key words or any words that are repeated? How does this verse make you feel?
A - (Application) Apply the observations to your life
Prayerfully look at the obeservations you made about the verse above and consider and write how you can apply this to your life. Ask the Lord to show you what this means for you? What does it look like in your life? Are there any changes you need to make?
P - (Prayer) Write a prayer to the Lord/Preferably a scripture prayer
Practice pray-reading the scripture back to the Lord. Is there something you need to confess before the Lord?Write a prayer to the Lord about this verse or better still write out a scripture prayer.
F - (Faith Actions) - Renew your mind
This is the key step as we want to take the truths we have learned and effectively renew our minds. What is a faith action? It is taking a specific action that the Lord wants you to take to embed this truth in your heart and mind. It could be to quote the verse throughout the day, write some affirmations out and speak these. Whichever way the Lord leads do this at least 3-4 times a day. You may want to do this for a week or just 1 or 2 days but if it is an area of stronghold that requires some deeper work then I recommend a longer plan. If you would like to follow that then consider using the Renewing the Mind 101 Book.