Day 15 - Winning Through The Holidays
21 Day Challenge Through the Holidays
By Cindy Smith
Scripture:
Ephesians 4:22-24
You took off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
Today, I want to walk you through how I did the SOAP method over this passage. This passage is one that I keep coming to over and over. I love how it does a comparison of the old self and the new self. Looking at the coming Holiday Season it is important that I am walking in the new man. Below is a brief outline of my study. I will start with the observation as I have the Scripture posted above.
Observation:
• I took off my former way of life. This is a past tense statement. It is something that has already been accomplished.
• The old (worn out, worse for wear) self is being corrupted by deceitful desires.
• I am being renewed in the spirit (the rational spirit, the power by which I feel, think, and decide) of my mind.
• I put on the new (recently made, superior to what it succeeds) self
• This self is created in God’s likeness.
• This new self is created in righteousness (the condition of being acceptable to God) and purity of truth.
Application:
• I want to walk in the fruit of the Spirit of self-control in regards to eating sweets this season. The old self is deceived by the deceitful desires that war against me. These desires have ensnared me in the past and I have gone crazy eating sweets. I could definitely relate to Judith’s devotional about eating while I bake.
• I need to renew my mind to the fact that I took off this old man. It is done. It no longer controls me.
• I have been on this journey of renewing my mind and this passage talks about being renewed in the spirit of the mind. The way I look at sweets is being renewed and how I feel about sweets, the way I think about sweets, and what I decide about eating sweets is being renewed.
• No longer do I need to feel that it is inevitable that I am going to overeat and be out of control during this season.
• The truth is that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• I no longer have to be deceived by the deceitful desires that tell me being out of control is fun or that it will make me happy.
• The spirit of my mind is renewed to be led in righteousness and purity of truth.
Prayer:
• Holy Spirit, thank You for giving me this contrast between the old self, which in Christ was taken off, and the new self. Holy Spirit help me to renew my mind to the knowledge that the old self is gone. It has been replaced by the new self in Christ. Continue to show me how this new self thinks as I am being renewed in the spirit of my mind. Give me revelations, Holy Spirit, about what it looks like to feel, think, and decide with the new mind when it comes to eating sweets. When you give me a revelation, please help me to walk in this truth. Amen!
This method of SOAPing has been so helpful in renewing my mind in general. This passage has really given me hope for the season ahead. It has given me some concrete things to think about. When I am tempted to go back for seconds on a piece of pie or two (or more) cookies, I will think about what the new self, with the spirit of my mind renewed, would do in this situation. I am waiting on the Holy Spirit to continue giving me deeper revelation but this is such a wonderful start.
Here are some passages for you to SOAP. Feel free to choose one or all if you have the time.
• Romans 6:4 & 5
• 2 Corinthians 9:8
• Ephesians 5:8-10
• Colossians 1:9-10
Be sure to share them in the comments. It is so encouraging to see what the Holy Spirit is teaching each other.
Have a blessed day!