what is soaking?

[jamadan]

It seems great to take time with God by yourself, but we go to church don't we? And why do we go to church if not to get close to God?

Personally, I really wish that church services had a period of soaking!!

Typically a church service is - sing some songs, announcements, then preaching. Shouldn't going to a service be a time to meet with God? If so, then there should be a quite time in the service, but it seems people just can sit still and seek God. So soaking is an excellent way to encourage us to take time to just seek the Lord.

So a scheduled meeting to sit with God is the "crux of my approval" - not objection.

Churches have been places to sit in God's Presence from the very beginning. People walk in and sit before the Lord. There is nothing new under the Son. If you want to call that soaking, ok. But this is not a group activity, we shouldn't be laying on one another and laying all over the ground like some slumber party. This is some fleshly phenomena.

 

[Child of JC]

Churches have been places to sit in God's Presence from the very beginning. People walk in and sit before the Lord. There is nothing new under the Son. If you want to call that soaking, ok. But this is not a group activity, we shouldn't be laying on one another and laying all over the ground like some slumber party. This is some fleshly phenomena.

Okay, your comments are getting silly. Why can't people meet together to soak in His presence? Obviously it doesn't fit into your ideal, but our ideals are not always aligned with Gods ideas. I doubt people usually lay on each other!! But there is an account in the bible where the prophet laid on top of the boy and brought him back to life, so again not your ideal but your ways are not His ways and your thoughts are not His. Slumber parties are great times for children. They are joyful. We let ourselves out grow slumber parties. Probably a social thing more than a kingdom thing. Wouldn't an all night family retreat with the whole church be fun? Are we not children of God?
Bust out of the box church! God is BIG. He hates sin but not all things that bring joy are sinful. Real joy comes from GOD!
Why would anyone dispute soaking in His Presence? Spending time with God? This is the most important and basic instruction for us. And why would anyone put rules on how we are to spend time with Him? It's just added burdens that I don't believe God endorses. These extra rules may make man feel better, but they are nonsense. When Jesus spoke about Going into our closet he was addressing the showboats. They were not praying to God, they were exalting themselves in front of others. He was not saying we can't pray in public or with others. If you attend a soaking session just to look good in other peoples eyes, then that verse is for you. Otherwise you are doing what is good.

 

[Alive_Again]

But to be successful, at least for me, no one else can be around. I adhere to Jesus' admonition and go behind closed door so everyone doesn't see me praying as if I'm trying to impress with my holiness or piety. And that is the core objection I have to 'soaking sessions' . . . I have to question, but not judge, just what the motives are.

Nothing will ever replace the prayer closet experience. Jesus went out to pray by Himself and I'll bet they prayed together as well outside of the temple.

I know on Wednesday evenings at church, they'll be serving up meals and talking. Many times I'll be gazing out of the huge front window and praying. I'll close my eyes to just still myself. I need that because many times I fought traffic all the way home. You need restoration just from driving at times!

Anyway, I'll realize that it may appear to others that I'm "holier than thou" but let's get real. This is our fellowship and we're there to pray as well as to fellowship. It's what we do. We're supposed to do it in one form or another all day anyway. It shouldn't be about piety, we're all the people of God and that is what we do.

It's not about appearances. Many times the enemy will accuse us of that. We're making a spectacle of ourselves or just trying to gain attention, but really we should be setting a good example for others to join in with. What's on the inside should be on the outside.

We never need be concerned (on our own) of anyone's motives, apart from wanting to know the truth (especially operating in the world). We should be simple concerning evil. We can be wise as serpents, but that is not suspicious, that is something that is given. It's important to maintain a sense of childlikeness.

The Lord told Kenneth Hagin that we combine all of our services into one kind of meeting and never reach the potential of any one meeting. There is a place for soaking. I think it should be probably be designed for some meetings to just be open to being directed in a different way by the Holy Spirit and here is where soaking probably would be directed. But, if God wants to extend a service where "You can leave if you need to!", let Him have His way!

How can there be a bad motive for a body of believers to sit in the presence of God and just take it in? That's probably what getting slain is all about too.

 

[Tobias]

The fact is, many Christians will not pray unless they are at a prayer meeting. They won't study their Bible except for when they are at a Bible Study. I think most of us that have learned to do these on our own got hooked by first doing them in public meetings.

I think anyone with a pastor's heart would be more interested in teaching his congregation on how to pray, study the Bible, or "soak", than worrying about how scriptural it is to call a public meeting to get people to do stuff they should already be doing at home alone.


Unless of course, if the nature of these meetings is that people are never taught to take what they learn and practice it at home...

 

[tturt]

posted: so much time debating over sematics

Agree with this statement since "...the meaning, or an interpretation of the meaning, of a word, sign, sentence, etc.:..." from Semantics | Define Semantics at Dictionary.com

Whatever terminology is used, there are numerous Scriptures that state "be still"
-privately such as "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah" Ps 4:4
-with others- one example is "And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word." Luke 10:39

By spending time focusing on Yahweh and being in His presence, there'll be fullness of joy (Psa 16:11) and times of refreshing (Acts 3:19).

 

[episkopos]

Soaking or soaking in literally mean imbibation. In various contexts the words may have different implications. In all cases however, practically, the word or expression means allowing oneself to be imparted and influenced by any content of the environment through their organs of sense over a long period of time and may have multiple episodes[like when it comes to things of God]. So one can soak in music , videos , an atmosphere etc. I'm particularly familiar with the expression as used in the following excerpt :
“Soaking in the messages from tapes is a scriptural practice. “Soaking” in tapes simply means to listen to the words over and over again until it becomes a part of you and until the anointing passes on to you! When a tape is fully “soaked”, both the Word content and the Spirit content are imbibed into your spirit. The anointing is not something you learn, it is something you catch...
Two important things happen when you soak in a tape. First, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word (Romans 10:17). Secondly, the anointing of the Spirit through the words comes into you.”
Excerpt From: Dag Heward-Mills. “Catch the Anointing.”. iBooks.
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I'd recommend reading this a book and "Steps to the anointing".