Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

Our Bible verse for today: “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.” Psalm 51:6 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Confession is good for the soul.”

Pastor John Ortberg wrote, “It’s better to be an honest mess before God than a dishonest saint.” That’s what David was expressing in Psalm 51:6. God wants us to be truthful with Him. The innermost place we have is our soul, it is the deepest part of us, and it is there where God wants us to be completely honest and transparent with Him – and that requires confession.

This is an important point because believe it or not, very often we are not honest and transparent with God. We rationalize our behavior, we justify our actions, we minimize our sin, and we try to convince ourselves and then God that our sin isn’t really sin. Or we just ignore it altogether and act as if maybe God isn’t aware of it or isn’t really offended by it.

This is disastrous because sin eats away at the soul. Sin is like a cancer that poisons the soul. Picture a lung that is pink and healthy in one place, but over on the edges there is an ugly cancerous patch that is brown and black, the tissue there is eaten-up and destroyed, and the destruction is progressively spreading. That’s sin’s effect on the soul.

Remember, the soul is the part of us that unites all the other parts. The soul is the breath of life in us that unites body, mind, emotions, and spirit into a unified whole. When the soul is healthy all the parts of us are working in perfect harmony and we feel good. When the soul is unhealthy, when this thing that unites our parts is itself sin-sick and being eaten up, it is no longer effectively doing its job of keeping all parts of us working together in unified harmony. Have you ever heard someone say “I feel like I’m coming apart at the seams!”? Hello! Their soul is struggling to hold it all together. The answer is soul-care. And caring for the soul needs to begin with confession. Maybe not always, sometimes the problems that are pulling at us are not of our own making, but very often they are. Always the place to begin is with introspection and confession.

In 1 Peter 2:11 the Apostle reminds us that there are sinful desires within us that war against our soul. That’s right, “they are at war against our soul”- they are out to infect, sicken, and ultimately destroy the soul. That’s the work of Satan. So let’s acknowledge that is taking place within us and go to God in prayer and confession – because it’s better to be an honest mess before God than a dishonest saint.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

Our Bible verse for today: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared – whose will they be?’ That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:20-21 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Ultimately all earthly achievements, accomplishments, and possessions are like dust in the wind.”

In the late 1970’s there was a Rock band by the name of “Kansas” which had a hit record with a song entitled “Dust in the Wind”. It was a song about the temporary nature of the material things we tend to pay so much attention to and attach so much importance to. It went like this:

Same old song

Just a drop of water in an endless sea

Dust in the wind

Now don’t hang on

Jesus taught this same lesson 2000 years earlier. In Luke chapter twelve He told the story of a rich man whose crops were abundant to the point that he had to build new barns just to hold it all. The man’s focus was completely on himself and his riches, not on God or other people. And Jesus said the guy was a fool. Jesus said that that very night the man’s life would end, and all the crops and the overflowing barns and everything else he had accumulated and stored up for himself, would be worthless. 

We know this. And yet we continue to pour the majority of our time and effort into accomplishing things and accumulating stuff, while we ignore the condition of our soul. Our soul is the one thing we will take with us into eternity and most of us aren’t paying very much attention to the condition of it. That was Jesus’ point.

One of the best things you can do for your soul is to be actively involved in the life of a good church. Full participation in church life will involve you in small group Bible study and group worship. It will put you in a position whereby you can be ministered to by other people, and you in turn can minister to them. And if the church is really healthy, it will provide you with lots of opportunities to be involved in ministry activities in the community. All of that will help to keep your soul fresh, alive, and healthy rather than as dry as dust and as scattered as the wind. I encourage you to attend a good church this Sunday.

God Bless,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God is in the process of developing your soul.”

Dallas Willard was a popular professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California for decades. He was also one of the most profound and insightful Christian thinkers and authors of the last 100 years. Dallas’ many books about the deeper spiritual life have been carefully studied by Christians the world over, and they have influenced the thinking and the understanding of God of many of the greatest Christian leaders.  One of the themes Dallas taught about the most was the formation of the soul – how it is that God molds us and shapes us into the people He wants us to be.

In his book “Soul Keeping” Pastor John Ortberg tells of his special friendship with Dallas which extended over several decades. Dallas was John’s mentor. John writes that one of the earliest and most oft repeated lessons Dallas taught him was “The most important thing about you is not what you achieve but the person you become.” That was an important lesson for John because he was quickly becoming a mega-church pastor, a best selling author, and a radio personality. He was a rising star in the Christian world and it would have been easy for him to get caught-up in his accomplishments. Dallas nipped that in the bud very early in their relationship. “The most important thing about you is not what you achieve but the person you become.”

That’s what caring for the soul is about. It’s about habitually placing ourselves in a position before God whereby He can mold us and shape us into the people He wants us to be. The busier you are, the more successful you are, the more accomplishments you achieve, the more time you need to be spending with God. Otherwise the busyness, the success, and the accomplishments can warp your soul and turn you into a very different person from what God intended.

After many decades of paying special attention to the health of his soul, God had developed Dallas Willard into a man who radiated peace, patience, and kindness. John Ortberg said, “There was a leisure of spirit to him … It was as though impatience and worry were simply not in his body … He was at ease with himself.”

The most important thing any of us can do in order to become who God wants us to be (and ultimately who we really want to be too) is to take care of our soul.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.” Proverbs 2:10 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “It feels good to learn something new about God.”

Doesn’t it make you feel good to learn something new – especially if the new thing you learned gives you some deeper insight into God and His ways? There’s an “ah ha …” moment. With it you get a little flush of satisfaction, and you’re happy with yourself because you just learned a new thing about something that’s important to you. Somehow it just feels good and right and warm, and there’s a deep seated sense of contentment. That’s your soul purring like a kitten. It’s happy and content.

One of the things I love about being a preacher and Bible teacher is the privilege of sharing insights about God with people who are eager to learn them. There’s nothing more satisfying and encouraging for me than to see the light bulb go on in other people, their faces light up, there is brief moment of wonder and discovery, and then you see that look of satisfaction and accomplishment. I can hear the purring from the pulpit.

In Proverbs 2:10 Solomon said such knowledge is pleasant for the soul. That’s an understatement. He was being coy. In the Bible the term “heart” refers to the center of knowledge, wisdom, and reason, and it is also the reservoir of emotions. The word “pleasant” means delightful and enjoyable. Synonyms include words like pleasing, pleasurable, gratifying, satisfying, delicious, nice, and good. I don’t know about you, but I like it when my soul is feeling that way.

Solomon’s point here is that when it comes to the care and feeding of the soul, learning new things about God is a wonderful source of nourishment. Like that purring kitchen that is relaxed, happy, and content because it just enjoyed a good meal, so too your soul will be well-fed and happy when you apply yourself to learning new things about God.

I encourage you to apply yourself to the study of the God’s Word today. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths and insights to you. It feels good to learn new things about God and it makes your soul happy and healthy.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?” Psalm 6:2-3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “The soul is only truly satisfied with God.”

Have you ever had an itch you couldn’t scratch? Doesn’t that drive you crazy? Usually it’s in the middle of the back. You twist and stretch and reach and contort yourself but you just can’t seem to get at it. Then you wedge your back up against a doorpost and there you are, sliding up and down the doorpost – looking ridiculous maybe, but finally you get relief. Why? Because you were finally able to get at the itch.

In Psalm 6:2-3 David described a spiritual itch that he couldn’t seem to scratch. His soul was in agony to the point that he felt like he might faint, he could feel the agony in his bones. He cried out for mercy and wondered how long the spiritual emptiness was going to last. In the NKJV verse 3 reads, “My soul is greatly troubled.” The HCSB translates it, “My whole being is shaken with terror.” David’s soul was in anguish and he wasn’t able to find any relief. 

There is an itch in the human soul that can only be scratched by God. It is that place in the heart that can only be filled by His presence. Unfortunately we frequently attempt to fill it with everything except God. This is how people end up addicted to alcohol, drugs, and food. They attempt to numb the pain, fill the emptiness, scratch the itch with things that simply don’t reach it. For some it’s a new pair of shoes, or sex, or a big bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. But once the sex act is over, the food consumed, or the addictive substance has run its course through the body, the itch is still there. That’s because the God-shaped vacuum in the human heart is actually a black hole for the things of the world. We pour those things into it and they are instantly absorbed and they disappear, not filling the emptiness at all. It is a space that was designed by God for His presence alone and nothing else in all creation can even begin to fill it.

Do you have an itchy soul today? Is it restless, irritated, troubled, and maybe even in anguish? There is only one thing that will scratch that itch. You need to be with God. Go to Him in prayer, Bible reading, and meditation. Sing songs of praise to Him and just sit quietly and be with Him. Be honest and like King David tell Him what you’re feeling and ask Him to do something about it. How long do you need to spend with Him? Well, how big is the itch?

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:8 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Nothing matters as much as a healthy relationship with the Lord.”

I know, I know, you’re busy. You probably have a demanding job, family responsibilities, ministry obligations, bills to pay, places to go, people to see. Yeah, me too. And most of those things are probably important and even needed. But they can also monopolize our lives and draw us away from what is even more important and more needed. That of course, would be a healthy relationship with the Lord.

Paul was a busy professional too. As a “Pharisee among Pharisees” he was an up-and-coming religious superstar in the old-time Jewish tradition. Once he gave his life to Christ and ended up becoming the most prolific evangelist and church planter in the history of Christianity, he was even busier. Talk about ministry obligations, places to go, people to see – Paul was the man.

But in Philippians 3:8 he explained that he considered all earthly pursuits, all expectations, responsibilities, and activities, to be of secondary importance to his relationship with Christ. Paul realized that if his relationship with the Lord wasn’t deep and healthy, everything else in his life would be less than it could and should be.

What Paul knew, and what Christians down through the ages have discovered, is that the health of the soul is the most important thing about any Christian. Everything else in life is built upon that and therefore the health of the soul is the starting place for the well-being of every other part of life.

The way we keep our soul healthy is by incorporating into our lives a variety of spiritual disciplines that help to place us in a position before God whereby He can nurture, nourish, and replenish us. Prayer, Bible reading, fasting, solitude, reflection, worship, Sabbath-keeping – all of those things help. And they all take time. There’s a reason they are called “disciplines”. We have to be intentional about it and we have to make it happen.

One of the best books ever been written on this subject is Richard Foster’s classic work, “Celebration of Discipline”. In simple and easy to apply lessons Foster explains the thirteen most basic disciplines of the Christian faith. It’s not a large book and it won’t take too long to read it. But you will discover it is well worth your time to read because nothing is as important as a healthy soul rightly related to God.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “A prudent person gives thought to the condition of their soul.”

So how’s your soul doing these days anyway? Have you even thought about it much? I have to admit that I had not. Over the last year I had allowed myself to get so busy and so preoccupied with activities and projects and duties and responsibilities – and problems (mine and those of others), that I was giving little thought to the impact all of that busyness and worry was having on my soul. Fortunately some things happened which caused me to pause and give serious thought to where I’m at spiritually, and what I discovered wasn’t pretty. I had allowed the spiritual gas tank to run pretty low. I had not been taking proper care of my soul.

In Proverbs 14:8 Solomon counsels that a prudent person gives thought to their ways, and the implication is that they make adjustments as needed. In the case of soul-care, that means that we have to periodically take inventory of where we’re at spiritually and be prepared to make adjustments as needed. If we don’t, we will eventually crash and burn.

An old Chinese proverb says, “If you don’t change the direction you’re going, you’re likely to end up where you’re headed.” Writer Lance Witt challenges us to apply that to the condition of our soul and then consider, “If you could plot the trajectory of your soul, where does it end up?”

Ouch. If you plot-out the current trajectory of your soul, in other words if you maintain your current pace of living, your current schedule, your current spiritual disciplines, where is that likely to lead you? What condition is your soul going to end up in? When I asked myself those questions I realized I wasn’t happy with the answer. So in a sincere desire to be prudent about it, I’ve made some changes.

How about you? Is there anything about your current life that needs to change for the sake of the health of your soul? There may not be a whole lot you can do about most of your outward circumstances, but with the help of the Holy Spirit you can identify some ways in which you can take better care of your soul. Throughout the course of this month we will continue to consider various strategies and approaches you may find helpful. For now I just want you to know that with God’s help you really can bring your soul back to life. It can be healthy. Joy can return. Passion can be reignited. And intimacy with God can be restored.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “We have to stop making excuses for not spending time with God.”

If you are a Christian then you do have a soul that is thirsting, panting for God. Even if you don’t realize it, even if you won’t admit it, your soul is thirsty for God. As a thirsty deer pants for a long drink of cool water, so your soul longs to be refreshed in the presence of God. And in truth, in our better moments, we do admit that we would like to have a deeper, richer, more satisfying relationship with God. But, we just can’t seem to find the time to spend in prayer and Bible study and church attendance and service in ministry and some of the other spiritual disciplines which help us to place ourselves in a position before God whereby He can refresh and renew our soul. We just don’t have time.

Often our time is consumed by the demands, expectations, and needs of others. Our jobs require large amounts of our time and attention; other people have expectations of the things they think we should be doing; family members have needs and it is up to us to meet those needs; and the fact is that most of the time those things are legitimate and they do have to be addressed by us. So how do we approach this whole issue of carving out the time needed to cultivate and nurture a healthy soul?

The answer is found in the example of an airline emergency.

“In the case of an unexpected sudden drop in cabin pressure an oxygen mask will fall from the overhead compartment. Place the mask over your head and breathe normally. If you are traveling with small children put your own oxygen mask on first, and then assist them with theirs.”

Why must you put your own mask on first before you help them? It seems counter-intuitive. As a parent your natural instinct is going to be to make sure your child is safe before you attend to yourself. Unfortunately, you may run out of oxygen and pass-out before you’re able to get the mask onto your child – so then you both die. If you had put your own mask on first then you would have had sufficient oxygen to maintain consciousness so that you could help the child too. But since you didn’t take care of yourself first, you were in no position to help the child either.

 The same lesson applies to making the time to take care of your soul. If you don’t take care of your soul then it won’t be long before your soul is dry as dust. You will be drained, exhausted, shriveled up, and in a pretty poor condition to be much of a blessing to anyone else. But if you take the time to have your own soul refreshed and nourished by the Lord, then when you go out to meet the needs and expectations of others you will be doing so out the richness and depth of a healthy soul. You will be caring for them from the overflow of your own deep reservoir of spiritual richness. 

We have to stop making excuses for not spending time with God. We must do it for our own sake and we must do it for the sake of those who depend on us. If you don’t take care of yourself you won’t be well enough to take care of anyone else.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “This is what the Lord says … Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths; ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Your soul needs rest.”

Lance Witt is a devotional writer who sometimes contributes to the weekly Focus on the Family “Thriving Pastor” devotional series. The one I received from them yesterday was particularly good and deals with our theme for the month. So today I’m going to borrow from some of what Lance shared in that message.

In Jeremiah 6:16 the Lord tells us to “stand” at the crossroads. If we do that we will find the “good way” and it will lead us to a place of rest for our souls. Implicit in the word “stand” is the idea that you have to “stop”. Stopping and standing go hand in hand. This is a critical understanding for someone who wants to have a healthy soul. Jesus regularly took time to stop, to be quiet, to spend time with the Father.

The fact is that we cannot live life at warp speed without warping the soul in the process. If we fill our lives with unending frantic activity, if we’re constantly and breathlessly hurrying from one appointment to another, one task to another, there is no opportunity for our soul to simply rest in the Father’s presence. Jeremiah 6:16 tells us to stop and rest. Psalm 23:2-3 tells us that it is when we “lie down” in green pastures and beside quiet waters that He “restores my soul”. In Matthew 11:28-30 the invitation is to come to the Lord and spend time with Him so He can give rest to the weary soul and lift from us the burdens of life.

Back in Jeremiah 6:16 we find ourselves at a crossroads, two paths from which one must be chosen. One will lead us down the road of continued frantic activity. The other leads us to rest for the soul. A decision must be made, a path chosen. This is a choice each of us must make every day. The soul needs rest, it needs nourishment, and that rest and nourishment will only be found in the Lord, and it will only come to us once we stop, stand, and yes, rest.

Your soul needs rest. It needs a break from the activity and the noise. It needs time just sitting quietly and being with God. I encourage you to make time for that today. Your soul will be healthier, you will feel better, and you’ll find that everything else in life is a little easier to deal with.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul.”

Our Bible verse for today: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “The soul needs solitude and silence.”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian poet, writer, historian, and dissident in the old Soviet Union before, during, and after World War II. He spoke out against and wrote about the injustice of the Soviet system. He revealed the brutality of the forced labor camps and he exposed the hypocrisy of the communist leaders. For doing so he himself was sentenced to many years of isolation and hard labor in a remote Soviet prison camp.

Although those years of isolation, imprisonment, and forced solitude were brutal in so many ways, in Solzhenitsyn’s own opinion there was something positive and good that came from that time too. In the prolonged periods of isolated quiet he encountered God. Like so many before and after him, the isolation of prison became the holy ground upon which he met God. Like Peter in the Jerusalem jail, like John on the isle of Patmos, like Mandela during his decades of imprisonment, in that quiet solitude Solzhenitsyn met God and he learned some profound lessons about the value and importance of a healthy soul. He wrote:

“Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.”  He also wrote:

“The meaning of earthly existence is not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prosperity, but in the development of the soul.”

The lesson here is not that we all need some time in prison so we can have extended periods of quiet and reflection (although that might be the only way some of us would get it!), but instead it illustrates the importance for each of us to be intentional about carving out quiet time to just sit and be with God. That’s what God was saying in Psalm 46:10. He was telling us to calm down, sit down, quiet down, and just be with Him. “Just be still Jim, just stop all the activity, all the noise, all the doing, and know that I am God.”

One of my favorite kinds of prayer is to simply sit quietly before God. No praying or talking of any kind, no reading, no thinking – just being. It’s like when a young child crawls up into your lap, lays their head on your chest, and just sits with you. There’s nothing going on except enjoying each others presence. The relationship between you is growing deeper and being vastly enriched simply by being together. That’s what Psalm 46:10 describes and that’s what God longs for from His children.

Hopefully God will never find it necessary to put you or me in solitary confinement in order to get us to slow down and just spend time with Him. Although some of us we really don’t give Him any other option. Some of us allow ourselves to be so busy, and we make so many excuses for why we don’t have time to just sit quietly with God, that a little time in a Soviet gulag or on a deserted island like Patmos might do us some good.

The truth here is that the soul needs periods of silence and solitude. Why not carve out a little of that for yourself today?

God Bless,