I’m amazed at how conscientious people go to great lengths to take care of their bodies (eating healthy, exercising, detoxing), but never think to take care of their spirit (soul).

Soul care is more important, because failure to care for the soul will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on the body.

Soul care is about your spirit. And the first and most important action, is to seek spiritual attention by connecting your soul to Christ. You cannot have a healthy spirit apart from the One who breathed the spirit of life into you! (Gen. 2:7)  Overlooking this critical truth, is where many people have stumbled and/or are failing.

People go to church and think they are taking care of their severely burdened (perhaps even damaged) spirit – in an hour a week! No way! That’s not going to cut it. And you know it. Going to church is healthy, and holds an important place in our lives to be sure, but it is not a substitute for one-on-one time spent with the Holy Spirit.  To put it succinctly: Your spirit NEEDS time with God. Every. Day. You won’t function properly without it. Especially in this crazy culture we are living in.

Since this world is NOT Christ centered, they only know to medicate any emotional and spiritual distress. They would never accept the fact that time spent (daily – like a pill) in the presence of Jesus, and with His Holy Spirit, could ever bring total healing to your soul. Today’s belief is: Jesus is not enough. He can’t heal your soul/heart/mind.  It is mind boggling to me how even some Christ followers have come to embrace this view! I don’t buy that lie. To me, it’s not about a pill as much as it is about a PERSON – Jesus.

Hear me well. I know many have found help in medication. And that’s a good thing. But the point I am making for the sake of this writing is this: if you neglect spiritual care by neglecting the Spirit of the Living God, your Spirit (soul) WILL suffer. Period. A pill will never be enough. A pill is man made. Your soul is God made.

There are additional ways to keep your soul healthy, the way one would implement healthy choices for the body.  We can start by refusing to worry (Matt. 6:25, 26, 27 & 34, Phil. 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7).  Also, learning how to guard against the beast of stress. Stress comes to all of us. Some seasons more so than others. But I’m astounded that many people have no idea how to cope with, and/or manage their stress. They might even manage their stress in ways that only cause more stress! Why are we not talking more about finding tools to help us manage stress, when we deal with it every day? Sometimes we deal with it every hour!

It’s time to take our spiritual and emotional health as seriously as we take our physical health, don’t you think?  Believe me when I say, the enemy uses our emotional and spiritual weakness to barge into our lives and cause depression, hopelessness, panic attacks, worry, fear, anxiety, insecurity, uncontrolled anger, confusion, insomnia, suicidal ideation, and a host of other soul illnesses and afflictions.  I cannot imagine anyone wanting to live with the symptoms of an overburdened soul.

This is not the outcome God has for you. You are His beloved child. He calls you to Himself. He calls you to experience lasting joy – a joy that is unperturbed by difficult circumstances.  He calls you to soak up His peace. The kind of peace that surpasses all understanding.  He calls you to hope. The kind of hope that is based on faith, not feelings. The hope He gives is supernatural, not superficial.  He calls you to walk in His Light which shines brightly in any and every past, present, or future darkness. He calls you to everlasting life!  But we must retrieve and receive ALL of this by spending time in His Presence (w/The Person – Jesus).

Walking with Jesus doesn’t take away the ferocious pace of this world or how close we are to it. But He will give us all we need to rise above it and live as overcomers, because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

The question I’m posing here is this: What are you currently doing to take care of your spiritual health?  Is what you are doing working?  Is it enough?  What are you going to do to cope with and manage your stress?  If you don’t control your response to stress, it will control you.  How will you overcome?  Who will you look to to help you overcome?

The answer is, and will always be, to meet one-on-one with Jesus. He is the key to a healthy and happy soul.

 

Love & Blessings!❤️ -Cindy Magsig

Scripture References:

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”‭‭ Proverbs‬ ‭17:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”         –Psalms‬ ‭84:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”       ‭‭-Matthew‬ ‭6:25-27, 34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”                                 –Philippians‬ ‭4:6-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you.”        –1 Peter‬ ‭5:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”       –Psalms‬ ‭73:26‬ ‭NIV‬‬