A Healthy Soul

Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt overwhelmed by the things of this world? Where life seemed so hard and no matter what you did, things just wouldn’t go right?

If you have, then join the club with every other Christian on this planet. We all go through periods like that, and they are times of learning and testing that allow you to grow stronger in Christ.

What is a healthy soul?

A healthy soul is at rest. It is not emotionally distraught. It doesn’t worry or become anxious. It is not grace with guilt or shame. It has found its home in Christ and trusts Him to take care of all of its concerns. The wonderful truth is that you can have JOY in the midst of your problems. You don’t have to wait for the storm to pass. He gives you a supernatural rest that only He can give. When we are at complete rest in our mind, will and emotions we are free from the tyranny of circumstances and people that upset us. This is true freedom. Our part is to keep pressing forward and not give up. God promises in Philippians 1:6 that He will complete the good work He begins in us. Little by little, our soul finds rest in God.

To learn how to rest in God takes time and it is a process. It’s like an onion. You peel through a layer and think that you have made it and learned what God’s rest is, only to find there is another layer for you to discover, learn and enjoy. It is a lifelong journey that only gets better and better if you let it.

Ask God today what is the first, small step for you to find God’s rest and then do what He tells you to do.

God’s Solution:

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says:

“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Let’s take a look at this Scripture.

The first thing that Jesus says to us is, “Come to Me…” We are allowed to come to God personally; there is nothing between Him and us.

Second, He is inviting us to come. God wants you, in fact, He wants you so much that Jesus died on the Cross just to prove it. Jesus didn’t have to come to this earth and die, but God’s love is so great, and He wanted us so much that He chose to come.

Let that sink in for a few minutes. Take a moment to consider that. YOU ARE LOVED.

Third, God lets us know who needs rest: it is those who labour and are burdened, but what does that mean? In this context, those who labour means those who are striving to do it all on their own and failing.

I know that in my life when I try to do everything with my own strength alone it does not turn out well. When you are heavy-laden it is like your spirit, mind, will, and emotions can’t function because there is this weight on you that you try to lift by yourself. It causes you to feel down, depressed, anxious, all those negative things that we do not want in life.

So what does God say when we are weary? He will give us rest, and the best thing is He even tells us how and that is by taking His yoke upon us and learning from Him. What is this yoke? Rest for your soul (your mind, will and emotions). So what does God give us rest from?

1. Fear

We do not have to be afraid of anything in this world because God is with us and supernaturally protects us. Have you ever come so close to having a car accident and you were sure that it was going to happen, but the at the last moment it didn’t. That is God keeping you safe.

2. Hopelessness

In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God has good plans for your life, and you can rest knowing that no matter what your life is like now, if you trust God, it will get better.

3. Addictions

We all start out thinking that we will always be able to control that sin we are about to commit, whether it be alcohol, smoking, drugs or pornography; and for a while, you can. Eventually, the addiction has you in its grasp and it now controls you. God wants to set you free and give you rest from the torture you are under. In Isaiah 58:6 we are told:

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?”

God can take that addiction and crush it in your life if you let Him. For some people, it will be instant, and for others, it will be a process as God heals your heart of the things that caused the addiction in the first place.

4. Depression

Depression robs you of the ability to enjoy life and not only hurts you mentally but physically as well. That is not God’s will for your life and you were not created that way. God wants you to live a full life and is able to heal your mind as you take those steps of faith to find His rest.

Finding God’s Rest:

The book of Hebrews say that it is through believing that we can enter the rest of God (Hebrews 4:3,10). When we put our faith, trust and reliance on God & His promises to us, we begin to experience rest and a healthy soul.

Our will is part of our soul and we can use our free will to obey God or not to obey Him. For ex. if God’s Word tells us not to do something and we do it anyway, we won’t have rest in our souls until we have repented and received God’s forgiveness. Our conscience condemn us. Self will and God’s rest do not work together. God wants us to believe Him and in order to believe Him we must believe He loves us. When we believe Him we will obey Him. When this happens we have rest for our souls. We all start off in life with a LOT of self-will and trading that self-will for God’s will takes a lot of time and is painful to us. We come into this world spiritual babies wanting what we want & pitching a fit when we don’t get it.

Both spiritual babies and human babies want their way and behave badly when they don’t get it. Just as we have to train our children God has to train us.

Every time you yield to God, saying no to your flesh you are growing. Each time you let go of something that you have been desiring more than God your life gets better. Each time your soul enjoys more rest.

Trusting God is the only doorway into the rest of God. The more we trust Him the easier life gets, because we find that what we release to Him He takes care of.

Right now make a decision to believe God more than how you feel, what you want, or what you think. His promises are greater and more worthy of our trust that anything this works can offer. Everything else in life we chase is like shifting sand. His Word is the only thing that last and endures.

Build your life on stable ground. When you build it on popular opinion, what you think or feel you are building it on sinking sand. Jesus is the Rock. No one can avoid the trials and tribulations of life, but those who have their lives built on Jesus will come through the storms and still be standing strong.

As you take those small steps of faith (and they are different for each person), and God comes through for you, you KNOW that you can trust Him in that one thing which gives you the courage to try the next one. It is only as we experience God that we become more like Jesus and can rest in Him.

Love,

Sherry