With a Subtitle: Two spiritual tools to keep your soul fit when fear and bad news press in.
A brief Excerpt: Rising conflict, disease, and bad news can leave your soul burdened with fear. Discover two Biblical practices—saturating your mind with God's Word and praying often—that guard your peace and keep your soul fit.
Background: Soul Irritants Increasing
With the rise in Ebola cases, conflicts between nations, and the cost of goods and services rising rapidly, it is certainly evident that we are in the last days. It would not be uncommon if you felt anxious or fearful about current events and what is to come.
Moreover, it would not be out of the ordinary for you to be bombarded with negative thoughts that produce worse case scenario imaginations. All of these unpleasant thoughts running through your mind are a recipe for a burdened soul. Your mental state sets the tone for the condition of your soul.
If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, then you are limited to band-aid solutions to resolve these battles. Medicating your emotions will only provide you temporary relief by relaxing your physical body. Once medicinal effects fade away, the battles resume because the invisible root of these battles has not been addressed.
Preventive Care Solutions
If you are part of the Body of Christ, there are spiritual tools and actions you can use to mitigate unpleasant worldly realities. There are several ways to keep your soul fit. However, I am just going to focus on two.
Solution #1
Let the Word of God, or the Bible, come into your eyes and ears and out of your mouth daily. Doing this allows the Holy Spirit to be the main controller of how you manage your mind. Read the Word to know what weapons God has given you to disable the attacks of the enemy. Furthermore, prevent your mind from becoming manipulated into thinking negatively about the global challenges we presently face. Listen to the word of God to build your faith in what God has said about these weapons and their power. Romans 10:17 tells us our faith is strengthened by hearing what the Bible says. Confess the Word to prepare for when the enemy attempts to attack you and for when an attack is happening in the moment. In Psalm 1:2-3, you can find the benefits of meditating (uttering or speaking) the Word of God.
As a preventive care practice, I utter or meditate on 2nd Corinthians 10:5 . When the enemy is attempting to introduce a fear-based thought, I immediately say, “I cast down every fearful imagination and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and I bring into captivity every thought of mine into the obedience of Jesus Christ.” By doing this, I disable the spirit of fear from becoming a stronghold in my mind, which influences my soul’s condition. As soon as the thought or dark imagination comes, you must address it as soon as possible. If you are not making adequate time to read, listen to, and meditate on the Word of God, then you will be ill equipped for dealing with demonic disruptions when they arise. Just like a neglected small leak in a roof that grows into a $1,000+ headache, the same goes for demonic disruption like fear that is not addressed properly. The undetected disruption, which could have originated as a thought or something you heard, can grow into bigger problems such as anxiety attacks and sleepless nights. Preventative care through the Bible will help protect your bank of peace in your soul from depletion.
Solution # 2
Pray often. Prayer is another vehicle in which we not only communicate with God, but it also increases our capacity and competency to make choices that benefit our soul. Taking time out of the day to commune with God, worship Him and petition His guidance and protection can help you avoid, for example, making poor relationship choices. I am certain that I am not the only one whose spirit and soul were subjected to distress from a toxic relationship.
The Bible urges us to pray often. According to Matthew 26:41, we should “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, it tells us to “Pray without ceasing. ” Preventive care for the soul through prayer ensures that we do not endure an excessive amount of challenges. Jesus informed us in John 16:33 that we can expect to have tribulations as long as we are on the earth. There are challenges that help grow us spiritually and challenges that we bring on ourselves due to a casual relationship with God and a lack of biblical knowledge. Hosea 4:6 let us know that people fail because of ignorance.
Preventative Soul Care: Case and Point
The truth is that Satan wants us to become hyperfocused on the current challenging societal realities so that we live in a state of emotional disarray. For this reason, the Bible tells us in 1st Peter 5:8 to “be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary is as a roaring lion that walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” In other words, the enemy or Satan is looking for those individuals who do not consistently practice keeping themselves spiritually guarded. The Holy Scripture tells us to keep our heart with all diligence because out of it come the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). This verse is not referring to your physical heart that is made up of four chambers, but to your mind and every unseen extension of it (emotions, conscience, desires, thoughts, etc.). More than likely, you have heard someone say something such as “my soul is heavy.” The journey of heaviness to their soul started in the mind. Just as we spend money and time on self-preventive care for our physical body (the flesh), we should do the same for our soul.
In Conclusion
Events around the globe will continue to intensify, and societal circumstances will continue to deteriorate. Take what you read and listen to from the media with a grain of salt. Be leery of reports of conflicts trending towards peace. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes (see Matthew 24:4-13). Cuba’s and the Philippines’ economies are on the verge of collapsing. Nigerian Christians are dealing with food scarcity and terroristic harassment. These challenges are just a minute sampling of the pressing circumstances that countries are currently subjected to around the world. If you take soul care seriously, then when global conflicts increase you will not “lose it.” Your consistency in reading and meditating on the multiple scriptures of protection will assure you that God’s security provisions for his children are unmatched. “… There shall no evil befall thee… (Psalm 91:10). Communicating with God daily through prayer will keep your soul’s bank of peace safe from invisible thieves (see John 14:27). Make preventative care for your soul a priority. Be ready to successfully confront whatever comes your way. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus and want to experience the highest caliber of peace and protection, then please click on the “Salvation” link below.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
Distributed by – BCWorldview.org