Soul Care: Soul Care 104
Thesis for series: To achieve the “Abundant Life” Jesus promised, will require our souls to be healthy and whole. So to experience a healthy soul will require soul evaluation on our part as well as intentional soul care! Soul care is our responsibility, so we need to make sure that we do it daily.
Scriptures:
John 10:7- 11: NASB
7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.11“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
To be able to live life abundantly today in this fast paced hurried, deceived, evil, and stress filled world requires that I take care of my whole being, which includes my body, my spirit and my soul.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:26:
“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37:
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
The pursuit of the “Abundant Life” means we need to focus on the three areas of “us” – we are the ones created in the image of God: Our “us” encompasses our Spirit/Soul/Body! We also need to know how they all function and interact with each other – remember these compose all of “us”!
So first question: “How is your soul?”
Summary of Soul Care 101-103
Question: “What does the soul need to be healthy and whole this year?”
1. We are responsible for the care of our soul!
2. Our souls need a connection to its creator God, or it will find another god (idol) to connect too.
• John 15:5-8: 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
3. Our soul needs to be in God’s presence on a regular basis to be healthy and whole!
4. Our soul needs rest to be healthy and whole.
T.S. – Since the beginning of the New Year we have been learning to take responsibility for our soul! We are now into February (can you believe it?) We have learned that our soul needs to be connected to God, we had the revelation that dwelling in God’s presence is a must for the health of our soul! We received the warning that if we fail to connect with God our souls will wilt and detach from the life giving vine of life! Last week we realized how needy our souls are and how they must have times of rest! A hurried, frenzied, unrested soul is an unhealthy soul heading off the cliff of detachment and to destruction.
Introduction:
Last Thursday February 2 was “Groundhog Day.” I grew up in Pittsburgh, Penna and Groundhog day was a big deal for this once steel mill city.
Ground Hog Day: PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — Every year on Feb. 2, many towns across America celebrate Groundhog Day, where a weather-predicting groundhog determines if there will be six more weeks of winter or if there will be an early spring.
According to tradition, when a groundhog leaves its burrow, if it sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If it doesn't see its shadow, there will be an early spring.
The first Groundhog Day celebration was held on Feb. 2, 1877, at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. However, the tradition of using rodents to predict the weather dates back much earlier and was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants.
The Groundhog Day celebration was created by a newspaper editor in Punxsutawney named Clymer Freas, who was part of a groundhog hunting club called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Together, the group designated Punxsutawney Phil as the nation's official groundhog meteorologist.
Today, the celebration is led by a group called the Inner Circle, who wear top hats and speak in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. Every year, they trek to Gobbler's Knob to get Phil's weather prediction.
Phil last Thursday once again saw his shadow predicting 6 more weeks of winter – but one CNN meteorologist said Phil has had to much punch and says he is wrong, it will be an early Spring. They are predicting above average temperatures up to the first day of Spring. 1st day of Spring on the calendar is March 20th – if you do the math from Phil’s prediction and the date of Groundhogs day Feb 2nd you come up with a 46 day time frame which by the way equals 6.5 weeks before we officially have the first Day of Spring.
How accurate is Phil – the so-called eternal ground hog is not all knowing? He is usually wrong more than right according to an Erie Press reporter - but the “Inner Circle” claim he is 100% accurate – somewhere in the world! They also claim that Phil is 137 years old – yes- he is an eternal ground hog? He lives forever because of the punch they give him!
This year marks the 137th prediction of the eternal Phil, “The Ground Hog!” In his tenor of predictions on the length of winter, Phil has seen his shadow 107 times and only 30 times has he not see his shadow and predicted an early Spring.
The annual celebration and weather predicting was really made famous by the movie called “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray.
Video Clip: Ground Hog Day trailer! Starring Bill Murray
As we have been speaking these last few Sundays of taking responsibility for our souls – this movie came to my mind – “Groundhog Day.” The movie portrays Phil a self-centered – egocentric (weather reporter) played by Bill Murray. The movie reveals how full of himself he is, prideful, arrogant, the most talented and reveals a self-centered ego driven soul who looks down on everyone else around him. But something happens to Phil Connors on “Groundhog Day” he becomes stuck in a time warp with no tomorrow, trapped in repeating the same day over and over again - Groundhog Day. The movie keeps repeating the same day over and over as Phil continues to make a mess of living the same day over and over! He seems to be so ego driven he even thinks he is a god! He continues making mistake on mistake, doing it wrong over and over, until he finally learns to get his day right.
The movie reveals a toxic self-centered soul, centered on himself and points to Phil Connors as his own biggest problem! Yes, Phil Connors self-centered ways is what needs fixing, and correcting.
Phil is shown in the beginning of the movie indulging the self or flesh over and over on this day - but he soon finds no satisfaction in it, it’s a living hell and he still keeps repeating the same day over and over – looking as if there is no escape.
In the cyclical terrorizing process of doing the same thing over and over and doing it wrong he finally snaps, Phil wants to die, he wants it all to stop! So, he tries killing himself many different ways but that never works. So, he devises a plan to steal a truck and Phil the famous ground hog, he reasons that Phil must be connected to his sadistic endless cycle of repeating the same day over and over. He makes his move snatches Phil (The Ground Hog) and speeds away with the police in hot pursuit and eventually Phil (The reporter) so distraught and soulishly toxic and desperate drives off the cliff killing himself and Phil the ground hog – But unfortunately for Phil (the ego driven reporter) he wakes up again only to discover he is still alive repeating the same nightmare over and over again, He is forever encaged doing “Ground Hog Day” forever with no hope of tomorrow.
The movie shows Phil stuck, frustrated, trapped, imprisoned in the endless cycle of repetition, toxic thinking, monotony, confusion, mental torment and him having to deal with a toxic self-centered soul with no hope of freedom. It would seem that there is no way out for Phil Connors.
But through a conversation with his producer he gets the idea that this may not be a curse but a blessing? It’s through this conversation that he has another encounter with an old homeless man who dies on his endless day, Phil cannot save him, so it changes Phil’s perspective on his day – his soul comes alive through the experience of death, to his self- centered ways. His thinking of only himself starts to fade away. He soon discovers to use his day for good not for selfish pleasure, not for self-centered gain so instead he now denies himself and seeks to help out others in this community.
The movie line teaches a crucial soul care lesson – we all need to learn and apply to the care of our own souls!
1. Your soul needs to be free, or it will shrivel up in a corner broken, detached, depressed and headed toward driving off a cliff! But here is the paradox, for the soul to be free it must first die to self.
a. So, the statement of caring for my soul or the main point in soul care here says our spirits are to be free to be healthy – we are free for it’s well being not to indulge our selfish nature – so what are free from?
i. Does it mean free to do whatever we want to do? Does this bring true freedom, or does it mean something else? Free spirited souls – what does that look like – free to sin or do whatever I want?
1. Running around with flowers in our hair?
2. Living in a commune?
3. Not working and living at the beach in a VW bus?
4. Meditating all day?
5. Going to India or another exotic place to find myself?
6. Running around naked in the woods or on a beach?
a. Share about the National Geographic show you watched: The naked church in Appalachia – is that freedom?
b. Share about another church where the Pastor is handling rattle snakes in church is that freedom?
7. Is it Smoking Marijuana? Doing drugs? Partying?
8. Is it living in the woods in a cabin isolated from others and being off the grid?
9. Is it believing what ever I want to believe?
10. Is it getting others to convince me my sin is not sin but a choice, a lifestyle?
b. The Bible says in 2 Cor. 3:17: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
i. Freedom does not come by me doing whatever I want to do says the Bible – that brings bondage!
1. Instead, this usually leads me into bondage, addictions, deception, guilt, conviction, turmoil and existing in a toxic life. It will take away my freedom.
ii. Freedom comes from the Holy Spirit. It’s internal! It’s soul related! It will never come from living in sin!
iii. The Bible also reminds me what freedom is and is not:
1. Gal. 5:13-17: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
c. Many young people think that they will be free when they flee the rules of their parents, the church, their school, etc – but they soon discover that freedom is not associated with doing whatever you want to do in society.
i. You are not free by external circumstances or lawless living – this brings bondage – freedom of the soul is an internal reality.
ii. I think of the underground Chinese church lives in a very oppressive society but they have total freedom in their Spirits.
1. 1 Peter 2:16-17: “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
d. This next verse describes for us what freedom really looks like!
i. Romans 8:18-21: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
1. Freedom comes from being a child of God who is empowered by the Holy Spirit and living for Him.
2. John Ortberg states this about freedom of the soul: The old masters of the life of the soul used to warn about the dangers of dis-ordered attachment. Desire is good, but when you want something too much, it threatens to take God’s place in your life. It will lead you to make bad decisions. It will put you on an emotional roller coaster. The ability to have anything you want actually can cost you your freedom. Samson had an unquenchable desire for Delilah; the rich young ruler was consumed by his desire for money; Saul coveted the power that came with his throne; Cain gave in to his desire for revenge. How did that work for them? Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 141). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
a. The Bible is filled with stories of individuals who had freedom to choose but they choose the wrong things which actually took their freedoms away.
i. The cost of choosing unwisely with your freedom:
1. Like Samson and Delilah – sexual immorality
2. Like King Saul – pride arrogance, fear, jealousy
3. Like King David – sexual immorality
a. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-20: 9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
ii. Story from Ortberg: In the movie A Christmas Story, one of the kids is given a double-dog dare to touch his tongue to a frozen flagpole on a December morning. Instantly, his tongue is frozen fast to the icy metal, and from that moment he isn’t going anywhere. He is stuck. A slave to his tongue. Freedom will come, if it comes at all, only with enormous pain. We get double-dog dared all the time. Make it about sex. Make it about money. Make it about security. That tender object stuck frozen to the flagpole is your soul. It craves to be free, but we’re not sure what that means. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 142). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
e. How free is really free? Some examples to think about!
i. What if anyone could choose for the sake of their freedom the speed limits in our society! What would happen?
1. Would others be free because you go as fast or as slow as you want? You could make stop lights optional. Would that bring more freedom to our society?
ii. What if you could choose to pay your taxes or not – for the sake of freedom – would that bring a truly freed country to live in?
iii. What if for the sake of freedom a person who is married decides he wants to be married but sleeps with whoever he wants – does that bring freedom?
iv. Our souls want to be free but an unhealthy soul – detached from God will choose what they think are freedoms but in actuality are bondages.
1. John Ortberg adds, “The soul cries out to be free, but the common perception is that Christianity stands in the way of freedom. It’s all about obeying someone or something that tries to tell you how to live your life. As a Christian, according to this perception, you’re not free at all, but submissive, dependent, and enslaved by your religion. So people wonder — does God infringe on your soul’s need for freedom? Does becoming a Christian mean somebody dictates what you do, what you think, how you live? Even Christians sometimes adopt this view. They may affirm their belief in Jesus as the Son of God and accept his gift of salvation, but retain their “freedom” to decide for themselves how they should live. The soul needs freedom, but what exactly does that mean? That I can do whatever I want?
a. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 143). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
f. Philip Yancey’s wonderful book: What’s So Amazing about Grace? Describes the pain he experienced over his church’s legalism: “I came out of a Southern fundamentalist culture that frowned on co-ed swimming, wearing shorts, jewelry or makeup, dancing, bowling, and reading the Sunday newspaper. Alcohol was a sin of a different order, with the sulfurous stench of hellfire about it. . . No short skirts for women, no longer hair for men, no polka dots on dresses for women because they might draw attention to suggestive body parts, no kissing, no holding hands, no rock music, no facial hair . . . it all calls to mind the dog who thought his name was ‘No’ because that’s the only word he ever heard from his master.”
i. I read this book years ago and he reveals how Christianity in certain sects of it have missed the point of what true freedom is!
1. But some churches have swung to other side of the pendulum and said that “God is Love” so you can do what ever you want and God will forgive you and you will get into Heaven. They have cried once saved always saved – so prayer the magical prayer and live your life in sin and you will still get into Heaven. Sorry to say I don’t read these messages in Scripture!
ii. Freedom comes from the Holy Spirit! From the Spirit of God.
1. A person who has a healthy soul and the Holy Spirit could even be free in prison – like the apostle Paul was when he wrote the prison epistles.
g. I like what John Ortberg says about the misperception of the Ten Commandments:
i. The Ten Commandments were never designed to be a stand-alone list of rules. They come within a relational context. They describe what living up to a certain value and a certain identity and a certain destiny looks like. In fact, in Judaism, they are not called the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew term is aseret hadevarim, which literally means “ten utterances” or “ten statements” because they were rooted in things that are meant to be in God’s kingdom. They flow out of how we were designed, who we were meant to be. We read them as “this is what you have to do,” but God was saying, “this is who you are.” That’s why we don’t so much break the Ten Commandments as we break ourselves when we violate them… When we bind ourselves to God, to a code of morality that transcends our own particular opinions, do we lose freedom, or do we gain freedom? If my soul needs freedom, what does the law have to do with it? I believe the soul is actually revived by law. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 145). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
1. Did you hear what John said – wow how we have misperceived what freedom is and is not in our deceived world!
a. We some how think freedom is the ability to do whatever I want – I can sin against God and His Word and in the end I will still end up in Heaven!
b. Does not work that way from my studying of the Bible!
h. John highlights more the misperception of what is freedom is and is not:
i. “Freedom from external restraints appeals to all of us, but I do not believe that it’s the freedom the soul needs.”
1. “For example, you generally can drink as much alcohol as you want, restricted only by laws prohibiting drinking and driving and public drunkenness. But if you want to get loaded every night in the privacy of your home, you’re free to have at it. Eventually, however, your drinking will begin to cause problems for you. It damages your health. It embarrasses your kids. It hurts your marriage. It threatens your job. You get to a point where you want to quit but you can’t. You discover that you are not free to enjoy sobriety. You’re free to drink as much as you want, but you’re not free to not drink. “I brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Your freedom is not restricted simply by external constraints. There’s another odd kind of restriction. Your freedom gets limited by an internal reality that is a kind of brokenness or weakness or dividedness inside you. You want to stop drinking, but you can’t. You want to live with a happy, cheerful, optimistic attitude, but you don’t. You want to quit yelling at your kids, but you fail. You want to be the kind of person who manages anger really, really well, but you aren’t. You’d like to think you have become unselfish, but you haven’t. You are not free. The freedom you lack is an internal freedom, and this inner lack of freedom is much more dehumanizing, much more tragic than external constraints. This kind of freedom is internal, and it is precious. It is “soul-freedom.”
a. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 146). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
i. Our soul and its health is, what dictates whether we are free or not.
i. John reminds us this, “Remember that the soul is what integrates our parts. If our will is enslaved to our appetites, if our thoughts are obsessed with unfulfilled desires, if our emotions are slaves to our circumstances, if our bodily habits contradict our professed values, the soul is not free. The only way for the soul to be free is for all the parts of our personhood to be rightly ordered.” Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 146). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
ii. He adds, “True freedom comes when you embrace God’s overall design for the world and your place in it. This is why in the Bible you see this strong connection between God’s law and soul-freedom.”
j. Quote Brother Lawrence “Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your human nature; you must go against your human inclinations.”
i. Recall what Jesus said in Luke 9:23-25: 23And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
T.S. - Your soul needs to be free by dying to self and yielding to the words of Holy Spirit and the best way to keep your spirit and soul free is by cultivating an attitude of gratitude in your soul daily.
2. Your soul needs gratitude! (Contentment in life produces a attitude of gratitude!) Philippians 4:8-13.
a. The health of your soul is attached to the attitude you carry each day.
i. Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
ii. Philippians 4:11-13: “11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
iii. Are you a complainer or are you a positive person?
1. Homework: Try an experiment this week when you meet others throughout the day say “Hi” then go right into complaining about something – notice how it makes you feel by the end of the day. Then the next day when you meet others say “Hi” then say positive things about the day and others and see how you feel by the end of the day.
a. I bet you notice a big difference!
2. Which day will be healthy for your soul and which day unhealthy?
a. Scripture exhorts us to be thankful – to rejoice always – why because it good for our souls!
b. Christian’s are challenged through Scripture to practice the soul care of the soul by being filled with an attitude of gratitude.
b. John Ortberg notes, “More gratitude will not come from acquiring more things or experiences, but from more of an awareness of God’s presence and his goodness. It’s a way of looking at life, always perceiving the good. Gratitude is a by-product of a way of seeing things, and it always involves three factors:
i. First, the benefit. In order to be grateful, you have to receive and recognize a gift that you believe is good. God has given you all good things it says in James and we need to be thankful for these things.
1. James 1:16-17: Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
a. We need to have a heart of gratitude for all the good things that come our way each and every day.
b. Are you grateful?
ii. Second, gratitude requires that there be a benefactor.
1. Ortberg states, A benefactor is one who does good, a little factory that produces good. To be truly grateful you must not only recognize the benefits or gifts that come your way, but that they are not just random acts; they are not accidents. They are coming from Someone who has good intentions for you. To be grateful as a Christian, you must believe that the good that is in your life comes from God. Not from your own efforts or merit.
iii. In addition to the benefit and the benefactor, there is the beneficiary: the one who receives the good gifts of God. And that’s you.
1. Ortberg states, “You are the beneficiary of the benefits of a God who has your best interests at heart, and this is going on all the time. When we take that for granted or believe we deserve his gifts, then we are no longer grateful; you can’t be grateful for something you believe you are entitled to, and without a grateful heart the soul suffers. Because the soul needs gratitude.”
a. Entitlement is everywhere today in our culture and world.
i. People cut in line – they feel entitled – they park where ever they want – they feel entitled.
ii. People break the rules because they feel they are above the rules.
1. Example in School.
2. John adds, “The default mode of the sinful human race is entitlement, the belief that this gift or that experience that God placed in my path is rightfully mine. I am owed. Here’s the deal: The more you think you’re entitled to, the less you will be grateful for. The bigger the sense of entitlement, the smaller the sense of gratitude… My sinful mind can convince me that anything I want I’m entitled to, and if I’m not getting something I want, somebody in the universe must be messing up, and they owe me, and they ought to pay for it. In fact, this has led to a proliferation of lawsuits, because when we don’t get something we really want, we want to sue somebody.”
a. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 172). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
3. Paul says it’s the hallmark of a life opposed to God. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile . . .” This connection is so interesting. Their thinking was futile. They perceived themselves to be entitled, to be owed, not as grateful receivers of grace every moment. “. . . forget not all his benefits . . .”
a. Entitlement says “They owe me! The church owes me! God owes me! My wife owes me! My kids owe me!” my government owes me! My work owes me!
i. By the way this mindset of the soul is called sin!
1. It’s totally self-centered and self-consumed with pride of self!
a. Back to Groundhog Day – Phil the egocentric weather man.
b. I sometimes wish people could get stuck in their entitlement mindset and live the same day over like Phil – by the way he was stuck for 452 days. It took him that long to figure it out!
ii. Ortberg adds, “Whatever I have, I deserve. Entitlement grows deep within us. This is why, for the soul, ingratitude is not just a psychological problem. It’s not just an impoverishment of our emotional experience. It’s a sin.” Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 173). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
4. I sometimes think we need to be intentional about showing gratitude to others.
a. Like writing others letters of gratitude and thanking people for what they do for you!
b. By saying thank you to people who have done nice things for you.
i. The other day I was at McDonalds and guy in front of me bought my breakfast – I waved to say “Wow-thank you!”
c. When you do you learn to be more thankful you cultivate a healthy soul.
5. John Ortberg adds to this idea of doing gratitude experiments by doing the following:
a. The next gratitude experiment is to pray your own benedictions — brief statements that recognize the good that comes from God. You don’t have to start with eighteen. That might be overwhelming. The best way to do this is to first make a list of all that you are truly grateful to God for providing. Then go back through this list and begin with the words, “Blessed are you, O Lord.”
i. Blessed are you, O Lord, for giving me my children.
ii. Blessed are you, O Lord, who gave me life and good health today.
iii. Blessed are you, O Lord, for helping me get through this difficult day.
iv. Blessed are you, O Lord, who forgives me when I sin.
v. Blessed are you, O Lord, for the great sunset you let me enjoy.
1. “Is it really necessary to use those words, “Blessed are you”? While the point of this exercise is to feed your soul with gratitude, there really is something special about these words that is worth considering. To bless someone means to offer happiness or praise to them. When you say “Blessed are you, O Lord,” you are not only expressing gratitude, but you are saying, “I want to make you happy and praise you, God, with my gratitude for what you have done.” It’s a subtle reminder that gratitude is good for both the person expressing it and the one receiving it.”
2. The above from Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 175). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
b. Gratitude and the intentionally of it is a soul care practice that we do each and every day to keep our souls healthy and whole and in connection with the Holy Spirit.
T.S. - We need to make sure we are doing soul care and part of soul care is to cultivate a soul with the attitude of gratitude – we are the ones that must do this because no one else will.
Conclusion:
Have you ever wished you could repeat a day to get it right like Phil Connors? Have a redo day until it all connects together correctly and rightly?
Some of you may be thinking of someone who needs what Phil Connors got!
Some of you may relate to this movie because this is how you picture your current life – you see the condition of your soul – stuck with no way out – trying to get it right so you can escape your toxic life.
Jesus is here to help us change if we are open to change. We just need to come to Him for help!
What do we need to know from this message?
Answer:
1. We are responsible to care for our souls no one else!
2. We need to connect with God to have healthy souls and dwell in His presence!
3. We are to care for our soul by getting adequate times of rest and refreshment and part of this is done by honoring the Sabbath!
a. Hurried souls are sick souls which start pulling a part at the seams.
4. We need to die to our self, so our souls are free! Were the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.
5. Our souls need to have an attitude of gratitude or they will become unhealthy and scarred.
Why do we need to know this truth?
Answer: So, we have healthy and whole souls!
What do we need to do?
Answer: Care for our souls by connecting them with God, by scheduling time to be in His presence, by taking responsibility for our soul, by making sure our soul is rested and not hurried and busy all the time, and by finding the freedom that comes to the soul by dying to self. We also need to cultivate a healthy soul by planting seeds of gratitude in it daily.
Why do they need to do this?
Answer: If we do these things we will have healthy souls, healthy spirits and a healthy body! If we work at this we will experience the Abundant life Jesus is talking about in John 10:10.
