Emotional and Mental Health - The Whole Person

 

A lady, who has been in our church Body since before I started writing this blog, found out this week that I write a post as a nightly devotion. She said, "I'll bet it is a good read, because you are very spiritual, aren't you?"

I answered, "I write about what I'm learning at the time. I include the body and soul, as well as the spirit. I believe in ministering to the whole person." She stared at me like I had two heads.

I have a Biblical precedence for my ministry goal with my blog. God includes the body and soul with the spirit in his ministry to people as well (Psalm 23-all). During His ministry on earth, Jesus regenerated the spirit from death to life, forgave sins in order to free the soul and healed the sick in body and soul (Matthew-all; Mark 2:9).

Paul taught us to include the body and soul in our spirituality when he admonished, " So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:13). 

We can successfully accomplish nothing in this life apart from the Spirit of God. God even uses some unregenerate people to accomplish His will, although they do not even realize it (Ezekiel 29:4, 38:4).

If it is necessary, God will cause a donkey to speak by His power (Numbers 22:21-39).  He is a creative God, as well as a caring and loving God. He wants what is best for us. That is why He created Paradise as our original dwelling place.

It is the wayward, prideful choices we make that block God's blessings from our life. We want to do things our own way, controlling our own life and being responsible to or answerable to no one, not even to God.

God's ways are certainly higher than our ways, beyond human comprehension sometimes, which makes it harder to trust His wisdom and intentions. Yet, if we totally surrender to God's will, we find our self blessed beyond our most vivid imaginations.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for caring about our body and soul as well as our spirit (Psalm 23:1-3). You provide for all of our needs according to Your abundant riches (Philippians 4:19). You are worthy of all of our praise, service and attention. You want only what is best for us, even if we do not recognize Your intentions at the time.

We usually, eventually see the wisdom in Your answers to our prayers, even if we do not understand while we are in the midst of our trials. You send the right people at the right time in the right place to bless us beyond our expectations. We thank You for saving us through regenerating our spirit, sanctifying our soul, and we look forward to You glorifying our body when we see Jesus face-to-face.

Thought for the Day:

God gives us joy beyond words and new mercy every single morning. - 1 Peter 1:8; Lamentations 3:22-23

No Longer a Sinner - Divinity of Christ in Us

The Bible is full of symbolism. For instance, water baptism is a symbol of our death, burial and resurrection in Christ. We raise to walk in a new life with Him.

We do not die physically in baptism, but our flesh dies spiritually, and is now able to disregard the lure of sin in this world. Sin no longer tempts us as it used to, and we are free from its bondage.

We relate to Christ's new life in us to a greater degree than we connect to this world. We died together with Him; and it is Him, not us, that now lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

We are one with Christ; and through His divine nature within us, we die to the desire to sin. God adopts us into His family. We share in His benefits in His Kingdom of God as co-heirs with Jesus.

In Christ, we gradually become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our focus in life, our habits and the people we hang around with all change. Our life is spiritual now, rather than carnal and fleshly.

Our vital union with Jesus, puts us in right standing before God, our Father (John 15:1-11; Romans 6:3-11; Ephesians 5:30). He births our spirit, and we live a life which is pleasing to God. We are one with Christ and members of His Body.

Our old, carnal flesh - our intellect, emotions and will - is crucified with Christ and we died to sin (John 15:4; Romans 6:6, 8:11; Colossians 3:3, 9; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 4:22). We are filled with the fruit of God's Spirit, which is the divine nature of Christ in us (Galatians 5:22-23).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that the fruit of Your Spirit grows in us only as we abide in Christ and follow Your will for our life (John 15:4). Our living union with the Trinity allows us to fellowship with You every moment of our day and results in our eternal security (John 10:27-30).

Create in us a clean heart, and use us as a living testimony for Your glory (Psalm 51:10). Thank You for loving us unconditionally and changing us from the inside out. We look forward to You continuing to change our relationship with You by Your Spirit, until our human nature is altered to one that reflects Your goodness to a lost and dying world.

Thought for the Day:

As a Christian, we are transformed by God's Spirit from one stage of glory to another until we reflect to the world the exact image of Christ in us. - 2 Corinthians 3:18; Hebrews 1:3

The Mind of Christ

Paul encourages us to adopt the same mindset about life that Jesus had. He goes on to explain that Jesus proclaimed that He was equal with God. With Christ in us, we too have His Godly nature (Philippians 2:5-6).

Even with His divine nature and character, however, Jesus did not use this fact to build His reputation. He did proclaim His deity (John 10:30, 17:21), but He did not use this fact to promote Himself.

We learn this same humility in our daily walk (Philippians 2:7), which allows us to also serve one another (Mark 9:35). Jesus obediently paid the ultimate sacrifice on Calvary's cross and taught us to lay down our life for one another (Philippians 2:8; 1 John 3:16).

When we realize that our sin crucifies again the Lord Jesus Christ, we run from sin and live in the will of God instead (Hebrews 6:6; 1 Peter 4:2). We want to honor God with our thoughts, words and deeds.

Jesus fulfilled the law through His birth, death and resurrection (Matthew 5:17). He kept God's commandments and He helps us to keep them too. We abide in His love (John 15:10), and He gives us His wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Through His death, God exalted the name and person of Jesus above every name, and every tongue will eventually proclaim His Lordship over all the nations of the earth (Philippians 2:9-11).

Jesus did not abandon us, but He sent us the Holy Spirit of God to teach us all things and to bring them to our remembrance. God's Spirit teaches us to change our focus from one of carnality to one of spirituality (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Spirit serves as our comforter and guide (John 14:26, 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:11-13; Acts 8:29, 11:12), and helps us to be like-minded, loving and living in one accord with the rest of the Body of Christ (Philippians 2:1-11). 

Jesus' life and crucifixion exemplified perfect patience (1 Timothy 1:15-16). With the mind of Christ in us, we find spiritual support, comfort of love, fellowship with His Spirit, affection, mercy and joy in our relationship with Christ.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for giving us the mind of Christ, which helps us to make sense of this world of strife and confusion (Philippians 2:5). You inspire us to live in humility and to serve one another as Christ serves us. We look out for one another and protect each others interests (Philippians 2:3-4).

Although Jesus is equal with You, He still took the form of a man in order to redeem us from our wickedness and sin (Philippians 2:7-8; Matthew 20:28). We exalt His name in our hearts and with our lives and look forward to His rule and reign on this earth for eternity (Philippians 2:9-11).

Thought for the Day:

Once we learn to think as Jesus thought, then we can live, move and find fulfillment on this earth just as Jesus did in all of His humility, love and power. - Acts 17:28