So far we have learned:
- God rested and He created us in His image; thus, we need rest.
- The rest God offers us is deeper than physical rest; it’s rest for our soul.
- God commanded us to diligently pursue His rest and, in fact, we are warned to “FEAR lest [we fall] short of it.” (Hebrews 4)
- We have identified “unbelief” as the primary reason we don’t have His rest.
- The key to rest for our soul is in exercising supernatural faith.
Check your soul-rest barometer. Are you living in the kind of peace that keeps you free from the chains of anxiety and fear amidst unpaid bills, a crazy presidential election, family squabbles, a health crises, or the chaos of this crazy world? Or, are you like me and find your jaw aching again because of anxiety?
My friend, this series has revealed to me that proper soul-care must be done daily!
Yesterday, we learned that our rest in God is directly related to exercising supernatural faith so that every part of our life reflects a deep belief in God. Of course, like many of these devotionals, when I’m writing—I’m asking God for answers to a situation in my own life. It is actually funny to me when others say “I read that devotional, were you looking in my window?” I always reply, “Nope, God is looking in mine.” 😆 So, you’ll recall in the first devotional in this series on self-care that the comment of a friend was the impetus behind writing this series.
Well, as I’ve been writing, God has revealed how much more I need daily soul-care than I even realized!
I want to understand HOW to get in the habit of exercising this gift of supernatural faith even more! God keeps reminding me that my soul is the real me—it’s the part that keeps life in my body. [See our video on human design for more details.] So I need to consider proportionately how much time I spend caring for my soul-needs vs. my physical needs.
This brings to a head the importance of ”soul-care” as our best “self-care!”
In this devotional, we are presenting some of the general concepts, that is—ways of thinking—for good soul-care. Tomorrow we will be listing some practical activities for good soul-care. Four ways of thinking about how to achieve the best soul-care are as follows:
- Constantly refocusing our mind on God—the ONLY reliable source for soul-care.
The BEST source for soul-care is in the ONE who created our soul and sustains our life! The secular self-care movement is grounded in the assumption that the power to find healing and rest lies within and the false belief that we have the power to care for ourselves. But the Bible counters that Jesus is the fountain of all power, indeed He is the giver of life. Our soul needs something bigger than self. That is why Jesus, who by the world’s standards was poor and needy, could offer us this remarkable promise:
“Come to me, all who labor 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.”
Matthew 11:28-30
To make Jesus our center for everything—including our source of rest—is an exercise of supernatural faith. We must re-train our brain to think of Him as our center for soul-care, which necessarily involves the following way of thinking.
- Divest ourselves of the “me center.”
We’ve written an entire devotional series about this topic, so I won’t reiterate everything here. The less our life is about how we FEEL or what we WANT—the more we are freed from anxiety caused by our self-perceived lack of what we need. Everything that happens around us—is NOT about ME! In Christ, our soul lacks nothing. When we have the mind of Christ, Who lacks nothing, we begin to understand that we ALSO lack nothing. The soul who is satisfied is not anxious. Because without our soul, our body dies, it makes sense our soul must be fed with Jesus, the source of our continued life:
“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
John 1:3-4
When we make God our center—meaning our motivation for all we do and all that happens to us—we are centered. We are living our God-given purpose to glorify Him. To live with God as our greatest passion, instead of making worldly pursuits our passion—is a mindset that allows us to exercise supernatural faith.
- Asking God—FIRST—for everything
God’s Word teaches us to consistently “make our requests known to God.” To develop a way of thinking from habitually relying upon earthly faith and make our first quest to God—our source of supernatural faith—is key. The Bible commands us:
“Do NOT be ANXIOUS about ANYTHING, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your REQUESTS be made known to GOD. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
In order to have the mindset to go to God FIRST for everything, we must develop the BE-attitude of being poor in spirit, where we live in total acknowledgment of our absolute need for God! Again, this is a mindset which allows us to exercise supernatural faith.
- Everything we have and all we are—belong to God—to be used for HIS glory.
Paul reminds us that even “our bodies are not our own. They were bought with a price to be temples of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) It is for this reason that we “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice.” (Romans 12:1) When we exercise and eat healthily, we act as good stewards of the gifts God has given us—our bodies and minds—and we accurately represent that we are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” (Ephesians 2:10) But caring for our bodies and minds should not come from a pursuit of our own comfort and pleasure, but from an act of worship and submission to God.
I often pray the following prayer out loud—so I can hear myself say it to God and thus, retrain my brain to think HIS way: “Lord, all I have belongs 100% to You. My life is not mine; my law practice is not mine; my home is not mine; my money is not mine; my children are not mine; my body is not mine. Nothing I have is mine. It all belongs to You. Help me use ALL of it for Your glory!” This prayer retrains my brain to the spiritual reality of my need for God’s powerful presence. Again, the goal is to produce a mindset which encourages the exercise of supernatural faith.
Although these four ways of thinking are by no means an exhaustive list, do you see how they can revolutionize your faith-life?
These thoughts are in line with the two great commandments of Jesus to—love God with all our heart, soul and mind and—to love our neighbor as ourselves. The development of a consistent acknowledgment of the supremacy of God and our dependence on Him, naturally triggers more belief in God! Tomorrow we will finish up this series with some practical applications to engage in consistent care for our soul.
