Tonight you turned on the tv.
Gloom, death, and agony are everywhere. The smell of sulfur pervades the airwaves as Satan dances in the blood of destroyed lives. Disgusted, you turn the set off.
Then you worry what you may be missing. What if something’s happening you need to know about?
You checked out social media just to see. For a couple of hours.
We are a church trapped in despair. As the veil between heaven and earth is rent, the spiritual battle becomes more and more intense. Life feels different, because it is different. We’re witnessing the death of an age. God’s people are disheartened by the daily assault against our homes, against the people we love, and against the foundations of our civilization. Society is being gutted. Casual Christianity doesn’t cut it anymore. Life as we know it has been decimated by raw evil, leaving us brutalized in the streets.
There are likely to be many more hard days, but there is a path to victory.
Have a talk with your soul.
Spirit to Soul
God made us in His image. As such, we are tripartite, having three parts: body, soul, and spirit.
- Body
- Soul
- Spirit
The physical body we know well. The soul is who we are, that eternal person trapped in a physical body and constantly at its beck and call. Our soul responds to internal and external stimuli. We’re cold. We’re happy. Our anxious thoughts multiply in response to the pressures of life. We feel fear when we’re threatened.
Our spirit, on the other hand, operates independently of those pressures. It died with Adam and is reborn in each person with our acceptance of the Savior. Man’s spirit communes with God and responds to the leading of the Holy Spirit Who indwells us at our salvation.
We are complex creatures constantly at war with ourselves. The Apostle Paul spoke of this struggle in his letter to the Romans.
ROMANS 7:22-25
For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Sit down and rest a moment, Soul.
We are often caught in a vicious cycle. The external and internal pressures assault us. We are not equipped to handle these battles alone. If we can quiet our souls and wait upon the Lord, we will discover God is longing to speak in our spirits. If we listen in the hush of the night, He will speak. He will speak to us.
Take a walk through the Psalms.
The Psalmist talked to his soul.
PSALM 62:5
My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.
PSALM 42:5
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him. For the help of His presence.
PSALM 103:1-5
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your illnesses; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Choose to live in gratitude.
God loves you, and He hurts when you are overwhelmed with sorrow. He yearns to teach His beloved people how to withstand the gales of life. When we quiet our hearts before God, He will fill them with gratitude for His many kindnesses, not the least of which is eternal life. Thankfulness acknowledges and honors God for His abundant gifts. It redirects our minds from negative thoughts to praise.
COLOSSIANS 2:6-7 (NKJV)
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
