Category: Soul Help

Soul Help

Soul Source

 

“…the things on earth stand next to Him like a candle to the sun! 

What compares to His great love?  Behold his holy Son…

The Word became a man that my soul should know its Savior. 

…Salvation is in his blood, Jesus Messiah!” 

Hillsong – “Behold” (Then sings my soul)

 

 

This piercing song deeply affected my spirit, skillfully ushering into my inner being living truth that transforms thoughts and intentions: God’s Spirit to my spirit and from there to my soul (mind, will, emotions) massaging, informing and releasing into the brain where the neuro stuff happens.  That’s where the actual result of what comes into my spirit flows out, from soul to brain to life.

 

Ephesians 4:23 “be renewed in the spirit of your mind…”  The spirit of your mind!? 

 

If THE Spirit is the chief informant for our spirit, we are on a good path.  If our spirits don’t have time or ears to be informed or sourced, we risk the outcome of a driven, overstressed lifestyle that denies the danger of overdoing our fight/flight/freeze hormones. We could eventually lose the ability to readily produce our well-being hormones.  So much so, that over time, a brain glutted with adrenaline overdose will seek anything that will give it a shot of a comfort hormone, which at that point will only come with greater risks and extremes.  Thus, the addictions, thrill seeking and phobias that are so rampant among us.  Our souls are being informed by our driven-ness rather than by our Designer.

 

My spirit was inadvertently informed by a song full of His Word and my mind is renewed, my heart is courageous to honor Him as I chose to believe Him today. My brain follows suit and the synapses trigger the neurons to carve a deeper path to positive action.  I face my circumstances with more freedom, expanded ideas, compassion and hope.

 

I am being renewed in the spirit of my mind!

 

How is your spirit being informed, so that your soul is sourced with truth and grace for real living?

 

 

Ideas from The Anxiety Cure, Dr. A. Hart

Soul Help, Soul Warning

Soul Vapor

“I could try to outrun the sun with my superhuman striving. I could try to hide in the dark with my subhuman shame.” Leeana Tankersley

 

What will it take to stop us?  To get us to think about what we’re thinking about; to grasp what we’ve been given?  Our rush to activity or our search for hiding places can rule us.

A few years back, I was jogging past a graveyard on a lazy summer morning thinking about what the day held, I tried to decipher what was worth worrying about.  The morning was a bit misty and the graves to my left quite obtrusive on a hill facing me, staring. As I passed by, I imagined I was being watched, examined and spoken to.  It was an alarming thought.  What might they say?!  How many of those buried people even had the privilege to take time to jog when they were alive?  How did they spend their lives and were they glad?  What would they do differently if they could?  What would they say to me?

 

I’m compelled to write on their behalf.  To shout what they might say.  We’ll be on that hill under the ground in a few short years!  I’m compelled to write for the ones who will join us on this planet; for my future grandkids. That they would see the end from the beginning, embrace it and live it wisely.

 

Can we ever get our heads around the idea that our lives are so short?!  Those feelings of, “where did that month go, or that week of vacation?” When I want to suspend the moments, the talks, the sweet looks, the lingering, the dialog.  I want to go back and say something else or not say it.  I want a chance to embrace more of what’s going on and enter in or bow out more gracefully.  There’s always too much for us to take in in a day.  That’s the vapor…it’s there, you hardly see it, and then it’s gone. That’s us.

 

Our hearts get fickle, anxious, greedy, tangled and weighed down…and we just don’t really believe that the next life is much more important.  You know, if you want to know what you really believe (not what you say you believe) look at what you’re living for; what you’re most anxious about; what you think about most. And walah! you’re busted.

 

We need to “escape into the truth”! (Alexander Chee) Away from the whirling dervish of life and give attention to the unseen parts of our being to reorient ourselves.

 

How can you plan your escape into truth; so that the rest of your earthly vapor prepares you for what will last forever?

It’s a matter of time.  Stop now, find a space and place to ponder your vapor. (James 4)

It’s a matter of time, until your life dispels into the beyond.

Then what will you say to the one jogging flippantly past your grave?!

Soul direction, Soul Help, Soul Warning

Soul Future

As we grapple with and embrace God’s incredible grace, we are free to be forgiven, to walk in joy instead of shame and rather than judge others, we can love.  What a relief and what a gift!

 

This is my stance before God – justified freely forever!

 

SO THAT I can now live a different kind of life.   Because I have freely received, I can live in obedience.  That’s the point, the reason He saved us, so we are free to live for Him and not for ourselves.  And that’s ironically always better for me!

 

“We must stop using the fact that we cannot earn grace (whether for justification or for sanctification) as an excuse for not energetically seeking to receive grace. Having been found by God, we then become seekers of ever fuller life in him. Grace is opposed to earning, but not to effort.”  Dallas Willard

 

If not, why would He say,

 

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?” (Luke 6:46)

 

So, although there are end time judgments that won’t concern us, there is one we need to take note of.

 

The Judgment Seat of Christ will focus on the believer’s words, works, and faithfulness.

 

“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2 Cor. 5:9,10

 

Though we are freely given eternal life, we are responsible for what we do with the life God gives us on earth.  How we need His grace for this!

 

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” Gal. 5:25

 

“…each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved…”  1 Cor. 3:13-15

 

“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12

 

“… don’t receive the grace of God in vain”! 2 Cor. 6:1

 

Picture yourself at the end of your life; insert yourself into your future…what will you wish you’d have been and done?

What will you regret?

 

What can you do now?

 

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…”  John 14:23

 

Soul Help

Soul Courage

 

In the midst of travel for meetings, my mother-in-law’s sweet memorial service, family reunions and distance discussions & decisions, my recent journey group managed to finish our sessions.  It was an intimate and moving time together.  Cecile was a delight to get to know.

 

Guest post by Cecile Sanders

 

This year marked my 3rd attempt at working through a book by Josh McDowell called ‘See yourself as God sees you’. As I wrestled through the first few chapters, a challenging question he poses, kept bouncing back to my heart: “where in your life are you chained because of a memory from the past?” As much as I desired to explore the question, courage just eluded me. But then God intervened, as so often in my life, by means of His perfect timing and creative acts of love.

 

I was honoured by an invite to be part of a journey group with three precious ladies from all over the globe. As we shared our lives with each other, literally and painfully walking through our journey lines together, God enabled me to be brave enough to face some of the dark spaces I have been avoiding for years. It was no spectacular event or weird and wonderful visions, just a deep sense of God whispering His unconditional love and acceptance to me that dispelled some lies I have come to believe. He transformed my cycle of fear, frustration, and fury into a new childlike confidence in Him as a good Father, One who is more than willing to help, forgive and just be with me. God gave me the courage deep down in my soul to step out and take on something I believe He has laid on my heart for years. Instead of finding excuses or fearing failure, I am excited to tackle writing my first book.

 

God provided time away from my life responsibilities, a place where I could truly connect with others who get my life and understand me – even though they didn’t know me – but mostly I discovered a deliberate space in His presence with His truth pouring into my heart and mind.

 

 

 

Soul Comfort, Soul Help

Soul Launch

 

I wrote the poem below to my 91 year old mother-in-law 2 days before she was launched into eternity.  She departed on Mother’s Day.  Perhaps there was a celebration they wanted her there for!  As my husband wrote:

Yes, she is fully alive now with the Lord. 

As I heard Dad whisper to her at the viewing… “I’m coming”.  We’ll be together again… joy and hope in sorrow. In loss we have felt the priceless embrace of the community we have in Christ.

 

Her laugh, her wit, her honesty

Don’t even come close to what you see

As her ruling passion and lived-out love

That showed in her steadfast serving the Above

Her mind set to please Him with all her energy

She delighted so many with her capacity

To handle with joy her family of nine

So rare does that kind of holy light shine

And it’s shining still from her arrows shot out

Infiltrating our world all about

Finding in their own darkness, that same light

To lift and guide and bring new life

As we stand on her shoulders peering into a new day

May her faithfulness and God-seeking launch us in a thousand ways!

 

We will miss her sharp wit and joyful way.  Thank you mom for your dedicated life.

 

“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind…”  Ecc. 7:2  

 

We can learn a lot there.  What do you learn from looking at someone else’s life?

 

Soul Help, Soul training

Soul Warrior

I’m resonating with this post, so wanted to share.wowarrior

Beth Moore on spiritual warfare:

“The enemy comes for you. Of course, some of you aren’t calling it spiritual warfare yet because that’s what the older generation called it and you want to be cooler than that. [:)] You had sort-of become convinced that the devil was not that real. Not that specific. Not that personal. Not that aware. And surely God would not allow him to mess with your kids.

And it’s not just the enemy. Your own vulnerabilities erupt into liabilities. Life’s taking a crowbar to every crack in your armor. You are tempted to things you swore you’d never do. That you judged _____________ for doing. Your past comes calling. If you’re married, your marriage, which you’d boasted about publicly, looks like it could go humiliatingly belly-up. Your kids are going nuts. Or maybe it’s you losing your mind. Half the time, you think you are going crazy. You’re getting criticized. You’re getting a lot of opposition. You daydream sometimes that you quit and moved to a remote island with your family, wore loin cloths and drank milk out of coconuts and swam with dolphins. You night-dream that you hung in there in your calling and it slaughtered you.

You have come of age.

What you’re going through is how it goes. I don’t know why on earth we older ones are not telling you more often and with more volume. Maybe it’s because we don’t want to discourage you but it’s so ridiculous because you’re already discouraged. Or maybe it’s that you won’t listen to us anyway. [I don’t agree with her here; I have found open ears among this group.]

But this is my shot at it today. You have come of age. You have come of notice to the devil. At the same time, your very faithful God who loves you has made a covenant through the cross of Christ not only to save you but to conform you to the image of His Son. His obligation out of His wonderful grace is to grow you up. And there is suffering in growing up. Among other things, you are forced to face the deceiver and pretender in your mirror.

I’m here to say to you today that it will not always be this hellacious. Oh, trust me. It will ALWAYS be hard. It will at times be horrific. But this season of eyeball-bulging nobody-ever-said-it would-be-like-this coming of age will not last forever. Mine lasted about seven years. Yours could last one. Or ten. That’s all up to God. Well, and you. Your cooperation is required.

It’s all about whether or not you’ll quit. Or whether or not you’ll get sloppy. Whether or not you’ll hang onto the first things that so drove you in the beginning. Jesus. The Scriptures. Holy passion. Holiness. And not just hang onto them but press further and further and further into them. Or will you slip into the black hole of busy-ness and business, of name-making, marketing, position, notoriety, self-importance, celebrity and Instacrap? Now that you are no longer naïve, what will you do with all of this? Will you fight for a pure heart that the world and your own flesh have so polluted that you think you no longer have what it takes or will you just go with it and figure this is how it happens?

And, in the words of Galatians 3:3, what you’d begun in the Spirit, you’ll just do from now on mostly in the flesh. You’ll  get prayer warriors to pray for you instead of also scrapping it out yourself on the floor, fighting with everything you’ve got in the heavenlies, hacking it through, bloody and bruised, defending the ground God entrusted to you.

You’re at the most critical place in your calling. The place of slaughter. The place where either the devil’s going to all but kill you, your flesh is going to destroy you or God is going to crucify with Christ that ego and fear and, truth-told, laziness and raise you MIGHTY.

Fight it out. Do not quit. If you’ve gotten sloppy, stop it. If you’re messing around in sin, repent. Go back to your face. Get that Bible open and plant your nose in it. Memorize Scripture. Learn how to fast and pray. Quit talking about Jesus more than you actually talk to Him. Quit letting your mouth overshoot your character. Become that person you’ve made fun of for taking it too seriously and being so dramatic about it.

You have what it takes. Do it. And I’m going to tell you something. What it will get you is Jesus. JESUS HIMSELF. Pre-eminent in all things. He is the joy. He is the prize in the fight. He is what makes getting hit by the debris in the hurricane worth it. Jesus Himself. He is everything.

I’m writing you today because I’m so proud of you. You’re out there doing the thing. And I don’t want you to quit. Pay the price.”

What is your next step in training your soul to be a warrior?

 

Soul Help

Don’t miss our next event

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Soul Help

A day at the office

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Soul Help

Just a simple post

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Pellentesque consectetur massa nec nulla fermentum, at tincidunt elit volutpat. Duis vulputate placerat tortor, sit amet eleifend mauris tincidunt sit amet. Aliquam a maximus ligula. Phasellus nec sapien sed tellus tempor eleifend id a erat. Donec convallis bibendum posuere. Quisque mollis imperdiet malesuada. Suspendisse eget dictum massa.

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