Friday Fight 149: The Nature of Our Soul

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF149.

How many of us can relate to soreness after using a muscle or joint repetitively, causing an overuse injury? Rigorous movements done in the same repetitive manner or lifting a bag with the same arm will eventually compromise our ability to move that area as designed. If we apply the dynamic of overuse injuries to our spiritual lives, how do they compare?

The Nature of Our Soul:

There are some impactful applications if we look at a physical injury or, more specifically, an overuse injury. These injuries differ because one can be a single event, whereas the other takes a repeated small toll on our body. When this happens, we can limit our physical activity by compensating (some denial) or by ignoring it and being in constant pain (complete denial). Compensation is something I am currently undergoing because I recently re-injured my knee. But missing work to deal with it feels too overwhelming. I acknowledge it but decided to do daily stretches and rehabilitation-type exercises first.

Let's parallel this to emotional hurts. We can try to work through them on our own and avoid the person who hurt us, or we can pretend the hurt doesn't exist and deny our need to address it all together. Why would we do this? Just as people lack the time and energy needed to address physical injuries, emotional pain can often be more exhausting to face or to deal with, which makes things worse. Much like the overuse injury or something we are too busy to handle, our mistake is believing it is easier to live in denial than to confront it. At what point should we face reality and stop compromising areas of our lives to avoid pain and welcome God's healing? Psalm 30:2 says, "Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me." God wants to heal His children. He loves us, and it causes Him pain to watch us suffer.

Maybe we aren't limping, but when we hide our hurts and endure situations that repeatedly cause pain to an area, we are allowing an emotional injury to compromise areas of our lives that God designed for other purposes. Minimizing the effects this hurt causes is how darkness operates. Each time a situation presses on those past hurts in a way that replicates the pain we initially endured; our heart aches again. When we hide our hurts rather than face them, the pain parallels an overuse injury. When left untreated, these injuries usually require substantial surgery to heal.

God wants to free us from our pain and heal our wounds. He will go to great lengths to plant seeds of healing in all directions of a painful situation. God desires to heal people of hurts they do not realize they are carrying. Whenever we adjust our lives to offset the hurt we haven't faced, we rob ourselves of God's plan for us and hinder our spiritual potential.

Think of healing as a seed, a tender plant intended to grow. Now, imagine our souls containing different types of soil that will help or hinder those seeds. What is the condition of this soil in our souls? Are rocks hardening it, thorn bushes causing damage, or is it prepared for all God has for us? Let's ask God to prepare our soil and allow seeds of healing to grow continuously. There is power in the name of Jesus, and by His stripes, we are healed.

Photo Credit: Shannon DeSantis

Pastor Shannon

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