“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.”
How would you like to prosper physically in accord with your spiritual prosperity? We pay close attention to our physical health, but do we spend a lot of time checking out our spiritual health? It is important for Christians to keep check on their spiritual health. How can we do this? We can measure our spiritual health based on our closeness to the Lord. How much time do we spend in prayer and Bible study? How are we doing in our relationships with fellow Christians? How about our guilt levels? Are you having a problem with guilt because you know that your spiritual life is in the pits? There are some disciplines that you can practice that will help you to improve your spiritual health. The first of these has already been mentioned – prayer and Bible study. You cannot be close to the Lord if you are not spending time in prayer. Our relationship with Jesus is built on communication, and prayer is our source of communication with Him. In prayer, we talk to Him and then we meditate and listen to what He wants of us. I am not writing about prayers where we only ask God for what we want. I’m writing about prayers that include confession, repentance, intercession (praying for others), and petition (making requests). We need to read our Bibles prayerfully, carefully and systematically. Along with prayer and Bible study, in order to have good spiritual health we need to praise and worship the Lord. I do not mean just praising and worshiping Him in church. I mean that we should have a lifestyle of praise and worship of Him. If you will think about it, you can find lots of reasons to praise Him every day. Learn to consciously look for those times. You will find that the Lord is in the process of blessing you all of the time, even on bad days, if you will just pay attention. When you praise the Lord, you are worshiping Him as well. The psalmist had the right idea: “In God we boast all day long, and praise thy name forever.” You need times set aside for praise and worship both privately and publicly, but you can find plenty to praise and worship Him for in everyday life. If you really want to enjoy and profit from prayer, Bible study and praise and worship, learn to really love the Lord. I can’t tell you how to do this, except to tell you to surrender your heart to Him. The Bible tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB) This love for God should reverberate to loving people as well. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He said this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”(Matthew 22:37-39) We are to love God and people – all people. Certainly, if we read the Bible, pray, praise and worship God and love Him, we will also love people. 1 John 4:20 tells us: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Perhaps there are other things that I could relate to you that would help you achieve spiritual health, but those listed above should suffice. Give some thought to your spiritual health. It is just as important as your physical health. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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