If you are just beginning on your journey toward overall wellness, my first question is: how is your spiritual health?
When you look at the diagrams that show all eight areas of wellness, spiritual wellness is one of the eight. Here at Every Day Incredible, we are emphasizing spiritual wellness as being the gateway to wellness for all other areas.
Matthew 6:33 says that if you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added to you. It’s referring to all of the worries that we often have, such as what we’re going to eat or wear or what tomorrow will bring.
Let’s face it when we get overwhelmed, we tend to worry. A lot. It’s not a new struggle.
For those who have been listening or reading for a while now, you will understand that I have been more focused on spiritual warfare lately. While I know that not every struggle in life is a direct spiritual attack, I also recognize how much of our struggles actually are related. I’m much more aware of how much we are influenced by spiritual factors. If you remember, you can check out the post on Balaam’s talking donkey and see how that was a wake-up call for me.
The more I’ve studied, the more I’ve realized how we can make decisions that create opportunities for spiritual bondage for us. There are choices we sometimes make in life that give forces of darkness a legal claim to harass and oppress us. Being a Christian does not exempt us from this.
Many people go through their lives oppressed or harassed by satan’s minions because we never take our claim back and tell them, with the authority given to us by God, to leave us alone. I want to encourage you to take some time for reflection and meditation on God’s word today. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what might be standing in the way of your spiritual health. Ask Him what footholds you may have given that need to be renounced or let go.
What are you clinging to that may be clouding your spiritual vision? Are you finding it difficult to forgive someone? Do you have bitterness in your heart? Are you holding on to some object from your past that represents sinful actions you have taken? Do you speak self-defeating thoughts that go against who God says He is and who God says you are to Him?
We spend quite a bit of time here talking about how we need to change the unhelpful, untrue thinking and replace it with what we know to be true. There are some major spiritual implications to that. What does Scripture say is true? That is what you need to focus on at all times. Learn to make it a habit.
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Not only do the negative, untrue thoughts keep you feeling beaten down, they can also give evil a foothold to continue to oppress and harass you. You may actually be giving evil a legal right to do so. I’ll tell you what, thinking about that fires me up. How often have I in the past given the legal right where I didn’t even realize I was doing it?
We know that scripture says there are evil forces at work around us, yet it is something that is difficult for us to discuss for various reasons. We often turn a blind eye to it, as if it’s something only in the cartoons. Y’all, it’s real. To truly have overall wellness, we’ve got to address this first. I invite you to do you own research about spiritual bondage and legal rights and come discuss in the Every Day Incredible Ladies Facebook group.
As you are working to overcome negative thinking habits and start focusing on what is true, be sure to sign up for the Every Day Incredible email list at everydayincredible.net to download a free pdf on steps to cope with feeling overwhelmed in the daily grind. As always, check back next week for more thoughts on finding Christ-centered life balance. And remember, there are opportunities in every day, so make Every Day Incredible!