Your Soul is Good Soil
“…No church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only…Not that I seek the gift, but that you might have fruit.”
Philippians 4:15-17, ESV
What is our soul? Our soul is a combination of our mind (thought patterns), our will (the ability to make choices), and our emotions (which fuel our will and our thoughts).
God releases His seed through our souls to fulfill His purpose and will in our lives. If we are not being intentional, there are six major dysfunctions, which can become diseases of our soul:
Inferiority (Identity Crisis). This focuses on people who lack confidence in who they are so they feel inferior. It does no one any good to not think good of ourselves.
Depression (Discouragement). Discouragement is when we diss our courage. When we have no attachment to purpose, we drift from our gift, there’s no energy or fire, and we’re now vulnerable to having souls that are depressed.
Anxiety (Worry, Out of Control). Anxiety is triggered by being out of control. When we are out of control, we become breeding grounds for anxiety.
Guilt (Doing Wrong). The accumulation of guilt can weigh us down. We keep saying we’re sorry, and then we do it again. We cannot continue to carry guilt on us.
Resentment (Being Wrong). We feel bad when we do wrong, and we feel bad when wrong has been done to us. When we carry resentment, the seeds from God can’t grow because we have rocks, thorns, and hardened soil of the soul.
Fear (The Matrix of All Evil). Fear is a lapse of all of the above, but it doesn’t become a thought, it becomes a stronghold sent to ruin our harvest. Fear is the worst evil because fear is the opposite of love. But in Jesus we have a perfect love that casts out all fear.
We can have good soil by utilizing the six antidotes to dysfunction, found in the Lord’s Prayer:
God is our FATHER (Our Identity Is In WHOSE We Are). God created us. We know who we are. We are children of God.
God has a PLAN for us (Purpose Overcomes Discouragement). We don’t make a living, We make a difference. We were made for this day, and we’re made for this time. Our gifts and our calling match our moment in history. We matter.
God PROVIDES (Trust In The Crust, God Is In CONTROL). No Anxiety today, it’s going to be alright, God has us, and our soul is well.
God FORGIVES (Free From Shame). Guilt and shame lead us back to the very things that shame us. Get rid of the guilt and shame. We wipe that shame off of our faith.
God HELPS Me Forgive (We Are Forgivers). We’ve been forgiven by Christ and we have the ability to forgive others.
God DELIVERS Me (No Fear). We are free from the things that want to destroy us.