FEED YOUR SOUL (Week 2)
FEED YOUR SOUL: WEEK 2
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Know Your Soul
“The soul represents the core essence of a person, encompassing their thoughts, feelings, will, and overall life direction, making it the most important aspect of their being.” – Dallas Willard (1935–2013)
Luke 1:46 NIV: “And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord.” –my inner breath, my feelings, desires, and affections. Psyche-- identity, consciousness, capacity for rational thought, moral reasoning, spiritual awareness
I Peter 2:11 NLT: Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents & foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
Psalm 42:1-11 NIV: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
"Since the soul is united to the body as its form, it must necessarily be in the whole body, and in each part thereof." – Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD)
Feed Your Soul
I Timothy 6:7 NLT: Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” – Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647 AD)
3 John 3:2 NASB: Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
“No, the spiritual life can only be real when it is lived in the midst of the pains and joys of the here and now." - Henri Nouwen (1932–1996)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955): "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."
Be aware and responsive to God’s goodness in normal joys and pains of life.
Be intentional to choose times, places, and activities that position me to experience rest, restoration, and deeper relationship with God.
Be courageous to pursue activities and actions that help and heal others.
"The inner dimensions of life are what are referred to in the Great Commandment: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself' (Luke 10:27, NASB). This commandment does not so much tell us what we must do, as what we must cultivate in the care of our souls." –Dallas Willard (1935–2013)
John 4:34 NIV: “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
“It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” – CS Lewis (1898-1963 AD)
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we, Your unworthy servants, give You humble thanks
for all Your goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all whom You have made.
We bless You for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for Your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of Your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth Your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up ourselves to Your service,
and by walking before You in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with You and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
–Book of Common Prayer
