Your mind needs attention and care. If you don’t attend to it, it will grow all kinds of weeds and become wild. And who wants to have a wild, unrestrained, and undisciplined mind?

To understand the importance of your mind, you must first come to grips with this truth:
You are a spirit. You have a soul. And you live in a body.

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1Thessalonians 5:23, NIV)

Your spirit, at new birth, was recreated, in the exact likeness and holiness of God.
(Ephesians 4:24)
It’s perfect, complete, full of love and faith and hope and joy. The life and the ability and the glory of God dwell within your spirit. There’s heaven in your heart.

Your soul houses your mind, emotions and will.
Your mind is a function of the soul, and entails all the thought processes, such as reason, perception, imagination, memory, etc
And while your spirit is completely recreated new, your soul isn’t. It must be renewed with the Word of God. It must be brought under the leadership of your spirit.

Why is taking control of your mind so important to your life?
Because it holds the key to every other aspects of your life. Your soul is the link between the spiritual and physical realms. And in order to manifest in the physical those beautiful realities in our spirit, the soul has to be put in shape.
For instance,
the state of your soul determines your health, well-being and the prosperity of other areas of your life.

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.”
(3John 2, AMP)

If your mind is sick, your physical health too suffers. You may be wondering how the mind can get sick. Well, such emotions as envy, jealousy, fear, anger, etc make the mind sick. And a sick mind produces a sick body:

“A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.”

(Proverbs 14:30, AMP)

Envy, jealousy, bitterness, guilt, fear, loneliness, depression eats away at your physical health. So to live in good health, you must give attention to your soul. Cause it to be prosperous.
A prosperous soul is one that’s aligned with the truths, perspective, promises, and blessings of God. It’s one that’s devoid of fear, envy, jealousy, bitterness, etc.
Instead, it’s full of faith, joy, love, hope, etc
You bring the soul to this point by daily exposing your mind to the Word of God. And by practice or doing the Word.

You can manifest in your life vibrant spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health. And you can live in God’s overflowing abundance in every area of your life. The key is a prosperous soul! (3John2)

Emotions have messages. Feelings don’t just happen; they are triggered by your thoughts. This means that different emotions are caused by different thought patterns. Emotions, in a way, are your thoughts finding expressions through your feelings. So your emotions carry messages that reflect what you have been thinking about and how you have been thinking. For instance, when you feel guilty, it means that you have broken one of your principles. It means you have done or said something that you consider as being wrong.
Shame communicates that you think yourself unworthy, because you have done something stupid, hence, not deserving of acceptance or love.
When you feel disappointment, it simply means that an expectation you had was not met or you have been let down. Worry means that you are not adequately prepared for what’s coming. So what message does fear communicate?

Fear communicates a myriad of messages depending on the object of the fear. However, generally, fear communicates inadequacy; “I can’t handle what I am about to face.”
“I don’t have what I need to meet a particular situation.” “It’s well over my power or control.”
Whether it’s the fear of public speaking or fear of death or fear of the future or fear of rejection or fear of not been hot enough, the underlying message is that of being insufficient, incapable, deficient or “not enough” for the situation in question.

God’s plan for your life isn’t to be driven by fear. No! God wants you governed by His Word and Spirit. However, if your life is driven or controlled by fear, I have good news for you. And this is the good news: You can master your fear. That is, no fear is unbeatable. And some fears can be captured with just a little bit of effort. For instance, I have this fear of large bodies of water. I know it’s simply because I don’t have swimming skills. I feel inadequate to meet this challenge. What I need to conquer this fear is just a few swimming lessons. For now, I feel swimming is unnecessary. I will knock out the fear when I feel a real need for swimming. ?
Similarly, the fear of failing exams or interview can be stumped out, if one would only make adequate preparations for it.

I remembered how I overcame the fear of public speaking back then during my undergraduate days. I was so shy of standing before people. I would always feel like “all eyes on me!” It’s a terrible experience you don’t want to go through!
When I started nursing thoughts of speaking to people, helping them with life issues, I knew I had to do something about the fear. I prayed about it, but it didn’t seem to do much. Then I started something more practical. I had read that the best way to conquer your fear was to do what you feared doing. So I took that path. I would deliberately let my colleagues settle down in their seats in those large lecture theatres. I would wait until almost everyone was seated, then stroll in through the front door. I would linger a while in front, while looking straight into those crowd of eyes gazing down at me.
No one really knew what I was doing. I was fighting and daily mastering the fear of standing before large crowds. And I didn’t stop there; I then started making some presentations in the fellowship, and organizing small talks around the campus. I called them Power Seminars. Each seminar gave me more confidence, and a greater desire for another. I kept doing what I had feared doing, though with so much determination and effort. And here am I today!
Have I completely conquered it? I have learnt to feel the fear, but never allow the fear stop me from doing what I need to do. If your fear no longer holds you back nor stops you from giving full expression to your life, then you have conquered your fear.

What’s your fear?
Identity it. Then make practical efforts to master it.
Don’t let that fear govern you. Brake its hold on your thoughts and emotions. Then step out and do what you desire to do.

I shall conclude our discussion on fear in the next post, where I shall be talking about God’s remedy for your fears.

Much Love!

We continue our talk on emotional healing and wholeness. And I shall be building on the foundation I laid the previous day.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit Comforter. The Spirit of God is our Comforter. And He lives right in our heart. When you are brokenhearted, know that the Holy Spirit lives right in the centre of that brokenness. He lives with and feels your hurt and pain. He isn’t ashamed of your brokenness. Neither is He depressed by it. No!

Hear what the Spirit of God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.”
(2Corinthians 6:16).
He is patrolling and monitoring the boundaries of your heart, searching for any breach or tear, to fix it. Bringing you relief and soothing your pain is the Spirit’s covenant commitment. The Holy Spirit is aware of your pains, and He wants, above all, to make you whole again.

However, He needs your active participation. He needs your cooperation. The Holy Spirit wants you to exercise your power of choice. For anything can happen to you, but you retain the power to choose what to do after it all. You must choose not to hold tightly to the pains of the past. You must choose to move on.

Another choice you will need to make is to change the way you see yourself. You are not powerless. You are not defenseless. And you are not trapped. There’s something you can do. And that is, overcome the victim mentality. God gives strength to the weary. And He binds up the brokenhearted.

Forgiveness or repentance is another choice you should consider making. Forgiveness precedes true healing. This isn’t going to be easy, I must say. However, if you are willing, the Holy Spirit will supply the strength for it. One of the practical steps you may need to consider is to start praying for the person who has wronged you. I have found this to be very effective. For you can’t be praying for someone and at the same time harboring grudges against them.
Apostle James tells us that when we pray for our offenders, our hearts get healed:
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…”
(James 5:16, NIV)
You must choose to ask for forgiveness or offer forgiveness as the case may be. Your healing so much depends on this.

It’s my prayer that you will be willing to take responsibility for your healing, and to take practical steps towards it.

If this blesses you, we would love to hear from you. Thanks.