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Week of 7/7/02
(Psalm 23:3a)
loha and welcome back.
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quotations are NKJV unless otherwise noted. Now on with this week's message...
I am taking a much needed vacation, this being the 7th anniversary of this website. Until the time I return to weekly writing, I will recycle past articles. The following message is from 7/14/96.
Before I tell you this remarkable story, just what is your soul? Many people assume that soul is the same as spirit. It's not. I've heard it explained this way: you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. Your soul is your mind, your will and your emotions. For instance when a person is "born again" their spirit is reborn. That is the part that is created anew. You still weigh the same. Your hair color hasn't changed. And very likely you still have the same mind, will and emotions, although these can be greatly affected.
David says, "He restores my soul." Notice that the word 'restores' is plural. He means that daily the Lord restores his mind, his will and his emotions. The Lord can take the anxious mind and bring it peace. He can strengthen your will to do what is right. And He can help you bring your emotions under control so they don't control you. I don't know about you, but I need this every day,
(okay, sometimes I need it twice a day) even though I have a reborn spirit.
The knowledge that this is God's will for us, to have our souls restored, should be very encouraging to you if you suffer from any mental or emotional disorders. Which brings me to this story.
We have a very good friend who for years fought serious depression. Her childhood had been dominated by an abusive alcoholic father. She was deeply scarred by this but dealt with it as best she could. However, she kept sinking deeper and deeper into a world of total darkness. She surrounded herself with images of death and blatant evil. Her friends all wore black. She hated anything that had to do with God, especially Christians. Her marriage began to suffer and she slipped further down.
Then her father died. All her unresolved anger at him and even her love for him had to go unspoken. She became so ill she had to be hospitalized. She was suicidal. Her husband was at a loss to help her, though he tried to stand by her. The doctors tried numerous combinations of drugs, once almost killing her, to combat what had become severe clinical depression. When she finally got out of the hospital, she was basically a zombie. She was on so much medication that she had to quit working. Her marriage was over.
What she didn't know, however, was that a lot of people were praying for her. Her ex-husband had become a Christian. We prayed for God to send Christians into her life and that she would be totally healed. We didn't doubt God's will. We knew this was not what He had planned for her life. He restores souls.
A couple months went by and we stood on God's Word for her healing and believed that Lord of the Harvest would send laborers across her path. (Sorry, that's kind of Christianese for 'people to lead her to Jesus'). One day my phone rang. I didn't recognize the voice at first. It was my friend. She said something really strange had happened. It seems that everywhere she went she was surrounded by Spirit filled Christians. She couldn't get away from them. They were everywhere. And what's more, they were kind to her. They listened to her. She knew these people cared about her.
Finally one of them brought her to their church. During a regular service, she received total healing of her illness. (Thank God she went to a church that still believes in such things).
That was a couple years ago. She has never needed any more drugs. Her mind is totally restored. Her sense of humor is back. She smiles and laughs. A lot. She was always very beautiful, but now she positively glows. God didn't just give her a new spirit, He restored her soul.
Please realize that this is not an isolated instance of someone receiving a "lucky" healing. I could give you many more stories like these, all true and from my own experience. What God did for my friend, He will do for you. He is the Restorer. Ask Him to do it. Pray this psalm, just like David did and believe that it is God's will is for your mind, will and emotions to be restored.
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