“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
(John 14:26 ESV)
In today’s world, there is an intense focus on health and wellness. Many people have personal trainers, nutritionists, etc., to provide personal instruction and assistance with their diet and exercise programs. While diet and exercise are integral to our physical and mental health, we must be sure not to overlook our spiritual health above all.
While the mind and body are vital components in our total health and well-being, we, as human beings, are actually trichotomous rather than simply dichotomous in nature. That is, God created us with a three-part nature consisting not only of mind and body but also of soul (spirit). And of the three, while all are vitally important to our health and well-being, the spirit is, undoubtedly, the most important because through our spirit, The Spirit of the Living God lives within us and guides, teaches, and directs us. When our spirit completely embraces God’s Spirit, we will truly experience communion with God and attain the proper nourishment that feeds our mind, body, and soul. It is through this spiritual communion with God that we become completely healthy and whole.
In His Great Commandment, Jesus told us that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (cf. (Luke 10:27; Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37). Note that while all three of these passages are rendered with a slight difference in the Synoptic Gospels, the reference to the "soul" is common to each. When we truly love God with all our soul, His Spirit fills us and dwells within us. When our soul becomes completely filled with His Spirit, He spiritually trains us and teaches us His ways.
Proverbs 3:5-8 tells us to put our trust in the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding. He will guide us, teach us and provide us with the healing and nourishment we need. When we ignore His instruction, and follow our own, we are sure to lead ourselves astray and certain to fail. When we do not open ourselves to be completely filled by His presence, we will be spiritually lacking and spiritually unhealthy as a result. We must trust in Him and embrace Him with our spirit and allow His Spirit to feed us with His spiritual food. We cannot live by bread alone but by His Word which He has given to us by His Holy Spirit (see Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). God feeds us the spiritual bread we need to live through His Word - His written Word that is scripture, and the Living Word (Logos) that is Jesus Christ.
We must have the Holy Spirit as our full-time Spiritual Trainer to guide us and teach us His ways. This is the only way to attain the complete health and wellness we ultimately seek. In John 14:26, Jesus promised us that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with us and to teach us all things. We cannot learn these things on our own. Without the Spirit as our Trainer, we will be lost in our own efforts.
We need to develop a spiritual workout plan through prayer in the Spirit. While we cannot develop this plan on our own, we must pray without ceasing and study God’s Word for the guidance of the Spirit and He will intercede for us and illuminate us. It is through prayer and the study of God’s Word that the Spirit fills us and teaches us. He will train us and make us healthy and whole in mind, body, and soul.
Come, Holy Spirit! Be our Spiritual Trainer and Spiritual Nutritionist!
Father we pray in sincere earnest for You to send Your Holy Spirit to fill us to overflowing and train us in Your ways. Teach us, guide us, and nourish us so that we will be healthy and whole in mind, body, and soul through our communion with You. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. †
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