Spiritual Food for Spiritual Life

This week’s lessons were focusing a lot of believing in Jesus. And you may have been wondering…what does this have to do with exercise and healthy eating? We have to remind ourselves that Jesus needs to be first in everything we do in order for us to succeed. He especially needs to be first in our lives so that we may enter the kingdom of God through Him.

Do we have to hand over our whole life? So…every part: bios, psuche and zoe? Yes, every part!!

BIOS-- Mark 4:19 says, “but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” So we again are told here to put aside our worries. We are also told the desires of other things come in and choke the word. It seems if we “hyper-focus” on things other than God, we fail. We fail at many things but mainly we fail at strengthening our relationship with God. So let’s put aside our desires for worldly things and grab hold of our hunger to walk with God!

PSUCHE—Luke 14:26 says, “"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” God wants us to hate our families and ourselves??? I was a bit confused after reading this verse. I needed to go back and read the verses leading up to it to truly understand what God was saying here. God was teaching a lesson on humility. Based on other verses where the word “hate” was used (Gen 29:30-31 and Luke 16:13), God was saying that we need to love God more than anything else…even our own lives. God might also have been saying hate anything that comes between you and Him. What do you think? Open your hearts to God and let Him answer this question for you.

ZOE—John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John is indeed talking about our spiritual life. He talks about how before we came to Him, we like sheep thieves who enter the wrong way. But those who enter by the gate are shepherds. This is a very strong verse. Before I knew Jesus, I was not living my life to the full. My spiritual life was lacking. I tried to fulfill it in other ways but these ways were unsuccessful and brought no joy. Live your spiritual life to the fullest! Come to God!

John 3:1-18

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Why do you think this story is so important to our journey to good health? I think that this story points out to us the need for spiritual health, the importance of believing in things that we cannot see. I think we need to be born of the Spirit to maintain balance in our lives. Balance is a key part in being successful on this journey. We need to have Spiritual health so that we are comfortable in coming to God with all of our problems. John 3:18 tells us God sent His Son not to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. Let's take comfort in these words daily and gain strength from them.

So Jesus is the word. This puts a whole new prospective on our bible verse for the week. "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 We need to add a new food group to our pyramids. THE HOLY BIBLE! This book can feed us in all our "down" moments. When we are depressed, bored, sad, or anxious, we can come to the Bible and get little bite to satisfy our hunger. Remember to take care of your spiritual side and find that balance everyone needs in their lives.

We are halfway through our 1st First Place 4 Health session. Has anyone learned anything new? And how are you applying it to your life?
My journey has not been easy. The road has been bumpy and I have been on many twists and turns. But God has been their every step of the way; guiding me and comforting me. My relationship with Him has been strengthened by His word and through prayer. I'm excited to start on the next mile of this trip. Beep, beep!