By seeking God through these two laws and one recommendation, God will restore your Soul

TO BE RESTORED, may mean to put back into a previous state, that is better than your present state. It may also mean to be raised to a new state, a state that is better than your present and previous state.

But whether it is a previous or a new state of being, you will feel stronger, you will be healthier, and your life will be more spiritually focused, and you will live a more purposeful life.

 It is like restoring a vintage car today. By law, you may need to restore it with improved brakes, seat belts and safety features, and improved emission systems. But by choice, you may restore it with power windows and air conditioning, with more comfortable seats. So while the exterior may be restored to its original design, the inside is restored to a new state of being. 

In a similar way, God gives us laws to follow, through which He restores our souls. He also gives recommendations that we can choose to apply in different ways, through which, He restores our souls. I will share two laws, and one recommendation in this lesson.

Today, I encourage you to pause and think about where you once were in your relationship with God, about where you are right now, and where you would like to be restored to, in your relationship with God. Because if you have a healthy relationship with God, you will have healthy relationships with yourself and others.

Read Psalm 23. When God restores your soul, He provides for your physical and spiritual needs. And when you are restored, you will desire all that God desires, you will walk in the paths of righteousness, you will fear no evil, you will dwell in the house of the Lord, and you will rejoice in God’s goodness and God’s mercy that will follow you forever.

Doesn’t that sound like a healthy, joyful, and purposeful life?

Let us talk about your soul and how God restores your soul, if you are willing.

YOU ARE BOTH A PHYSICAL AND A SPIRITUAL BEING

1 Thess. 5:23: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved, entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (ESV).

 This one verse summaries who we are as created beings, physically made from clay, and spiritually formed in the image of God, after His likeness. But while this verse and others separates the spirit from the soul, throughout the Bible, the way the Hebrew and the Greeks words are frequently interchanged, it is challenging or near impossible to scripturally differentiate between the immortal soul and the immortal spirit of humans. Long with the verse above, here are a few passages were both the spirit and the soul refer to the immortal part of humans, separately from the physical body:

• Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
• Ecclesiastes 12:7 “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
• Matthew 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
• James 2:26: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (ESV).  

From those verses and many others, God wants you to be aware that you are a physical and a spiritual being: you have a mortal body, you are somebody. You have a soul; you are a soul. You have a spirit; you are a spiritual being.

Practically speaking, we could not fully understand the nuance differences between the soul and the spirit either way. And God does not expect us to analyze and fully understand every detail of our being. Especially the parts that we cannot see, and touch. We are still learning about the parts that we can see, much less the parts we cannot see, and we are still learning how our environment, foods, drugs, pleasure and heat and air affect our human bodies, and even our human spirits.

What is important to God, and what should be important to us, is for us to accept who we are as uniquely created beings with a temporary physical body or house or shell, made from clay, which is houses our eternal spirit or soul, who comes from the eternal God.

We need to pay more attention to the health of our immortal spirits. Specifically, we need to be more aware of how the things we do in our bodies, affect our souls.

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” This means that:

• what you do in your physical body affects the health of your soul now, and in the end,
• it will either condemn your soul away from God eternally or recommend your soul to be with God eternally. 

But as Jesus Himself acknowledged, about His human body and human spirit, and the bodies and spirts of his disciples, at times: “…the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak…” (Matthew 26:41).

Sometimes our spirits will get down, weak, sick, and may spiritually fall asleep. All people of God will go through periods of temptations and weaknesses, but for those who can realize and accept when this is happening, and can reach out to God, God will carry them through, God will restore your soul.  

We must acknowledge this without using it as an excuse, but instead listen and look at how Jesus took steps through His earthly life, to commune with God, so that God could strengthen and restore His soul.

For the remainder of this study, I will share three things you should do, in order for God to restore your soul.

GOD RESTORES MY SOUL THROUGH HIS WORD: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Matthew 11:29-30, PSALM 139:23-24, Hebrews 4:12, Ephesians 6:17, 1 Peter 2:2

Spending time with God involves spending time with the word of God.

• Mathew 11:29-30: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (ESV). The word of God tells you the differences between the weight of living in sin and the lighter load of living for God. To find rest for your soul, you must take time to learn about Jesus, and learn how to live above the weight of sin in this world.
• 1 Peter 2:2: the word of God, is the primary source of spiritual food for your soul or spirit.
• Ephesians 6:17: along with faith, the word of God is your primary offense and defense against temptation (Matt. 4:1-11). 
• Psalm 139:23-24: The word will reveal how we are feeling and thinking incorrectly and correctly about things and people.
• Hebrews 4:12: the word is powerful enough to reveal the point of all the sin and stress that are causing you to be spiritual weak, sick and asleep.
• Romans 1:18-25, Acts 17:22-30, 2 Peter 1:3: It is through His written word that God tells us what you should feel, think, and do about the feelings and thoughts you will have as you seek to connect with Him through His creation. Otherwise, you will walk away from this moment in awe of creation, but without saving knowledge of God, without connecting with God, and without a proper restoration of your soul.

In order for God to restore your soul to a former strong relationship with Him, or a higher relationship with Him, you must open your Bible, read, and listen to God. So, take your Bible with you, your own personal copy, and let us follow Jesus into a garden, by the ocean, or up a mountain, so that He can restore your soul.  

GOD RESTORES MY SOUL THROUGH HIS CREATION: PSALM 8

We connect in the spirit with God the Spirit, through physical things, because we are both physical and spiritual beings.

• Humans know something about connecting in the spirit with the invisible, through the things that are visible. A piece of art, a letter, a gravestone; we commune with our past relatives, and we feel like we connect with them, through physical objects. Our God is not dead, God is Spirit (John 4:23-24), and God responds to our spiritual efforts to connect with Him through His creation.

• God is all around us, above us and below our feet. Before God reveled Himself to mankind through His words, people sought after God through God’s creation. But some ended up worshipping the creature and symbols of the creatures they carved, instead of the Creator of the natural things they knew did not create themselves (Romans 1:20-21).

• This was the big difference between many in Acts 17:22-34, who worshipped the UNKNOWN GOD, instead of the creatures, and those mentioned in Romans 1:25, who “worshipped and served the creatures rather than the Creator.” So while you seek to connect with God through His creation, be careful not to worship the creatures instead of the Creator. 

• Jesus often wandered off into gardens and mountains to pray, meditate and commune with God (Luke 6:12— “…He went out to the mountain to pray…”, Luke 22:39-40—”Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him”).

30 Minutes alone with God. Each week try and carve out a personal 30 minute alone time with God, to remind your soul of what your soul already knows well.

• This is a separate time from your Lord’s Day worship.
• Slow down. Pause. Stop. Walk away from the crown, the noise, the concrete, the lights of the city, even for thirty (30 Mins) minutes every week. If you can do it for an hour or even longer, then do it.
• Read Psalm 8. Remember that God speaks to us through His word (Hebrews 1:1; 2:1-4).
• Then go for a nature walk or sit quietly in a garden, by the ocean, under a tree, on a mountain. Wherever you can find a quiet place of nature, big or small. I am thankful that in most places, cities, and towns, we can still find places of reflection. Use them if you are constantly surrounded by concrete.   
• Look around, look inside, look to God. Allow God to search your spirit with you, as you seek God to restore your soul. As you look around,

Remind your soul of what your soul already knows well, because God “…has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, ESV).

• Ps. 139:13-14-16: Babies, conception, and childbirth. “Marvelous are your works and my soul knows very well (NKJV). Allow your soul to look in the eyes of a newborn baby and remind your soul that we serve the awesome, powerful, loving, and caring God who had and has great plans for you. 
• Psalm 8: Look around. Like a child, be in awe at the natural wonders of God and remind your soul to be thankful for the oxygen, the shade, the beauty, and the majesty of God’s handy work in the trees, water, mountains, oceans, lakes, birds.
• Slowly, as you turn your attention to God and away from the things that are weighing you down, God is restoring your soul, by reminding you of your place in this universe, and your place with Him, of what is most important, and of His care for you.  
• Matthew 6:26-28: Look at the birds and consider the lilies and remind your soul that God cares for you and will provide for you, so your soul does not need to stay worried about those things. Be restored.

If just for a moment, be still, close your eyes and think about your place in this world, about your purpose, about your weaknesses, about all that is stressing you out. Turn it all over to God. Ask God for faith, strength, and thank God for His blessings. Open your eyes, read Psalm 23, and listen to God as He tells you all the ways He can and will restore your soul.

But the number one place where God restores our precious souls is in and through worship, so…

GOD RESTORES MY SOUL THROUGH HIS LORD’S DAY WORSHIP

Seek God in His sanctuary: Psalm 63:1-2, John 4:23-24, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Hebrews 10:24-26

• Psalm 63:1-2: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.”

• If your mouth is dry, you may go the fridge for a drink, and if your soul is thirsty for God, and your flesh is weary from hunger, and you long for God, you must get up and seek God in His sanctuary, a place of worship.
• Yes, our bodies are the temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19), but there is a place and a time to seek God alone, and a place and time to seek God through together worship (John 4:23-24—God seeks true worshippers, Acts 20:7—upon the first day of the week, 1 Cor. 16:1-2—upon the first day of every week, Hebrews 10:25— “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”
• God restores your soul through the weekly Lord’s supper. 1 Corinthians 11:24-25, 30— “That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died (asleep).” When you go to the sanctuary, God says, welcome, here is My body, eat, and strengthen your flesh. Here is My blood drink and quench your thirsty soul.
• WHY, because like our physical bodies, our souls or spirits need to drink and eat spiritual food, and God uses the physical things to guide or channel our spirits to Him.

Many are spiritually weak, sick, and spiritually asleep, because they are either not seeking God, or they are seeking God in the wrong ways and in the wrong places on Sundays, the Lord’s Day. Again, while seeking God in personal meditation, and in nature is helpful, God desires true worshippers, and through true worship, God will restore your weak, sick, and sleeping soul. This is why God commands together worship, while He encourages us to seek Him in nature.

FEELING AND KNOWING THAT GOD HAS RESTORED YOUR SOUL

How do you know when God has restored your soul?

Read Psalm 23. You will know that your soul is restored, because when God restores your soul,

• He provides for your physical and spiritual needs.
• When you are restored, you will desire all that God desires.
• When you are restored, you will walk in the paths of righteousness, you will fear no evil
• When you are restored, you will seek God in His words, in worship by seeking Him in His Lord’s Day worship, in His house, with His house (1 Timothy 3:15, 1 Peter 2:5).
• When you are restored, you will rejoice in God’s goodness and God’s mercy that will follow you forever.

May God restore your soul, as you seek Him in His words, in Worship, and in His Creation.