Soul Health

Soul health is immensely important in one’s life. It is bringing the state of one’s heart and mind into the whole and healthy state that God intended for it. There are a few areas that contribute to the health of a person’s soul, which are as follows:

  • Identity (2 Corinthians 5:1, Romans 8:1)

  • Unrepented sins (1 John 1:9, Acts 17:30)

  • Unhealed hurts (Isaiah 53:5, Psalms)

  • Unidentified lies (John 8:31-32, Colossians 2:8)

  • Unforgiveness (Matthew 5:22, 6:15, Ephesians 4:32)

  • Unbroken sins/curses (Exodus 20:5–6, 34:6–7, Galatians 3:13)

  • Unsurrendered areas (Matthew 7:21, 16:24, Luke 14:33)

  • Unaddressed fears (1 John 4:18, 2 Timothy 1:7)

Often we don’t realize that we have issues in these areas unless we: do self-reflection, ask the Holy Spirit or ask other people. It can be helpful to share your life story with people to help with the process. Take time to work on these areas! Being humble has a critical part to soul health and addressing soul issues. It is helpful to acknowledge that if still stuck or struggling after doing thorough soul care, the problem may be demonic and no amount of soul care will fix it.

Identity

Knowing, understanding, and believing who we are because Jesus paid for our wrong doing will lead to being able to live a life of freedom and filled with abundance. You are all the things below because that is who you are! You can’t change who you are by doing wrong or right actions! It is helpful to recognize that sometimes you can know about something but not believe it or truly know it. Understanding and believing your identity also helps prevent the enemy’s lies from taking root in our lives. The following is a list of truths of who we are in Jesus:

  • Born again/New Creation (1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, 2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10)

  • Eternal (John 3:16,5:24)

  • Loved (John 3:16, Ephesians 3:14-19, Romans 5:8, 1 John 3:1)

  • Your old self died (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:1-3, Romans 6:6-11)

  • Child of God (1 John 3:1,5:1, Ephesians 1:4,5:1, Isaiah 43:4, Romans 8:15-17,)

  • Chosen (Ephesians 1:4,1:11 Isaiah 43:7,49:1, Colossians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, Zephaniah 3:17)

  • Holy (Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, Colossians 1:12-13, 1 Corinthians 6:11,1:30, Romans 1:7, 1, Hebrews 10:14)

  • Forgiven, Redeemed, and Righteous (Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 4:10, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, Psalm 103:3,11-12, Colossians 1:13-14)

  • Accepted (John 6:37, Romans 5:17, 8:34)

  • Clean (Hebrews 10:22, John 15:3, 1 John 1:7)

  • Fully Known (Psalm 139:13-16, Isaiah 49:1)

  • A Saint (Colossians 1:26, Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:1, Jude 1:3)

  • Cared For (Psalm 27:10, Isaiah 66:13)

  • Always with the Lord (John 14:16-18, Deuteronomy 31:6)

  • One with Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16, 6:17-19, Romans 8:11, Colossians 1:27, 2:9-11, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 1:13-14)

  • Sin has been removed by grace (Galatians 3:13, 5:1, Romans 6:2, 6:11, 8:1-2, Ephesians 2:4-10, 1 John 5:18, 1 Peter 2:24, Colossians 2:11-13, Acts 13:39)

  • Conquerors/Overcomers (Romans 8:37, 1 John 4:4, Revelation 12:11)

  • Members of the Kingdom of Heaven (Revelation 1:6, 1 Peter 2:9, Ephesians 2:19, 1 John 5:4-5, Philippians 3:20) 

  • Seated in Heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3, 2:6-7, Colossians 3:1-3)

  • Light (Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 1:12-13)

  • Authority over the kingdom of darkness (Mark 16:17, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

  • Free (John 8:31-36, Galatians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17)

You are not a sinner! You are a new creation, the old is gone and you are free! Your actions do not define you, Jesus does! You cannot be more loved then you are right now and you cannot be loved any less, no matter what! Believe it!

Application

Meditate on the Bible verses above. You meditate by thinking about the Bible verses more than once. Ask God to help you believe and accept the truth about who you are!

Individual: Read a bible identity passage by inserting your name into the passage. Ex: Romans 6:6-7 “Jesse knows his old self was crucified with Jesus in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that Jesse would no longer be enslaved to sin. For Jesse who has died has been set free from sin.”

Group: Get into groups of 3-4 people. One person at a time, get everyone in the group to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal His thoughts on who the person is. 

Unrepented Sins

When we know that we are not in God’s will in our thoughts or actions and we do not acknowledge it as wrong or do not want to change (1 John 1:9, Acts 17:30). A practical step to do before dealing with sins is:

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to give you renewed conscious and contrite heart (1 Tim. 4:2, Psalm 51:17)

Application

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any sins/secrets that need to be repented of or confessed.

  • Repent of the sin. An example statement is: “I repent of “the sin”, thank you for forgiving me, I want to do what is right”. Then take action in order to align our lives with God’s will (Matthew 7:24). 

Unhealed Hurts

Past traumas, situations & hurts can linger on in our lives and influence how we respond in situations. Often these traumas & hurts hinder us from living life in freedom and hold us in bondage to lies, fears, or to suffering. Jesus wants to free us from them! (Isaiah 53:5, Proverbs 22:6, Psalms).

Application

The following is a process to help walk free from past traumas & hurts. You can also do this with other believers to support you and who can listen to the Holy Spirit with you! You can also take someone through this process who needs help. This is only a guide, let the Holy Spirit lead the process, it might be something completely different!

  1. Recall a past trauma or hurt you experienced or ask the Holy Spirit to bring one to mind. Most of the lies we believe & patterns we develop are from experiences in our developing years (18 years of age or younger). (Proverbs 22:6)

  2. Tell God how you feel about the situation & specifically express how you feel you were wronged (Psalms)

  3. Ask Jesus to walk you through the trauma/hurt and speak to you about it and heal your wounds (Isaiah 53:5). Examples could be as follows:

    1. Identify lies you started to accept from the situation

    2. How Jesus was involved in the situation (He was crying with you, etc)

    3. What fears you started believing

    4. Misplaced promises or vows

    5. Forgiving the person who harmed you

    6. Simply crying about it & letting the Holy Spirit heal you

  4. Ask Jesus to tell you some truths that you can replace the lies or fears with. You can also ask for help to forgive people for their wrongdoings against you or forgiving yourself. A simple template for forgiving others is “I forgive __(name)__ for __(moral wrong)__, even though they don’t deserve it” (John 8:32, Galatians 5:24).

Unidentified Lies

These occur when we do not believe a certain truth with our whole being (John 8:31-32, Colossians 2:8). A practical step to do before dealing with lies is:

  • Acknowledge that your mind and heart need renewing (Romans 12:2)

Application

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a lie you believe.

  • To correct this we need to say for example “I renounce believing “the lie” and choose to believe “the truth”. 

  • Keep holding on to that truth when something tries to challenge it.  

Unforgiveness

When we are unwilling to choose to cancel a moral debt or choose to be angry/bitter with someone (Matthew 5:22, 6:15, Ephesians 4:32). Some practical steps to fostering forgiveness are:

  • Meditate on God’s grace towards you (Matthew 18:21-35, Luke 7:47)

Application

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind someone you need to forgive

  • Forgive the person, example: I choose to forgive “person” for “for what they did wrong” and lay down any resentment, bitterness or hate.

Unbroken Sins/Curses 

Curses spoken over you by someone or that you speak over yourself (you are ___, where ____ is something that Jesus does not think of you). Could also be generational sins/curses which get passed down via family lines (Exodus 20:5–6, 34:6–7). 

Application

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any curses/sin patterns or talk to your parents/grandparents about family history such as sin patterns, or religious involvement

  • Break the curse or sin pattern, could be like:  “I break the power of “the curse” in the name of Jesus.

Unsurrendered Areas

This happens when we try to retain control over sections of our lives (Matthew 7:21, 16:24). We need to surrender all areas of our lives to Jesus. A helpful step to surrender is:

  • Count what it will cost you to follow Jesus (Luke 14:25-35) 

Application

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any areas in your life you are trying to control

  • Surrender “I renounce control over “area of life”, Jesus I surrender “area of life” to you. 

Unaddressed Fears

We can have unhealthy fears which prevent us from living life to the full. These fears can develop in many ways. Often from past experiences and hurts, but can also be from bad instruction (1 John 4:18, 2 Timothy 1:7). A helpful step to addressing fears is:

  • Meditate on God being with you and His power (Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 27, 1 Samuel 17:46-47)

  • Talk to God about the fears (Philippians 4:6-7) 

Application

  • Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a fear

  • Acknowledge “the fear” and ask Jesus to give you the “right perspective” on it

  • Meditate on the “right perspective”