Today we share with you the last post to the Guest Post series, The Battle Within. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had to share my blog with this lovely woman named Jane. Be sure to check out her blog, and leave your comments below!
As I come to the final post in this series I feel such a pull towards 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
This resonates very deeply within my soul today. I am aware that the basis of this scripture is to remind us that sexual sins are violations of our body, the temple, that belongs to the Lord. But it is the premise that our bodies belong to the Lord that truly hits home. Meditate on that for just a moment. We are not our own. We do not belong to ourselves. We are His, from the skin we see on the outside to the soul that lives deep within us. This means, how we treat ourselves is how we treat Him. (I had to stop and think very hard on this statement, because I have not treated myself well. The thought that how I have treated myself is directly related to how I treat the Lord ….well…it broke my heart. I love the Lord with all my heart, but in order to glorify Him, I need to love myself.)
Our bodies and our minds are temples of the Holy Spirit. Because the Spirit lives within us we will face many battles in our minds. We will struggle. It will hurt emotionally and sometimes physically. We will rage on in these battles trying to win one after the other and failing miserably when we choose to fight them alone. We will scar our temples and fall deeper into depressions, anxieties, fears and so on until it becomes so dark that we can barely see the light. Friends, before you get to that point, remind yourself that you are not your own and these battles are not yours to fight. Instead, honor Him and glorify Him in your body and allow Him to win. If you are already there, and darkness surrounds you…get help now! Call out to someone you trust and get help now. Let the Lord shine His light into your darkest hour and lead you out of that valley.
The question, I suppose, is how do we honor Him with our bodies when we cannot stand to be in our bodies at the moment?
- Walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:16 tells us to walk by the spirit and we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Our flesh comes with many desires, and sometimes, that desire is to do more harm than good. It is when those types of desires overcome us that we find ourselves in depression. Instead, stay close to the Lord by walking in the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit is to make a conscious effort to life by faith and trust in the Lord. To seek Him in everything. When we walk in the Spirit we honor God.
- Have a Clean Tongue. Ephesians 5:4 reminds us to keep our tongues clean. Stop complaining, gossiping, speaking ill things into existence and using self seeking talk. Instead, speak only in thanksgiving for the life that you have. Speak life into your daily living and you will glorify Him.
- Worship, Worship. Spend time daily with the Lord. Talk to Him, praise Him, cry out to Him and seek Him feverishly. Take time even in the split second of anger and pray for help. Put your focus on Him and not yourself. When you wake and feel drained and depressed, sing a song of thankfulness to Him and get out of bed anyway. Sing, dance, lift your hands, laugh, cry, whatever you feel in that moment of worship…just make sure to worship and you are honoring Him.
I hope that this series has touched you as much as it has touched me. We are not our own, and therefore we are not our depressions, anxieties or fears. We are not our illnesses. Our bodies are not ours. Our lives belong to Him. It all belongs to Him and when we let Him and Him alone lead us in life, we will find that true happiness and freedom does exist. If only we are willing to honor Him by letting Him in.
Jane Reed
is the author and creator of The Green Tomato Experience blog and the owner of Jane Reed Photography. She spends the majority of her time in the kitchen where she finds peace and harmony in her life. She is known to enjoy Starbucks Frappucinos even though she knows she shouldn’t. Her favorite woman in the Bible is Ruth because she loves her perseverance and integrity. She is currently working on an amazing cookbook that she hopes will bring peace and joy to your kitchens as well!! All photographs are property of Jane Reed Photography and come from Jane’s personal Stele Collection.
Defying Shadows 