I’m going to say something a few won’t believe, and that’s totally cool. It’s your prerogative on whether or not to take me at my word, but this is a fact:
God speaks to me sometimes, especially in the wee morning hours, when my mind is wide open and not yet cluttered with the worries of the day.
No, I don’t mean the Lord speaks verbally.
Sorry, you need to have seen “Mrs. Doubtfire” to understand that GIF.
Anyway, what I’m saying is, God speaks into my spirit, into my heart. I’ll have a thought hit me and instantly realize it’s the Lord speaking. So, this morning I randomly woke up at 3:00 am, and got up to go to the bathroom. In that quick two-minute trip, the Lord unexpectedly told me the following:
“The devil can’t destroy you, so he helps you destroy yourself. This happens in the following ways:
“PHYSICALLY — By not exercising enough (and in my case, not doing my PT every day), by eating and drinking unhealthily, and by not getting enough rest and relaxation.
“MENTALLY / EMOTIONALLY — By allowing the mind to be cluttered with depression, worry, anxiety and doubt, even though God said He would renew our minds if we let Him: ‘Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think’ (Romans 12:2a NLT, emphasis added).
“SPIRITUALLY — By not reading the Bible and praying enough, and by not trusting Me.”
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT, emphasis added).
Needless to say, that’s a lot to process when you’re half asleep and stumbling in the dark. Afterward, I lay back down, kinda said, “…WOW…” and drifted back to sleep. Once I woke up, I began processing that information, and realized how true it was.
Many of us work too much, exercise too little, eat and drink too much, rest too little, worry too much and pray too little. Boy, can I relate to that.
A couple years ago my wife, Laura, and I started eating healthy (or “healthier”) and lost quite a bit of weight. Additionally, I was a smoker for many years, so I’ve already done irreparable damage to my body, I’m sure. There’s nothing I can do about that, but I’m making a vow right this second:
“God, please help me stop destroying myself. Help me honor You by treating my body, mind and spirit in a manner not only pleasing to You, but healthy for ME.”
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT, emphasis added).
I don’t mean I’ll never eat another piece of apple pie ala mode again, or that I won’t skip my one-mile walk during an ice storm. What I am saying is, I’m going to try to honor the Lord by treating myself better.
Many years ago, God led me to the conclusion that our bodies are merely the vehicle our souls utilize to travel from Earth to eternity. Yeah, that was another one of those times He spoke to me when I was half asleep. And, if that’s the case, my “vehicle” isn’t some shiny, new Lexus, but more like a rusty, 1960’s pickup truck, with mismatched doors and broken windows.
My Uncle Bill, may he rest in peace, used to love to buy old cars and fix them up. By the time he was done, what was once “junk” was beautiful. So, that’s what I’m asking God to do to me. Now, I’ll never be “beautiful” like those old cars, but I’m hoping I can at least turn things around, health-wise, by living better for my remaining days, and maybe even add a few years to my life.
Laura and I have relatives who treated their “vehicle” like garbage and died WAY too young. We are both in our 50s, and hoping we can take a different path for the last 1/3 of our lives.
“The devil can’t destroy you, so he helps you destroy yourself.”
Man, I don’t know if that was as much of a revelation to you as it was to me, but I felt I had to share it. May the Lord help us all treat our vehicles a little better today than we did yesterday. And then do the same tomorrow.
Blessings.
Broken People 