In this piece I want to share the word of God with us and I believe that word is going to do us good. You know the Bible says “the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” What we are about to talk about is vital in the kingdom of God, it is something that we cannot do without. As a matter of fact, it is what we are. So, I want to share with us on: Creating A Sustainable Spiritually Healthy Life. In this piece we want to focus on our spiritual health. You know, medical practitioners focus in people’s health, how they can be okay physically and live in good health.
That is beautiful on a part. But we want to look at our spiritual health in this piece, we want to look at what can make us healthy spiritually and that is the focus of this article. Let us begin our observation from the book of 1 Corinthians 15:45-49. The Bible says:
“And so, it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” Now, at what point did the first man, Adam become a living being? Genesis 2:7 shows us. It says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” So, Paul was showing us through this writing that the first man Adam, became a living a being when the breath of God came into him, he started living, he started finding expression physically and he could relate with his environment. Now let us read further: “The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. This actually was talking about Christ Jesus, referring to Him as the last Adam. The Bible says: “became a life-giving spirit.”
46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust…”
So, every human being on the face of the earth took the order of Adam. We were naturally born in the order of Adam, that was what Paul was saying. So, we came in that order, in that linage of Adam because Adam became the progenitor, the father of the entire human race. Now, there is no denying of that particular fact. But look at what it says further:
“…and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”
Now, the heavenly man in this context is no other than the person of Christ Jesus. Paul called Him the last Adam. The first Adam is the man through whom each and everyone of us came to this physical realm. And so, he says the last Adam became a life-giving spirit, meaning that there is a kind of life, even though we live physically and naturally in this realm, there is a kind of life that Jesus came to give us. Now, this Scripture we just read was actually talking about the natural body and the glorious body. Paul was showing us, if you read the entire chapter, how that our natural body at a point in time is going to give way to another body that is supernatural and immortal.
But let me bring it home into what we are talking about. You see, there are two dimensions to the life of every man. There is the physical dimension to the life of a man, and there is the spiritual dimension. Now, it does not matter whether you are aware that you have a spiritual life, it does not matter whether you are ignorant of it as of this moment that we are talking about it, but know it for sure that there are two dimensions to your life. You have the physical life and you have the spiritual life. Now, in Adam, all of us came to have this physical life, but in Christ Jesus, all of us came to have the spiritual life.
What then is the problem really? The problem is that a lot of people are not aware that they have a spiritual life and that is why they live this physical life as if it is all there is to living. No! Your life is not all about this physical realm, this physical dimension. Even though it is good for one to live a good life and be healthy, know for sure that there is a spiritual life that requires as much attention as you give to your physical life. The problem also is that the physical life cannot sustain the spiritual life. As good as all that we do physically to keep healthy, to live a wonderful life, those things are good and beautiful but they cannot sustain the spiritual life. However, the spiritual life can sustain the physical life. Now what does that tell us? It simply means that one is more powerful and supernatural than the other.
Now, let us look at some things that sustains this physical life? What are the things that we cannot do without physically? The physical life of man is sustained by a number of things. The physical life of man is sustained by oxygen, food, clothing, shelter, and sleep. OXYGEN is what helps the respiratory system of man to function adequately and to keep us alive. Without this oxygen, the respiratory system shuts down and man can lose his or her life when that happens. This is why when medical practitioners discovers that a patient isn’t breathing well, they quickly place them on oxygen machines because the moment oxygen isn’t getting to the respiratory systems, the patient would give up. So, oxygen is very vital in sustaining the physical side of life.
FOOD for example brings about health and vitality. It also aids the physical growth of man. CLOTHING prevents the body of man from being exposed to the harshness of the physical environment by protecting the skin and it also covers man’s nakedness. SHELTER on the other hand talks about having a roof over one’s head, a place to lay one’s head in the night. SLEEP helps to protect the mental and physical health of an individual. Imagine your brain having to work for 24 hours non-stop and it continues that cycle for the next one week. Such a person would end up running mad at the end of the day.
All these we have mentioned has to do with the sustainability of the physical side of life. If you are being deprived of any of these elements, what it means is that that physical life would continue to depreciate and deteriorate until it is eventually no more.
WHAT SUSTAINS THE SPIRITUAL LIFE?
The spiritual side of life is lived in and sustained by God through: the Holy Spirit, His word, Prayer and Faith. Those elements we mentioned as responsible for the sustainability of the physical side of life has little or nothing to perform here. They don’t work for the spiritual life and can never work for it.
The Holy Spirit
I want us to open our Bibles to John 3:1-8. There, Jesus gave a dichotomy between what it meant to live a physical life and a spiritual life. The Bible says:
“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Now, we are meant to see here that Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, meaning that he had some level of influence, he was a religious man as well by virtue of being a Pharisee; and he must have been following Jesus’ activities because he said himself and the sect that he belongs to have seen a number of signs that Jesus had done. So, we could conclude by saying that Nicodemus was a man who had everything going well for him and with him in the physical side of life. But of course, that isn’t all that is to life wholistically.
Verse 3-5 says:
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” To be born of the Spirit is the gateway into living the spiritual side of life. To be born physically is the entrance into living the physical side of life. THE LAST ADAM IS THE HEAD OF THOSE WHO ARE BORN BY THE SPIRIT WHILE THE FIRST ADAM IS THE HEAD OF THOSE WHOVARE BORN PHYSICALLY.
Verse 6-8 says:
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The way of the Spirit is unpredictable.
The Word of God
The Word of God is another thing that sustains this spiritual life. The Word of God is the bread that we feed on to gain a healthy spiritual life. Don’t forget Jesus said “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” But I want us to open our Bibles to John 6:22-27, 35, 41-42, 47-58
“On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone— 23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks— 24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
This verse 27 is still showing us something that we have said earlier in John chapter 3 that Jesus is the gateway into the spiritual life.
Verse 35:
“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
Verse 41-42 says:
“The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Verse 47-58 says:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life…” We must understand from here that what leads to everlasting life is not the physical life but the spiritual life. The physical life only lasts for a while and then, man transits fully into the spiritual realm.
It reads further from verse 48-49: “I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead…” Jesus was showing them something profound here that even though their fathers ate of the manna that fell from heaven, where are they today? He told them they are all dead. Now, don’t forget all their fathers that he was talking about were direct descendants of the first Adam, they were never privileged to encounter the last Adam. And that is why the generations of them that complained in the wilderness journey, that complained against Moses and against God, God systematically took them out. That is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:13a, it says: “foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them…”
Verse 50-57 says:
“This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews therefore quarrelled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life..."
ETERNAL LIFE IS A SPIRITUAL LIFE
"...and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
So, the word of God is a vital tool that sustains the spiritual life and Jesus is that Word of God.
Prayer
Prayer is another thing that Sustains the Spiritual life. Prayer is not something we do once in a while, prayer is what we do regularly. As a matter of fact, a believer is expected to operate a consistent and steady life of prayer. In Matthew 6:5-7, see what the Lord Jesus Himself said to His disciples: “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
Now, you would notice the phrase “when you pray” in all the three verses that we have considered. Jesus was not confused or lacking in what to say next. Those words are expedient in discussing the issues around prayer. Jesus didn’t say “if” you pray, He said “when you pray” meaning that there must be a deliberate time that you have carved out for yourself that you pray. If you are going to have a healthy spiritual life, you must be a man or a woman that is given to a consistent life of prayer.
One of the assurances we have is that when we pray, God hears us. In John 14:12-14, the Bible says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
In John 15:7-8, the same Jesus said: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so, you will be My disciples.”
In John 16:23-24, the same Jesus said: “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Faith
It takes faith to live a healthy spiritual life. If we want to go by efforts, efforts would not lead us to anything. We will always rise and fall. But faith helps us to repose our confidence in God that through Christ Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we will live a healthy spiritual life. In Galatians 2:15-16, 20, the Bible says: “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
HOW DO YOU CREATE A SUSTAINABLE SPIRITUAL and HEALTHY LIFE?
1) Have a Consistent Word Life!
Create a system through which you regularly get the word of God into your spirit. The way and manner in which some of us read and study the word of God cannot bring about any healthy spiritual life or spiritual growth. This is something you must be deliberate about. Now that you are born again, you must always remember that man shall not live
2) Have a Consistent Faith Life!
Create a system through which your faith in God is daily developed. Don’t dwell in places or environment that daily depletes your faith life. As a matter of fact, if you are in such an environment, you need to get yourself out of such places.
3) Have a Consistent Prayer Life
Create a regiment for yourself that allows you to pray for at least, one hour in a day. Even if you cannot pray the whole one hour at a stretch, you can break it down into 30 minutes each. And most importantly, you have to keep at it. You have to be consistent with it. Don’t pray for 3 hours at a stretch today and the next time you are praying again is in another three weeks. Such attitude will not give you a healthy spiritual life. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul said: Pray without ceasing. In Luke 18:1, Jesus said: men ought always to pray and not faint. If you are not praying, you will be fainting. Even if it appears you are not fainting physically, you are going to be fainting spiritually.
4) Walk in the Spirit
5) Avoid Strife and Malice
Avoid strife and malice at all cost if you want to live a healthy spiritual life. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:20. It says: “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.”
Thanks for the gift of your time, We are Obayomi Abiola Benjamin and Lara Gboyega Adedeji!
Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!