On this spiritual journey of faith in Christ Jesus, it is often difficult to locate mile markers to know how far we’ve come. But looking back over the past several years, it’s exciting to see the obstacles to our goals that have been overcome.
For instance, on my journey of becoming more like Jesus, I can see myself forgiving others just a bit more easily than I did a couple years ago, and that’s very encouraging to me. This process of sanctification, or being made holy will not be complete for any of us until Jesus returns.
When others, who don’t want me to achieve anything at all, show their evil contempt by their actions and treatment of me, it doesn’t ruffle my feathers as easily it used to. Of course, I still have a very long way to go. But I cannot take any of the credit for my growth, not at all. Every good change that has taken place in my character has been done by God, simply because I asked Him to help me. He’s given us who are saved His Holy Spirit to help us along on this arduous trek —all the way home.
As I pondered the specific things that I’ve learned along the way, and things God has led me to do, so that I’d continue growing spiritually, several things became apparent. It became noteworthy that others just might be helped if I were to share some of what God has led me to do. That’s why I’ve put together some bullet points as an easy to use checklist each day—simple. though vital reminders that need to stay with us. It is my prayer that someone out there will be blessed by my sharing them.
Spiritual Health Tips
(A Bakers Dozen)
- Confront (face) the issues in your past that hurt you, with Christ as your Counselor—He is your healer, not time! If you don’t, your past can be very harmful to your future.
- Ignore the naysayers and those who criticize you. Listen only to what God says about you.
- Replace all negative thoughts that come into your mind with good, positive & constructive thoughts. (Philippians 4:8)
- Your happiness & satisfaction are found in Christ alone, so, don’t seek them anywhere else. Examples: finances, relationships, social status, etc. He will give you those too…when it’s time. (Luke 9:23)
- Don’t expect everyone to understand the mission God assigned to you, and, be on guard against those who don’t want you to succeed—avoid them when possible. Rarely, but sometimes, you must act in order to be vindicated. (John 21:22)
- It’s your journey, but not yours alone: Jesus walks it with you. (Hebrews 13:5)
- Encourage others who are on their journey with Christ, help them, walk beside them for a while. Offering your hand will strengthen both their walk of faith and your journey—be kind. (1 Thes. 5:11)
- It’s okay to not know everything—wise people always seek counsel and they ask many questions. (proverbs 15:22)
- Acknowledge your flaws, while working to overcome them in the strength God provides. Everyone is flawed, everyone has weaknesses. Nobody’s perfect except God. (Proverbs 16:18)
- Live one day at a time. “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34)
- Never compare yourself to anyone on earth. Compare and measure yourself only by Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:29)
- Humility is difficult to maintain & requires supernatural assistance from the Holy Spirit, and yet it is a key to great spiritual power. Secretly performing kind acts of service is a good exercise for developing humility. (Matthew 6:1)
- Smile, and don’t be so critical of yourself, Jesus loved you long before you even knew His name. (Psalm 143:8)
You already know the Christian disciplines of daily prayer and bible study, fellowship often with other Christians, and all the rest of them. Say a prayer for me as I continue my journey, and I’d be pleased to pray for you as well. Blessings.
P.S. We love you too. 
Spirit Writer 
Thanks for the tips Sheldon! 🙂
I think the Number One Tip for Spiritual Health is of course to just be a loving person and be sure that your love is first directed towards Our Father as Jesus himself did. Once we have firmly established that Love within us then we can start sharing it in all aspects of our life with everyone, not least of which should be ourself, loving all others as ourselves, as children of the One Father.
With this tip, all the 13 follow on naturally. 🙂
(Spiritual) Love is the Key! As is recognising the differences between the spirit and the flesh. Flesh is corruptible and corrupts – only the Spirit has the power to raise us up above our corruption.
Peace and blessings.
p.s. lwbut stands for Love Will Bring Us Together 😉 there is no ‘I’ in LWBUT. 😉
Apologies for forgetting the meaning of your abbreviation/acronym, lwbut. You may want to consider using capital letters for that. I have a poor memory from health issues, but had known its meaning before. You are absolutely correct. Perhaps I should not have assumed my readers already know such a foundational principle as love. But this is far from an exhaustive how-to presentation—they’ye just tips that some people may not have dealt with yet. I cover love in many other posts. Love under-girds everything we do as Christians, and is foundational to our new lives in Christ. It’s the greatest and most important commandment. It is the greatest of the triad of strong transformative essentials :Faith, Hope, and Love. My students in class have voiced how tired they are of hearing me constantly covering that topic. Here’s my first appearance on Youtube about Love: https://youtu.be/XKlBl1jLfoM Blessings, and it’s good to see you here again.
No need for the apologies Sheldon 🙂 It’s a very easy mistake to make, made even easier by the number of fonts that make an l look like an I (see what i mean??). I’ve taken your advice (finally!) i hope wordpress co-operates.
I did recognise that the list was not an exclusive/all inclusive one but just thought it a little unusual that the word ‘love’ was only mentioned once in the baker’s dozen of Spiritual Health Tips and that it was His Love for us. I have no doubt you cover love fully in your other teachings and agree that it is of Prime importance in everything we do, be it of a spiritual or flesh action/thought if we are ever to be lead by the Spirit in this life.
You made it quite clear that you were hoping ‘others’ might be helped ( a thought i share) and that ‘someone’ may be blessed by them, hence my assumption this was not meant solely for those who know you – and the topic of Spiritual Health generally – well enough to assume a firm understanding of Love’s essential underlying role. 🙂
It seems it is never easy finding the right balance between emphasising how important love is in all aspects of our lives and boring people with it so that it seems like it is all they ever hear from us and become ‘numb’ to it.
I know all too well the other side – that of trying to say something useful on wordpress and having some aspect of what you say ( or even the whole thing) taken in a way other than was intended by some! 😦
Long may you blog Sheldon!
Blessings.
In this particular post I drew upon one lesson from one of my teaching series, offering only the gist (for brevity) of the 3rd of twenty-seven lengthy, hour long sessions. This one focuses primarily upon encouraging others to overcome the hazards of certain psychological impediments, that can occur when people do not treat us with love in return. They can set in motion self loathing, discouragement, and dejection if we pay too much attention to their negative words. If you’ll go back over the list you may pick up on the psychology behind the tips that are designed to encourage folks who suffer at the words of others. Look at the tips again. 1. Past hurts (Jesus directs us to love and forgive), 2. Naysayers and criticizers, 3. Negativity 4. Being misunderstood. etc, etc. Can you get a sense for the theme? Of course, Jesus teaches us that forgiving offenders and loving our enemies are the cure, proffering the same grace we’ve been afforded. Pointing to Christ as “The answer,”—when we turn to Him the very first thing He directs us to do and continue doing, is to love. Thank you for your thoughtful comments, and may the Lord continue shaping us both into the most profitable/fruitful servants possible. Blessings.