Soul Camp

Soul Camp

Thought- You can’t trick your own soul.

Scripture- “I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” – Psalm 31:7

“Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation.” – Psalm 35:9

Insight: We all have probably been to a gym at least a few times in our lives and many of us have probably hired a physical trainer to help us reach our goals. A relatively new trend in physical training is something called a fitness “boot camp” which in essence is an intense, instructor led workout that helps to push your body to the limit and to gain the best results as possible over a shorter length of time then if you were doing this on your own. All good stuff, but it got me to thinking that if we spend so much time worrying about the fitness and appearance of our body, which is perishable (1 Corinthians 15:42) then should we be just as concerned, in fact more so, with the shape of our soul, which is the black box recorder of our lives. In fact, our soul is the guiding lamp of our life, the part of us that you cannot trick. You can say your happy, but if you’re not, you can feel it in the depths of your soul. I learned that many of the things the world said would make me happy and didn’t were reflected in the condition of my soul. Yes, having lots of money in the bank is not a bad thing, but deep in my soul it wasn’t filling the gaping hole that I knew still existed. It was only when I learned of who God was, and how much He loved me in Christ Jesus, that my soul began to heal and become content inside of me. So, with that little backdrop, I started thinking of an idea of a boot camp for our souls; Let’s call it Soul Camp.

Here are a few questions I began to ponder in Soul Camp that led me to deeply seeking revelations in scripture to find the truth of how my life could be free from highs and lows of circumstantial, emotional based living:

1. Does you soul feel right to you? Deep down does something feel wrong?
2.  Do you feel anxious and unsteady, like a ship adrift upon the Sea?
3. Do you feel like the weight of your past mistakes are literally drowning you in regret?
4. Do you find it hard to relax? Is Social media sapping your energy?
5. Are you tried from all the media spawned political hatred and divisiveness?
6. Do you ever spend alone time in the presence of God, just seeking Him and His clarity for your life?
7. Do you struggle with how to apply the lessons of the Bible to your life? Do you ask God to help?
8. Do you thirst for a new path, a new beginning, a new way to live?
9. Has the money, sex or drugs lived up to the hype or has it left you empty and disillusioned?
10. Have you come to the end of yourself? If so, do you know and trust that Jesus is calling you and He promises a new and better way to live?

These are but a few of the questions I had to wrestle with, and which led me to be the most honest with myself I had ever been. They led me to seek the Lord with all my heart and soul (Matthew 6:33). The result has been a restoration of my soul and the beginning a more peaceful and contented existence. The answers we seek are found in God’s word. We must take the first step of admitting that we are not ok, from the deepest part of our soul, and then begin a Soul Camp experience of seeking the Lord with more energy and priority than we ever have before, like many of us prioritize going to a gym. Let God be your trainer and His Word in the Bible be your guide.

Prayer: Father God, thank you that you love us so much that you gave us a road map for successful living in your Word, the Bible. You have withheld nothing from us, but we must seek the answers we crave that are found in scripture. We must admit in the deepest part of our soul that we are not ok, that we are anxious, tired, fearful and inadequate and that You alone can save us and bring us the contentment and peace that we truly seek deep in our souls. I pray in Jesus name, Amen!