How Spiritually Affects Your Mental Health

The idea of spirituality needs different things for different people. The variety of spiritual beliefs and customs are a very distant people who practice them. One thing they all have in common is the range of affects they can have on our mental help. Spirituality affects our mental health in a variety of ways.

Spirituality is your belief or sense of purpose and meaning. It is what gives you a sense of value or worth in your life. Contrary to what many people might think, spirituality and religion are not the same. But they are linked. You can be spiritual without belonging to a specific religion. Religious people follow up or kick your faith and may be connected to specific groups

Impact Of Spirituality On Mental Health

Spirituality influences many decisions that people make. Encouraged people to have a better relationship with themselves, others, and the unknown. Spirituality and help you deal with stress by giving you a sense of peace, purpose, and forgiveness. Often becomes more important in times of emotional stress or illness.

Positive Impacts Of Spirituality

There are several ways that spirituality and support your mental health:

  • You may feel a higher sense of purpose, peace, hope, and meaning.
  • You may experience better confidence, self-esteem, and self-control.
  • It can help you make sense of your experiences in life.
  • When you are I’ll, it can help you feel a inner strength and results in faster recovery.
  • Those in a spiritual community may have more support.

Negative Impacts Of Spirituality

Some people take advantage of emotionally vulnerable people while pretending to support you. If you are emotionally vulnerable, you can be more easily convinced to take part in unhealthy activities.

Improving Spiritual Health

Are you taking measures to support a healthy mental state, it’s important to make sure you also take care of your spiritual health. Different approaches work differently or different people. You should do what makes you most comfortable and happy. Some ideas to improve your spiritual health include:

  • Find out what makes you feel peaceful, loved, strong, and connected.
  • Dedicate part of your day helping people.
  • Read inspirational books.
  • Try meditating.
  • Take a walk outdoors.
  • Prayeither alone or with a group.
  • Dedicate quiet time to yourself.

Mental Health And Spiritual Health

A spiritual health assessment is sometimes necessary as part of a mental health assessment. Mental issues like depression, or substance abuse can be a sign of a spiritual void in your life. Understanding the difference between a spiritual crisis and a mental illness it’s important to get to the root of the problem.

Free To Be Who God Created You To Be

It seems like we have a epidemic of insecure people in society today.People are having an identity crisis because they can’t come to grip with who they are. They are trying to find their identity with who they associate with, their position at work, their academics degrees, what they own, the clothing they wear… the list can go on and on.

Insecurities involve our thoughts and tends to show up in a way we think and feel about ourselves. I want to ask you a question: What do you think about yourself? How do you feel about yourself? Do you compare yourself to others and feel belittled or threatened around people who can do things you can’t do or have things you don’t have?

It’s not God’s way for us to live in fear. 1 John 4:18 tells us “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear…” God love you and wants you to learn who you are in Christ. Because when you know who you are in Christ, you will be secure in your worth as a child of God.

For over 6 years, I have telling people God’s Word. He has put in my heart to help people by sharing my experiences and the Gospel and showing people how to grow in their faith in Christ, He gave me a gift of being a writer and a messenger for God.

If I ever stop writing and bring a messenger. I’ll still have value because I am a child of God.

The truth is, our worth, or value, is not based on what we do. We find our value in knowing we’re created by God to be His children, knowing Christ, having Him as our Savior, and living in a relationship with God, secure in His love for us.

We cannot earn God’s love; it’s a gift He offers that we receive by faith. And He wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us because He loves us. Every person is equally valuable to God, and when we trust His loves for us, we can be free of insecurity and live with confidence in Him.

Replacing Our Priorities

Have you ever started for prioritizing your time, relationships, money in a God honoring way, only to have those new priority begin to slip away years, month, and weeks later?

For many of us our priorities seem to have a way of becoming less and less important over time. So what is it that keeps pouring at us and causes our priority to get out of whack?

Jesus says there’s a singular root cause of misplaced priorities. And that problem is materialism.

What is materialism? I actually have a little or nothing to do with what we have. It’s a disease of the rich and poor and everyone in between.

Materialism is a condition of the heart where we’re trusting or even believing that are outward props of things, money, status and power provides the ability to achieve for us inward peace, happiness,and satisfaction in life.

Material things are not evil in and of themselves. For instance, there is nothing wrong with enjoying a nice car Or even having a lot of money We just aren’t supposed to put our hope and trust in those things.

If there’s one scripture that helps me on all financial issues in life, it is a verse written by Paul.

Instructor those who are rich in this present world not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but to God, who richly supply us with all things to enjoy.

1 Timothy 6:18

In Matthew 6 Jesus warns us about materialism and keep yourself how to get to it’s root so that we can get to the root of our own misplaced priorities.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth; but if you’re up for yourselves treasures in heaven…For where your treasure is so will your heart be.

Matthew 6:19-21

Our treasure is always greatest, clearest, and truest revealer of our hearts.

If our Kroger is our money, time, energy, and resources, and we are putting our trust in temporal things.

Matthew 6:24 Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate no one and love it ever, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

The battle of our priority boils down to this: Either we have faith in God and His promises are we have faith in things and money and in their power to deliver our life.Although we can have both material things and God, we can only serve one

What I come to realize is that materialism has less to do with things or money and more to do with our heart and our faith in God.

Now, perhaps you’re thinking, this all sounds great but how do you expect me to live in a material world without becoming materialistic? I still have to pay bills, make house payment and buy food right?

God knows that we need things such as food, clothing and housing, but He doesn’t want us to worry or fixate on them.

Jesus tells us:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you’ll eat or drink, or about your body or what will you wear. Look at the birds in the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in Barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:25-27

In the scripture, what Jesus is really saying to us is this“ do you trust me to come through for you? Don’t you know that you were significant and valuable to me? If you prioritize your life my way, I’m going to give you the deepest thing you long or in your heart because I love you.

The Meaning Behind The Beatitudes

The beatitudes are statements of characteristics and blessing, Eat beatitudes looks at different circumstances of life and how believers are blessed through their faith.

Through the 8 beatitudes, Jesus teaches of virtues and values in life that will result in blessing and rewards. These beatitudes are not singles out for specific people- they are blessings applicable to all believers in Christ.

There are many people who misinterpret the beatitudes. Hopefully this will shed some light on the meaning on the beatitudes.

These scriptures will encourage you and give you hope as you face each day knowing that you are called blessed. No matter your age, job, or the role you have on earth. If you apply the beatitudes to your life you will experience a joyful, fulfilled life.

You can read the full Bible passage below where the words of Jesus that he spoke as part of the Sermon on the Mount that are found in Matthew 5, however, here is a short summary of the beatitudes.

The 8 Beatitudes and There Meaning

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of heaven.

The poor in spirit are those who feel a deep sense of spiritual destitution and comprehend their nothingness before God. The kingdom of heaven is theirs, because they seek it, and therefore find and abide in it. To this virtue is opposed the pride of the Pharisee, which caused him to thank God that he was not as other men, and to despise and reject the kingdom of heaven. There must be emptiness before their can be fullness, and so poverty of spirit precedes riches and grace in the kingdom of God.

2. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

The blessing in not on all that mourn but on those who mourn in reference to sin. They shall be comforted by the discovery and appropriation of God’s pardon. But all mourning is traced directly or indirectly to sin. We may take it, therefore, that in its widest sense the beatitude covers all those who are led by mourning to a discerning of sin, and who so deplore its effects and consequences in the world as to yearn for and seek the deliverance which is in Christ.

3. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The humble would receive far greater than the arrogant and prideful. Not only do the meek enjoy more of life on earth because of their ability to be content, but they will possess and enjoy the earth after Jesus’s return and triumphant entry.

4. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Because of Christ, we can cling to the promise of everlasting righteousness in heaven. While we are called to live like Christ, we also have forgiveness of sin,

5. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Mercy is an active virtue the believers can show to each other because they have been given mercy ourselves. Since God has forgiven our offenses, we should forgive others and show mercy.

6. Blessed are the peacekeepers: for they shall be called sons (and daughters) of God.

The term included all who make peace between each other, whether as individuals or as communities. It includes even those who worthily endeavor to make peace, though they fail success. They will be called God’s children because he is the God of peace who sent His Own Son as the Prince of Peace.

7. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Those who suffer because of their loyalty to the kingdom of heaven are blessed by being bound more closely to that kingdom for which they suffer.

Most of us approached the Beatitudes as if there’s some sort of platitude, phraseology and principles on how to live life. But, that is very far removed from what they actually are. These are like laser-guided bombs in the culture that Jesus was preaching to. These quips, these statements, these things that we’ve come to recite in the board of youth are devastating statements that turn Jesus’s culture on its ear completely. It is not what they expected to hear. It takes aim at a,k of these prized dispositions and virtues and there worldview. They didn’t expect this to come out of Jesus’s mouth hand wherever Jesus went, He preached these. These aren’t platitudinal. These are detonated on thr culture.

For example. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What they expected to hear was, “You’re Abraham, therefore yours is the kingdom of heaven.” Well, they believed in self-righteousness because of who they were. Jesus says, “No, it’s actually the broken people, those who recognize their need for God, the poor in spirit, people who are spiritual beggars that inherit the kingdom.” He didn’t say, Abr, He didn’t say the descendants of Abraham, And He didn’t say Jews, and He didn’t say Pharisees. He didn’t say good people. He didn’t say moral people, He said broken people. Those are the ones that inherit the kingdom of heaven.

So, Jesus’s audience is sitting there having learned what they’ve learned from their tradition, and Jesus drops this bomb and it touches every nerve in the audience because every single one of them underneath the facade of their life realizes they actually are poor in spirit. And He turns the thing upside down.

They realize, as the Bible will go on to explain, that they need righteousness which is much greater that their own, which is exactly what Jesus says in Matthew 5, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Basically what He said was, “You’re not getting in on your own righteousness.”

And so the beatitudes go through and just throw off these misunderstandings about what constitutes a devotion to God and what man truly needs. It is the Beatitudes, which ultimately gets Jesus killed as He explains them in every possible way He can ad they floe. That is their principle and core meeting through all of His teaching and put Him on the cross, and saved those by His death who are poor in spirit.

Why Do We Make Excuses

Over the course of our lives, we all have made excuses. But we can become strengthened to overcome the excuses by God.

Do you ever catch yourself making excuses when things don’t turn out as you expected?

Have you ever neglected taking responsibility for the circumstances in your life?

Have you ever tried to explain away why you don’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t or simple wouldn’t do something?

These are all subtle signs that indicate you are living a life of excuses, which can prevent you from living to your full potential. Excuses can prevent you from reaching your full potential.

I have to admit my favorite excuses are “I’m too tired or I have a headache.” I know I can’t just say “No,” it’s doesn’t seem to be in my DNA.

Fear Leafs to Excuses.

Do you fear the scrutiny of friends or family or co-workers? Fear of judgement seems to make people make excuses. “If I say No they will think I’m a awful person. Are you uncomfortable with opining up to others? Sometimes making a lame excuse to avoid attending a social event is done for self-preservation. When people invite me the social gatherings that I think I won’t fit in, I get uncomfortable. And then feel bad because I make an excuse when I want to leave.

There are many reasons why people make excuses. In fact every one has different reasons for making them. However, when it boils down to it, we only make excuses for the following main reasons:

  • Fear of Failure
  • Fear of Embarrassment
  • Fear of Success
  • Fear of Change
  • Fear of Uncertainty
  • Fear of Responsibility
  • Fear of Making Mistakes
  • Fear of Judgement

Sound Familiar? We sometimes think we don’t have enough confidence in ourselves, or not enough resources-and the list goes on and on. And then there’s this excuse:

I’ll get to it later

We put off doing a unpleasant task for another day when we might be feeling in a better mood. Procrastination is a terrible problem that many people engage in far to often. I find my putting of laundry until I have nothing to wear, and then spend a entire day doing nothing else. By putting things off no matter what it is. We force ourselves to rush. Honestly, we may never even getting around to accomplish some tasks if we are constantly pushing it off for a later time.

I don’t have time right now

In the end, we learn to regret all of the opportunities we passed on. By doing this we can miss opportunities, that we will never get a chance again. So instead of making excuses we need to take full advantage of it.

Someone else can/will do it

This is an extremely lazy excuse and one we make far too often. Don’t leave it up for someone else to do that you can simply do yourself. We have all heard the saying, if you want something done, then we have to do it yourself. No one can accomplish a personal task better than you can. We need to stop being lethargic and do what needs to be done.

It’s not my fault

Stop blaming others for your problems and bad decisions. As we age it becomes more and more important to realize we need to take responsibility for yourself. I know many adults that blame everything on someone else. When we have bad upbringings it’s hard to put the future in our own hands that no one else can be accountable for.

It’s too hard

In reality nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. Hard word breeds success and profit. Don’t underestimate your skills, you are much more capable than you think you are.

It’s not the right time

Time is our most precious and valuable resource. Everyone is given the same amount of time in any given day, but the manner in which we use it is entirely up to you. If you have the resources to do so, now is as good of a time as any to accomplish your goals.

I’m too scared

Fear tends to paralyze people and holds them back from reaching their full potential. You never know if you can succeed if you never try. Life is what you make of it. Life can throw you some awful big blows, and I’d you get out of your comfort zone, you are fully capable of overcoming them.

We excel at making excuses.

When I read my Bible, it’s very interesting to see that Jesus isn’t surprised by how much we excel at making excuses. He talked to His followers one day about this through a parable of a great banquet. Jesus told them, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many people. And at the time of the banquet he sent his servants to those who had been invited, Come, for everything is ready now”. But they all began making excuses” (Luke 14:16-18).

Over the course of our lives, we have all made excuses. When we missed the deadline at work, forget to do our homework, get pulled over for speeding we might try to make an excuse. Sometimes we might even try and excuse our own sin. Life is not defined by what we have. I was trying to excuse ourselves from doing what we know is right, we miss out on letting Jesus fill us, empower, and pour through us.

We try to make excuses from time to time, but that does not change the fact that God does not want to hear our excuses; or that God can overrule our excuses; or that God can strengthen us so we can overcome our excuses.