*THE BENEFITS OF SERVING THE LORD*
_(August 4, 2024)

*TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOUR SPIRIT & BODY*

As you serve the Lord, it is advisable to take good care of your spirit and body.

If the bible admonishes that.... " *God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”* John 4:24

Therefore, it is advisable to take a good care of the spirit, as it is involved in our worship to God.

*How to take a good care of the spirit?*
```You have to be spiritually healthy.```

*Reflect on your beliefs.* Rather than being a passive believer, maintain your spiritual health by questioning, affirming, and revising the principles of your faith.
Write down the things you hold to be true, and write a little bit about them.
If something is troubling you, don't hide it from yourself. Share it with someone you trust, and discuss your concerns together.

*Meditate*
Meditate and pray. Prayer and meditation are activities you can engage in daily, or many times a day. By incorporating it into your daily routine, you can maintain your spiritual health in the same way that you maintain your physical health. Pray or meditate by yourself or with a group.
Join a prayer group at your place of worship. Proverb 27:17....' _As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.'_

*Take monthly or yearly excursions to reconnect to your spirituality* .
It's important to have a daily routine, but you don't want to just go through the motions. To break your habits and get a new perspective, go to a new place and spend a longer time working at your spiritual practices.
Go on a silent meditation retreat.
Take a trip with a church group.
Make a pilgrimage to a holy place.

*Study core texts and contemporary takes* .
CORE text(Holy bible)... Try reading a little every day. Join a reading bible group or get a study buddy to keep you on schedule.

Contemporary takes... Read poetry and song lyrics inspired by the core texts of your faith

*Share your faith and belief*
' _For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.'..._ Ezra 7:10
One thing sharing our faith does amongst others is making our spirit to be active. This is exemplary with teaching generally. You get acquainted with the wordings, meanings and understanding of what you teach regularly in the level of the knowledge acquired compared to not sharing it.

*Taking care of your body.*
' _Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?'_ 1 Corinthians 6:19

This is what happens to mankind once you become born again by giving your life to Jesus. The entirety of your body becomes that of God. The spirit of God begins to dwell in you. And so it becomes imperative for you to keep your body and avoid anything that will spoil it.
In 1st Corinthians 3:16-17, the bible say.... ' _Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.'_
This implies that God is very mindful of our body. And so we too have to.

*Take good care of the body for the use of God, His service, to fulfill purpose on earth, to live long according to the will of God.*
1. Eat well
2. Rest well.
3. Take appropriate medication at the appropriate time.
4. Don't serve God and neglect your body
5. Don't over rate the body over the spirit. Everything, the bible say, in moderacy.
6. Don't keep the body naked in the public
7. Don't fornicate or commit adultery with the body, it quenches the spirit in it.

Many people died before their time, and can't fulfill their divine purpose just because they died before their time. We end up saying, it is God's time. But our inability to take good care of the body is the cause. The body degrades either you like it or not. As you use it for the service of God, take a good care of it. The place of grace is certain. Either you enjoy it by God's miracle to stay alive despite your inability to take good care of it, or by providing to treat it, or by making the treatment to work and heal you up. Or by miracle without appropriate treatment. Or by keeping the illness and still performing alive. Finally, God can decide, and rather call you home inasmuch you can't take good care of the body any longer. And He doesn't want His child to remain in pains while serving Him. Then He rather call it off for you. This is a secret that is not known to many people. (This is enjoyed if only you are in the Lord and in His service.)
*Isaiah 57:1-2...*
*The righteous perish* , and no one ponders it in his heart; *devout men* are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
*Those who walk uprightly* enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.'
END OF PART 1