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Soul Maintenance ~ Part 2

By Pastor Gary Wayne

We were created by God with a body, a soul, and a spirit.
Our soul is that inward part of us where our mind, will and emotions reside.

That is where our personality comes from. Our memories and our feelings.

We need to make sure my soul gets a checkup, so I would like to spend some time on the topic of soul maintenance.

3Jo 1:2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” God wants your “soul” to prosper, to thrive!

Ps 23 “The LORD is my shepherd; …. He restores my soul…”

A MAJOR point I tried to make last week is how “PRESENT” Jesus is with us.
He LIVES right inside me – I don’t have to call and make an appointment, but in nanoseconds I can have a private consultation with my creator.

When my soul starts making a “punkety, punkety” sound, I just visit with Him.

Text: Lam.3:19-25, Ephesians 3:14-21
Ver. 16 “…strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…”
Ver. 17 “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”

Memories have a powerful effect on our attitude and outlook.
Often our memories that cause us problems are made up of pain, mistrust, miss-understanding, wrong believe and flat out believing a lie.
In dealing with “Soul Maintenance” I want to talk about our memories.

Let’s start by looking at 2 myths about remembering.
1. Memory is like a file cabinet you go to and find a memory stored in its order.

But it doesn’t work that way - memory is all about associations, and some memories come to the surface when they are triggered.
Sometimes by good things, a song, a smell, etc, but often a series of events can trigger a memory that creates problems.

Memory of events from the past influences us in the present.
But usually we can’t just retrieve them in the order of events.

2. Memory is like a photocopy machine. Accurate reproductions of what took place in the past.

Whenever you retrieve a memory, you alter it.
What you recall may be close to what happened, but the very act of recalling it changes it, even though it feels like you are being accurate.
When you talk to your siblings or parents after you tell a story, they say “that’s not how it happened.”

Your state of mind when you encoded the memory, and the state of mind you are in when you recall the memory influence and change the memory itself.

Often we believe what we tell our self.

That’s why a few weeks ago (11-6-22) when I preached on consecrating our mind, - based on “The Pause” - I had us pray together: I give you my memory and recall, my understanding and imagination. I consecrate to you, Lord, my interpretation of events in my life.

2 Types of memories. Memory is implicit = (hidden) and explicit = (open).

Implicit memory = is gained and used unconsciously but can affect thoughts and behaviors without you knowing it. Babies in the womb are building a data base of implicit memories without knowing it.
Implicit memories can cause major chaos with us and we don’t know why.

Explicit memory = intentional recollection of information previously experienced.

Usually when we talk about memory, and remembering, we are talking about explicit memory.

But understanding about how our memory works, can help us with soul maintenance and helps us gain healing over past problems we don’t consciously know about.

So what do we do about this?
I believe it is imperative we ask the Holy Spirit to help us in this area.

Lam.3:19-25
In this verse, it speaks about what you choose to remember.
If I dwell on painful events, it perpetuates that pain.
A choice to remember God’s goodness, ver.21 restores hope.

We ask the Holy Spirit to help us be aware of those implicit memories, making them explicit so we can pray through them, dealing with them intentionally.

Sometimes the method of dealing with painful things is we simply bury them and try to forget, but “Soul Maintenance” is bring them into the light of God’s presence for healing – “Shalom!”

If you know you have buried painful memories, it’s good to have someone with you to help you pray through them.

Lets pray together:
Lord I give everyone and everything to You God. (Repeat.)
Jesus I ask You to restore my soul.

I give You my memory and recall, my understanding and imagination. I consecrate to You, Lord, my interpretation of events in my life.
Bring healing - wholeness – “sozo” to my body, my soul and my spirit.

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