Do you nourish your spirit like you nourish your flesh?
We all eat on a daily basis. Sometimes the whole 3 meals a day can get lost on us. Some of us only eat 2 and others maybe even eat more than 3 meals a day. It all varies depending on the person. We eat for physical nourishment. Food gives us the minerals and vitamins needed to nourish and promote growth. It also gives us energy, repairs the body tissues and maintains our lives on a physical level.
You may be wondering what nourishment is exactly, so here's a few definitions for you:
- Nourishment is food and other things that are needed for health, growth and etc; sustenance; the act of nourishing.
- Nourishing is providing the things that are needed for health, growth and etc.
- Sustenance is something that gives support, help or strength to keep someone or something alive.
All the above definitions are from the Webster's dictionary.
Have you ever gone hours without eating and felt the effects of it physically? You may have become irritable, tired, had hungry pains, became hangry (hungry and angry) or many feelings could arise. What do you do when that happens? Grab a quick snack? Fix a meal? Make sure your body is well fed right?So my question is do you nourish your spirit man as you do your physical flesh?
Let's take a look at some scriptures and see what the Bible says about being spiritually nourished:
"Give us this day our daily bread."
- Matt 6:11
This comes from the Lord's Prayer (Matt 6:9-13) and this is something we ask God for. To give us our daily bread. The keyword is daily and bread. Daily means getting this bread every single day; making sure to get it's nourishment. Bread is a representation of daily provisions (needs not wants and desires) which God gives to His children consistently whether we know it or not. Are you seeking God for your daily provisions spiritually and physically?
"But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’"
- Matt 4:4
This is something Jesus speaks to the devil when he tried to tempt Jesus with food during his 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. This is a reference to Deut 8:3 (go check it out for yourself!). Our daily intake should not just be food for our physical bodies, but should also be God's Word which is found in the Bible. Are you living for and eating from the Bible daily?
"All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."
- 1 Corin 10:3-4
We are all sustained by God's miraculous provisions on daily basis, but to get those provisions we must take in His Word to know them, understand and be able to apply His Word to our lives. Are you eating from the same spiritual food as the Bible says?
"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"
- Psalm 34:8
How can you taste that the Lord is good? By reading His Word and experiencing His power. God wants to do a miracle for each of us, but in order for that to happen we must seek Him. To seek Him we must read, study and meditate on His Word...which is our daily bread. Have you ever tasted the sweetness of God in your life?
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
- John 6:51
We see that Jesus is the living bread. Bread is food that our physical bodies need, so therefore, if Jesus is the living bread He is a necessity to our spiritual and eternal lives. Do you spend time with Jesus to get your portion of spiritual nourishment? Do you truly take Him into your life to sustain you?
"As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby."
- 1 Peter 2:2
A healthy new baby has an instinctive yearning for its mother’s milk. When things are right, you don’t have to tell it to want the milk. We should have a desire to want to read the Word of God because it does so much for us, such as grow us in our faith, mature us in our walks, gets us closer to both the Father and the Son and many other phenomenal reasons. Newborns are always hungry and never fully satisfied, so that means we too should never be fully satisfied and should always have a hunger for the Word. Do you desire to receive the pure Word that allows you mature and grow in your faith?
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."
- Galatians 5:22-23
Fruit has several important characteristics: it's fragile, reproduces itself (with seeds), is attractive, nourishes the body and is birthed by abiding, not by working. So then how does this relate to spiritual nourishment? Galatians tells us about 7 fruits that we need to bear in our lives, but as one of the characteristics of a fruit is that it's birthed by abiding, we can understand now that we much abide with the Father through the Son by reading the Word and allowing it to water the soil of our hearts. In doing that we produce beautiful fruit that will nourish our spiritual lives and reflect in our flesh. Do you allow the Word to help you abide in Jesus and God so that it can water the soil of your heart?
"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? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Why do you need spiritual nourishment? Did you know that within you dwells the Holy Spirit? When you are not fed properly the Holy Spirit isn't able to do its FULL work in you. We need to take care of the bodies that house the Holy Spirit and given to us by the Father. To do that we must ensure the proper intake of His Word to mature us, grow us and keep us in alignment with the Holy Spirit. Knowing that God dwells within you through His Holy Spirit, can you honestly say that you take care of your body both on a physical and spiritual level?After reading all these scriptures and getting an understanding of spiritual nourishment I can only ask you one last question:
Are you hungry or full?
Are you weak and fatigued with life?
Are you truly well nourished or lacking some nutrients?
I don't know about you, but I am always hungry for the Word of God. I won't say I dive into a deep study on a daily basis because some days are better than others. However, I make sure to at least get a nice drink from the Word be it through reading a devotional and meditating on the scripture or reading and praying my favorite scriptures over my life. I truly encourage you to get your spiritual nourishment!
Blessings!
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