The War Between the Body and the Mind



You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3

Many of us have struggles with our bodies. We have pain, illness, weakness, and other body issues that affect our daily living. It is difficult living with this and doing all the things we think we want to do. When our physical debilitating problems keep us home on the couch or in bed, we have a lot of time to think. It is tempting to think only of ourselves, but this is not from God.

Spending every moment thinking about our physical problems is not healthy. It robs us of living the life God wants us to live. Life is not just physical. What goes on in our minds is real life.

It is not healthy for the body or mind to think only of our problems. Our minds spin trying to decipher ways to make these things go away. We may think this is the end of our lives or that we can’t live this way anymore but that is the devil’s temptation.

Keeping our minds fixed on the things of God will bring peace to our hearts and minds but we can only do that if we really, truly trust that He has our best interests at heart. It is difficult to believe when we are struggling physically, especially if it continues for a long time.
We may ask God why He is allowing these things to happen.

To trust God completely, it is necessary for us to understand that the world has created this situation, not God. He rarely changes the laws of nature that have been set into place and we have built up our world so that it is full of toxins and chemicals. Our bodies were not meant to live the way we have been living.

It is also necessary for us to understand the ripple effect (read previous blog). In short, what is happening to us is affecting many more people and God is using everything to bring about salvation for all. If what is happening with us brings one person to salvation, it is worth it.

In all things we can trust God, but to live our lives in peace, we need to rid ourselves of fear and constant thoughts about ourselves.

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7

Our minds never stop and that can be a very bad or a very good thing. If fear is running our minds, that will only produce more fear and no peace at all. But God has given us the fruits of His Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, etc. The last one is self-control. We must exercise self-control with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Self-control is essential in controlling where our minds go, either to fear or to peace and rejoicing. If we are living in pain or suffering in some way, at least we can have peace and joy if we ask God to help us exercise self-control.



Some things we can do to keep our minds stayed on Christ is to listen to Christian music. We can use the time to pray for others and for their salvation. We can read or listen to scripture, look up scripture on the internet, write encouraging messages, or make an encouraging phone call.

The important point is to keep our minds fixed on Christ and from ourselves. When we pray, we pray for others, not for ourselves, when we call, we encourage others, not talk about ourselves.  Keeping our minds off of our own issues is very difficult but with practice of self-control, we will become less, and God will become more.

The more central God becomes, the more joy and peace we will enjoy in our minds. Our bodies are only bodies. Our minds are what we use to commune with our creator.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ...Philippians 4:4-9

The Lord is at hand.  Let our reasonableness be know to everyone. Do not be anxious. Be thankful. These are what God would have us do, and His peace will guard our hearts and minds. We must spend our days turning our negative thoughts into positive ones. If our lives never change, only God can make it worth living.

Prayer: Lord, we struggle with physical issues and you know how difficult it is. Please help us to keep our minds away from those and on you and your great blessings to us. We know things could be worse and see others who have far worse problems who are happy. Help us to have Christ’s attitude, and enjoy life as it is right now because you are in it. Amen.


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