{"id":742,"date":"2019-01-21T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T06:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=742"},"modified":"2019-01-14T02:52:21","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T02:52:21","slug":"how-do-i-strengthen-my-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2019\/01\/how-do-i-strengthen-my-soul.html","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Strengthen My Soul?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_746\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-746\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-746\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/403\/2019\/01\/ahmad-odeh-653803-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"unsplash-logoAhmad Odeh\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-746\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a style=\"background-color: black;color: white;text-decoration: none;padding: 4px 6px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, 'Segoe UI', Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 12px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 1.2\" title=\"Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Ahmad Odeh\" href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@odehpal?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=photographer-credit&amp;utm_content=creditBadge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"padding: 2px 3px\">Ahmad Odeh<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>The following is a devotion from my message series\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLc2RhsjwQZTwcnhNWFDA7Q9FgjZUjTj7P\">10 Steps to Freedom<\/a>. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus!<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">STEP SEVEN: day 1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Fully engage in <strong>worship<\/strong> to strengthen your soul<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>How do I strengthen my soul? <\/i>You may not realize it but this is a question vital to the long-term success of your freedom. If you\u2019ve struggled with freedom from something in the past, whether it\u2019s an addiction issue, a traumatic past that won\u2019t stay buried in the past or an emotional cloud that continually hovers, you realize that the issue is much more than physical. It\u2019s not just physical cravings that are keeping you in bondage. In step four we looked at the power of the mind in your freedom. In step seven we\u2019re looking at another critical aspect in your fight for freedom: your soul.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>How do I strengthen my soul?<\/i> It starts by knowing what your soul is. Sometimes referred to as your spirit or your will, it\u2019s that part of you that makes you \u2018you.\u2019 It\u2019s your personality, your passions, your drive and determination in life. At the end of the day, as harsh as this sounds, you are in bondage because you <i>choose<\/i> to be. If you believe in Jesus (step one) you have the power of the Holy Spirit (step two) residing in you, the same power that rose Jesus from the grave. Your lack of freedom isn\u2019t because the Holy Spirit has lost His power. In a divine mystery, the Spirit of God partners with your spirit (or soul) to affect change in your life. So, if you\u2019re not yet free, your soul needs to be strengthened. But how exactly does one go about strengthening one\u2019s soul? That\u2019s the focus of step seven. A powerful tool to strengthen your soul is found in the art and discipline of worship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">What do you know about your soul? How familiar are you with the concept?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Outside of your body and even your mind, do you recognize that there is a component to your life known as your soul or spirit?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">What do you think of when you think of \u2018worship\u2019? What\u2019s been your experience with worship in your religious background and upbringing? At this moment do you see any connection between worship and the strengthening of your soul?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>You can read other devotional entries\u00a0for 10 Steps to Freedom\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/10-steps-to-freedom\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is a devotion from my message series\u00a010 Steps to Freedom. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus! STEP SEVEN: day 1 Fully engage in worship to strengthen your soul How do I strengthen my soul? You may not realize it but this is a question vital to the long-term&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,2],"tags":[318,361,112],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-steps-to-freedom","category-next-steps","tag-freedom","tag-soul","tag-spirit"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Do I Strengthen My Soul? - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re not yet free, your soul needs to be strengthened. 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Josh graduated from New Orleans Seminary with a Masters of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry. Josh has been involved in full-time ministry for over twenty years. He enjoys hiking, beach volleyball, reading, playing anything competitive, and rough-housing with his kids. Josh, his gorgeous wife Robin, his outrageously handsome boys Zeke, Shepherd and Lincoln and his princess Elle, live in northern Virginia. Josh also blogs on Patheos as New Wineskins: an Apologist for the Modern Church and you can find links to all his content on joshdaffern.com. 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