Soul Cleansing Part 2 – Heaviness

Sometimes we live our life with the heaviness of the soul.  We want to get up but burdens and problems weigh us down. Our generation has the highest percentage of people who deal with a constant low grade depression. I’m talking about people who constantly live with a heaviness of the soul. The article said that for a lot of people, there’s nothing that’s really, really wrong; but yet nothing is just right. And we’re a generation of people who have so much more to live with and so many great things and yet, there’s a soul dissatisfaction, there’s a longing for something more, there’s a lack of hope and there’s a lack of faith, and there’s always pessimism.

 In Psalm 42:5 David said, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God (NIV).”  Why is it that there are so many people that live with a heaviness of the soul? I believe there are

 THREE MAIN REASONS FOR THE HEAVINESS OF THE SOUL:

1.Hurts from the Past

Jeremiah illustrated this very well in Lamentations 3:19-20, “19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me (NIV).” There are a lot of people right now who have heavy souls because of past hurts. Some friend lied to you or let you down, or your spouse betrayed you, or you lost a job and you felt like life is unfair.

Or you said something you shouldn’t have said, or somebody did something to you that you wished they hadn’t done. You’ve got a present heaviness based on a past hurt. And I don’t want to embarrass anybody, but I’m going to push you a little bit today to be really transparent before God and to yourself because I believe God wants to do a healing work.

2. Trouble with the Present

Job 4:5 – “But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed (NIV).” Because of the current trouble, you are: discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.  There are so many of us that right now there’s something going on and you’re thinking, “I didn’t see this coming.  A lot of people often have constant dissatisfaction. There’s heaviness, there’s something going on right now.

3. Anxiety about the Future

Some of you right now are asking, “How am I going to make it through tomorrow?” Believe it or not, even Jesus experienced this. There was a moment when He looked ahead to the pain that He would endure because of our sins. And being God in the flesh, He knew that God was going to turn His back at Him.  Mark 14:33-34 – “33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”” (NIV)  Jesus never said my mind or body is overwhelmed.  He said, “My soul is overwhelmed.”  Some of you might say, “As I look back to the past, or I look in the moment at the present, or I think ahead to what could happen, there’s trouble all around. And so, I just live with an ongoing heaviness of the soul.”

What I want to do is encourage you to preach to your soul. THREE THINGS TO PREACH TO YOUR SOUL:

1.Tell your Soul to Remember God’s Faithfulness in the Past.

Lamentations 3:21-23 – “21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (NIV).” When you’re tempted to look back at the hurts of the past, train your mind to stop, shift gears, and call to mind the faithfulness of God in the past. 

What are you going to do with your past hurts?  Are you going to keep those pains in your memory to destroy your happiness?  Are you going to hold on to those affliction to negatively affect your relationship with others?  Are you going to retain those hurts in your mind to deprive you from getting your blessings from God?  Don’t dwell on past hurts because it’s not good for your health and it’s not good for your relationship with God and people around you.  God has set you free so don’t let past hurts imprison you.

2. Tell your Soul to Remember God’s Love and Compassion at Present

Lamentations 3:21-22 – “21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” (NIV)

Remember the time when you prayed for something and there was no human way possible that this could ever be solved and then God did a miracle that was only something He could do. Be honest to God, He can handle your honesty. He already knows your heart anyway.

3. 3. Tell your Soul to Remember God’s Mercy in the Future

Lamentations 3:23 – They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (NIV) 

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 – “7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.” (NIV)

There’s a future battle they’ve got to fight.  They were afraid. There was an army they thought they couldn’t defeat.  But Hezekiah said, “There’s greater power with us.” If you’re a Christian, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells inside of you. Therefore, trust God’s power for your future. We let negative thoughts come across our mind because the bottom line is we’re not trusting God with our future.  But let me remind you today:  God’s mercy is new every morning.  God’s faithfulness is new every morning.