Devotions Inspired By Beyond BlessedSample

TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEMPLE
by Robert Morris 

Are there things you don’t like about your body? I think almost every person has something they’d like to change. Growing up, I was ashamed of my body because I was very skinny. It’s why I hated physical education. My legs were skinny, and the gym shorts we wore only brought more attention to them. The label inside read, “One size fits all,” but it was a lie. 

Even after I became a believer (and wasn’t quite so skinny anymore), I still didn’t appreciate my body and there were things I wanted to change. I knew it was “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” but it took a near-death experience for me to realize that my negative thoughts about my body had opened a door for the enemy to attack me. 

On a trip to Australia in 2013, I spoke 10 times in 72 hours and ended up in the hospital after having a bad reaction to a migraine pill and losing a lot of blood. My routine at the time was taking medicine for whatever caused me pain and pushing through rather than slowing down, listening to my body, and resting. So when I did this in Australia, my body shut down. The Lord used this ordeal to show me all the ways I had mistreated—and even hated—my own body. When we don’t treat our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit, it can open doors in our lives for the enemy to destroy us. 

Are you being a good steward of your health? Are you taking care of your body? The Bible says in Ephesians 5:29, “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.” If you aren’t taking care of yourself, the Holy Spirit’s expression through you will be limited, and you won’t be able to accomplish all God wants you to accomplish. There were several times in my life when I could have died because I wasn’t taking care of my body. I don’t want to leave this earth prematurely and miss fulfilling God’s purpose for me. 

God also has a purpose for you, and if you want to see it fulfilled, you need to take care of your body. No matter how you’ve felt in the past, decide today to take care of your temple and begin thanking God as King David did: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psalm 139:14).

PRAYER
Lord, thank You for the body You’ve given me. I pray that You would give me a love for my body because it’s Your temple. Please help me to take care of it and see that it doesn’t actually belong to me, it belongs to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

MEMORY VERSE   
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. PSALM 37:5 (NLT)