08/28/2026
pastor jason continued our series [Jesus calls us to _____.] with starting the chapter, love ourselves, with the message love others as we love ourselves. he spoke on how God calls us to love others, but in order to do so well we must first take care of ourselves. he gave us many tools on how to care for ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically. this message was delivered as a part of our celebration service on august 23rd, 2026.
our weekly message is available to stream on apple podcasts, spotify, youtube, and our website therefuge.live. new messages are available weekly on wednesdays at 5pm.
here are pastor ephraim's notes from this week's newsletter:
When we talk about biblical self-care, we have to understand the difference between loving ourselves and being a lover of self. Jesus never commanded us to become lovers of self, but He did say, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is a biblical baseline here: we naturally care for ourselves, and Scripture teaches us to care for what God has entrusted to us. The question is, how do you love others well if you are constantly hating yourself, living in shame, believing you are unworthy, or allowing negative thoughts to define you? How you see yourself and how you care for yourself will often affect how you care for others. If I am loving others out of the outflow of understanding how much Christ loves me, that is very different from loving others out of the outflow of how much I have been hurt. I have to ask myself, “Do I really understand the worth that Christ has placed inside me? Do I understand that I am made in His image?”
One of the greatest things we need to understand is that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We were bought with a price, and therefore we are called to honor and glorify God with our bodies. That means there are times when we have to stop, rest, and allow God to restore us. Jesus Himself would slip away from the crowds and go to secluded places to pray. If Jesus practiced withdrawal, what makes us think we do not need to step away and recharge? Sometimes we become so religious that we think we simply have to move through everything, but God may be saying, “Don’t move through it. Go rest. Go sit. Go hear what I have to say over you and over the situation.” There is a command to rest. There is a place where we need to slip away, find quiet, hear the voice of the Father, receive revelation, and be recharged. For some people it may be a park, for others a quiet room, a closet, or simply a place where they can get away from the noise. The important thing is that we learn to receive rest with the Lord.
We also have to guard our mind and our heart because everything we do flows from what is happening on the inside. When we are tired, anxious, worried, or overwhelmed, it becomes easy for an emotional storm to begin, and suddenly lies start flowing around us while we are trying to grab hold of the truth. Scripture tells us to cast all our anxieties, worries, and concerns on God because He cares for us. But we have to do this with Jesus, not simply try to do it for Jesus. We need humility to come before God and be brutally honest. If we need help, we need to ask for help. God has given us His Word, His Spirit, and people He has placed in our lives who can speak wisdom, confirmation, prayer, and truth. Sometimes we need to talk to someone who can say, “That thought is not the truth. That is not what the Word of God says.” We cannot keep circling the mountain of anxiety, self-pity, opinion, and self-construction. We need to allow God to bring us into truth, healing, freedom, and forward movement.
So here is the biblical self-care toolbox: first, reflect on what I did or what was done to me. Then ask God, “Was that truth or was that a lie?” Then repent of what I have done or of the negative thoughts I have carried when something was done to me. Repentance is one of the greatest tools God gives us because it helps us get out of harmful places on the inside. Then receive His forgiveness, and when someone has hurt us, give forgiveness. After that, look and ask, “Am I acting like a child of God, or am I still living like an orphan? Am I allowing Jesus to renew my mind? Do I believe I am worth help? Whose opinion matters to me? Am I speaking His truth over my life, or am I speaking death over my life?” We need to seek His wisdom instead of remaining in foolishness. We need to allow God to show us the lies we have believed, even the lies that may have been passed from generation to generation. When we reflect, ask God, repent, receive forgiveness, give forgiveness, seek help, guard our heart, rest, and return to the Word, we begin to move out of the cycle of our issues and into the glory of what God has for us. That is not selfishness; that is learning to receive the Father's love so that we can love others well.
![pastor jason continued our series [Jesus calls us to _____.] with starting the chapter, love ourselves, with the message...](https://img4.prayers1.com/990/179/1124537749901791.jpg)
