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      I just got through having an operation on my shoulder this past September. It was the first time in my life that I was ever in a hospital for an operation, but the pain from a fall had caused me not to be able to sleep for more than 3 months.

      I thought about the operating procedure quite a bit, and a lot of prayer went into the decision of whether to have the operation or not. I really had to “count the cost” literally, as we did not have medical insurance, and we also did not have the funds to pay the cost of the operation, so I totally had to rely on Yahweh.

      As I sat in the hospital room waiting to be taken to the operating room, I pondered about what would happen when I was given the anesthesia and would be under sedation. The thought of being knocked out without control did not set well with me, but I thought if only I can get through the operation, everything will be fine and I will be healed and back to normal.

      Then, the operation came and was over and I was laying there in the hospital bed in quite some pain, not being able to move, nauseated, and dizzy. I was feeling so bad, I thought at least the operation is over and the worst is past, and now I can simply relax and recuperate.

      Then, the doctor entered the room, and told me to be ready first thing in the morning to start my physical therapy. Wow! Physical therapy I thought, I can’t even stand to go to the toilet.

      As the next day came, and I started the physical therapy, the reality of the situation hit me as the physical therapy was brutal, and the large muscular man who was twisting me in every direction like a pretzel had to work me hard, and even harder day by day. After the operation I had no bruises, only a swollen arm, but after one week of physical therapy, I had bruises all down my arm and shoulder, and the pain of the process was excruciating.

      I also realized that my arm was not going to be back to normal anytime soon, and if I wanted to see the operation be a successful process, then I was going to have to work hard every day from this time forward with the physical therapy or my arm would refreeze again, and the whole process would have been for nothing.

      Then, as I pondered about the whole process, I realized there was a great spiritual lesson to learn. The operation I had was like our baptism. I was fully focused only on the operation, thinking it was going to solve all my problems, pain free.

      Many do the same thing with their baptism. They think of their baptism as an operation in the sense that Yahweh will take away not only all their sins, but all their evil thoughts, and that somehow after baptism, just as I thought after my operation, that they will be pain free, and completely healed with no further work involved.

      This could not be further from the truth, as just as I have to go through a process of physical therapy every day, the believer after baptism needs spiritual physical therapy in the form of daily prayer, and Bible study, and fasting, and meditation, to make the baptism successful, just I had to do with physical therapy to make the operation successful.

      And the same way that the physical therapy was more painful than the operation leaving bruises all over my arm and chest, the spiritual therapy that we do in our life also many times leaves scars from the jobs we may lose, or the family or friends that may disown us after we make the baptism, covenant, commitment to Yahweh in our lives.

      The operation was simply there to remove the dysfunctional tissue caused by improper movement, just as baptism is there to remove the result of sin in our lives caused by improper actions against the will of Yahweh.

      And just as I realized that the physical therapy had to be done every day and would take time, and I needed to be patient as the results of it also take time, it is the same way spiritually, that after baptism it will take time to see the desired changes and results in our life that are conducive to the Kingdom of Yahweh.

      The other parallel that I saw with physical therapy and spiritual therapy, was that each day after therapy my arm would loosen some and I could see the improvement. However, the next day I would wake up and it seemed to go back to where it was the day before. And if I missed a day of therapy, it would take 3 days to recoup what I lost by missing just one day.

      And I realized that physical therapy is a process that has to become part of my daily mindset if I want to have my shoulder heal. The same way Spiritual therapy also has to become a mindset, and we need to eat, sleep, and breathe, the Kingdom of Yahweh and the four mandates of prayer, study, fasting and meditation.

      And just as with physical therapy, if you miss a day of spiritual therapy you will go backward and need three days to make up for the day you missed. Spiritual therapy as with physical therapy is a mindset, and it has to become part of your being, and you need to be mentally focused on growing in Yahweh’s Holy Spirit each and every day of your life.

      And the most positive thing is that even though it is a process, as days and weeks go by you can see improvement in your quest for health. Each week I can access the progress and how my arm is growing healthier from the week before.

      Likewise, with Spiritual therapy when you are consistently working on growing in prayer and study daily, you will see the progress in your life as you assess your growth on a weekly, and monthly basis.

And although the process is not always a happy one, in both physical and spiritual therapy we know that in the end it is bearing fruit and giving us the desired outcome that we need.

Heb 12:11 And all discipline for the present indeed does not seem to be joyous, but grievous; but afterward it gives back peaceable fruit of righteousness to the ones having been exercised by it.