Windows To The Soul
Happy New Year guys. You know when you just know something is about to be so good - that’s how I feel about 2025. I believe for it to the best year of our lives so far for both you and me in Jesus Name!
Today’s blog will be super short & simple. It is part two to the last post: “You Are What You Eat”. On there I mentioned that I would suggest some practical ways to feed the spirit. Because as we all know it’s super important to cut out the things that feed our flesh, but then if we don’t replace those things with Godly things it’s easy to end up back at square one. So I’ve linked some recourses below to help feed the spirit.
But before then I thought I’d talk a little on the importance of what we listen to and watch. Not sure about you but music is quite literally what I spend most of my time listening to. From morning till night - 9/10 I’ve got some sort of music playing in the background. And because it has such a huge part in my life, the message that the music I listen to sends me is super important.
And it’s the same with what we watch. Personally I’m not really too crazy about movies & series anymore, which is crazy because at one point all I used to spend my time doing was binge watching. But early on in my salvation that was one the areas that God really convicted me on, so overtime my love for binge watching died, and I began to spend my time differently. If you are somebody that really enjoys movies, it’s important to consider what is within what you’re watching and whether it compromises with your faith - here’s why…
There’s a famous quote by William Shakespeare that states that, “The eyes are the windows to our soul.”. Similar to this quote there is a verse found in Matthew 6:22 that’s says, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness…”.
So in other words - whatever we open up our eyes and ears to feeds us. And whether we like it or not, it shapes who we are. What we watch and listen to shapes our thoughts, persuades our emotions, and eventually can determine our actions. In other words - if we choose to sit and listen to Vybz, Drake & Snoh all day we’re gonna wind up an emotional, lusty wreck - no thank you.
Funny/cringe story on the influence of music. During the early years of me being in secondary school I had this mad obsession with drill music, and so when my mom would drop me to the bus stop first thing I would do is put in my earphones and blast all kinds of drill tunes. And soon enough I really thought I was this bad girl - as in I went from sitting downstairs at the front of the bus to sitting upstairs at the back - sickening. I cringe even typing this lol - but it just goes to show the power of music.
And I’m convinced the reason why the majority of society today simply cannot control their emotions is because of the messages that are shared through songs and movies. There’s this one song and the lyrics are - “My man is my man, is your man, heard it’s her man too.” PAUSE. Because what in the world - absolutely not. It’s crazy to think that these are the kind of tunes that I used to be pumping into my ears. Not only is it completely against God’s order of monogamy, it’s also really devaluing - but we get so used to hearing these things that it becomes normal - even amongst christians.
1 Peter 1:16 says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Remember that the things that we consume should reflect where we are going - and that is Heaven. If it reflects sin and the flesh, we may want to think twice before indulging…
So here are some practical bits that have helped me, that I thought might help you…
CHRISTIAN MUSIC - no matter what genre of music you like I’m pretty sure that there is some sort of gospel music for that genre. So here are a few playlists. I’ve also linked my personal playlist from 2024 - but please beware it’s a little messy as I put every genre in the one playlist lol.
R&B https://open.spotify.com/playlist/766Z0zF2632cl5Y83IbZCq?si=sd7MbdhLQjegGOtu7rK9Fw&pi=e-q-LhAID0TqWX
REGGAE https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2c9NfAWz6h0PfVeJiOzZdS?si=IzZGhlBPQA-dEOox3_R8zw&pi=e-D1pL2OA8T0iB
UK RAP https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JtRUslzWVmoKK791TI5nf?si=e7oHVYfLSsKRp5r32ajfTQ&pi=e-EERdC9bGSrqg
AFROBEATS https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Soenjyo1GPUyItWdsQaxV?si=ydZXo3WBTlmK9CxUgrV73Q&pi=e-0aqpME8dT5qK
My 2024 Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5iqC7PAEWbIfsoe8nYHj3B?si=ebJQKklaRCqkuP1Oyh96ow&pi=e-NcAlBPQiRf-4
BOOKS - I love reading, here are some of my favourite books…
PODCASTS - I don’t really listen to podcasts too much, might try and listen to more this year. But my sister and a few friends have found a few really helpful in feeding themselves spiritually…
Real Disciples https://youtube.com/@realdisciple8641?si=0An9S_yQQNkZZ6nn
Girls Gone Bible https://open.spotify.com/wrapped/share/share-63241b53cb9b4d2ca27e3ac5bba08641?si=7HI-sshgTnydyFzcnQ0WFA&show-id=1JOq4FadXo52EqtRbI9Nxl
SERMONS - Here’s a playlist of some sermons that are so powerful, I update this regularly so there should always be something new to listen to…
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTXlNd1L4iXOGAX3lvIb4F2ivI3qMTqWw&si=hYuaRaFN92XRadzp
COMMON SENSE MEDIA - As mentioned i’m not really too too crazy about movies/series anymore - unless it’s anything from my childhood like Shrek or Ratatouille. But I do fancy watching something every now and then. So I use this website to check if a movie has any madness in it before I watch :)
https://www.commonsensemedia.org
Last but most certainly not least - prayer and the Word of God are the most important ways to feed your spirit. You could listen to all the podcasts and gospel tracks in the world - but without actual communication with Jesus and studying of the Word those other things don’t really hold all that much weight by themselves. So I encourage you to spend time with Jesus as a key way to feed your spirit.
If you’ve got this far thanks so much for reading. I pray that these recourses help you in the same way that they have helped me. And please do let me know of any more suggestions that you may have, I’m always open to any song/book recs :)
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” - Galatians 5:16