Weekly Faith and Health Scripture: A Man Died To Give You Life & Make You Whole – Isaiah 53

God loves you so much that He sent His son, Jesus, as a man, to die so you can be whole and have life now and eternally. Read about how much God loves you in this Message translation of the Bible.

Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.

He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Give thanks this Easter for the life He has given you. You can be completely whole in spirit, mind and body because Jesus died for you.

Weekly Faith and Health Scripture: Expert Advice, Rules and Health Behavior Change – Col 3:20-23

I don’t know about you but for most of my life I have been influenced by what I read and hear in the news and books and magazines about what I should be doing to care for my body and how to be in good health. It seems that not a week goes by that another expert isn’t writing another book or article that includes a piece of advice on these matters. Amazon.com maintains a listing of “The Top Ten Most Popular Health Books.” Most of these books tell us things we should be doing to lose weight, feel younger and love yourself.

Paul, the author of Colossians, probably would have considered the advice found in these books and articles as “rules.” In this week’s scripture he writes “You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe don’t have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as,“Don’t handle this. Don’t taste that. Don’t touch this.”? After these things are used, they are no longer good for anything. So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up? Obeying these rules may seem to be the smart thing to do. They appear to make you love God more and to be very humble and to have control over your body. But they don’t really have any power over our desires.”

The last sentence is the applicable part of this scripture to our health. We all need the ability, or power, to make changes in our behaviors that will impact on our health. Behavior change can be difficult. When we have lived for many, many years with certain habits that are unhealthy, we need a lot of power to make changes. Our nature is to muster up more motivation and determination to make the desired changes. Paul says that, in ourself, we do not have the power over our own desires to make these long-term changes.

All the advice and “rules” in the world do not compare to the power that comes from God, through his Holy Spirit. I am learning that the real power God wants us to have is the power that comes from letting go and surrendering to Him. Even though I know Jesus in a personal way, I often tend to try to make things happen as I apply my knowledge of God and His principles. I belief God wants me, and all of us, to step aside and allow His special powers to lead the way in all the changes we are trying to make in our lives. This can only happen when we choose through our will, deep in our soul, to give up self-control of our efforts to God. And then we must trust that He will be the one empowering us and leading the way.

The more we believe and trust deep in our hearts that the Spirit of God is alive in us and that God is able to do for us as He did when he raised Jesus from His grave, we will experience ‘power over our desires’ to make the changes we want to make to improve our health. Through Jesus we can break our old habits, the links in the chains, that have kept us bound up. So I challenge you….. stop following the ‘rules of this world’ and look more into God’s guidebook for good health and step aside and allow His special power to be what changes your life.

Have a terrific day!

Weekly Health Scripture:Belief Brings Peace and Good Health – 1st Timothy 2:4-6

The real power in one’s faith rests upon their beliefs. God designed us to believe in Him, the one true God, and in His son Jesus as our Savior. Our body, soul and spirit can only work together seamlessly when we believe this to be true in the core of our being. If we have any unbelief in this truth, then we are susceptible to emotions that will contribute to diseases in the long haul. Unbelief will open the door to doubt and anxiety. This is a form of fear… and fear is not of God. Fear is the opposite of peace. God wants us to experience peace and we can have this deep, genuine peace when we believe the truths of the Bible and when our behaviors are in alignment to the principles found there.

In this week’s verse, Paul instructs us “there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” This is at the core of the Christian faith. If we doubt this at all, we cannot enjoy the freedom that God wants for us to have… the type of freedom, and associated inner peace, that Jesus tells us about when He says in John 8:32, “the truth will set you free.”

If you have any doubt that Jesus died for your sins and that belief in Him is the only way to enter God’s kingdom eternally, then you will not experience the deep peace that He wants you to have. Your mind will entertain thoughts that are contrary to God’s Word. The anxiety that you experience will release unhealthy chemicals into your body. Over the long term, your emotional and physical health will likely be affected.

If you have any doubt about Jesus being the only way to the one God I urge you to seek the help of a pastor or to turn to God’s Word and to meditate on what you read. As deeply and humbly as possible, cry out to God to help you come to absolute belief in the fact that He alone sent His son Jesus to die for you. He does love you so much that He wants you to enjoy eternal life with Him and a full and healthy life while you are on this earth.

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Many of us remember the US Hockey team’s victory over the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics. Here is a 21 second video of how the game ended along with the voice of announcer Jim McKay as he screams the question “Do you believe in miracles?” Today I received an email with a story reported in the news in Palm Beach, Florida on February 1st about a team of physicians and nurses that witnessed a miracle. A man was raised from the dead in an emergency room by a doctor’s prayer of faith. Enjoy the video posted here to the right that describes this miracle!!

Is your faith so deep that you believe miracles happen today? Have you experienced one?