Trust in God = Faith and Health Connection

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The Spiritual Exercise of Have Faith and Trust in God

Published by Dale on July 22, 2008 in Spiritual Exercises and Trust in God. 0 Comments

This morning I had the good fortune to see two Carolina Wrens make their first flight. Janice, my girlfriend, and I have also had the good fortune of seeing the first flights of eastern bluebirds and chickadees over the last year. It’s a cool thing to witness! I had been observing these wrens poke their heads out of the bluebird box in my back yard over the last few days . As I write his, two fledglings remain in the nest, slowly getting up the nerve to make their inaugural flight.

I imagine the wrens must have had a lot of trust that their wings would carry them to a nearby tree as they launched out of the nest. Trust. It’s an important thing. That’s why I have identified Have Faith and Trust in God as a Spiritual Exercise. Imagine if you lived without the ability to trust. Life would be pretty nerve racking. The opposite of trust is worry and God tells us not to worry. In Matthew 6:25-33, Jesus teaches that His Father will provide food for the birds. Those baby wrens will have all the food they need. He also says that since we are so much more valuable than birds, that God will provide for all our needs. As I wrote in yesterday’s post, worrying over a period of time will likely have negative consequences on our health. I think that is one reason why Jesus told us not to worry. He knew not only that it has health consequences, but that worrying also steals our joy and peace.

God knows all your needs and He’ll give you all you need if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. (verse 33) Stay connected to Him. Pray to Him. Keep your thoughts on Him. As God will meet the needs of those little wrens that flew off this morning, He will certainly meet your needs because He loves you so much.

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

Published by Dale on March 14, 2008 in Faith and Health, Spirit Mind Body Health, Trust in God and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

Bible Reading 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.

Broken Chains 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!

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

Published by Dale on March 7, 2008 in Faith and Health, Spirit Mind Body Health, Trust in God and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

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. Jesus=Peace 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.

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Do You Believe in Miracles?

Published by Dale on March 6, 2008 in Faith and Health, Healing and Trust in God. 0 Comments

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?

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Why We Celebrate

Published by Dale on December 24, 2007 in Bible, God and Trust in God. 0 Comments

Writing a short note here before the 25th only seems appropriate. I hope that each of you who might read this will take a few seconds and reflect quietly on why this time of the year can be such a special time.

If you have a personal relationship with God, through His son Jesus, then you have a peace deep in your heart. It’s the kind of peace that warms you and gives you a sense of wellbeing like nothing else can. I’m so thankful that God used Mary and Joseph to bring our Lord into the world over 2000 years ago. And I am also very thankful that God put it on my heart to reach out to Him many years ago so that I can live a life that includes knowing Him in a personal way.

If you do not have this peace deep in your heart and would like to experience it, I invite you to contact me so that I might share with you what this very special relationship is all about. It’s this solid relationship with Jesus that gives me assurance that I will be in heaven one day. This relationship is also what allows me to connect with Him in my heart day-to-day so that I can be even more about the kind of man I want to be… with His help.

To Christ be the Glory! “Merry Christmas!”

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Weekly Faith and Health Scripture: Romans 15:13 - Hope and Your Health

Published by Dale on December 15, 2007 in Faith and Health, God, Trust in God and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

Our beliefs and attitudes are a key component in determining our health. In this regard, hope plays an important role. A person’s faith, grounded in principles they believe to be true according to scripture, can be a source of hope.

When we set out to make a change in our lifestyle it’s important to have a certain degree of belief that we can make the change. This is called self efficacy. Many ingredients contribute to us having a high degree of self efficacy. Let’s say a man wants to lose 30 pounds. To be successful, he would have to believe he could eat healthier. He would need to know he could prepare meals differently. He would also have to believe that he could increase his level of physical activity. It would be important that he believe that when obstacles were to get in his way that he could overcome these obstacles. The more he felt that he could be successful in engaging in these various behaviors, the more likely he would be successful in his attempts to lose weight.

One additional important component for success would be the level of inner strength that he has. When things get tough how “tough” would he be? This is where faith can play a significant role. Our faith can be a foundation upon which we stand in difficult times. It can be a huge resource for us.

In this week’s scripture Paul writes “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” He points out that God should be the source of our hope and that a Christian receives power to have this hope by the Holy Spirit. We can chose to believe that God’s Holy Spirit will empower us to make the changes we are trying to make. This ought to gives us an additional degree of hope.

This hope can help us to be more optimistic that we will be able to do what we are trying to do. In the case of the man who is trying to lose the 30 pounds, this hope in God and in His Spirit to provide him with additional power should better enable him to make all the lifestyle changes he’s trying to make.

Sarah Young writes in her devotional booklet, Jesus Calling, “This hope keeps you spiritually alive during dark times of adversity; it brightens your path and heightens your awareness of My(Jesus) Presence.” In his book God, Faith and Health, Jeff Levin suggests “Those who take these messages (in holy scriptures) to heart may have an increased resistance to disease, decreased risk of depression and emotional distress, and hastened recovery from illness. This is because faith leads to hope, and hope has physiological consequences.”

I believe that hope does have a positive impact on our health. As a Christian knows God better and better, he can have a higher degree of hope and optimism in living life in a way that will help him to be healthier.

I would offer to the person who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus that believing in Him and placing your trust in Him to guide you and to empower you in living life will impact you in many, many ways and among them would be your ability to make lifestyle changes that could improve your health.

In whom do you have hope?

Go have a great day!

Dale

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Weekly Faith and Health Scripture: Ephesians 3:16-21 & Spiritual Empowerment for Healthy Living

Published by Dale on December 6, 2007 in Faith and Health, God, Spirit Mind Body Health, Spiritual Exercises, Trust in God and Weekly Faith and Health Scripture. 0 Comments

We all need a certain capability to behave in ways that promote good health. The question is, do we do it in our own strength or do we tap into the strength from the almighty God? Bible Reading

In today’s verses, the author Paul provides a prayer for us to understand and receive special empowerment and strength from God. I suspect so many of us do not appropriate anyway near the power that God wants us to have to live life as He wants us to. At least I know I fall way short in this area… but I am learning.

A Believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit living inside of him. Verse 16 indicates that the Holy Spirit gives us inner strength. Do you believe this? Do you really appreciate how much the Holy Spirit empowers you? That’s key… that you believe this and claim this truth. It’s important that you tuck this truth deep in your spirit. I believe that it is our belief and faith that ignites this special power.

In verse 17 Paul prays that our roots will go deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. In college, a cross country coach once told me that “An oak tree can’t grow in a greenhouse.” The winters in New York can be harsh. It would be easier for us to train inside on the indoor track, but the coach wanted us to run outside… to gain a certain mental toughness while running in the elements. This toughness would enable us to perform better in the races. As in running a cross country race to win, we can run the race of life more effectively if we are filled with more power from God. This power comes from knowing Him and in spending time with Him in prayer and in believing just what Paul tells us in Ephesians. God wants to permeate us with His love and this can happen if we open our hearts and spirit to Him and His love. (This is about the Spiritual Exercise of Believing in and Receiving God’s Love). The Bible tells us that when we do this, God can accomplish infinitely more in our lives than we can ever imagine!

So many of us want to make behavior changes in our life so we can be more healthy. We can only bring about so much change in our own strength. “Infinitely more” change can come about if we tap into the wondrous power that comes from God’s love and His Holy Spirit. And when you’re able to make these greater changes in your life, don’t forget to give God the glory!

He is a great God!

Until next week…. be blessed!

Dale

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