Jan
02
2012
It’s a new year. The key here is that it is a ‘new’ year, not an ‘old’ year.
Looking back at the old has it’s purpose …. as long as we don’t stay there. Looking back is helpful to understand, but not helpful if we dwell on past events and circumstances and relationships.
Paul reminds us that we are new creations in Christ. He tells us that the old has passed and the new has come.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
He also tells us that we are to put off the old and put on the new.
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24
New health habits can be adopted by looking ahead and asking Christ to renew you by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. Remember, if you are a believer, the same power that rose Christ from the dead is available to you because God’s Spirit is in you. John 14:17 The more you surrender to him and depend on him – the more you put on Christ – the more his power is able to help you make changes in your life.
As you head into 2012, take Paul’s instruction to heart. It’s a new year. Think new, not old. Put on Christ, not your old self. Look ahead and don’t dwell on the past.
Happy New Year!
Dec
23
2011
Christmas is a time of the year that we celebrate the birth of God’s Son, Jesus, who came to point the way to his Father and to offer salvation for our souls. Jesus came that you might know his Father and have life to its fullest.
“My purpose is to give life in all it’s fullest.” John 10:10
As we mature in our faith we realize that our ‘full life’ is not for us alone, but its purpose is to glorify God and to spread his love to others, through us. That’s where our health comes into play. The more healthy we are emotionally and physically the better able we are to love and serve others. And our spiritual health impacts on other aspects of our health.
As you near Christmas Day, let the love of God and his Son sink deep into your heart. Deep in your will, decide to let go of anything that is not love…. and replace it with the love of Jesus.
That’s why Jesus was born. That’s Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you!
Dec
10
2011
Are you worried? Anxious about something…. or your life? Research shows that chronic anxiety or worry can contribute to health problems.
You might well be aware of the verse in the Bible where Jesus teaches his disciples not to worry because God will provide.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.“ Matthew 6:25-34
When you read this scripture what do you take from it? Specifically, why should you be able to not worry? Finish this sentence – “I don’t have to worry because….”
This passage in Matthew was the focus of a recent Bible study I attend. What came to me clearly was the significance of what Jesus says at the end of verse 26. He asks his followers, “Are you not much more valuable than they(the birds)?”
To God, you are so very, very valuable. This is huge! Do you really believe and know how much God loves you and how valuable you are to him? Jesus wants us to know this deep in our hearts? If we can let this sink in….. and we can remember and truly believe how much God loves us, we won’t need to worry. We’ll be able to trust that God will provide.
How much does god love you? Here’s what the Bible tells us – “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 That’s just what God’s Son did for you. He gave his life for you. So, may you have the power and ability to understand how wide and long and high and deep the love of God is for you. Ephesians 3:18 And in this, may you not worry but trust, have faith…. and be in good health.
Helpful Resources
Other Posts About God’s Love
Nov
18
2011
The condition of your spiritual heart will have a major influence on the condition of your body and your physical health. Proverbs 14:30 says “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Another Proverbs, 4:23, says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
If you are storing up the following conditions or emotions deep within you, then it’s likely that your behaviors and your body will be negatively impacted. Insecurity, low self worth, resentment, anxiety, hurt, fear, guilt, jealousy, unforgiveness may well lead a person to conditions such as mental illness, addictions, substance abuse, apathy, depression, overeating, perfectionism, crime, emptiness, low self worth and despair. These conditions are likely to result in poor physical health.
The Bible tells us that Jesus came so that we might have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10) As we live in relationship with Jesus, and choose to follow the key principles of the Christian faith, we can experience true life. Some of God’s key principles found in the Bible for living a life of wholeness are as follows: love God, surrender to God, forgiveness, loving and serving others, fellow-shipping with other believers, praising and worshiping God, renewing the mind, and living by the power of the Holy Spirit. As our lives are rooted in Jesus, and these principles are practiced, we are likely to experience a life that Jesus died for us to have. This full life is represented by various fruits such as hope, joy, self-control, kindness, gentleness, thankfulness, peace and patience. These are many of the outcomes that we are able to experience when our life is rooted in Christ. And, the medical research shows that these virtues, or character traits, are health-promoting.
So, staying close to Jesus and being rooted in him will enable us to experience a full life. It also favors improved health.
“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat were worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:5–8
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22–23
“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and prayed to the father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love this. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to fully understand. Then me you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:14–19
Questions to Reflect On:
Are you rooted in the love of Jesus?
Are important biblical principles part of your lifestyle?
Related Resources:
Spiritual Exercises for a Healthier Life
Articles about the connection between faith and health
Nov
11
2011
I have always been intrigued by data… and numbers. Today’s date, 11-11-11, is a perfect same-numbered palindrome and is unique as only on one day in every 100 years will the date include two digits for the day, month and year that are identical.
This happens one time in a given generation. Most people who are born tomorrow will not live to experience such a date. Today will probably be one of celebration for a number of children who will be turning 11 on 11.11.11.
And, do the math – 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12345678987654321. Pretty cool huh?
11-11-11 and Other Special Days
Unique and special days like 11-11-11 - birthdays, anniversaries, major holidays and graduation days - are worth writing about and celebrating. 11-11 is also Veterans Day. We celebrate it because major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. this is always a special day for me as I’m a veteran of 20 years of service in the Army.
If you are reading this, it’s wonderful that you are alive and can experience this unique day, along with the other special and unique days that you’ve celebrated in your life and that you may celebrate in the future. But, how many more days of celebration will you have here on earth?
Any one of us can be here today, and gone tomorrow – in the blink of an eye. Sooner or later death on this earth will happen to us all. And when it happens to you, where will your soul be afterwards? Will it forever be in Heaven with your Creator, God? Or, will your soul be forever in Hell. You have a choice regarding your eternal destiny. You have a choice whether or not to have a full life here on earth – the kind of life that the Son of God died for us all to have.
“Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.“ Isaiah 55:6-7
11-11-11 Is s Significant day
Yes, today is a significant day. You have a choice to seek and choose the Lord while you can, to live a full life on this earth and for all eternity in heaven, or to live an anguished life, separated from God, forever.
I hope you choose to live a full and eternal life with God.
Read how to receive salvation and have eternal life.
Oct
18
2011
What happens in the brain of a person when they speak in their personal prayer language, or in tongues? It seems as though the part of the brain that is highly activated when a person speaks normally takes a rest – a sort of sabbatical – to use a religious term. This would makes sense because the Bible tells us that if we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us, as in speaking in tongues, it’s really not us praying, but the Spirit of God in us.
“For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying. ”
1 Corinthians 14:14
An ABC news broadcast in July of 2008, Speaking in Tongues – The Science, explains this practice of the Christian faith in medical terms. In the study, Dr. Newberg’s team scanned the subject’s brains while they spoke in tongues, using their personal prayer language. Subsequently, the images showed that the frontal lobe of the brain was significantly less active than when the subjects prayed in their normal English language. Another study by Dr. Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania, published in 2006, showed similar results.
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.”
Psalm 139:14
These studies are yet another example of science validating aspects of the Christian faith. They serve as a reminder of how amazing God, our Creator, designed each of us.
Have an awesome day!
Resources Related to Speaking in Tongues
Speaking in Tongues Scripture Listing
Research Related to the Faith and Health Link
Other blog posts about the Research on Faith and Health.
Articles and presentations on the Spirituality, Religion and Health Research
Oct
05
2011
In week two of our Faith and Health Ambassador Beta training course, Dr. Kara Davis was the guest instructor. Dr. Davis presented information and answered questions about the impact that stress has on our physical, spiritual, and mental health and how it can influence our unhealthy behaviors. She helped the students better understand ‘the connection’ that exists between our physical and behavioral reactions to stressful situations and how the memories (and associated toxic emotions) of past stressful events can impact our health.
Dr. Davis reminded us that when Adam and Eve chose to sin in the Garden of Eden that sin, spiritual death and illness began to be passed along to all of mankind. Adam and Eve covered themselves and hid from God because their felt guilty of their sin and shameful. This includes you and me. Man’s and woman’s bodies began to have medical disorders, their minds began to have psychiatric disorders and their spirits began to have spiritual disorders. This still occurs to us today.
”At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the manand his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”” Genesis 3:7-10
This was followed by a discussion about what occurs to the body physiologically when toxic emotions and their related chemicals – associated with stressful events and memories – flood our body. Physical conditions such as colds and infections, hypertension and heart disease, chronic headaches and migraines, and muscular pains… the list goes on and on.
There was also a great discussion about the significance that our attitudes, belief systems and thinking patterns can influence how we react to potential stressors in our life. As an example, an attitude of cynicism and pessimism can wreck havoc on the body’s physical systems and organs. Conversely, an attitude of optimism, thankfulness and gratitude helps all our bodily systems line up with one another as God designed them to work.
One additional topic of discussion during last night’s session had to do with the negative environment that we all must contend with. First, Satan and his demonic forces are always at work in our lives. Second, we are bombarded with a worldly system that is very unlike God’s system and the way that He would want us to live. And thirdly, we have our flesh to contend with. Our selfish and old natures, that have yet to be transformed by the Spirit of God, are still at work in our lives.
Dr. Davis reminded us that only as we surrender and rely upon God and receive his truth and love in our mind and spirit can we truly be healthy. When we live by his Spirit, we can enjoy the fruit of his Spirit in our life, especially the fruit of peace and joy and love which are conducive to good health.
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23
Questions to Reflect On:
How are you managing the stressors that are present in your life? Are the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that influence your reaction to stressors based upon the Word of God and his principles?
Could some of the physical conditions and illnesses that may be present in your life be attributed to chronic stress and the toxic emotions and the related chemicals that have been released in your body?
Related Resources:
Visit the website of Dr. Kara Davis to read about her ministry.
Article – Manage Your Stress with God’s Help
Read how you can become a Faith and Health Ambassador for your community and church.
Sep
20
2011
Our reactions to the trials and stressors of our life are a key determinant of our emotional and physical health. It’s not the events or the relationship issues that have a detrimental impact on our health, it’s our interpretation and perception of them.
In most days of our lives, we find ourselves in situations that can impact us in either a negative or a positive way. First, the event or circumstance occurs. This is generally quickly followed by the emotions that we experience. Then, typically, we react with our behavior and what we say. Our reactions are most often automatic because we do this out of habit. Our reactions will have either a positive or a negative impact on our body based, based on the accompanying emotions we experience.
We have an opportunity to impact our emotions and corresponding reactions by the thoughts that we have right after the experience or the event. With practice, we can train ourselves to think positively as opposed to negatively. We can choose to ask the Holy Spirit to control our thoughts, emotions and our reactions. This is the type of wisdom that James speaks of in James 1:2-8.
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James 1:2-8
Awareness of your thoughts and reactions is key to changing how you respond to stressors and trials. If you make a choice deep in your will to become more aware of how you respond to events in your life, you’ll be able to make changes with the help of the Holy Spirit. Changed responses will help you to become more like Christ and therefore your light will shine brighter. Learning to respond differently can also impact your health. Instead of your system releasing unhealthy chemicals into your body because of the toxic emotions you experience, the healthy chemicals that are released with your positive emotions will promote health.
It’s all about perspective. I urge you to look at your trials and potential life stressors as opportunities for spiritual growth. If you can have this mindset, it will change your life. And, God will be glorified as you credit His Spirit for helping you make this change.
Questions to Reflect On
What is you level of awareness of your thoughts that immediately follow stressful occurrences? Are your negative emotions and the corresponding physical reactions in your body impacting negatively on your health?
Resources Related to Thoughts and Health
Wikipedia Article – The Biology of Stress and Health
Faith and Health Article – Are Your Thoughts Making You Unhealthy?
Faith and Health Article – Manage Your Stress With God’s Help
Aug
04
2011
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal – Antidepressant Use Rises – reports that the use of antidepressants is significantly on the rise. The article cites a study published in the journal of Health Affairs, authored by Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University.
Antidepressants were the second most widely prescribed class of medicine in the United States in 2010, after cholesterol-lowering statins, according to IMS health. “Over 10 percent of people over the age of 6 were receiving anti-depression medication. That strikes me as significant,” says Dr. Olfson. It appears that physicians may be prescribing antidepressants for more mild forms of mood and anxiety disorders, or for isolated psychiatric symptoms like sleep disturbance, nervousness or nonspecific pain, Doctor Olfson said.
In a similar vein, an article on the Psychology Today website reports that antidepressants are oversubscribed. Christopher Lane, Ph.D, indicates that in a reported study more than 70% of patients in the survey who were prescribed antidepressants presented no medical need for antidepressant treatment.
It sure seems that the trend is for people to turn to pills instead of God to relieve the results of the stress that they are experiencing in their lives associated with life events. On the one hand it sure seems like a simple and quick fix to go to your doctor’s office or to your counselor and ask for and receive a prescription for an antidepressant drug. Just pop one in your mouth every day and you’ll feel better. This is not God’s way of handling stress.
There are several scriptures in the Bible that remind us of God’s principles for how to handle the stressors that life brings us. Here are a few:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. Psalm 34:8–10
LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you. Psalm 84:12
The scriptures remind us to place our trust in God and to turn our anxieties and fears over Him. This is the way he designed us to live. Trust in God is just one of many spiritual exercises I’ve identified that are important for living an abundant and healthier life. It is certainly a more effective way to cope with the ups and downs life brings us than taking antidepressant medications.
Questions to Reflect On:
How are you handling the stressors of your life? Are you turning to pills or to God?
Resources Related to Stress and Trust:
Scripture Listings for Stress, Faith and Health
Webpage – Spiritual Exercises for a Healthier Life
Aug
01
2011
My wife recently gave me an iPad as a gift. (Thank you again Janice!) I’ve been using it pretty much every day and found that it’s been enjoyable to use and it also increase my productivity.
About two times each week I find that I need to sync the iPad with my Macbook Pro laptop so that my calendars, contacts and downloaded applications are in sync with each other. Being consistent with this process of syncing my iPhone with my laptop is pretty important or otherwise the right information will not be in both devices.
In the same vein, it’s important that we be in sync with God on a regular basis. Going to church one day a week will not keep us in sync. The best way to do this is by spending time with him daily and especially by reading the Bible. It’s the Bible that helps us understand who God is and what his Son has done for us. We get to know God best by reading about him and spending time reflecting or meditating on the scriptures.
One of the Spiritual Exercises that I have identified for living and abundant life is Abide in Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
When I abide in Jesus by reading his Word and by praying and meditating on the scripture found in his Word it helps me to stay in step with him… in sync with him, if you will.
When I am in sync with God, life goes better for me… and I imagine life goes better with you too.
Questions to Reflect and Comment On:
How do you stay in sync with God? How frequently do you engage in this behavior?
Related Resources:
Article – An Introduction to Spiritual Exercises
Blog Post – Walking with God, Running with Nikes
Blog Post – Spiritual Exercises and Physical Activity Principles
It’s a new year. The key here is that it is a ‘new’ year, not an ‘old’ year.
Let’s Connect!