Mar
18
2010
Over the past few days I’ve been reflecting on how I might simplify the message I’ve been writing and speaking about. My thought has been that the more concise I can articulate this message, the easier it will be to explain to others and for them to understand. With that in mind, I thought I’d share this condensed version with you.
An Inspiring Day
As I’ve pulled this together, all my senses have been engaged. I’ve been sipping on a few cups of great tasting coffee, listening to the trickling of the water in our small fountain, hearing the birds chirp, listening to a playlist of soft, instrumental Christian music on iTunes, feeling the warm spring air as it breezes through an open window, and seeing the bright sun shine on the trees and flowers in the back yard. It’s been quite an inspiring morning and early afternoon!
Understanding the Faith and Health Connection
This is, I believe, the essence of the faith and health connection:
Read more of this article »
Mar
05
2010
Spirituality and Health – A Working Model
This is a somewhat creative attempt to capture my ideas on many of the key aspects of the connection between one’s faith and their health. I used a mind mapping website to create this. It has limitations, but I’m pretty pleased with the connections it allows and the associated graphics.
Any feedback you’d like to provide would be appreciated.
What key components are missing?
Any links not made that should be?
Resources on the Spirituality and Health Link
Article – Understanding the Spirituality and Health Connection
Blog Posts – Spirituality and Health Tag
Feb
12
2010
The month of February is recognized as heart month. Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the 14th. During this time of year, many of us are thinking about how we can demonstrate love toward a person we care about or a family member. It can also be a time to reflect on how we are caring for our own heart. It’s something God would want us to do. He tells us so the Bible.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23
What does it mean to guard your heart and how do you do it?
We are told to exercise, eat well and manage our stress. These are all important measures to care for our physical heart as we are regularly reminded by members of the medical profession. What does our Creator tell us about caring for our heart? For that, we’ll need to look into the Bible, his guidebook for living life?
Guarding your heart means to forgive others who may have hurt you…. to let go of any anger, bitterness and resentment toward another that you may have and to release their hurtful behavior or words they may have spoken to you to God.
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13
It means being mindful of what you think about. Our minds and heart are intricately connected. What we think about affects our inner spirit and heart. The Bible tells us to think about things that are pure and right and heavenly. When we do this, it creates a healthy environment for the rest of the body. In almost magical ways, these good thoughts sink deep into our being and have an impact on our nervous system and endocrine system. The hormones that are released in our bodies when we think good thoughts are heart-healthy, as opposed to the harmful hormones that are released when we are thinking negative thoughts.
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8
Guarding our heart also means watching what we take into our minds. What we read and see over and over again will eventually make it’s way into our spiritual and emotional heart. Reading the Bible on a regular basis will help to get God’s truths into our inner being. This is healthy.
My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Proverbs 4:20-22
Decide to have a cheerful heart. By attending to your thoughts, forgiving others and daily reading the Bible and meditating on God’s truths, you can more easily have a cheerful mindset. This is health-promoting.
A cheerful heart is good medicine. Proverbs 17:22
I encourage you to be intentional in making these spiritual exercises part of your daily life. As they become habits, your heart will be healthier. God promises it.
Questions to Reflect On
Are you taking good care of your heart, especially your spiritual heart?
Could you benefit from incorporating one of these spiritual exercises into your life?
Resources for Guarding Your Heart
Article – Physical and Spiritual Care for Your Heart
Blog Posts Related to the Heart
Web Page – How God Designed Us: Spirit, Soul and Body
Jan
15
2010
Applications for smart phones are all the rage. It’s amazing the number of new applications that continue to be created for phones like the iPhone. According to a recent advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, there are ‘over 100,000 applications for just about anything.’
Smart Phone Applications
Over the Christmas holiday, both of my young adult sons visited me and I enjoyed getting up to speed on how they were using the various applications on their phones. I suggested to my older son that he search and see if a dictation application was available for his iPhone and sure enough he found Dragon Dictation which is made by the same company of the software I occasionally use to capture my thoughts and blog posts and articles such as I am doing now. He has since found the use of that application very practical and convenient.
The advertisement in the Wall Street Journal that I’ve seen on a few occasions reads — “New year. New resolutions. New apps.” As I thought about this advertisement I tried to think of a parallel comparison that I could make for a blog entry. What quickly came to my mind was the fact that God has given us a guidebook with literally hundreds of thousands of principles that he would want us to apply to our lives, in the form of “applications.” With that in mind I thought this might be a helpful reminder for you to consider what biblical ‘applications’ you might want to re-address during this new year.
Over the course of the last several months I have frequently referred to a poster presentation that I made last June at the annual meeting of the Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University. For that presentation, I identified 41 Christian principles that I believe are health promoting. I thought it might be helpful to again refer to that document and encourage each of you to review those principles and see if you might identify some aspects of your faith that you might benefit from addressing in a more intentional way.
Biblical Principles
Just as the various applications on your mobile phone might assist you in aspects of your day-to-day life, many very important principles of the Christian faith have been provided us by God so that we might be able to live a full and rewarding life. Consider these few examples:
- Believe the Bible is truth.
- Receive God’s love.
- Believe in God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
- Believe the Holy Spirit lives in you and empowers you.
- Remain connected to Jesus.
- Spend time in God’s presence.
- Do not worry or be anxious.
- Forgive.
- Renew your mind with God’s truths.
- Humble yourself before God.
The listing above is just a partial list of many key principles that God has provided us in the Bible to direct us in how we’re to live our lives.
It’s a new year. I suspect many of you now are a little more serious and have a deeper resolve to live life in alignment with values they are very important to you. As many of you may have recently downloaded new applications for your mobile phones, I encourage you also to spend a little more time reading God’s guidebook for living, the Bible, so that your resolve to apply his many principles for living a more abundant life in 2010 might be strengthened.
Questions to Consider:
What faith-related principles do you resolve to continue to practice in your day-to-day living?
Are there any biblical principles that you’ve not attended to over the last few years that you want to incorporate into your life?
Related Scriptures:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24
Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. Psalm 26:2
Related Resources:
Article – His Instruction Manual: Our Guidebook for Living
Poster Presentation – The Spirituality – Health Connection: Why It Exists addressing 41 health-promoting principles of the Christian faith and 194 scripture references.
Dec
09
2009
Lately, I have found that I’m frequently using the word wholeness, and since the byline of this ministry is “teaching spiritual truths for health and wholeness,” I thought it would be a good idea to explore what wholeness means.
Wholeness
Used as an adjective, the word whole comes from the Greek words of holos and holokleros meaning all, entire and complete. These two words come from the noun holokleria meaning completeness.
In the biblical context of health and wellness, wholeness might mean being well in spirit, mind and body. In Paul’s letter of encouragement to the Christians living in Thessalonica, he addresses an aspect of their wholeness when he prays for them:
“Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Spirit, Soul and Body
Paul refers to the three major aspects of man’s being – his spirit, soul and body. We are not beings of separate and distinctively different components, but a whole person. We are a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body. All of these aspects of man are inextricably interwoven. To be whole, to be complete, each aspect of a person must be well. When any aspect of our being is not well, the other aspects are adversely affected.
Medicine today focuses on the care for a person’s body. Physical health is important so that we can function and do the things God would want us to do with our body. Being physically active, eating well, getting enough sleep and being addiction free are some of the more important things we ought to do to care for our bodies.
It’s also important to care for our soul – to manage our emotions the best we can, to monitor our thinking patterns and to make healthy choices. Our soul-life is impacted by our spirit and the ‘gateway’ through which this primarily happens is in our mind. I think this is why Paul reminds us that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:2) Our mindset and our thinking patterns can truly and radically transform us. For the good or for the worse. For life or for death. The only way we can understand the key truths of life is to be exposed to what God’s guidelines for living are as found in the Bible. The Bible holds the keys to being whole and living well. We must not only understand God’s principles, we must live them to be whole.
Finally, since we are first and foremost a spirit, our spirit must be well because this aspect of us is our core. When God breathed into Adam the breath of life, he became a living being. (Genesis 2:7) It is the spirit of man that gives him real life. We live out this life and interact with the physical realm with the five senses of our body. And it is deep in our soul that our emotions and our minds impact our our choices and subsequent physical behavior.
We are sinful by nature. We inherit a spirit of death and this sinful nature as it is passed down by Adam’s original sin. (1 Corinthians 15:22) Before salvation, our ingrained habits and lifestyle choices give us certain natural tendencies. Our life experiences contribute to our personalities. After salvation and we are born again spiritually, our challenge is to allow the Spirit of God to transform us into being the kind of person he calls us to be. We must consciously choose to have an attitude of submission to God and a dependence on him to become whole, starting with our spirit.
Being Transformed and Becoming Whole
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God’s Spirit, his Holy Spirit, begins to live inside us. As we willfully allow, our spirit is affected by the Holy Spirit. Our spirit begins to take on the attributes of the Holy Spirit. This new nature will begin to affect our soul. Our entire mindset about God, our self, others and life can be transformed. Our thought patterns can become different. In turn, we can radically change many of our emotions and how we react to life circumstances. As we are guided by God’s principles as found in the Holy Bible, our resulting choices and behaviors will become more and more in line with how God wants us to live. This is how we become sanctified and holy. This is how we become a complete or whole person in spirit, soul and body.
So often, we try to make major changes in our life on our own strength. We leave God out of the picture. You can not achieve a good degree of wholeness in your own strength and abilities. The type of transformation that brings a sense of wholeness can only be done by the one who created you – by God himself. If we are to be whole, we must invite God into the deepest part of who we are – into our spirit and into our soul – so that from the inside out, we can be transformed into the type of person God wants us to be.
Our spirit, soul and body are constantly interacting together, as a whole, as a complete person. That’s the way God designed us. And Paul, inspired by God’s Spirit, shares the secret to being whole. It’s God himself who can change us through and through, in our entire being, if we desire this and ask him to. Paul tells us that “the one who calls us is faithful to do this.”
Questions to Reflect On:
To what degree are you whole in spirit, soul and body?
What behavior changes might you be attempting to make in your life? Are you trying to change from the outside in, or from the inside out?
Are you asking God to make a transformation first in your spirit, by the power of his Spirit?
Resources on Wholeness
Web Page – How God Designed Us – A Three-Part Whole
Article – God Wants You Whole
Wellness Coaching - Faith-based one-on-one coaching to assist with behavior changes
Dec
01
2009
What the Research Says
Osteoporosis is the most widespread degenerative disease in the developed world, afflicting 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over 50.
Despite the accumulating evidence for a connection between depression and decreased bone density, official authorities, such as the US National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization, have not yet acknowledged depression as a risk factor for osteoporosis, due to the lack of studies in large samples.
A study of several research efforts including thousands of people by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers has shown a clear connection between depression and a loss of bone mass, leading to osteoporosis and fractures. The results, say the researchers, show clearly that depressed individuals have a substantially lower bone density than non-depressed people and that depression is associated with a markedly elevated activity of cells that breakdown bone (osteoclasts).
What the Bible Says
God inspired writers of the Bible to share his truth and principles about the connection between our emotional and spiritual health and our physical health. Take a look at the following verses related to this topic:
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22
“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones .“ Proverbs 14:30
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” Proverbs 3:7-8
“My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.” Psalm 31:10
What You Can Do
Seek to have a cheerful heart.
If you’re carrying bitterness towards someone, forgive them.
Have a reverential fear of God and his principles, and turn away from evil and sin.
If you’re jealous towards someone, ask God to take that nature away from you. Be content with what you have and trust God to provide for your most basic and deepest needs.
If you are a believer in Christ, turn to God in a more dependant and surrendered way and allow his Spirit to have more influence and control of your thought life and attitude. Ask him to change you… to transform you from the inside out. (Romans 12:2)
As we walk with God in a personal way, following his commandments and principles out of love, we are able to become more and more like his Son, Jesus. This transformation brings us greater inner peace, gentleness and joy. This often goes hand in hand with good physical health.
God seems to make it pretty clear in the Bible – the guidebook he has given us to live by. Perhaps this is the best explanation concerning the link between depression and bone health.
Questions to Reflect On
What has your experience been regarding depression and bone health? Can you personally see a link between the scriptures listed above and your health?
Related Resources
Article – Forgiveness
Article – His Instruction Manual … Our Guidebook for Healthy Living
Article – Spirituality and Your Health – Understanding the Connection
God’s Promises – Scriptures related to depression from InTouch Ministries
Nov
23
2009
I’ve started reading a new book, Prescribing Faith – Medicine, Media, and Religion in American Culture by Claire Hoertz Badaracco. Today I read the chapter titled Belief and Wellness: Medical Pluralism and Healing.
This chapter is one of the most concise writings I have read that explains the mind-body connection from a medical or scientific perspective. Among other topics, Badaracco discusses the following in the context of health and healing:
- The stress and relaxation responses
- Prayer, meditation and contemplation
- Mindfulness
- Habits of thinking
- Negative emotions – the anxiety pandemic
- Allostatic load
- Memories and remembered wellness
- Suffering
- Neurogenesis
- The role of physicians and practitioners
- Personal transformation
- Media’s impact
As I read this chapter, I was not surprised to read that most all of the principles she mentioned about the findings of many researchers in this field of religion/spirituality and health are also principles that the writers of the Bible captured thousands of years ago. These principles or spiritual truths were provided to us by our Creator, God, and science is beginning to get a handle on them – to understand them from a medical perspective. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Our role as believers in Christ or as seekers of the truth, is to believe and understand the truth that is recorded in the Bible… and then to apply it to our life… in the way we behave and the way we think.
More and more it is clear to me that our purpose in life is to be in a right relationship with God – to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – and to love and serve others with the special gifts He has given us. (Mark 12:30-31) When we do this, God is glorified. This is our purpose for being on this earth.
As we practice the principles found in the Bible – as we obey God out of love (John 14:15,23), one of the outcomes, in general, is a high quality of life including good health. (John 10:10) This is how God designed things to work. Good health and well being should not be the motivator for practicing the Christian faith, but it’s often an outcome of putting into practice God’s principles that He’s provided us with in the Bible.
I’m looking forward to reading more of Badaracco’s book and to understand the impact that media, and in fact my writings, might have on people’s understanding and impression about the religion/spirituality-health link.
More Resources on the Spirituality/Religion-Health Link
Article - Spirituality and Your Health – Understanding the Connection
Article – Think Spiritual Thoughts/Renew Your Mind
Article – His Instruction Manual … Our Guidebook for Healthy Living
Poster Presentation – The Spirituality-Health Connection: Why It Exists A Christian perspective on this link supported by 194 scripture passages and 41 key principles.
Web Page – How God Designed Us
Web Page – Stress, Your Health and Faith
Oct
30
2009
How can we live life well, the way God intended us to, without knowing His guidelines? We can’t!
It’s so very clear to me that God did inspire the authors of the Holy Bible to write what they did so that we can know the one true God and how he wants us to live our life. See 2 Timothy 3:16.
When I learned of the initiative below, it seemed like a no-brainer to share it with the readers of this blog. Hope that one or two of you might be the recipients of a Bible so you can have the opportunity to know His truth, if you don’t already.
Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.
Sep
16
2009
When I learn of information that I think will help others, I’m likely to pass it along more quickly than more slowly. This is one of those times.
About 5 years ago I read a book by Dr. Kara Davis, a practicing internal medicine physician, on the secrets to losing weight. It was based upon the application of the different “fruits of the spirit” addressed in Galatians 5:22-23.
Her new book is Spiritual Secrets to Weight Loss. A 50-Day Renewal of Body, Mind and Spirit. It combines spiritual truths of the Bible with practical yet medically sound advise on eating and physical activity.
I’ve read the introduction and the first of the 50 four-page chapters and scanned over the remainder of the book. One thing is clear - Davis’ heart is that people know the loving God of the Bible and that they be in good health. This book would be great to read read as a devotional over a 50 day period and I suspect could be a life-changing experience for some of you.
“For He (God) has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He (God) has filled with what is good.” Psalm 107:9
Questions to Reflect On:
Are struggling with your weight and ready to grow more deeply in your relationship with God and yourself? If so, I strongly recommend you read this book.
Do you know of a friend or family member who is challenged by their weight? Consider sharing this post and book with them.
Resources for Weight Management and Weight Loss
Article – Spiritual Exercises to Help You Know God Better and Manage Your Weight
Article – Overweight? Find Freedom From Overeating
Scripture Listing – Scriptures for Weight Loss and Weight Management
Sep
09
2009
A speaker in the door panel of my car has been blown and I’ve wanted to replace it so the quality of the stereo would be better. Having been successful in changing out a rear sub-woofer speaker in between the back seat and the trunk of this car, I was optimistic that I’d be successful in getting to this one.
I had researched on the internet and found a site where I could download the instructions – for a $4.99 fee. However, always liking a challenge, I decided I would give it a go and see if I could solve this on my own. I’d download the file if I really needed to.
I found the 5 screws holding the panel to the door frame and took them out. I then gently pried with a screwdriver around the outside of the panel, hoping that it would just “pop” out. It would not pop off. It was clear that the small area around the electric buttons controlling the door and windows was connected in some way to the door… and I was not able to determine how to loosen that spot. The last thing I wanted to do was to damage the panel and break something.
I was at a decision point. Do I continue to pry and poke around in an attempt to force the panel off or do I pay a small fee to receive what I hoped would be detailed, step-by-step instructions. I made a decision to do the later. Sure enough the instructions included a technique to pry down on a certain spot around the inner door handle which released the last area that was keeping the panel from coming off. With this information in hand, the panel was off in 30 seconds. With the panel off I was able to access the speaker that was blown. It was a breeze. Now my challenge will be to find a replacement speaker… actually it’s the small tweeter.
Wellness in the Bible
Where’s all this headed? It was a reminder for me of the importance of having the right instructions for my specific challenge. In this case, it was the need to learn of a technique I had not used before to repair an aspect of my car. I suspect most all of you own a car… and many of you own a house. There are typically the two most valuable items that a person owns. But there’s something that each of us has that is even more valuable than these two items and that’s our body. A gift from God, our body enables us to function and relate to our world in a physical way. When we purchase a new car, it includes a detailed set of instructions or guidelines on how to maintain it. There are also detailed instructions available on how to repair it or how to replace broken components, as in the case with my broken speaker.
God has given us guidelines on how to care for all aspects of our self – body, soul and spirit. The Holy Bible includes his complete set of instructions on how to live a rich and rewarding life. God has made his truths available for us so we can be equipped to do what he intended us to do on this earth. See 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
The more I read and study the Bible, the more I am appreciative how much wisdom I can learn from it. It is chock full of instructions on how to live life and with information to help us understand God.
If you want to be reminded of the value of reading and living by God’s principles, read Psalm 119: 1-176. Over and over the author tells us of the benefits of obeying God and aligning our life with his instructions.
Can you relate to my need for obtaining a set of detailed instructions to replace a speaker from my car? If so, I hope you can relate to reading God’s instructions to caring for your body and for living life.
A Few Questions to Consider:
Are you regularly reading the Bible to understand how God intends for you to live life?
When you find yourself in a life situation and needing guidance on making a decision, where or to whom do you tend to turn to for wisdom?
Some Helpful Resources:
Article – His Instruction Manual – Our Guidebook for Healthy Living
Web Page – How God Designed Us – Spirit, Soul and Body
Web Page & Booklet – “Spiritual Exercises for a Healtheir Life”
