Health Through Prayer – Book Review

Health Through Prayer is written by James Everly and published by Steady River Publishing. In the book, Everly uses each chapter to cover some very basic principles that are important for good health. The topics are as addressed on this list:

Chapter 1     Establishing a Practice of Praying for Your Health
Chapter 2     The First Step to Better Health
Chapter 3     Setting Goals
Chapter 4     The Importance of Exercise – Get Moving
Chapter 5     Don’t Go It Alone
Chapter 6     Practicing Moderation and Portion Control
Chapter 7     Standing Up Under Temptation
Chapter 8     The Importance of Sleep and Rest
Chapter 9     Nutrition
Chapter 10    Reducing Stress
Chapter 11    A More Serious Exercise Program
Chapter 12    Forgive Yourself for Mistakes
Chapter 13    Eating More Natural, Less Processed Food
Chapter 14    Making a Healthier Home
Chapter 15    Onward

At the end of each chapter there is a short exercise to do related to the principle and a recommended prayer. As an example, here is the prayer at the end of the chapter titled The Importance of Sleep and Rest.

Lord, I understand the importance of resting each week, and that sufficient sleep is essential to my overall health and to my specific goals of looking and feeling better. Please guide me in taking the necessary steps to make sure that I get more rest, so that I may meet those goals and so that I may better fulfill your vision for me.

The recommend principles are sound and based on advice one might expect to receive from a physician or health educator, even though the author acknowledges that he has no specific health or wellness-related training. If one has a sincere interest in improving his/her health, has a personal relationship with God, through Christ and is diligent in asking God for help by praying the recommended prayers that address each of the covered areas in the book, I’d imagine that he/she would find this book helpful.

The last comment I’d make is that I’d like to have seen the author place more emphasis on the importance of a relationship with God and about prayers having to do with the relationship. The more I grow in my faith and understand God and the Bible, the more I am appreciating that it’s all about the relationship we have with God, through his Son, Jesus. The more we can be in God’s presence, the more we can make it about loving God and worshiping him, the more we seek him, the more we ask God to help us die to our old sinful nature and invite Christ to live through us – the more likely we will experience fruit in our life that will favor being healthy and well.

I believe that it’s when we have that sort of prayerful attitude that we are likely to experience Health Through Prayer.