7 Steps of Faith to Good Health

[After typing up this blog, I ran across a 25 min video that could change your life or the life of someone you love. Yes, read this blog, but if your time is limited, watch the video at the very bottom of this post.] (Photo via Unsplash)

Has thriving health eluded you? 

Looking for some practical tips to get started? As believers, we have opportunities every day to agree with God’s plans and participate with Him. Every believer is “a temple of the Holy Spirit,” and our physical health–not just our souls–matters to God. But are we healthy enough to keep up?

If the man without limbs, Nick Vujicic, can swim and surf, then we have zero excuses.

View Your Health Holistically

Your mind, emotions, and body are an inseparable package. Worship the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind & strength. Your strength, which is your physical body, is a gift. Do you control it, or does your body dictate your choices?

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be brought under the control of anything.” 1 Corinthians 6:12

A Holistic Defense Strategy:

There are so many fitness options out there. Personal coaches, nutritionists, online Zumba classes, etc. While you work through all that stuff, here is a list of things you can control right now. If you’re already doing any of these, then Bravo!

1) EYE DEFENSE. Limit watching the news, and spare your body trauma. Viewing or hearing anything negative and/or traumatizing places stress on your soul (mind, will, & emotions). What rules your thoughts will rule your mood, your reactions, & your food intake. What negatively affects your soul can manifest as physical sickness.

For your first & last meal of the day: either listen to worship music or read Scripture, or both. The Lord, who is the Word, is your only bulletproof buffer against all the darkness in the world. (If you’re no longer shocked by the news, then your heart is possibly desensitized to wickedness.)

2) PALATE DEFENSE. Whatever you put in your system first, your body spends the rest of the day on a marathon trying to get more of it. So let your morning break-fast be anything non-sugary. Try some plain nuts or seeds. How about oatmeal (not the sugar-based fake stuff)? If you eat fruit, fresh or dried, try to eat some protein beforehand. What about a slice of meat or an egg? (*See a helpful list at the bottom of this post.)

I start my day with a half-scoop of plant-based protein shake (water based): Love and Peas

(Photo via Unsplash)

3) HEART DEFENSE. Keep a clean conscience. Holding on to bitterness, unforgiveness, and grudges rot the soul. That rot eventually manifests as sickness or chronic pain. The cleaner your thought life, the cleaner your health. The world can be a painful place, and we need other people to help keep us on the right path. “Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be HEALED.”

I meet once a week with a small group of women to pray. When I share my secret hurts with them, my burdens lift and the enemy no longer has a hold on me. These women are a lifeline! Recommended reading: “Safe People” by Cloud and Townsend.

(Photo via Unsplash) 

4) FOOT DEFENSE. Walk. Every day. Outside or on a treadmill. Build up to one hour or 5 miles, which should be easier now that you’re no longer eating the daily news, right? And it’s a perfect time to double up. Invest in an iPod and listen to the Bible on audio or sermon podcasts.

For me, walking is prayer time. God whispers, reveals. It’s beautiful. Commit to walking daily for 30 days straight. It could change your life in more ways than one.

(Photo via Unsplash)

5) TONGUE DEFENSE. Manage your word diet. What you habitually speak proves what beliefs rule in your heart. Is your tongue aligned with God’s truth? For example: Do you say, “I am sick. I have such-and-such disease”? The I am eludes to your identity.  Whereas the Bible says, “God forgives all your iniquities, and heals all your diseases.” God heals all refers to His sovereignty.

Don’t deny your symptoms, but don’t take them on as part of your identity. Instead say, “Lord, I’m experiencing headaches, but I’m choosing to believe and trust that I’m healed by Your wounds.”

Jesus said, “Believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth.” This divine believe & confess strategy is applicable to all areas of life.

6) AUXILIARY DEFENSE. Supplement wisely, not haphazardly. Popping a daily multivitamin doesn’t fix anything, and it’s a waste of money. Those pills often go right through you without absorption. Do we need to supplement? I recommend it. Unless your doctor has prescribed otherwise, stick with the following:

Probiotics: check the label and make sure it lists at least a 14 billion count of beneficial bacteria like acidophilus and bifidobacterium… 

Blue-green algae, spirulina: One of the most nutrient-dense foods on the earth. Deep cleansing benefits.

Digestive Enzymes: Helps turn solid foods into liquid nutrients to be absorbed in the intestinal tract. Make digestion infinitely more efficient.

Quality fish oil or Flax seed oil: Brain health. Circulatory health. Hormone balance.

I prefer: Nature’s Sunshine.

(Photo via Pixabay)

7) SPIRITUAL DEFENSE. Have you ever thought, I don’t know where this shoulder ache came from, or, I have no reason to feel depressed. Let’s say you choose not to own any more sick feelings (see #5). Instead, treat a sudden ailment like a word from the Lord, and start praying for fellow believers who also experience this condition.

I often pray, “Lord, I give you this pain. Thanks for the prayer opportunity. I lift up everybody in my congregation who’s experiencing (fill in the blank), and I ask that You to please heal them…”

Won’t that give the devil a headache!

Courage and Bravery Required to Win

Face the truth. If you’re not desperate for good health, you won’t make the necessary changes. Doing what’s good for the body and mind involves going to war. Our culture opposes you. Fast food restaurants oppose you. Food advertisements oppose you. And a sugar addiction in the USA has reached epidemic levels.

But God… 

He is for you. And if He is for you, then your spiritual and food foes have no choice but to stop bothering you when you bring them before our Lord Jesus.

This is NOT a New Years resolution. Decide today.

Give yourself a new reason to celebrate Thanksgiving—good health!
Give yourself an early Christmas present—great health!
You’re worth it.

Live Brave. Live Wise. Live Healthy.

* A non-exhaustive list of foods that claim to be healthy but are not. Bottom line, sugar is a host for most major diseases, everything from diabetes to cancer….

• Nutrition bars. These are glorified candy bars, so treat them as such.
• Juice. Look at the sugar content. 8 oz of apple juice has 26 grams of sugar.
• Top selling cereals. Picture a 3/4 measuring cup full of Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Cheerios (top sellers). What you’re actually looking at: 10 packets of refined sugar.
• “Health” Pop Tarts, and stuff like it.
• Milk. 1 cup of 2% milk has 11 grams of sugar–that’s the same as 11 packets of sugar. But there’s much more to know about “Got milk?”:

INTERESTING MILK FACT: “Surprisingly, the calcium in kale is 30 percent more absorbable than calcium sourced from dairy products,” Hever says. Similarly, less than a third of the dairy you eat is actually bioavailable, (which is just a fancy word for absorbable). So your body definitely has a lot to gain from munching on kale chips as opposed to sipping on a glass of milk.

Investigative reporter, Sid Roth, interviews Surgical Oncologist.