God's Prescription for Good Health - Thursday

If I had a pill that could promise to add years to your life, you'd probably pay a lot of money for it. But what if I told you, as a Christian, you already have the key to a long life and it's free?

God has given all of the principles for health management in his Word, the Bible. The Bible is the owner's manual for your body. As David says, "You made my body, Lord; now give me sense to heed your laws." (Psalm 119:73 LB) And in Deuteronomy, it says, "These instructions are not mere words - they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land ." (Deuteronomy 32:47 NLT) God says, "If you do what I tell you to do with your health, you will enjoy a long life."

What are the commands we should keep in our hearts? "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. 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. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing ." (Proverbs 3:5-10 NIV)

These verses highlight some factors that you probably don't think about, but they will keep you healthy: tranquility, trust in God, integrity, humility, and generosity. These things will cause your health to be better because your physical health is influenced by your spiritual health.

EISHHHHHHHHHH T_T I just recommitted myself to my old intense workout routine in response to the the last two devos AND NOW THIS. rage. Alright well, baby steps I guess. I think its more important to be spiritually healthy than physically healthy because physical health can come as a result of spiritual health. However, I absolutely refuse to give up my physical health regimen now, after I've come so far (its been two days... LOL) That means that I'm going to have to do both which will be pretty challenging. Its an interesting concept to me that spiritual health will promote better physical health, but in retrospect I can see this is true. At the time in my life when I was most spiritually healthy and in tune with God was the time when I found myself able to drag my butt off my bed and into the college gym every single day. As soon as my spiritual health started to drop, my physical health did too and now I've gained an impressive 7 pounds :3 oopsies. What I'm saying is that its definitely important to be both spiritually healthy and physically healthy because the two go hand in hand.

Wow, I'm sorry to bring this up but was it just me who thought of the Matrix's red and blue pill? xD

So, God has given us a body which is a temple for the Holy Spirit in us, and the bible. The bible is the "instruction manual" to life, and contains all the how-tos such as how to pray, what commandments to follow and what God has commanded us to do in order to become like Christ. This devotional is focusing more on spiritual growth instead of physical growth. The only way we can attain any growth spiritually, is follow God's Word, pray, believe, love and have faith that God's always there [tranquility, trust in God, integrity, humility, and generosity].

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

TEEHEE

It shouldn't be the focus of worshiping and following God, but doing so brings us many blessings. What I mean is that we should not follow God and listen to His will for self-gain, rather we should praise and worship God out of sheer joy and love for Him. That saying, following Him does have benefits to ourselves not limited to spiritual health, but physical health as well as a result of increased spiritual health. Not only that, but God brings many other blessings to those that choose to follow Him and His will. I really like one verse from the devo in particular: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. 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. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing". When we devote our lives to God, he guides our lives and brings us blessings, happiness, and a deep satisfaction that can be found nowhere else.

I find this very important. As it says in Proverbs: "lean not on your own understanding".
God knows what will lead you towards the right path, we just need to trust him more than ourselves. The human race leads to corruption but God has opened a door for us.
So how do you want to live your life? Everything is tied in with your spirituality. So make sure you put care into growing your spirit right.
A long, good and happy life starts with the right decisions.

~Audrey~

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. 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. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing." (Proverbs 3:5-10 NIV)
I feel that this popular verse is very powerful and has a very deep meaning behind it. As we all know, we should ALWAYS trust God 100% with everything, and not try to figure things out on our own. As long as you follow him and love him whole-heartedly, he will ultimately lead you to the right path. The path to eternity in heaven.
The Bible is a blessing and a gift that God has graciously given to us, yet we fail to recognize its importance. We have the Bible in order to learn more about God, yet we don't take advantage of it. Like I know I am a victim of this as well as you guys, but how many of us know the Bible front to back inside and out? This kind of relates back to having that urge and wonderment in us to want to learn more about God, and like Pastor Sam said in his devo, how bad do we want it? If we have that mentality in us, as well as remembering the end goal of why we want to learn more about God, this should make it very easy for us to do so. But while we praise, worship, and hunger to learn more about God, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. All for His glory and His will and to honor Him, not for our personal benefit.
             

Pa Ta Rick wrote:These things will cause your health to be better because your physical health is influenced by your spiritual health.

^ It's hardly ever the other way around.
I think this concept is pretty prevalent in the Bible as well:
When we are constantly plagued by things that spiritually destroy us, although we may not realize it, it's hurting us physically as well. For example, being jealous, being sad, being angry, being frustrated, etc. all these things can affect us from the inside out. If we're always in a state where we are feeling horrible, it's going to obviously show in our physical health.
I think that if one is spiritually healthy, it'll reflect in their physical health. If one is intact in their relationship with God, and understand God's Word, then it'll be shown through how they live their day to day life. For example, if someone understands that the bodies we have are a gift from God and we should glorify Him through our bodies, then they'll have an valuable intrinsic motivation to take care of themselves for God's glory. Also, even though when we eat right, exercise, and etc., it feels like it's all about us and all for us, we have to remember it's for God. Less of us, more of Him. When we acknowledge that this is completely for God, then we can probably see more significant changes in our lives, because we begin to constantly pursue to do things for Him.

Its an obvious to keep our physical health in top shape. But more importantly, we MUST keep our spiritual health in top shape. Its a normality for us to get frustrated, angry, sad, and whatever once in a while but if were always like that, you gotta find a way to stop feeling that way because its not healthy. Plus, if your spiritually healthy, it'll show it through your physical body. A great way to work out your spiritually health would be to do devos and quiet time and worshiping God.

This is clearly showing that we have to have faith in God. We shouldn't be depending on our own judgement to walk our paths. We need to depend on God to walk the correct path. People try to tempt us to what may seem to be helpful in our lives. But we should give our fullest attention to God, as he will give us all kinds of goods in return, which is far better than what others can give. If we trust in him in our full extent, he will grant us a healthier life to live.