Continued from part 3

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)

When we feast on the unhealthy, we become unhealthy. As we’ve seen in the previous articles, we should do whatever we can to make healthier food choices and strive to keep our emotional and spiritual appetites balanced. However, when we fail to feast on Jesus Christ and all His provisions of heaven (“treasures in heaven,” Matthew 6:20), we do not thrive—we hunger. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus fills us. We must remember that taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit (our body, soul, and spirit) is necessary to be in complete obedience to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Balancing Act

Eating foods that are bad for you physically may not necessarily be sinful, but its effect on our physical health can have lasting consequences. For example, eating meat is not sinful, but indulging on it to the exclusion of other nourishing foods will have negative effects upon the body. Eating Snickers candy bars is not sinful, but there are consequences upon the body because it is not a nourishing food. Being a strict vegan can lead to nutritional undernourishment, and this is not healthy either. Balance is a good word here, but it is not always easy to find. We need good coaching to help us identify this balance and a willingness to exchange the unhealthy for the healthy.

Why is it so essential to find this balance? Various diseases, including heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, nutrition deficiencies, and degenerative disease, are caused by poor food choices. The same principle holds true for emotional and spiritual things that are not wholesome and nourishing. Wear and tear from poor choices in life can result in sickness of mind and spirit, which can include serious emotional diseases, depression, and anxiety.

God wants us to pursue peace and holy living (2 Timothy 2:22). This is the main remedy for all the things that may upset our body, mind, and spirit.

Continued from Part 2

Questions for Reflection

Where is my first entry point in the grocery store? Do I frequent the prepared food section, the chips section, the beverage section, or packaged food sections? On average how often do I cook for myself? Do I eat on the run or do I take time to enjoy my meal? Do I shove large chunks of food (not chewing your food) in my face not giving time to enjoy the food eaten? Do I at least sit down for a meal or are you standing while eating always in a rush?

Discovery: When it is not refrigerated, iced, watered and cared for as a perishable food it is dead food. Humans cannot live on potato chips, Stouffer’s lasagna, pizza, beer and microwave cuisine and stay healthy.

Microwaving (nuking your food) kills natural enzymes and nutrients in foods and if this is your mainstream diet you are heading for trouble. I am not saying that you have to toss your microwave. However, if you are using it all of the time you are in a serious rut and may have to toss it.

Oh, I often hear “I eat peanut butter and protein nutrition bars, they are healthy aren't they?” Not if you are engorging yourself with peanut butter and protein bars alone it’s not. If you are obsessive over any food to the exclusion of other foods you are cutting yourself short of nutrition and will suffer depletion of vital nutrients to keep your cells and systems healthy. If you deplete your body of these vital nutrients, oh by the way
pure water included, (at least 2 liters per day check out the link) you will become a shriveled prune and your chicken gizzards (those things that hang from your neck) will begin to form real early. I would advise nurturing foods and plenty of water to keep you from this petrified state.

Drinking 1 cup of coffee can set you to lose ½ cup of water. With every serving of alcohol you can deplete your body of 4 cups of water and can cause liver and nutrition impairment. Tobacco use causes unfavorable skin, hair, nails changes, lung disease and other health associated health risks.

Chewy but Creamy

If you do not chew your food appropriately you will experience an increased burden on digestion because the large chunks of food cannot be broken down in the stomach. If you are not chewing you are truly not enjoying your food. One of my professors of nutrition in medical school mentioned a hilarious way to slow down a fast eater. He said tie the forks together with the slowest eater in the house. The fast eater cannot take a bite of food until the slow eater takes a bite. A good old tug on the fork does it every time. Of course, the best teacher is when the digestion can no longer handle the poorly chewed food resulting in indigestion, reflux, cramping and other undesirable symptoms. Good chewing liquefies the food and produces a creamy consistency when swallowing as opposed to chunky hard to swallow blob.

Organic Foods or Not?

—Should I stick with organic foods? Absolutely! I believe that pesticide residues, herbicides, depleted soils, poor irrigated and nutrient deprived farming are contributing factors for so many existing cancers and chronic health breakdown. Keep feeding on live foods and your cell life increases exponentially. Here are helpful links on organic foods, Journal of Food Science study of organic foods and a Consumer Report on organic foods and better choices in selecting organic foods. I recommend you consider prioritizing your food types and that you stay with more alkalinizing foods. Simply, eat more of green leafy veggies and root foods (radish, carrot, turnips, etc), fresh fruits in variety and color, wild fish and organic low fat meats in this order. A good resource to consult is the Alkaline Way approach to eating. This is a good basic reference to get you started in understanding acid / alkaline forming foods.

Food to Chew On

—Enter in at the fruit, vegetable and live food section for this is the narrow way that leads to health and longevity. Wide is the aisle of potato chips, quick and greasy foods which leads to increased risk of free radical damage, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and cancer. Your choice!

Jesus gives us clear direction: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4 ESV)

Next…..Wrong Tree Wrong Food! Why do we need “bread” from heaven?

Continued from Part 1

What is Your Food?

The battle begins in choosing food. Do you believe this is the case? The entire fall was based upon a food choice. You bet there are certain foods that I like and that I feel I need! Don’t be fooled some foods can either truly nurture your wellbeing and others trap you. We are all subject to listening to infomercials regarding certain foods and no doubt we may think the advertisement stupid or funny regardless we just might find ourselves giving in and responding to the eye candy and consuming the food. Don’t buy it or give in. Educate yourself and carefully choose!

Good Foods / Bad Foods You Choose:

• Juicy steak, cheeseburger, fries (arterial disaster and surgeons friend)
• Bowel of broccoli (may not like this as well but good for you)
• Dark chocolate (really like this)
• Spicy foods and cultural foods (I like spicy foods can’t eat much anymore)
• Triple mocha double shot latte (Wow! How many can I have?)
• Lots of bread and pasta (you don’t have to be Italian to like this)
• Nice glass of wine (nothing like a good glass of wine!)
• Tobacco (can’t really see how this is essential to health)
• Pornography (bad food!!)
• Material goods (Lots of toys can get expensive and ruin relationships)
• A good read (a problem if you are illiterate learn to read it’s a must)
• Nature walks (doesn’t sound manly but is one of the best habits to form)
• Exercise (a necessary much neglected part of our physical diet)
• The Bible (feasting forever type of food)

In Genesis 2:9 God created every tree good for food. This simply means that the trees that bore seed bearing fruit were edible and to be used for complete nourishment. Both the “tree of life” and the tree of “knowledge of good and evil.” are mentioned in the O.T text. So what’s wrong with some of the above items? Some foods nurture, some medicate, some are fun foods, some are essential to living and some are flat out a worthless waste of time and energy. Some of these foods we eat, experience, and put into our daily living and others we may ignore, not really feel we need or maybe feel we can’t live without. Regardless both trees were created by God. However, only one tree was forbidden by God to use as food. Yes, even the tree of knowledge of good and evil is included in this perfect park. See the next blog “Wrong Tree Wrong Food.”

Physical Food—Let’s turn our focus now to foods that feed our physical body that are wholesome, nurturing and biblical.

Root Words for Food

Just to let you know the Hebrew word generally used in the O.T. text for food is maakal; food: — eaten, food, fruit, provision, something to eat. The Greek word generally used in the N.T. text is trophē; nourishment, food: — enough, food, meals, support. Stay with me…..

Live food and dead food are on the menu you decide

God created a paradise, a beautiful perfect park if you will, with great tasting fruit and green herbs that Adam and Eve had at their disposal to take and eat as food. Before the fall fruits, grains and vegetables were the main staple for nourishment of physical body. It was perfect food meeting every nurturing need of the body. There was no genetic engineering of this food. It grew naturally in a rich environment and it was alive!! Everything was organic!

Animal food came after the fall as there was no need for shedding the blood of animals for food. All foods before the fall were unadulterated because of the perfect conditions in which they grew and flourished. All foods after the fall were marred. After the fall the Earth lost its perfectness and the process of death and decay ensued.

Whole Food is Live Food
Genesis 1:28-30 says every plant yielding seed and every tree with seed in its fruit God gave for food for man and beasts. There was no flesh eating noted before the fall. It is proven by research that consuming foods rich in fiber, vegetable matter and fruit is healthier than consuming heavy amounts of meat products.

Discovery: Organically grown vegetables, herbs and grains are healthier and this is an established fact according to research. Individuals that consume more vegetable matter are eating more alkaline which is also proven to extend life and health and decrease degenerative disease. Organically raised and cared for meat and wild fish are excellent choices but the bulk of the diet should be vegetable and fruits. You will notice significant vibrant health when you make these changes.

Old wise saying,
Live food equals live person!
Dead food equals dead person!

Your Cells Depend Upon It!

Every human cell is dependent upon live nutrition. It is a medical fact that foods high in bad fats (Trans fats) will breakdown healthy cells and causes them to die at a high rate. Human cells that are malnourished (poor diet and nutrition) results in compromised cell function and premature aging. Certain foods promote this activity so ask yourself???

Feasting on good food forever sounds good to me.

Jesus is the forever feast and He commands us to feast on His Word. Everything that is consumed as food, whether soul food, spirit food or physical food is weighted with an eternal value and I am learning to think long and hard about the type of food I consume.

We are what we feast off of.

The Bible is rich in wisdom about the foods that are good for nurture. There are bad foods for our physical body and bad foods for the mind and spirit. The spirit and mind foods that are bad are really bad!!

Some may not think that pornography is a food but it definitely is a mind and spirit food. It is a deadly food! It is weighted in eternity as defiling, degrading and evil. There are foods that become our idols and are so habit forming that it seems we cannot live without them. They become an obsession and we are consumed by their harmful drawing lusts. The eternal feast is free from sin and lust with all of its severe consequences;

• pain,
• suffering
• sadness
• separation from God

Feasting on Jesus

The Jesus feast is pure nurturing food forever and it builds upon itself a pure perfectness in glory that cannot be matched with any food produced by humankind. Man truly ate the “bread of angels” and exchanged all for pleasures that perish. This is the biggest whoops permeating the hearts of people feeding on pleasures that perish! There is no middle ground with God on this as He hates every appearance of evil.

He wants us all to hate every appearance of evil fleeing the lures of evil as Joseph’s example of running from the adulterous seductions of Potiphar’s wife the high officer of the Egyptian Pharaoh (Genesis 39:7-23). I love the way this Scripture bears out that the Lord was with Joseph and made him to prosper. This being the highest blessing for not exchanging the eternal food of heaven for the age old deception of Satan pleasurable but deadly! We will discuss this in detail further on the next blog “Wrong Tree Wrong Food.”

This Life is Our School

God the Father has given us the opportunity to feast on His Son and with this comes the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is and should be our
comforter,
provider,
friend,
helper,
soul and spiritual food source while we have our physical existence.

This is our school during our sojourn on Earth. To avoid all the foods bringing perishable harm jeopardizing our eternal bliss with Christ. He wants us to learn to feast on the eternal foods while we live preparing us for the glorious feast to come. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit right along side us keeping us from the harmful foods. This gentle persistent Spirit of God speaking to our conscience and hearts telling us firmly don’t do that, stay away from this, this tree is bad for you….. Listen, He speaks to you… Thank you God for not giving up on us we need You, Help us to be the aroma of Christ.

The Forever Feast authored by a wonderful Christian physician, Paul Brand bears out that in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 the Apostle Paul says that … “We are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life.”

Resurgence Literature:

Re:Lit is a ministry of Resurgence. There you will find a growing line of books to help guide the resurgence of the new reformed. Find out more.

Introduction

As a physician working in medicine for fourteen years I believe I have seen, heard and witnessed secrets of the hearts of people. What a privilege that God counts me trustworthy enough to work in the most intimate spaces of a person’s life. What got me started on this journey is that I always wanted to work closely with people to offer them help for the pains of life they experienced. I know what it feels like to experience pain and I often wondered why it is necessary. My heart at times has been broken over the pain I have observed in a person’s life and in my own life. God often times melted me with a deep sense of compassion. I have laughed with people, cried with them, labored in prayer, stayed up nights interceding, pleading for His healing and asking Him to guide me in this delicate work of healing. I have learned much about my own pain by having the opportunity in working with the pain of others. He has given me divine guidance in knowing what to do and when to do it. He has led me to resources that I would have never known on my own that were crucial in creating the healing that God desires for His people. This work of healing, most amazing, is an act of love of our Father God. God is truly good! He is delicate and careful with the most fragile of all creation. He knows that we are dust and gives us the best of what He has. He did not use leftover or recycled material in creating us He has given us the most beautiful gift of all, life!

Subject Soup

I am excited about this journey of health and Christianity. If I was to sum in one word the central theme of this series I would say that “discovery” is the word that most fits. We are going to discover the wisdom of God as it pertains to our health and healing. This is such a vast subject that I’m sure it will keep us engaged for a long time. As health is a life journey. It is a practice that must saturate our life experience. It is an element that is vital to the Christian’s well-being. So we will journey together and learn the wisdom of God and experience His completeness in our healing. God heals us of our pains and sorrows. He is more than interested in us. He is involved in the intimate secret spaces. He works from the inside out and takes away the pain and sadness and replaces it with His healing Spirit. Let’s journey together!

Discovery Topics of health and healing for the Christian:

• Biblical concepts in health and healing, faith healing.
• Theological implications of New Testament healing.
• Miracles and miraculous healing.
• Fasting, rest and prayer as they relate to healing.
• Foundations in basic health and caring for the living temple of the Holy
• Spirit (body, mind and spirit).
• The meaning of complete wellness.
• Common health ailments and how to prevent disease.
• Effects of stress.
• Discovery of the human body and its amazing ability to heal.
• What is the meaning of sickness for the Christian?.
• Alternative medicine and Eastern religious practices what’s good and
• what’s not.

I’m sure that the list will grow as we move along and that our readers will request some topics as well. Get ready to be equipped and ready to serve God with your entire spirit, soul and body as this is the theme of “Health and
Christianity.”

The Temple and the Sanctity

Two very important biblical passages that pertain to our fragile existence come to mind and I would like you to remember and never forget them as they are a promise to you of God’s unfailing commitment in love to you.

The first is found in I Corinthians 6: 19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

The second is found in I Thessalonians 5:23-24 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

God purchased us with the price of blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, enables us to glorify Him with our entire body and spirit. No doubt, beauty is in the eye of the “beholder”. Our beholder is God. We may not think that we are beautiful. It may be that what we count as beauty is not beauty at all. There are some beautiful people in the world. I mean model material. Yes, they too have been purchased with blood, Christ’s blood. God does not look at the outward appearance. He looks on the matters of the heart. He preserves us and performs in us the greatest work of all. He sets us apart to serve Him, to love Him, to glorify Him, to give every part of ourselves to Him! He preserves us blameless and He is faithful to perform this great work of healing in us.

The Holy Spirit is in You and All of the Holy Trinity is Too!

The two power house passages above and I mean power house!! You must harness this power! You are the temple of the Holy Spirit “who is in you.” You are not your own, you are in debt with the greatest debt a person can have. You are in debt to God in Christ Jesus. He has purchased you with the price of Christ’s blood that washes, purifies, cleanses, revitalizes, sustains, heals, restores, invigorates, scintillates and permeates every space of your life essence and mine. We are not just talking about the body alone. We are talking about the spirit and mind as well. Setting apart your spirit, mind and body is a three part relationship and each are intermarried with the other and one cannot be healthy in one without the health of the other. We are talking about a trichotomy, a three part focus, similar to the Holy Trinity itself. Just as the Father doesn’t exist without the Son and the Holy Spirit, neither does the health of the body exist without the health of the spirit and mind. Grasp this and hold it sacred, God wants to fill you up with greatest power available. He wants to fill you with the power of the Holy Spirit. Body building means nothing to God. Attempting to build your body without a sound focus on the spirit and the mind in Christ you are not allowing completeness in the Holy Spirit and total healing and wellness is marred. All of the topics we cover will be discussed in light of God’s provision in completeness in spirit, mind and body in Christ Jesus.

It’s Not Just Body Wellness!

Total wellness is for the spirit, mind and the body. I put it in this order as this is the order of importance that an individual should place emphasis when beginning the journey. Notice, I mentioned the word journey several times. Total health is a journey. It’s not something you do when you feel bad. It’s not something you do when you discover that on the basketball court, baseball or soccer field that you are winded and pathetically out of shape. Health is not just training for a competitive event and then falling of the wagon until the next round of guilt pushes you to stay in shape. Health is not just about the physical existence, it is about your life view, it’s about the reason you live, it’s about the people you care about, it’s about the purposes to which God created you. It’s not just about stuffing your body and mind with pleasurable food. It’s about saturating your life with the eternal things of God. If it is just about engorging ourselves, like King Henry VIII, with food, wine and the lusts of this life we will come up short of the best of God’s desire for us. God desires us to be filled with life! Let God breathe His newness into your spirit, mind and body. He can take all the broken pieces of your life and mend them into something new!

God Breathed “Spirit Life”

God breathed life is first of all “Spirit life.” It is a God mystery, a pneumatological phenomenon that originated before the Garden of Eden to bless us with eternity in peace with Him. Without “Spirit life” there is no life at all. The simple element oxygen blended perfectly in the breath of God that fills our lungs and atmosphere; it is the life substance to keep us physically and spiritually alive. However, the breath of life God gives is not just about oxygen blended mysteriously to keep us alive. Health begins with this vital life breath of God rushing into your spirit and mind like a rushing wind. It’s like a second wind filling your temple (spirit, soul and body) with love, peace and rich sustenance. It is an everlasting gift that none can take away. You do not have the rights to it. No one can own a portion of it. It is a God-breathed gift. He is your owner and all that He brushes into your life is part of the completion of the finest work of art known to humankind, the gift of your life!

I Didn’t Know Faith Was So Important in Health

What is the reason why we must be healthy? Our purpose and focus in life, even though life is God breathed, can be for selfish reasons, which exclude this living God from our essence of life. Separating from the love and purpose of God herein does our God breathed “spirit-life” waste away. Of course this is what the Adversary, devouring Lion, the Wolf intends. Ultimate separation from the love and peace of God is what the Prince of Darkness of this world uses to defeat and destroy beginning the process of wellness degradation. Faith in Christ prevents such degradation and builds the temple. Spirit life begins by an active personal faith in Him who gave it! Without faith, which implies, an active participation in growing in Christian virtue, health and complete wellness being part of this, it is impossible to please Him. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb 11:6) Therefore, total health is a faith journey and we will begin laying the framework for this journey. So throughout this topical series I will be a coach / mentor to give you some nuts and bolts to build a sturdy structure of health in spirit, mind and body! “And He said to him, (Jesus speaking here) “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” (Lk 17:19)

Health is a Faith Habit to Train

C.S. Lewis mentions in Mere Christianity that faith is a habit to be trained and that there are various trials and afflictions that a Christian will encounter that God works His grace through to shape this habit of faith and health is one of them. Often, sickness is one type of affliction that God works His greatest work of faith. When we are strong we do not need a doctor. The Scripture affirms that it is not the well and strong that need a physician but the weak and afflicted. “Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Luke 5:31) When you are at your lowest ebb look to Jesus Christ and ask for help! When you feel sick and vulnerable seek the nourishment from the Holy Spirit. God rescues, delivers and heals the unwell. He teaches, nourishes and establishes the fragile feeble hearts of people. He loves performing His deep work of grace in times of illness. The way becomes clearer as we seek God and ask for help and healing. He leads us to places where there are answers and clarity, i.e. finding the right physician, counselor, process or treatment. He fights the foe of illness for us. He performs the miracle of healing in our lives either completely, all in an instant, or by degrees and He builds our faith. “O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me.” Psalm 30:2

A Good Place to Start, Stay Tuned…

It would only make sense to discuss health and Christianity where the Bible begins, in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The book of the beginnings gives us the very first foundational ground substance of health and we will discover this in the next segment What is your food? so stay tuned...