Health and Nutrition
This page is dedicated to helping you get healthy
This page was last
updated on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 11:46:56 AM
Overview
I guarantee that the health and nutrition advice you get here at my website will be unlike ANY other you have read before. Many focus strictly on nutrition while others focus mainly on exercise and others focus of a combination of both. While both of these are correct and necessary, they are relatively meaningless without any true spiritual foundation to build upon. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am instructed that I am to build on the foundation laid by Him which is the finished work of Christ at the cross. That work was a spiritual work meant to give us the ability to live a Godly life not of our own strength but rather by the power of the Holy Spirit.
No matter how hard I may try and strive to become healthy by doing all of the "right" things like eating healthy and getting enough exercise and sleep, the real ingredient is to obey all of God's commandments. In doing this we invoke spiritual blessings that will keep us healthy. God promised us that:
Deuteronomy 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
I invite you to read the entire chapter as there are many promises of blessing to be received by being diligent to obey God. Later in that chapter we see that by refusing to obey His commandments invokes spiritual curses that will cause us to become weak and sickly NO MATTER HOW HEALTHY WE TRY TO EAT! I only outlined the ones dealing with health here.
Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; 59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
So what are these "commandments" that God wants us to follow? Jesus summed them up when He said:
Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Jesus, being the Master of simplicity, boils down what God really wants from us in order that we may please Him AND that we may receive His blessings. Now receiving His blessing has do do with the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. Paul told us :
Galatians 6:7 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Jesus taught likewise:
Luke 6:38 - Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Thus, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will sow faith, courage, generosity, forgiveness, joy, peace, ect..... into their lives. If you do this, God promises that you will likewise receive these things back!
With this said, health is a four legged chair. Just as a chair without four legs is unstable, likewise a life lacking one of these four components will be unstable and will open oneself up to sickness and disease. The four legs of the chair are:
1. Obeying God's commandments
2. Getting enough rest
3. Eating healthy
4. Plenty of exercise
Without further delay, let's get right into these four components of a healthy life.
Obeying God's Commandments
As mentioned in the outline, there is a spiritual law of sowing and reaping at work all around us. What we sow, we will also reap back. Paul outlines the difference between sowing "good" things and sowing "bad" things and the consequences of each CHOICE when he wrote:
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Inheriting the kingdom of God in not merely a place but in addition it is all of the benefits of being a citizen of the kingdom. Those benefits of the kingdom are all of the blessings outlined in Deuteronomy 28 plus many, many more. So we see that when we "practice" all of the above mentioned character flaws we actually cut ourselves off from His kingdom and all of the promises and benefits of His kingdom.
We need to turn from our sins and get on God's spiritual plan for our lives by submitting ourselves to Him.
James 4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
If we do this, we will begin to bear good spiritual fruit in our lives.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
It is clinically proven that wrath, hatred, un-forgiveness, strife, bitterness, resentment, and like attitudes CAUSE illness. All of these things are major contributor's to stress which we know is a clear factor in illness by weakening our immune system. Becoming healthy, therefore, is not simply a diet plan or exercise plan but it is a total lifestyle change.
By submitting ourselves to God's plan for our life, we give Him license to begin to work on the root cause of our problems and not simply putting a band-aid on our wounds. As God deals with our root problems, change occurs. Hatred is replaced with love, unhappiness with joy, stress with joy, fornication with self control, and on and on. What the great physician is doing is healing you first spiritually and mentally which leads to a physical healing.
When you have joy, peace, and self control in your life, that inner change will then manifest itself outwardly. See, the change happens by dealing with the root causes INWARDLY. By simply changing your diet, amount of exercise, or amount of rest, you will only be putting a band aid on a wound that will never heal. In the long term, all of those "works of the flesh" will begin to manifest themselves once again leading to an endless cycle of illness. If, however, you allow God to deal with YOU inwardly, then eating healthy, exercising regularly, and resting will be a natural extension of the inner joy and peace you are feeling.
Matthew 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Setting Goals
Before I get into the next section I want to lay a foundation for success. It is imperative that in order for you to succeed at ANYTHING in life you must have clear goals. Without goals there can be no plan on how to achieve those goals and without a plan you cannot even start. Paul is a perfect example of a man with clearly defined goals when he wrote:
1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
So Paul is telling us that first off the goal of running is to win and if we are to win we need clearly defined goals and a plan or we will fail! I have been working out my entire adult life and I see innumerable people who have been going to the gym for years and have got NOWHERE!
If we look closer at that verse above we see that Paul said in order to achieve the goal one must be temperate in all things. The word temperate mean to maintain one's self control
Work in progress............stay tuned for more!