Healing Belongs to You in Christ! (part 11)

Healing Hindrances – Misuse of the Body

7.25.2021

Review

Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV)

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Matthew 8:17 (ESV)

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Acts 10:38 (ESV)

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

I started this series on healing as an antidote to the crazy fear being distributed by our government and the media concerning COVID-19.

June 2 – Handouts

In past lessons, I have laid a foundation showing that healing is God’s will for you.

We have taken 3 lessons and talked about the importance of faith and the ingredient of believing that you receive.

There will never be a time you don’t need faith for healing either for yourself…

If you wait to get faith when you need it, you will be at a disadvantage.

God wants us to walk in divine health. It is made available by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary.

The faith you have to receive forgiveness is the same faith that will heal you from sickness and disease.

This past year, with so much talk about sickness everywhere, we need to counteract that with the truth of God’s word about our health!

 

Part 1. Deal with fear

Part 2. To what information sources do you give the most attention?

Change the atmosphere of your life.

Part 3. Seven reasons you can know that healing is the will of God for you!

Part 4. The Healing Covenant

Part 5. God’s seven covenant names

Part 6. Healing in the Atonement of Christ

Part 7. Seven points on how to receive healing by faith

Part 8. Believe you receive

Part 9. Faith, words, and actions work together – David/Goliath, 12 Spies

Part 10. Healing Hindrances – negative emotions

Today – 7.11.2021

4 major categories

1. Negative emotions

2. Misuse of the body

3. Unforgiveness

4. Disobedience

Last time we looked at negative emotions and how we must deal with hurtful relationships and forgive.

Proverbs 14:30 (AMP)

A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.

2. Misuse of the body

Sometimes we create the physical problems we have.

Misuse of the body includes: Diet, Rest, Overwork, and Exercise.

Diet

Exodus 15:26 (NLT)

He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

God gave Israel dietary, moral, and hygienic laws. It was a sin for them not to obey. He knew what was good for their bodies. Disregarding God’s laws brought physical weakness and sickness.

Many times I’ve laid hands on people for healing knowing intuitively that their wrong diet choices were affecting them adversely, and that the condition would come back unless the person made a change.

Listen to the inward promptings of the Holy Spirit about what you eat.

Genesis 1:29-30 (NLT)

Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

Genesis 9:2-4 (NLT)

All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3 I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

1 Timothy 4:3-4 (NLT)

They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. 4 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.

Acts 10: 10-14 (ESV)

And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

We are not under the law when it comes to food, but it would be wise for us to be practical.

Book: Rex Russell, MD – What the Bible Says About Healthy Living

Three Principles for Healthy Eating:

1. Eat only what God created for food.

2. Eat food in its most basic form possible.

3. Don’t overeat (Avoid food addictions.) Moderation.

There are substances in fresh food that our bodies need to stay at optimum health.

Americans have some really bad eating habits!

Example – years ago, the Lord said to me, “Take a multivitamin… “

Include in your today what you want your tomorrow to be!

Rest

Exodus 20:8-11 (NLT)

Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Every 7^th day, rest. Sleep rejuvenates the systems of the body…

If we don’t take proper rest, the time we should have rested may be taken off the end of our lives! Take a break.

Thirty years ago while reading the book of Daniel…Jeremiah prophesied that Israel would be taken off of their land for 70 consecutive years for violating the land rest commanded in Leviticus 25.

I was reading that, and the Lord spoke to me and said, “If you don’t rest, it may come off the end of your life!” I got the message.

I reduce the quality and perhaps the length of my life when I neglect necessary rest.

We’re wired to work hard, and then take a break. Without rest, we give no opportunity to rejuvenate the systems of our bodies. We need both inward rest and outward rest. Let me encourage you to take seriously the need for weekly rest, and to make the changes necessary to be refreshed weekly.

Here are some quotes about rest from Charles Spurgeon in his book, Lectures To My Students:

Even beasts of burden must be turned out to grass occasionally; the sea pauses at ebb and flood; earth keeps the sabbath of wintry months; and a man, when exalted to be God’s ambassador, must rest or faint; must trim his lamp or let it burn low; must recruit his vigor or grow prematurely old.

It is wisdom to take an occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall sometimes do more by doing less.

On, on, on, forever may suit our spirits emancipated from this heavy clay, but while we are in this tabernacle, we must every now and then cry halt, and serve the Lord with Holy inaction and consecrated leisure.

Let no tender conscience doubt the lawfulness of going out of harness for a while, but learn from the experience of others the necessity of timely rest.¹

1. (from Charles H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students (Lynchburg:Old Time Gospel Hour, reprinted from editions issued in England in 1875,1877, and 1894) p. 174-175.

Overwork

Philippians 2:25-30 (NLT)

Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier. And he was your messenger to help me in my need. 26 I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. 27 And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another. 28 So I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and then I will not be so worried about you. 29 Welcome him with Christian love and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve. 30 For he risked his life for the work of Christ, and he was at the point of death while doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away.

I can tell when I need to kick back and take it easy. Know where your limits are.

I have always been high energy.

Sometimes people overwork because of an unmet internal need for personal value.

Sometimes high achievers do so seeking to meet a gnawing need. (Not always, but sometimes).

I am one of those people who had an unmet need.

Many people only feel good about themselves when they are accomplishing things. They are ill-at-ease unless they are busy. I say they are like workaholics. That was me 35 years ago.

I could not take a break and feel good about it! I was addicted to the self-assured feeling I got from work!

We see life through colored glasses:

I was on a two-week vacation in 1987. We had 2 children at the time. Here I was, the second day or so of my vacation. I was on the beach…the sky, the sound of the waves , the seagulls, the blue sky…the smell of the salt water. And what was I doing? I was thinking about my office and my desk, and the work I could be doing.

I knew I had problems. Several years later, after I started a church in a small SC town, and turned it over to someone else, God gave me an opportunity to look at the workaholic tendencies I had in the face and deal with them.

I was involved in a travelling ministry, and was not busy.

It was a crisis time for me about where I got my good feeling about myself. I thought I got how I feel about myself from the Lord, and found that in reality it was from accomplishment. I was a classic workaholic.

God brought me through a process of getting my personal esteem from HIM and not what I do!

Overwork can eventually affect your health.

Can you take a break and feel good about it?

Rest is as important as work when it comes to health.

Lack of Exercise

What I am tomorrow is determined by what I choose today…

1 Timothy 4:8 (AMPL)

For physical training is of some value (useful for a little), but godliness (spiritual training) is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come.

Reaping and sowing is the lesson of exercise. If you want energy, you have to sow energy!

Galatians 6:7-9 (NKJV)

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT)

Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.

1 Timothy 4:8 (JB PHILLIPS)

Bodily fitness has a certain value, but spiritual fitness is essential both for this present life and for the life to come.

There is nothing good in being a non-moving, sedate person. A lot of physical problems people have they have brought on themselves because of lack of discipline in diet and lack of discipline in exercise.

An emergency room physician went with us to Africa one time, and I enjoyed talking with this guy. One of the things he said was that as a physician, he summarized health into three categories:

• ⅓ has to do with heredity and family background.
• ⅓ has to do with diet.
• ⅓ has to do with physical exercise.

When I was in my early 20’s the Lord spoke to me to exercise. I felt lethargic and tired.

So, I went and bought the jogging clothes and shoes, etc.

He told me to do it for the rest of my life…

Exercise by nature of what it does helps us deal with stress.

We are made to move.

Over the years I have read lots of books as to the importance of aerobic exercise and its benefits to health.

In the modern world, we don’t walk and exercise the way God created us to!

I jogged for over 30 years.

Nine years ago the Lord led me (I was 54 at the time) to change my jogging to cycling…

Now I walk, and I ride my bike. I walk from 2 to 4 miles a day, or I ride my bike anywhere from 20 to 30 miles, sometimes more.

Why? God made us to move!

It helps me deal with stress, and it is good to increase oxygen intake and blood flow! When you increase your heart rate, you are increasing oxygen intake, and you are increasing blood flow to vital organs. Blood feeds the cells of our bodies and eliminates waste through the urea via the kidneys. It’s a natural detoxifier in some ways.

When I exercise, I also feed my spiritual person.

Find a way to make exercise a part of routine, so it becomes 2^nd nature. 21 to 28 days creates a habit.

Our outward life is a direct reflection of our spiritual condition.

God used my physical exercise to show me how I can get in shape spiritually.

5 miles – 40 minutes – started slow and increased…

He told me to start rising early and to spend time with Him. And He reminded me of how I started a serious exercise program.

Your natural life is a direct reflection of your spiritual condition!

On the flip side of this,you can put all of your faith in your diet,rest exercise, and still not be well physically. We must always trust God for our physical vitality and put more faith in Him than in anything else!

Action Points:

1. Are you being practical with your faith in God for healing?
2. Are you aware of the health benefits of what you eat?
3. Do you rest daily, and weekly?
4. Do you exercise the body God gave you?