Health belongs to the lord, not the world.
Throughout the entire narrative of Scripture, we see God set up for His people systems of obedience that lead to full healing and freedom in every area of their lives.
The Gospel itself proclaims Jesus as Healer, the Holy Spirit as Counselor, and the Father as Provider.
We know that God deeply cares for our health. Our physical health, too. Scripture is very clear about that.
In the 2nd century AD, a heretical movement called Gnosticism was formed, and one of its chief tenets was that the spirit or soul of a person is better/elite over the body of a person. (We’re not talking about humanity’s sin nature, which Scripture calls “the flesh” here. We’re talking about the physical, tangible, biological body.)
Let me say this again for the people in the back: it is a heresy to think that your spiritual health matters more to God than your physical health, or that they are somehow separate.
Here’s the truth: God has always cared about WHOLE health – spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically – and in my opinion, from what I see in Scripture, He does not separate spiritual health from physical health or emotional health from mental health. Health is health.
God cares about health.
And we, as the Church, should too.
Period.
Though there may be sickness and disease abounding, God provides for us the cure through nature and worshipful discipline. When we resolve to care for our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the imago dei, pretty much every sickness and disease ceases. The power of care by faith and worship-filled discipline can quite literally heal what the world tells us is unhealable.
god heals.
Of course, there is a role for the miraculous. There is no doubt about that. Some things are certainly supernatural. But God is no genie; Scripture tells us He came down to earth and ascended and lives in us for the purpose of partnership in the restoration of humanity and creation.
With that said, our willingness to partner with God in the journey to healing paves the way for the miraculous. The book of James tells us that faith without action is dead. We cannot pray to God to heal us without acting out our faith by healing ourselves in the way we know how. God surely brought the walls of Jericho down, but Joshua had to obediently walk around those very same walls for seven days. The woman with the issue of blood was healed by Jesus, but she had to push through the crowd and grab on to the hem of His robe. God may surely unlock the door, but it is our job to twist the handle and open it.
Therefore, pray! Pray unceasingly. Pray every morning and every night. Believe God for a miracle. But also partner with Him in the miracle by doing what you can, what you know how to do, for that is the true meaning of Spirit-filled partnership.
So how do we participate in care by faith and worshipful discipline?
We ask the Holy Spirit and seek the Lord for guidance, faith, wisdom, and strength.
James tells us that if we ask God for wisdom, He will generously give it. And we see throughout the entire narrative of Scripture that God speaks intimately, uniquely, and intentionally to all who seek and follow Him, whether through dreams, visions, feelings, words, prophetic insights, etc. We know that God is a loving Father and wants to be active in every area of our lives, including our health. And so we believe that God will do for us what we see Him do for His people in Scripture.
2. We start with what we know.
We know to eat more fruits and vegetables, to eat less processed foods, to move our bodies more, to drink more water, to involve ourselves in Godly community more, to read our Bibles and pray. These disciplines are the most foundational and crucial elements of holistic health, and they cannot be underestimated. We cannot add anything else to our health regimen before we have mastered these. (“Master” is not the same as perfection in this context, but rather it means that we have made healthy strides and are consistent.)
3. We increase what we know.
In whatever way we are uniquely wired to learn, we learn! Just like the faith journey, the health journey is unending, and we will always be going deeper and deeper in healing. And so, in faith, we continue to learn about and implement ways we can improve our health for the glory of God. Options include reading or listening to books, taking courses, watching Youtube videos, reading articles, hiring a coach, going to conferences, attending classes, etc.
4. We remember that health is holistic.
Health involves every area of our lives – physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, relational, financial…. It involves our bodies, our souls, and our spirits. Pursuing health may look like studying the Bible, going on daily walks, joining a pottery class, getting sunlight, switching to a nontoxic household cleaner, breaking up with a toxic boyfriend or friend group, setting boundaries in the workplace, going to counseling or a deliverance session, drinking herbal teas, etc. We release the walls we have built up around the term “health” and we allow the Holy Spirit to shape it anew.
5. We understand that health does not necessarily mean the absence of diseases, nor are its effects confined to ourselves in the present.
The beauty of God is that the acts of obedience we do now are part of the weaving of Christ’s story with the future of the Church and our family’s legacy. Pursuing health now, whether we are ill or not, paves the way for the abundant life that Christ died and rose to give us both now, when we are old, in our children, in our children’s children, in our community, and in the global Church. Yes, the stewardship of our health has a ripple effect that will affect hundreds, thousands, and even millions! We are able to reroute our genes, reroute our habits, and reroute our legacy through the stewardship of our health, and that is not something to be taken lightly.
6. We keep Jesus at the center.
The world has control of the health sphere right now, but that does not have to be the case. As Christ followers, we understand that Christ glorified is at the center of all that we do. And we do not agree with any spirit that says otherwise or participate in any regimen that seeks to shift us away from that one defining truth. Though we understand that there may be some element of truth in opposing practices, we do not get tangled up in the lies; rather, with Spirit-filled, Bible-based discernment, we see the truth, capture it, and reroute it for the proclamation of the Gospel.