The Relationship of Body and Soul Part Two

When God Does Not Make Sense III John 1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some brothers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. There are Always Things That Are Hard to Understand. When things do not go well… God is up to something. In times when life doesn’t make sense we just have to trust Him… Until the Word of God proves us true Psalm 78. 16 He called down famine on the land     and destroyed all their supplies of food; 17 and he sent a man before them—     Joseph, sold as a slave. 18 They bruised his feet with shackles,     his neck was put in irons, 19 till what he foretold came to pass,     till the Word of the LORD proved him true. 20 The king sent and released him,     the ruler of peoples set him free. 21 He made him master of his household,     ruler over all he possessed, 22 to instruct his princes as he pleased     and teach his elders wisdom. He doesn’t write “I know.” He writes “I pray.” II Timothy 4.20 I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. People we prayed for to be healed and it seemed like a miracle was happening and then they died. A person that has disregarded God and His Word living long and seemingly pain free while others who lived for God die early. Isaiah 57.1 The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. People we think should be delivered… people we are wanting to rescue… I would have pulled Joseph out. Out of that pit. Out of that prison. Out of that pain. I would have cheated nations out of the one God would use to deliver them from famine.   I would have pulled David out. Out of Saul’s spear-throwing presence. Out of the caves he hid away in. Out of the pain of rejection. I would have cheated Israel out of a God-hearted king.   I would have pulled Esther out. Out of being snatched from her only family. Out of being placed in a position she never asked for. Out of the path of a vicious, power-hungry foe. I would have cheated a people out of the woman God would use to save their very lives.   I would have pulled Jesus off. Off of the cross. Off of the road that led to suffering and pain. Off of the path that would mean nakedness and beatings, nails and thorns. I would have cheated the entire world out of a Savior. Out of salvation. Out of an eternity filled with no more suffering and no more pain.   And oh friend. I want to pull you out. I want to change your path. I want to stop your pain. But right now I know I would be wrong. I would be out of line. I would be cheating you and cheating the world out of so much good. Because God knows. He knows the good this pain will produce. He knows the beauty this hardship will grow. He’s watching over you and keeping you even in the midst of this. He’s promising you that you can trust Him. Even when it all feels like more than you can bear.   So instead of trying to pull you out, I’m lifting you up. I’m kneeling before the Father and I’m asking Him to give you strength. To give you hope. I’m asking Him to protect you and to move you when the time is right. I'm asking Him to help you stay prayerful and discerning. I'm asking Him how I can best love you, and be a help to you. I’m believing He’s going to use your life in powerful and beautiful ways. Ways that will leave your heart grateful and humbly thankful for this road you’ve been on.” - Kimberly Henderson Proverbs 31 Ministries Top 5 Emotions That Drain Your Health by Michelle M. Pearson All month we are presenting articles in our series: “The High Five’s of Health!” One of the easiest ways to quickly gauge the health of the body is to measure the pH of saliva and urine. pH readings, while not diagnostic, are a simple way to measure the status of the body’s environment. In other words, it is a way to anticipate what might or might not grow in the garden as a result of previous choices. What does pH have to do with our “high five” emotions of the day? We call pH “your potential for health”. Emotions, or make that strong negative emotions, are the #1 thing that depletes your resources and destroys one’s potential for health. And some emotions are way more destructive than others! Stressful emotions place an increased demand on important resources and are capable of utilizing the body’s whole storage of available resources in a matter of hours, perhaps minutes. This demand leaves even the body’s most basic functions at risk or in peril. (Check out our article about Zinc and the anger connection!) No matter where you fit right now on the health or disease scale, the following five things are among the HIGH FIVE patterns of response that must be replaced by new mindsets and actions if you desire to live a long, strong, fruitful life: #1     UNFORGIVENESS – The most powerful form of destructive emotion that we are capable of. Unforgiveness eats away at the body, literally, like cancer, from the inside out. It’s only antidote is forgiveness, the complete release of debt toward us.  #2     BITTERNESS – Often rooted in unforgivness, bitterness rots the bones. In addition, the body’s chemical reaction to hardness of heart, bitter buried emotions, and walled off boundaries has proven to contribute to (if not cause) arterial disease, heart disease, and other vascular illness. Heart, brain, and reproductive related. Selah. #3     RESENTFULNESS – Resentfulness takes root from pride and covetousness when one’s heart believes they are owed or due something from another that has not been delivered. It keeps one’s heart and mind on the past, thereby robbing all joy and zest for life, all peace that produces health and healthy happy hormones. Resentment is also a sibling of ungratefulness. #4     GRIEF – Grief is often thought to be unavoidable and a natural response to loss. While this may be true of temporary sadness, grief on the other hand, is an entirely destructive, consuming scourge. We were NEVER intended to experience grief. Because of sin entering in and separation from God, the first grief also entered in. Up until the time of Christ, no one was immune from grief’s deathly grasp. But… after the resurrection of Christ, who carried our griefs and sorrows, and paid the price for reconciliation to a life free from grief, we no longer have to bear grief or the gripping killer dis-eases it has attached to it. (This is such a huge topic, we will write a separate article at another date to minister life and help in this area. Until then, be comforted in knowing God did not leave you without grace to keep you and He will send love and hope to your heart again.) And finally, in our Top Five Emotions That Drain Your Health: # 5   LYING –  OK So technically, lying is not an emotion, it is an action of your mind, will, AND emotions. But, it must be included in our Top 5 today because, after unforgiveness, it is perhaps the second most detrimental soulish action that literally destroys the physical body. To lie, in any measure, is to voluntarily separate yourself from Truth and Light. Only in Truth and Light can you receive health and healing. To lie is to deliberately reject the very power that heals. It is the nature of your enemy, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy… and to lie is to willfully participate in and connect yourself to that nature. Did you know that the physical body cannot lie? It’s goal is not health or disease, but it is to survive your choices. Choices that are lies or fool the body, result in dys-function and dis-ease. Choices that are in Truth, produce strength and health. Psalm 92. 12  The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,     they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; 13  planted in the house of the Lord,     they will flourish in the courts of our God. 14  They will still bear fruit in old age,     they will stay fresh and green, In overwhelming times we can be overwhelmed by the goodness of God. Out of the greatest pain comes the greatest blessings. Out of the greatest messes comes the greatest works of God!

The Relationship Between Soul and Body Health

III John 1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some brothers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Questions: Does being a Christian make us healthier than others? Are Christians, if they have faith, always get healed? What about people we have prayed for to be healed and they die? The Main Thing is our Spiritual Health Our bodies will die. Our spirits will live on forever. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10.28 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Mark 8.36 John 4. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to finish His work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” John 6. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval. 33 For the Bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (Bethlehem = House of Bread) 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.” 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit. There is a Connection Between Our Bodies and Souls When It Comes To Health John makes the connection Proverbs speaks of it: A cheerful heart is good like medicine. Proverbs 17.22 A heart at peace give life to the body. Proverbs 14.30 Envy rots the bones. Bitterness will hurt the body, causing chemicals to flow in the bloodstream. According to Newsday this morning, Long Island alcohol treatment and recovery centers said they've seen a big increase in people seeking help, both those who previously had problems with alcohol and relapsed, and people who never had serious issues with alcohol So many people in pain today. Turning to addictive things temporarily anesthetizes the torture in their souls. Only Jesus can heal our brokenness. Generally a Life Lived for God Produces Healthier Bodies. This is true with things life cigarettes and stress and excessive use of alcohol. Because we live in a fallen world sometimes people who never smoked die of lung cancer. We need “ocean time” What is ocean time? On my birthday I went to the beach as per my request. I swim for several hours with my grandchildren. Timmy, 12 years old, and I talked. We talked about life. We laughed at the girls getting knocked over by the waves as we were beyond the place where they were breaking. He invited his cousins Tristan and Grayson to join us in the laughter. In those moments I forgot what time it was all of the stresses that I had spoken to my daughter Theresa about just moments before. We were like birds flying in the air. We were bodies floating in the ocean. All of the technology emails texts phones TVs etc. were not available to us. We were in the moment completely body soul and spirit. We all need ocean time. The occasional desire to run away from everything is an indication that we are desperate for this time. Jesus had this time. His ocean time was the time that He spent in the mountains and in the boats on the sea of Galilee. Wherever you find a place where you can be in God‘s presence, detached from disturbing annoyances and interruptions, and will you can embrace nature that is your Ocean Place. Go there often. It is there that your soul is renew your spirit is strengthen and you come into the place of being quiet before God. Look at the birds. How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Psalm 139.17-18 Generally a Life Lived Disregarding God Produces Death Ultimately but not immediately. Eventually but not always evident. Sowing and reaping. Galatians 6.8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Jeremiah 17.7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,     whose confidence is in him. 8  They will be like a tree planted by the water     that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;     its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought     and never fails to bear fruit.”

Walking In Love

II John 5-6 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love. Walk= * To make one’s way working out our salvation with fear and trembling * To progress grow in His Love * To make use of all opportunities making use of every opportunity because the days are evil * To live * To regulate one’s life (obedience) * To conduct oneself (. “) John 13. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” * Love is the Mark of the Christian Among ourselves. Affirming our faith Wherever we go… around the country/ around the world No matter what Jesus’ Love is our goal. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. We are called to love as He loves, forgive as He forgives. We are to represent His Love to the world * Love is a Sign to the World. Know= understand, perceive, become acquainted with This is the way people will be attracted to Christ Titus 2.10 so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. Paul writes about lawsuits among believers, that these things ought to be resolved in the church, among the people of God. Be a good example of a believer. Love! I Timothy 4.12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. An example in love. Exemplary Paul and Bonnie Codington yesterday. It is the love of God that makes people want what we have. Romans 2.4 the kindness of God leads you to repentance * Love is a Lifestyle Ephesians 5. 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. A description of love= giving ourselves up as a fragrant offering sacrifice to God. This is descriptive of worship. Our walking in love is an act of honoring God. We live in it Hebrews 13.1 Keep on loving each other as brothers We grow in it * Love is forgiving. How we all need this. Every day. * Love is the greatest Faith, Hope and Love Faith will one day be sight, our walk, our journey to heaven will be over. Hope will be fulfilled. Our Blessed Hope described in Revelation 21.1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” * Love will remain forever. I Corinthians 13. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Remain in Him!