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The Best Alternative Health — Good Health from God
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.
Summary: God heals! That is a clear message of Scripture. But a similar bible truth, often overlooked, is that God can and will keep you in good health. Any discussion of "alternative health" or "alternative healing" should begin with God's willingness and ability to provide these things. Follow these easy bible instructions for good health.
James 5:14 Is any one of you [Christians] sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him...
•• The early church leader James understood that Christians may get sick. James also knew that God has solutions to sickness.
•• One of those solutions is divine healing — or what some call “spiritual healing” or “faith healing.”
•• Another of God’s solutions to sickness is divine health. And that very relevant and needed experience is the subject of our bible study today.
Sometimes we overlook God’s natural instructions concerning actions that lead to good health. For example, God gave Old Testament Israel clear, written instructions about:
•• good sanitation procedures
•• regular washing
•• isolation and quarantine of the sick (Parents, please don’t put a sick child in the church nursery!)
•• healthy dietary instructions. If you stuff yourself with junk food, your health will suffer, even if you pray for hours!
Exodus 15:26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
•• God is a healer. God also keeps His people in good health.
•• He promises that He will “not bring on you any of the diseases...”
• If you listen carefully to Him
• If you do what is right in His eyes
• If you pay attention to His commands
• If you keep all His decrees
•• God urges us to be God-fearing, Word-obeying people. One reward of that is a greater preservation from diseases.
Psalm 38:3-5, 7 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. [4] My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. [5] My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.... [7] My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.
•• Good health can be forfeited by unrepented sin — “because of my sin ... my guilt ... my sinful folly.”
• The solution is verse 18 — “I confess my iniquity.”
• Don’t let the guilt of unrepented sin rob you of God’s provision of good health. Confess that sin, repent of it, and forsake it.
Proverbs 3:7-8 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. [8] This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
•• Three health-generating actions:
• Humility — “Do not be wise in your own eyes”
• “Fear the Lord.”
• “Shun evil.”
•• “This will bring health to your body.”
Proverbs 4:20, 22 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my WORDS ... [22] for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.
•• Good health to a man’s whole body from two kinds of words:
1) The Word of God, as here in context
2) The words of the wise (for example, the wise instruction given by parents to their children)
Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
•• Both verses bring the same message:
• Our emotional outlook greatly affects our health.
•• Heart at peace —> life
•• Envious heart —> rots the bones
•• Cheerful heart —> good medicine
•• Crushed spirit —> dries up the bones
•• That’s why it’s so important to “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice!”
• The emotional state of your heart will have a profound impact on the state of your physical health.
Proverbs 15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.
•• “Good news gives health.” Do you want to have a beneficial influence on the health of those around you?
• Be a positive person; focus on the good around you.
• Bear a cheerful look.
Ephesians 6:2-3 “Honor your father and mother” — which is the first commandment with a promise — [3] “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
•• Good health leading to a long life follows those who honor their parents.
• How are YOU doing on this one?
• It’s never too late to begin honoring your parents, or their memory. God will bless you for doing so.
1 Peter 2:24 ...by his wounds you have been healed.
•• Good health and healing are already bought for you!
• They are part of the price Jesus paid for you.
3 John 2, KJV Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy SOUL prospereth.
•• We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” — including the “psyche-soma” link, that is, the interaction upon one another of soul and body. The medical term is “psychosomatic.” It is well documented that there is a distinct psychosomatic element in enjoying good health.
• Seek to prosper in your inner man, in your inward, heart-level walk with God. It will have beneficial effects in causing good health.
Summary of some keys to God's "Alternative Health" - "Alternative Healing" provisions:
• God-given natural precautions — sanitation, cleanliness, good diet...
• A wholesome fear of God, coupled with obeying His Word
• Immediately repenting of known sin
• Living in humility, shunning evil
• Listening to the Word of God and the words of wise Christians
• Maintaining a cheerful heart, full of the joy of the Lord
• Keeping a positive, cheerful, “good news” outlook
• Honoring your parents; it’s never too late!
• Remembering that Jesus already paid the price for good health and healing
• Focus on your inward walk with God, so that your soul prospers, resulting in good health!
Preached at South Valley Church, Phoenix, Oregon, February 12, 2006
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We invite you to read our related bible studies on Divine Healing | Spiritual Healing and Growing in Faith for Divine Healing.
Pastor Feeney has shorter, related sermon outlines entitled Receive Divine Healing and The Power of Healing Prayer for the Sick.
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of the Zondervan Corporation. All rights reserved.
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© 2006, James H. Feeney, All rights reserved.
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Additional Pentecostal online bible studies and free sermons on speaking in tongues, divine healing, gifts of the Holy Spirit, divine inspiration, traditional marriage, pro-life vs. pro-choice, apostles and prophets today, and more may be linked to or viewed at Online Bible Studies and Free Sermons by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D. (http://www.jimfeeney.org). |
