The Spiritual Roots of Disease part 2

          Going deeper with  HEAD TO HEART GUIDE 1

These sections go with   The Spiritual Roots of Disease (Main Healing Lesson 1)   and are included our workbook for personal transformation, "Matters of the Heart."  All 24 lessons will be helpful to the person seeking restoration and freedom and have been posted on this web site. They are available as a complete set in our workbook which can be purchased as a download or ordered through the mail. The lessons are also available on CD and DVD as 24, 1/2 hour teachings. All scriptures are from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
 

Exercise

List any diseases or infirmities you may have
Now consider how they may be affected by stress. Do they seem to get better or worse when you experience times of excessive stress? Did any time of specific stress seem to be going on in your life when the disease began? Not all disease are stress related—consider doing some research on the ones you may have to see if they are. Ask your doctor or search the web to find out more about the spiritual roots of disease.

Disease or condition  
                                  Moods or stress emotions that may trigger or amplify it
_____________        ______________________________________
_____________        ______________________________________
_____________        ______________________________________
_____________        ______________________________________
 

Discussion questions

What stresses you?
Ask group members to name the things that stress them the most. How many of these are related to money, to time, to work, to family, to politics, etc? Does a loss of peace seem inevitable to them whenever these stressors show up? What have they been doing to try to overcome the stress in these situations? Have they been mainly trying to eliminate the problem, ignore it, be distracted from thinking about it, or have they been trying to learn how to overcome their negative emotional reactions to it? What works? What doesn’t work? Close by praying for all these situations!
 

Main points

1) Loss of health comes from loss of peace in the mind or heart.
2) Loss of peace comes through the entry of negative emotions—these are sins.
3) Negative emotions draw power from unresolved issues carried from the past.
4) Unresolved issues reveal a breakdown of love or trust for God, self, or others.
5) Loss of peace indicates that we have a sin issue to deal with (Col 3:15).
6) Loss of peace indicates that the other kingdom is manifesting through us.
7) We are paying a terrible price for not living in the peace of Christ.
 

Digging deeper

The mind-body connection

Many ordinary illnesses are nothing but the expression of a serious dissatisfaction with life.

Every day doctors have to deal with people who are worn out and unable to stand up to the life they lead. They generally assert that it is impossible to alter the way they live, and sincerely believe that their overwork is the product of circumstance, whereas it is bound up with their own intimate problems. It is ambition, fear of the future, love of money, jealousy, or social injustice that makes men strive and overwork, invent all sorts of unnecessary tasks, keep late hours, take too little sleep, take insufficient holidays, or use their holidays badly. Their minds are over tense, so that at night they cannot sleep and by day they doubly fatigue themselves at their work.

The fact is that in denying the reality of sin, by giving people to understand that a fault of character is due to the malfunctioning of an endocrine gland, or by calling some impure temptation a “psychological complex,” science destroys man’s sense of moral responsibility. The present state of the world shows where that leads… This is the state of modern medicine: It has lost the sense of the unity of man. Such is the price it has paid for its scientific progress.

Sickness may be the solemn occasion of God’s intervention in a person’s life.
Paul Tournier, Md., author of The Whole Person in a Broken World.

Frustration is deadly to our health

I have found over the years that with every disease there’s usually an emotion linked to that disease. And the emotion that so many Americans have is frustration. We have an epidemic of frustrated Americans here.
Don Colbert, Md. He’s Got the Cure, Charisma Magazine; November, 2003.

How the body responds to stress

The majority of the patients that I see on a daily basis are overstressed, and this contributes greatly to the illness or disease from which they are suffering… Our mind and body seek a state of peace and relaxation, which is called homeostasis… When a person becomes “stressed out”…, reactions begin to occur in the body that lead to the general adaptation syndrome… Unfortunately, when most patients finally come to my practice, they are already in [the] final stage of the general adaptation syndrome… I have learned when a person reaches adrenal exhaustion, we shouldn’t just treat their body ... We must also treat the person mentally, emotionally, and most of all, spiritually.
Don Colbert, Md. The Dangers of Excessive Stress, Charisma; Jan/Feb, 2001.
 

Sword and shield

Texts that speak to health issues abound in scripture, especially in regard to the connection between negative emotions (sins) and physical health—what our science describes as the mind-body connection (see also Pr 38:3-4; 3:7). Consider this: if stress and sin are spiritual roots of disease, then peace and faithfulness are spiritual roots for walking in divine health. For a more complete listing and a free download see Health Issues and Dietary Concerns.

My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:20-23

A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones. Proverbs 14:30

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones. Proverbs 17:22   

The emphasis of scripture regarding our health is on the spiritual food in our daily diet (Spirit and Truth), not physical food. Physical food is not seen as a threat to health, if thanksgiving and moderation are maintained (Proverbs 23:21; 1 Corinthians 9:25).

So let no one judge you in food or in drink… Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Colossians 2:16-23

For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4-8

Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. Hebrews 13:9
 

Prayer focus

Lord, help me to be honest, open and transparent before You. Please help me to choose to deal with You and with anything You may want to bring up.
 

Renunciations and affirmations

Confess/renounce previous agreements with untruth; confess/believe Truth as your new Way of life.

Search your heart
For instance, have you believed that the peace of Christ was impossible for you to live by? That you were trapped in having to live stressed-up with negative emotions instead? Or have you developed a “scapegoat mentality” toward your body or towards the environment—blaming secondary factors for your illnesses, when it may be emotional stress that you have been allowing to rule over you? Have you been blaming other people or circumstances for your own negative emotions and the stress you feel inside—rather than unburdening your heart to the Lord (Matthew 11:29-30)? Repent of and renounce the thought that anything outside of you has to have power over your emotional life. Then confess the truth that living in the peace of Christ is between you and your God!
 

Putting feet to your prayers/stretch yourself!

Practical stress reducing steps
What are some steps you can take to reduce stress in your life? Of course this workbook is intended to help you convert emotional stress back into the peace of Christ, but there are many practical ways to de-stress as well. Consider these steps that others have found helpful, then add the ones that you will actually do to the second list.

• Laughter
• Loving—pets, children, anyone and anything you can (in a right way!)
• Nature—get out and drink in the beauty and grace of our Creator’s world
• Breathe deep--Deep, relaxed breathing
• Stretching, tensing and relaxing your muscle groups from head to toe
• Imagining a relaxing scene (like walking along a beach or lying in sunshine)
• Meditation—focused awareness, interactive and directed toward the Lord
• Prayer—casting your cares on Him because He cares for you; sharing the day’s burdens
• Massage and hugging—healthy, legitimate forms of receiving and giving human touch
• Aerobic exercise—brisk walking, cycling, swimming, jumping with reasonable intensity
• Daily quiet time all to yourself, with little or nothing to do but relax
• Music still hath charms--Playing gentle music, watching wholesome videos, reading good books
• Sleep—we need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night and more on the weekends

Things I could stop doing
          (activities to eliminate, expectations to pare down).

1) _____________________________________
2) _____________________________________
3) _____________________________________

Things I could start doing
         (to relax stress away, to burn it off, to forget about it).

1) _____________________________________
2) _____________________________________
3) _____________________________________
 

Interested in going deeper?

For further study and for help working these truths into your heart and life, explore all of the Main Healing Lessons and Head to Heart Guides, plus the Life Applications, Illustrations and other Healing Articles posted on this site or available in the store.

Or better yet, let us minister to you in person
     --at one of our Savannah Seminars...