Ask The Manufacturer How To Have A Healthy Heart!

God’s healthy heart prevention program is spelled out in 1500 pages. His treatment program Spiritually Speaks cures and remedies — if you listen.

For months now, health care reform has been headline news. As contentious as this topic has become, no one disagrees:

1. The costs are skyrocketing.
2. There are many people who still don’t have access to good health care.

Unfortunately, very few are taking personal responsibility to prevent sicknesses and health problems. Instead, people are looking to the government to reform the system and make things better. There is great debate about the health care reform packages currently on the table in Washington. Some are saying they are like a hospital gown — you think you are covered but you really aren’t.

Spiritual Price Tag

Many are quite surprised when I show them the Bible has much to say about health, healing and, yes, national health care. THE LEWIN GROUP did a study recently and found that hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year for health care to treat ailments caused by things the Bible forbids. There is a hefty national price tag for things like gluttony, sloth, sedentary lifestyles, promiscuity, substance abuse, etc. Eighty percent of health care costs in our country treat “chronic disease.” Overeating, no exercise and smoking cause chronic diseases. My contention is that if our lawmakers want to cut medical costs, reading a 1500 page health care bill probably won’t do it, but reading the 1500 page Bible will.

The thrust of these articles on the spiritual dimensions of health and wellness is that we aren’t just physical beings, we are spiritual beings and that these two are very inter-related. Those who are acquainted with the Bible know it is loaded with health mandates and ordinances for individuals and nations. Science is still catching up to the wisdom behind the curious dietary prescriptions found in the Old Testament. The Jewish dietary code in the Old Testament was aimed at sustaining health.

Dietary Code and Health Care From the Ages Saves

Dr. Michael Jacobson, author of THE WORD ON HEALTH, observed that in 1348 AD approximately 100 million people inhabited Europe, Africa and the Middle East and that 25 million (one quarter of the population) died of bubonic plague. The Jewish population, however, was not affected and Jacobson explains why:

“The truth is that, hundreds of years prior to the discovery of bacteria, the Jews were protecting themselves from the deadly Yersinia pestis microbe by practicing cleanliness and good hygiene. Why? Because more than three thousand years before man discovered bacteria, the Creator had given instructions that, if followed, would prevent the spread of such a communicable disease.”

In the Old Testament, God’s message was that his people would be spared the diseases of the Egyptians if they followed his program. In Exodus 15:26, God says, “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’s program was mainly a preventative program. This issue of Home Cures That Work is focused on heart disease. Americans are paying a dear price for ignoring Biblical precepts intended to prevent heart disease. Diet, self-control and exercise are central components of the national health care program spelled out in ancient books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Spiritual Causes and Spiritual Cures

It is also a central contention of mine in these articles on the spiritual dimensions of health and wellness that if there are spiritual causes to maladies, there are also spiritual cures. The Bible not only outlines preventative measures but also treatments. Proverbs 4:20, 22 says; “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words … for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.” Some of these “treatments” are spelled out explicitly in the Bible (and discussed in books like Dr. Don Colbert’s BIBLE CURES FOR HEART DISEASE). But, the Bible also teaches the Holy Spirit will speak and lead us specifically, in our individual situation, if we ask. John 16:13 says the Holy Spirit will “guide us” and this includes guidance in discerning treatments and remedies.

When people get sick they go to the doctor. If it’s serious they get a second opinion. My encouragement to you is that you’d pray and seek God and let him speak into your treatment program, your own health care program.

Look in his Word, the Bible. Ask for His Spirit’s direction and leading. One man I know was told he had blocked arteries and needed surgery, but he had no peace about that treatment route. He asked God to speak and he and his doctors began to talk about options other than surgery. His physician writes about the more natural route they felt led to take:

“God outlined a unique program for us to pursue with this gentleman. He was placed on specific vitamins: Vitamin E to help prevent blood clots from forming on the blockages; low-dose aspirin (derived from the bark of a willow tree), which keeps platelets from clumping together and forming a clot on the roughened areas of the arteries; and other substances like CoQ-10, which is found in various cereals such as wheat bran and can strengthen the heart contractions. He was also given a specific program of exercise and prescribed a low-dose medicine to dilate the arteries.”

Best Prevention and Treatment Program Available

In summary, God’s program both prevents and treats disease. And since he is the One who made us, it only makes sense to ask him how to get and stay well. We’d do well to ask the manufacturer how to have a healthy heart!

We now know scientifically and spiritually that love facilitates healing. A better understanding of God’s love for us, and sharing that love with others is the first step toward a healthy heart and life.

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Steve Hickey (Spiritual Dimensions of Wellness) is the founding pastor of a life-giving church with over 700 members, a church planter, a trainer of leaders with John Maxwell’s organization, a police chaplain, and is very active in politics as a national voice for the unborn. He’s written several books, including his latest, Momentum: God’s Ever Increasing Kingdom (www.MomentumHandbook.com). Steve and his wife would like to pray for your specific needs and have a prayer team at the church waiting to hear from you. For more information or to submit a prayer request, visit: www.ChurchAtTheGate.com/prayer.php