“Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. So they asked Jesus,
Do you hear what they are saying?
Indeed I do, answered Jesus.
Haven’t you ever read this scripture?
You have trained children and babies to offer perfect praise.”
Proverbs 20:11, Matthew 21:16
Beloved, I pray that in all things thou may prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. How be it that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
3 John 1:2, Genesis 1:27, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, 55-57
A healthy body is a whole body. Just as the brain controls the systems within the body, the “Church” as the “Body” of Christ has just one head and he is her life and health. God sent His Word and healed and saved us from the curse of sin and death (Psalm 107:20). As in the natural, so in the spiritual: how you live in alignment with God’s Word affects the overall body health Your choices affect all aspects of your well-being. Spiritually, as physically, the health of the overall body including joints is contingent upon a healthy body weight. Joints that are stressed and strained by bearing the burden of excess pounds show more wear and tear causing inflammation and stiffness which lead to pain, loss of mobility and weakness. As your body breaks down, you are more susceptible to life threatening illnesses and injuries. Overall health is balanced between proper diet, exercise, hydration, rest and sunlight.
As the eyes are a window into your soul, likewise the mouth is a window into overall health. A healthy mouth is more important than you may realize–-spiritually as well as physically.
Problems in your mouth can affect the rest of your body. There is an intimate connection between oral hygiene and overall health. What you allow to teem in your mouth can enter your bloodstream and destroy your heart.
“On earth as it is in heaven.”
The physical body with its overall composition is an illustration of the “Body” of Christ. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other. What you say and do, as well as what you fail to say and do, not only affects you as an individual member of His body, it affects the whole. We are not sufficient unto ourselves but our sufficiency is of God who created us in Christ Jesus to work together as one for His glory. He created us to function by using His gifts and enablements together for His glory. The same Word that spoke creation into being is the same Word that gives daily instruction and who we turn to for daily bread. It is His love flowing through the body that promotes unity as we work together for His glory.
Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. As in the natural, maintaining good oral health is crucial. Guard your heart for out of it flow the issues of life or death. What you eat affects what you say. If you are feasting on “junk food” instead of God’s sound word, corruption and decay enter in.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Will two people walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Whoever speaks should do so as those who speak God’s word. Whoever serves should do so from the strength that God furnishes. Do this so that in everything God may be honored through Jesus Christ. To him be honor and power forever and always. Amen.
Amos 3:3, 1 Peter 4:11
You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all.
Everything you are and think and do is permeated with em>Oneness.
But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.
Joint discomfort is perhaps the most common of all physical complaints, affecting millions and often making the simplest daily activities more difficult to manage. We who are many are one in the Lord Christ Jesus and when one suffers, we all suffer together.
We bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The last thing you may want to do with an aching joint is exercise it. But a vast body of research clearly shows that exercise is extremely effective in restoring function, movement, and flexibility—and, believe it or not, in reducing aches and stiffness.
Some of you are like “dead” weight (faith without works is dead) subjecting the joints of Christ’s body to a beating just by going through the activities of daily living.
As if that weren’t enough, others are like poorly aligned bones
(not lining up with the Word of God in Christ Jesus), while others are like weak muscles (not having your senses exercised to discern between good and evil)–-thus causing even the simplest repetitive use to place even greater stress on joints. When joints break down, pain enters in with loss of mobility.
Just as proper nutrition, exercise, rest, hydration and sunlight are crucial to support physical health, God gives us His Word for fitness for living. His Word is food, exercise, rest, water and light for our body, soul and spirit to enter into His abundant, everlasting life!
In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do–I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven.
Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this.
(Jesus knew from the start that some weren’t going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, “This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father.”
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” John 12:32, Hebrews 12:1-2
He climbed the high mountain, He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people. Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
Ultimately, the only thing that matters is that God’s Word works. “…so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11
God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—-like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
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