Going into 2020 with 20 20 vision… because without vision people perish!
The Order of Life is Above-Down-Inside-Out – all of life happens ADIO. The opposite, Outside-In (OI), leads to disorder, degeneration, disease and death. In Gen 3 we can read about the fall, how Adam & Eve reversed the order by trading oneness with God for likeness – knowledge of good and evil.
How does this relate to health? Read on!
Likeness = the ability to judge good and evil – right from wrong. God warned them that they would surely die because he knew that while we can have knowledge of good and evil, we don't have the capacity judge accurately. Our capacity to judge is based on our physical senses (OI) but this is of lower order and, in order for life to happen must be directed by the Spirit (ADIO) because the spiritual realm has dominion over the physical.
Think back to how accurately you have judge what’s best for you… when you were 3 years old, if you got everything that you thought was best for you how and where would you be? Ok, 10 years old? Ok ok, when you were considered an adult, 18 years old? What about 3 years ago? Do you get my point? What makes us think that right now we can know what's right from wrong with any real certainty? When we rely of what our physical senses are telling us we have such a limited perspective!
The devil struck a devastating blow by convincing Adam and Eve to eat the apple and now because of that, we each have it in us to do what we believe is best for us. We have the tendency to set ourselves up as ruler of our own lives, the authority, and the judge.
Now the devil is set to keep us from turning from our own ways of doing things to more natural ways – the God designed. We could say that he's doing his best to keep us from repenting, from lining our thinking up with God's thoughts so that our actions resemble the ADIO way of doing life. And if the bible is true, which I believe it is, the devil is going to be quite successful at doing this right to the end, as we can read in Revelation 18:23.
Pride comes before the fall right!?! Well the fall happens in Revelation 18 because (verse 23) all the nations were deceived by the merchants (who were the great and powerful ones) and their sorcery. Sorcery, as we read it in our bible translations, has actually been translated from the Greek word pharmakeia... from which we derive pharmacy. And it's from the pharmacy that we can get all kinds of drugs that are produced by the 'great and powerful' drug companies to numb symptoms so we don’t have to repent, so we can more comfortably live based on how we feel (leading to more disorder, degeneration, disease and death).
Just for clarification, as we read in Revelation 18 and especially verse 23, I don't believe God is saying that you've been deceived and are engaging in sorcery if you take medicine from the pharmacy, because God looks upon the heart. What I do believe God is saying here is that, if we are not engaging in repentance, ie; recognising that a way of doing life is causing degeneration and disease then changing our ways to enable healing and health, we are deceived and practicing sorcery. If we are just taking medications to cover symptoms (getting away from discomfort/away-from motivation) without being actively engaged in overcoming (toward a greater goal/toward motivation) so that we can step more fully into what God is calling us to, then yes that's sorcery.
And there's a form of sorcery that I believe is the epitome of pride; taking the pinnacle of God's creation (our own bodies that have been made in God's own image), and introducing a manmade substance into it in order to try and perfect God's grand design. The power God put in you is perfect for you, you don’t need to add to it, just remove any interference and steward your body well so that that power can be more fully expressed! Now just for clarification, introducing a manmade substance to treat injury and sickness can be lifesaving and I'm all for saving lives, but that's very different from health care and enhancing health!
Health is something inside of us that we’ve been given. Health and healing is about overcoming and overcoming is about training ourselves for endurance, resilience conditioning, disciplining our bodies to overcome the different stressors and strains that we all face to varying degrees such that we can endure to the end. Exactly what that looks like for you, I don't know, but I do know that if it’s not about lifestyle change (changing our minds/repenting) then I believe we are engaging in sorcery. Changing our minds from OI to ADIO, from treating sickness to enhancing health and wholeness starts with the little things, the daily disciplines, and the habits we develop or acquire. My job is not to tell you what exactly to do, it's to raise the question... what's the motivation of your heart? And are the habits in your life enabling you to pursue this to your full potential?
Here’s just some of the things that I’ve built (or am building) into my life as habit in order to love my wife, raise my family, provide chiropractic care for the community and pour out in other ways/locations (Acts 1:8):
· Read a Psalm (one of the 150) and the Proverb consistent with the day of the month before going to bed (early so that I can wake up early!)
· Get up when I’ve committed to waking up (4:45am for me)
· Stretching, traction and breathing
· Get into God’s Word – ADIO – be filled up on the inside so that I can pour out on the outside
· Physical training (20-30minutes – activity varies depending on the day – training in the pain helps brings the body in submission to the Spirit)
· Give my wife affection (teaching my boys from a young age the importance of priorities)
· Intermittent fast (3-4 days a week)
· Sabbath rest (Saturday for me)
· Meal planning (so we don’t leave it up to how we feel/what’s convenient)
· Consistent chiropractic care (I get adjusted every 1-2 weeks and am thankful to have Dr. Eric in the practice!)
The power for healing, health and abundance is in you – live in such a way to more fully express it!