We are temples

Wow, I am actually drinking a cup of coffee this morning. I just suddenly decided I wanted some. It's been, oh, 3 months since I willingly drank coffee!

The past two weeks I've been listening to a series of sermons by one of my favorite ministers, Kenneth Copeland. He has a long time friend and doctor as a guest teacher on, and they are talking about being well in body, spirit and soul. Many of the things they are talking about is stuff I know, but there are a lot of things I didn't.

The best thing about the series, is that they first go to the Word of God, and see what He says about our bodies and His desire for our good health. The main scripture they talk about is 3 John 1:2, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."

In the Greek the word health means: to be sound, to be well, to be in good health. One thing they made clear was being well wasn't just the absence of disease, but actually getting to a place where your body is disease resistant. How many people are actually at this place today? Not a lot.

Then they talk about 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, " Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit [who is] in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."


So really, our bodies truly are not our own to do with what we wish. Jesus paid for them not only by dying on the cross, but by receiving 39 lashes on his back for our healing.

"But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. " Isaiah 53:5


"...who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. " 1 Peter 2:24



So, since Jesus went through all of that so I could be well, then deliberately choosing to do things to hurt my body is like a slap to His face. Many people try to use a scripture from Acts, about how all things are lawful..."All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All are things lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. " 1 Cor. 6:12

But they fail to see the rest of that scripture- not all things edify. I can choose to watch whatever TV show I want, but not all of them well edify me. I can choose what I want to eat, but not everything will bring health to me. A large well known university did a study and found that the majority of overweight and obese people were religious. Of all the religions, Christians were the fattest!!!! The Muslims were the leanest. We're supposed to be the light of the world...a non-Christian shouldn't look at me and think, 'um, no thanks...'.

This is a theory- many people in this country, instead of letting the Holy Spirit be their comforter, have turned to comfort foods. No wonder we don't have the peace and joy and strength that we should have, because our comfort comes from something other than God. And I am talking about excessive eating here, not the occasional bowl of mac-n-cheese and ice cream.

For me this was such a revelation about how important it is that we obey God's laws. It is so simple to do too! I mean really, He created our bodies to thrive off of God made foods. Whole, natural and life packed foods. Yet, the enemy has laid many traps and snares for us in the form of addictive processed foods. Before it was hard for me to find the line of separation- does God want me to work really hard on nutrition, or should I do what I can and trust Him to take care of us???

Well, I think God expects us to take great care of His temple, in the best way we can, including daily infusing it with His Word, and not allowing negative thinking and emotions to take control. In several of the broadcasts they talked about how our emotions create physical responses in our bodies that lead to disease!!! Primarily, excessive anger over long periods of time can lead to heart attacks.

So, now I have such a clear picture as to what He expects of me. First and foremost, to listen to His voice. Everyone needs different things. Second, use common sense about what a body really needs. When I was on a strict diet, my health was exceptional, because I mostly ate living foods. Raw fruit in the morning, and a large salad at lunch and dinner. In the afternoon I ate baby carrots. The rest of my food was whole and natural as well, though cooked. I didn't focus on organic because it wasn't as available. I know it was of the Lord, because I was able to do it so easily.

Another thing I didn't know was how detrimental extra fat around the belly was. Basically it just creates inflammation inside your organs and is like a smoldering fire ready to ignite into disease!!! Ouch...I do have a belly... Their goal though is not to look good in your clothes (or not in clothes, ha,ha) but to BE WELL. When that is our focus, losing weight becomes easy.

So, after being sick, I've been very inspired to work on myself and my family. I've made it a goal to eat 2-3 pieces of fresh organic fruit if I can get it, and several servings of raw and cooked veggies each day. I've been eating lots of chicken stock based soups, fish and some legumes. Now I will admit I've been eating my Valentine candy, but I didn't get to on Valentines Day, so that makes up for it doesn't it??
I drink water with lemon, take my superfood, and try to listen to what my body really wants. Another thing is really cutting down the sugar, which wasn't bad before, but little things creep in. My children are doing ok with the adjustments. I still allow graham crackers and healthy cereal, and of course fruit and yogurt and some organic juice. I have yet to get back into bread baking and yogurt making, but I'll get there. The focus is whole, natural and organic if possible, especially fruits and veggies.

I went to a different store this week and was able to buy organic baby spinach, carrots, green onions, broccoli and oranges. The apples didn't look too good so I got regular ones. I bought a new cereal from kashi that kids really like, I bought some quality chicken and shrimp, organic pasta and rice and of course the raw milk. I didn't spend much more than normal either. I've had a lot of fun this week making Thai shrimp stew with jasmine rice and Italian wedding soup. The children are not so thrilled, but they are starting to get used to it :) Tonight I am making a more normal meal- swiss smothered steak, mashed potatoes and apple brownies.

Anyways, I hope this helps you as much as it did me. If anyone is interested in watching the videos, they are about 22 minutes each, free, and easy to watch. Go to www.kcm.org, click on the 'media' tab, go to the ones with Dr. Don Colbert and click on whatever day's show you want. It opens into a new window and starts playing. I highly recommend it :) Set it up while you're folding laundry or cooking if you have to.