If God Is Love, And Love Is Healthy, Then Living In God Is Healthy.
God is love. We know this as stated in 1 John 4: 16 NIV, “God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (Holman Rainbow Study Bible). This is such a powerful statement and I don’t believe we really comprehend what it is saying. We are so used to taking love for granted because of its portrayal in Hollywood and its commercialization in certain situations (e.g., Valentine’s Day) that we forget or sometimes never know the power in it.
It is clearly written that “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4: 8 NIV). Furthermore, our God who is love, and, therefore, the Creator of love, is the only reason why we know this feeling at all; “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4: 19 NIV). How powerful it must be to live in a state of love if it is truly the definition of and the connection to our God!
But how do we define love from a human perspective? Love is positive. This positive emotion is the purest of all the feelings. The most welcoming and inviting and protective posture. It is the performing of anything for the benefit and good of someone else at any or all cost. It is gratitude for ourselves, our lives, and everything within our lives.
Therefore, if God is love and love is a positive emotion, then anything contrary to that, such as negative emotions (e.g., hatred, anger, resentment, bitterness, etc.) must be against God. However, that is not always true. In the Bible, we have read that Jesus became angry and overturned tables when He was in the temple and saw people selling goods there (Matthew 21: 12-13 NIV). Because Jesus experienced anger, we must conclude that if we have negative emotions, they could only have been given to us by God for a purpose. Accordingly, science has discovered that the purpose of negative emotions is to protect us from dangerous situations (Dispenza, You Are the Placebo 96-97 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 46-47). For example, worry and fear could cause us to seek protection from possible inciting violence.
However, if God is endless love, a positive emotion, then how could it be that negative emotions are not against who He is? Well, as Christians we actually do believe that some negative emotions result in sin. It is very clear in the Bible that we must not have hatred, envy, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, anger, etc. There are endless examples of this in the Bible (e.g., Leviticus 19: 17-18 NIV, Psalm 37: 8 NIV, Luke 6: 37 NIV, Galatians 5: 19-21 NIV, Ephesians 4: 31 NIV, James 1: 19-21 NIV, and James 3: 14-16 NIV and hundreds more). However, it is to be noted that even when Jesus got angry, it did not result in a sin (Hebrews 4: 15 NIV). Jesus was sinless. He came to help sinners. His heart was pure. He was God incarnate and, therefore, He was love.
But, it is written, Jesus got angry and did not sin. However, if you study how Jesus managed His anger and compare it to how often times we do, there is a clear distinction seen. With all love in Him because He was God (who IS love), negative emotions could not fester within Jesus. As such, the reason why Jesus did not sin was because He did not HOLD ONTO these negative emotions.
There are several examples of this in the Bible but the greatest example took place when Jesus was being crucified. “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23: 34 NIV). Even in the most egregious of situations, Jesus did not linger in holding onto negative emotions; He was incapable of it because of who He was/is. Therefore, He remained sinless.
This is in stark contrast to how we generally manage our negative emotions. Often times when we feel anger or worry or fear, we become prisoners to these feelings. The power of these emotions consume our minds and overtake our hearts. We often times cannot stop experiencing these feelings as we continue to perseverate about the situation or the person(s) that might have incited them. Their negative toxicity repeats in our minds and hearts as a broken record and we become completely consumed with them, sometimes for hours but sometimes for years. And this is where we sin.
The Bible states, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4: 26-27 NIV). Here the Bible clearly explains how anger (and likely other negative emotions) leads to a sin. Even though we struggle to do so, it indicates that the longer we hold onto negative emotions, the more we can lead to sin. But it goes even further to remind us that with these held negative feelings comes the devil, the promoter of sin.
Now that we have some understanding about positive and negative emotions and how they relate to God and the teachings of the Bible, let us see how we can connect these teachings to our health. In science, we know that each emotion is linked to a complex chemical reaction that takes place in our body every time we experience it. Without getting too scientific at this juncture, we generally know that when we experience a good emotion in its purest form (e.g., love, happiness, kindness, peace, compassion, joy, etc.), the chemical reactions as well as genetic expressions in our body lead to beneficial results for the body or healthiness (e.g., increased healing, increased immunity, balance in all of our bodily systems, etc.) (Dispenza, You Are the Placebo 101-102, 115-118 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 44, 164, 167). However, when we experience negative emotions (e.g., stress, depression, guilt, anxiety, worry, shame, fear, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, etc.), over long periods of time by holding onto them, it does the complete opposite. We experience unhealthiness or decreased healing, decreased immune function, and an overall imbalance in the systems of the body, just to name a few (Dispenza, You Are the Placebo 98-101, 115 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 47, 165-167). We can, therefore, understand that if we hold onto negative emotions for too long they can disrupt the physiology of the body, so much so, that it can cause parts or even the whole body to break down (Dispenza, You Are the Placebo 98-101, 115 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 47, 165-167).
Therefore, if God is love, and love is a positive emotion and positive emotions lead to health, and sin is associated with negative emotions and negative emotions lead to lack of health, then we can conclude that living through God and His teachings in the Bible will lead to being healthy. In comparison, living in opposition to God through sin will lead to poor health. If we continue to live according to Jesus’ two greatest commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22: 37-39 NIV), then we will not only promote health but we can reverse the results of negative emotions and heal bodily ailments (Dispenza, You Are the Placebo 98-102, 115-118 and Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural 41, 44, 47, 164-167). Plainly stated, living according to God’s word promotes health!
It is so amazing how God made our bodies!! The very fabrication of how it works and how well it works is solely connected to the nature and definition of who He is and the premise of His core teachings! It is mind blowing if you think about it, yet, truly simple!
Just by interpreting God’s messages in the Bible, we can be Medicated by Faith. We can help our bodies heal by living in positive emotions such as joy, peace, calmness, happiness, and gratitude simply by having faith in God who is love!
My prayer for you is that this week you will start acknowledging what negative emotions are in your heart and how they are contributing to your lack of health, not only in a mental sense but in a physical one. Remember the negative emotions you hold onto lead to actual changes in the physiology of your body that then cause the body to become out of balance. Remember also, anything out of balance for long periods of time will break. Our body is no different! However, our body heals living in joy and peace and love!
Give God some of the negative emotions you have in your heart this week that are leading you away from health and away from God. Give Him the fear you have for a disease you are suffering from! Give Him the anxiety growing over a bodily pain! Give Him the worry about someone else’s health problems! Thank God for taking them away! Thank Him for never leaving you through any of your medical issues! Thank God for the amazing way He not only made your body but gave directions to heal it! Feel the immediate peace and freedom that remains and watch the healing start! He is here for you and all things are possible through Him!
Thank you for reading my post! Please come back every week as we not only further expand upon many topics reviewed today but also discuss ways of how we can be Medicated by Faith! There is so much information that I have learned through God’s guidance that He wants me to share with you and I can’t wait to do it! We can live in faith through God’s word and, in the process, renew our souls and heal our bodies, leading us to complete health!
Please make comments or ask any further questions that you may have below or by emailing me at jill@medicatedbyfaith.com. I promise to respond personally or elaborate on your questions in further posts! God is blessing you!
