Tag: tools

Scriptural affirmations

5 of God’s Tools You Need to Use to Improve Your Health (Part 4)

Posted on by Evangeline

For the past 3 weeks, we’ve been exploring five tools God has given us to use to affect healing in our lives. Today, we’ll focus on Scriptural Affirmations. You can find the previous posts by clicking the links below.

Here are 5 of His tools that can bring restoration to our health:

  1. His Word (The Bible)
  2. Communion
  3. Meditation
  4. Scriptural Affirmations
  5. Praying in Tongues

The Power of Words

God framed the world using His words. He designed our universe to respond to words. He spoke words and big things happened (Genesis 1). That’s why He sent the prophets of the Old Testament— to speak the words that He spoke so that those words would cause His plan to happen within this earth realm.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see so many prophetic words about what was coming in the future through the Messiah. Those prophecies proclaimed specific things to come. Those words would set the things in motion that God included in His plan for mankind. All of those words were eventually fulfilled, accomplished, and completed through Jesus.

God has placed that same significance and power in our words. Our words are able to frame and change our personal world when we speak what God says about our situation. The act of speaking what He has said initiates, strengthens, and builds our faith. Believing and speaking His promises instead of our problems can change our personal world.

If God said it, you can choose to believe it and you can choose to say it. The Apostle Paul encourages us to do so:

“Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe.” 2 Corinthians 4:13 MSG

Paul was conveying to the Corinthians the thought that King David wrote in Psalm 116:10. David, known as a man who pursued the heart of God, encourages us to believe what God said, and then act on what we believe by speaking it.

Affirm God’s Promises

“Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge: for it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them. So that your trust (belief, reliance, support, and confidence) may be in the Lord.”  Proverbs 22:17,18 AMP

I am still learning how important my words are. Not only do they let others know what I think, but they are actually vessels filled with the power to change things in my life, including my health!

Tips for Scriptural Affirmations

“My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.” ~ Proverbs 4:20-22 NIV

An affirmation is a definitive statement that you vocalize. It is a statement about something that you declare is already existent, even if you’re not currently seeing it or experiencing it with your other senses. Effective affirmations are positive statements, specifically crafted around the promises found in God’s Word. It’s important that they are framed in the present tense. Creating personal affirmations based on God’s Word is a way of increasing your belief that His promises are true for you.

Here are some tips about saying what God has said about your health. These should make it easier for you to develop the habit of crafting Scriptural Affirmations specific to your circumstances and then speaking them:

  • Find what God has said in the Bible about your specific circumstances—healing/ good health. He only wants His best for you! Read it repeatedly to gain clarity.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a better understanding of that particular Scripture and how it relates to your health.
  • Declare that Scripture daily by making it a prayerful decree that’s spoken out loud. Hear yourself confess His Word instead of all your troubling circumstances.
  • Humble yourself by putting aside your own point of view (what seems or appears like truth) and look at your situation the way God does–according to His Word.
  • Decide to speak what God has said about you and your health, especially during your everyday conversations.

God’s Word is Truth. Speak it, believe it, and make it your truth.  When you speak God’s Word about how He wants you to experience good health, you are releasing its power through your lips. Speaking it will help you believe what you say and you’ll grow to speak it with greater faith.

What is an affirmation that you speak over your health? Please share it in the comments.

You can read more about how to develop and use Scriptural Affirmations in my book,
Live to Win! 5 Essentials for Your Victory and Success.

 

Christian Meditation

5 of God’s Tools You Need to Use to Improve Your Health (Part 3)

Posted on by Evangeline

Christian Meditation. Does that sound like an oxymoron to you? I’ll show you why it’s not. Even though you may connect the word “meditation” with eastern mysticism and New Age practices,  in its proper form, it’s actually something that is God-approved.

In this series of posts on health, we’re exploring five tools God has given us to use to affect healing in our lives. Last week, we looked at communion.

Here are 5 of His tools that can bring restoration to our health:

  1. His Word (The Bible)
  2. Communion
  3. Meditation
  4. Scriptural Affirmations
  5. Praying in Tongues

Today, we’ll focus on Meditation.

Meditation

You may be surprised that meditation is actually something God has called His people to do. During the time of the Hebrew’s Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses died. Joshua was to become the new leader of the people. God called Joshua aside for a little pep talk. He told him that he was strong and courageous. He told Joshua that He would equip him for the task ahead of him as leader of God’s people. The way that Joshua would get equipped would be through meditation:

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”  ~Joshua 1:8 (NIV)

This passage gives us great insight into what biblical meditation is. It is a means of focusing your thoughts on the goodness of God by using His Word. It is different from Transcendental Meditation or any other type of meditation. In the original language, the word for meditate is “hagah”. It means to ruminate, to speak (utter sound), to imagine, to speak with oneself (muttering) in a low voice (whisper). It is not simply reading the Word, thinking about it for a brief moment then quickly forgetting it. Biblical meditation is not about emptying your mind. It involves using your voice to affirm God’s Word for your life. It is an action you take repeatedly throughout the day. In this verse, God is instructing Joshua about how to succeed as the new leader of Israel. But we can also glean from this scripture about how to be successful in life today, especially as we look forward to the new year.

Notice that God didn’t tell Joshua to say anything and everything that came to his mind. He instructed him to meditate on the Book of the Law. God wanted Joshua to read, think about, and mutter God’s words! He wanted Joshua ruminate about the goodness of God and about His love for the people of Israel.

God-Approved Meditation in 2016

So how do we take advantage of this tool and use  it to improve our health? By reading healing Scripture aloud, speaking it as an affirmation, and thinking about it repeatedly throughout the day and before going to bed at night. You can break down one sentence at a time, concentrating on one word at time.

For instance, Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” One way of meditating on this could mean that you say it many more times placing emphasis on a different word each time and giving it some thought. Here’s an example of emphasizing a word and a possible related thought:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [He’s the One Who never changes.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [Presently, definitely, without question.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [I have a personal relationship with Him.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [He tends to me, cares for me, and is always with me.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [This is about me–it’s personal!]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [This is definite. something I can count on.]

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. [Lack is not His way. I don’t have a need He won’t meet.]

Use this process employing scriptures that specifically relate to improved health.

Peace of Mind

Meditation can help you adjust your mindset.  It can keep you going even when the going gets tough. It can be an important aid along your path to success in life.

This process will bring great peace of mind as promised in Isaiah 26:3—God will keep in perfect peace all whose thoughts are fixed on Him.

“Focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.” ~Philippians 4:8 (CJB)

Meditation of God’s Word is a means of focusing your thoughts on the goodness of God by using HIS words. It is a way of being dependent on God and He will view that as an expression of trusting Him.

Give it a try. Be sure to let me know what your results are!

 

tools for health

5 of God’s Tools You Need to Use to Improve Your Health (Part 1)

Posted on by Evangeline

When I woke up this morning, one of my first thoughts was about the tools God has given us to use for improving our health.

A handyman, who’s able to fix so many things, has a variety of tools to use to make repairs. He or she has a hammer, a wrench, a screw driver, and a few other common tools of the trade they keep within easy reach by carrying them in their tool belt. Each tool has a specific purpose and the handyman knows how best to use each one. A hammer wouldn’t be ideal to use for turning a screw nor would a saw be useful in grasping a pipe like a wrench could.

God’s “tools of the trade” are for our well-being. He gave them to us to use so that we can improve our health and finances, increase our confidence in His love, and to take advantage of all that the finished work of Christ provided.

Here are 5 of His tools that can bring restoration to our health:

  1. His Word (The Bible)
  2. Communion
  3. Meditation
  4. Scriptural Affirmations
  5. Praying in Tongues

Just as God’s armor has many pieces that serve different functions in protecting us (Ephesians 6), His tools of the trade also serve different functions in our lives, especially when it comes to our health.  Here are some thoughts about how scripture impacts our health.

How can His Word bring healing?

Proverbs 4:22 (NLT) clearly states, God’s words “bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.” Search God’s Word to find the healing promises and then ask Him how to understand and use their inherent power.

Scripture has a divine purpose. God sent His Word to heal us and save us from destruction (Psalm 107:20).

The Bible shows us how God fulfilled His Old Testament prophecies through the finished work of Christ in the New Testament. What the prophet Isaiah spoke has come to pass–Jesus Himself took away our infirmities and bore our sickness (Matthew 8:17).

God’s Word also builds our confidence in His love for us. This confidence is hugely important if we are to take advantage of all that His promises have to offer us (1 John 5:14,15).

What about Communion and the other tools?

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll share about the advantages and usefulness of the other instruments in my list of God’s tools. In next week’s post, you’ll see how communion plays a powerful, relevant role in our health…even in 2016 and beyond.

Need help with finding healing scriptures? Click the link below below to request my free pamphlet, Speak the Word Over Your Physical and Mental Health.

YES! Please send me the healing scriptures pamphlet.