What do we do with disease

In our previous article we started to look at what YHVH’s real intent is for our health. It is clear from the Scriptures that disease is not His ideal plan for us. His ideal plan for us is that we will be healthy and prosper. However, because of sin and disobedience we have the curses that He warned us about in our lives. Disease is but one of the curses in our lives. We also saw in the previous article that disease can originate from one of three different sources:

• Spiritual e.g. fear
• Psychological e.g. depression
• Biological e.g. bacterial infection

We also saw that the medical establishment is not really equipped to deal with the disease that originate in the spiritual realm. Here we are talking about autoimmune diseases like arthritis and eczema, mental diseases like depression and anxiety, but also some more common diseases like high blood pressure and strokes. For these we need a different approach. But what is this approach?

Where do spiritual diseases come from? Brain and body basics

In order for us to understand how these spiritual diseases originate, it is important to have a basic understanding of how the brain and body works. The brain is the organ in our body that provides the gateway between the spirit and the soul. What happens in the brain shows itself in our actions as well as our health.

Pathways and patterns

Our brain consists of millions of brain cells. These brain cells, specifically the neurons, communicate with one another to allow us to think and act. Our brain is the main processing unit that controls what thoughts will be turned into actions. The brain is also the largest consumer of energy in our body. Yet, YHVH created the brain with special features to make most efficient use of energy. One of these techniques is what neuroscientists call “neural pathways.”

Every cell in our brain consists out of a cell body, dendrites and an axon¹. The dendrites are the parts of the cell that receive incoming messages, while the axon is the part of the cell that transmits the information to the next brain cell. Axons normally have a healthy network of branches allowing it to talk to multiple dendrites. There exists a small gap between the axon of one cell and the dendrite of the next. This gap is referred to as the synaptic cleft. The cells communicate by transferring chemicals, called neurotransmitters across this gap. What allows these neurotransmitters to be released from the axon, is a change in electrical charge. This is why the scientists say that our brain work via electrical charges.

For each thought that we have, many of these exchanges need to happen between brain cells. Every time we have the same thought, the same brain cells will “fire” in the same sequence. The more often we do this the better optimized this process becomes. This is one of the methods that YHVH created for our brain to conserve energy. The scientists have come to describe this with the phrase “cells that fire together, wire together.” This is exactly what we use when we learn something by repeating it over and over again.

When we repeat the same action often enough the brain forms what is being called a “pattern.” Whenever a pattern is formed, we can execute the sequence of thoughts and actions without having to spend too much brain power, and thus energy, on this activity. A very good example of this is walking. When a baby is born it does not yet have the patterns for standing upright or walking. Yet, the baby tries this often enough and after multiple repetitions it becomes an automated action. Now, the child does not have to concentrate on standing up or walking. Due to the fact that this process is automated, the brain can spend its energy on something else. This is why you can walk and talk.

This all sounds great and we can clearly see the benefit. However, it also has a disadvantage. When we have the same negative thoughts over and over again, the same thing happens. If we entertain this thought often enough the cells will “wire together” and it will become our default thought. This is why end up with bad habits and negative outlooks on life. These are typically the start of some of the spiritual diseases that manifests in our lives.

Different brain waves

Our brain functions slightly differently depending on which mental state we are in. Your brainwaves look different when we are dreaming, concentrating on reading this article or simply relaxing and listening to beautiful music. These different brainwaves can be observed on the cortex (outside layer) of the brain using a piece of equipment called an “electroencephalograph” or EEG. This machine records the oscillatory pattern normally via electrodes glued to the scalp. What we see on the machine, is the predominant state that our brain is in. This means that all brainwaves may be present at a specific point in time, but we have a predominant wave that can be recorded via the EEG.

Based on their observations, medical scientists have made the following classification of our brain waves:

• Alpha – These waves have a frequency between 8 and 15 Hz. We normally enter this state when we are relaxed. It is also the state our brain is in when we are reflecting on something or sitting with your eyes closed. This is also the state of a patient that is in a coma. When you are relaxed and reading / meditating on YHVH’s Word, you will be in this state.

• Beta – Here your brain is operating between 16-31 Hz. You will enter this state anywhere between active, but calm and stressed states. In this state your brain is actively thinking and you will be concentrating on the task at hand. Most likely this is the state that your brain is in right now.

• Delta – This has a frequency less than 4 Hz. This is normally the state that an adult would be in when asleep and dreaming.

• Gamma – Here your brain waves are at a frequency higher than 32Hz. This state normally happens when you are processing multiple senses and the same time e.g. sound and sight. Gamma waves appear to be involved in a higher brain activity, that includes perception and consciousness.

• Theta – This has a frequency between 4 and 7 Hz. For adults and teenagers this is the state when you are drowsy /or thinking very deeply. This state occurs more frequently in young children. This is the state that the brain is put in during the practices of meditation and hypnosis. People who are daydreaming would often be engaged in theta. These waves are also associated with creativity and characterized by feelings of inspiration.

Our typical cycle would be to go from Beta to Alpha as we relax and calm down. Then we would move into Theta before falling asleep and then moving to Delta. Children spend a lot more time in Theta than adults do, as our society has trained us to operate in Beta for the majority of our day. This may be one of the reasons that creative thinking is such a sought after skill. We are taught in school not to do it. It is about concentration and storing and recalling facts.

Theta is also the state we enter into when praying. When we pray we typically start off in the Alpha state. This may where the best practice of closing your eyes during prayer comes from. We move from Beta to Alpha when we close our eyes and relax. Theta is then where the real communication with YHVH starts to happen. I believe that YHVH created this state in our brains in order for Him to speak directly to our spirits. This then again turns into thoughts in our minds (soul) which in turn leads to actions (body). This is what makes it so important for us to set time aside every day to allow Him to talk to us in peace and quiet. We need to discipline ourselves to establish the habit of “quiet time”, where we spend time to focus only on Him.

The enemy is also aware of this, and will try to use this to speak evil into your spirit. This is why practices like meditation and hypnosis are so dangerous. These put you in Theta state that will open up your spirit for new ideas. In the case of hypnosis you are not even aware of what is happening to you in this state. In the case of hypnosis, they make use of a low frequency to get your brainwaves to the range of 4 to 7 Hz. The other method that does this is music. We see in a lot of other cultures, specifically in Africa, that they use the drumbeat to get people into a trance where the worship of their gods happens. This is the reason we do not allow any African drums in our house. These are objects of false god worship and we drag all the evil with it when we allow them into our lives. Modern music, specifically heavy metal and rap, also use these to get the listener into this brain state. It opens up the spirit to the messages that they are repeating over and over in the song. Please be very aware of what music you listen to and read the lyrics for yourself. You will be surprised to see what is being put into your spirit and soul.

We need to make sure that we establish an opportunity for YHVH to speak to us. For this we need to get into the habit that will allow this to happen. But, beware who else you allow into your spirit to plant all sorts of evil thoughts. This is one of the ways that evil enters into our bodies to make us sick.

The brain at rest

In most cases we are not aware of exactly how critical the sleep period is for our brain and health. Most people are already aware of the fact that a lack of sleep has a negative impact on your mental health. One night of less than six hours sleep has a noticeable impact on mental capacities. But there is actually more that happens than resting. Our brain is very active when we sleep.

This is maybe the reason behind the saying that we have all heard or used before – “Let me sleep on that!” This saying is based on the fact that our brain does not switch off when we fall asleep. It continues to work (Delta state). What is important to know is the type of work that our brain performs while we are asleep.

One of the key activities that our brain performs is the reconciliation of memories. While we are in REM sleep, our brain is busy with the process of sorting out our long term memories and the relationships between these memories. At the same time the brain is also turning our short term memories into long term memories⁵. What makes this so important is that these two processes are actually the basis of what we perceive to be the truth. If we do not have enough good quality sleep, our long term memories are not what they should be and we thus have a wrong sense of the truth. We require at least 6-8 hours of sleep every night. But very few people get enough good quality sleep. It has now reached the level where the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA, has declared sleep deprivation a certified public health epidemic⁶.

This means that the majority of us are walking around with less than optimal view of our reality. This could also be one of the reasons that self-hate is becoming such a common cause of so many spiritual diseases. We have come up with a way to try and break this habit. It is called the 7×7 challenge. It basically means that you must force yourself to sleep at least 7 hours every night for 7 days in a row. Once you have done this and have seen the benefits in your everyday life, you will again come to realize how important good quality sleep is.

In order to ensure that your brain works at full capacity and does not play “tricks” on your memories, make sure you get enough sleep.

Genetics are not to blame

How often do we blame our genes for some of our problems? We are taught that a lot of these spiritual diseases are caused by our parents and grandparents. We have been trained by the system that a lot of the diseases we have are due to the DNA that we have received at birth. Thus, if your dad had a problem with depression, this is the reason for you being depressed so often. In the last couple of years a lot of scientific studies, especially on identical twins, have started to question this assumption. If it is all about the DNA you get from your parents, then identical twins, which have the same DNA, should always have exactly the same diseases. From observing twins, we have come to learn that this is not the case. What is the explanation for this?

This is where the study of epigenetics now comes in. In very simple terms, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code². Although our DNA remains fixed, the DNA is covered by tags, called the epigenome³. This epigenome shapes the genes in our body that are accessible or inaccessible. This epigenome is not as fixed as the DNA. It is more flexible and changes over time. Outside factors like diet and stress have an impact on the epigenetic tags. These tags then respond by adjusting our accessible genes according to these signals. This explains why a set of twins could have completely different diseases. It is because of the environment that they live in that their active genes will differ. This could cause a genetic defect to be more accessible in one of the twins at a specific point in time.

What this then means is that the stress in our life will have an impact on the disease that manifest itself in your life. We know that “stress” is simply the modern word for fear. Fear comes from a lack of faith. From this we can conclude that your actions to live in more in faith will have an impact on your health via your epigenome that changes the accessible genes in your DNA. This may also be the reason behind why optimists live longer.

A study by the University College of London has shown that adopting a positive attitude in life, lowers the risk of a repeat heart attack⁴. It also found a clear correlation between a negative attitude and depression. Most interesting, was the link that they found that people with an optimistic outlook also make better lifestyle choices like quitting the smoking habit or eating healthier food. As we have mentioned above, these factors, then again find itself back into you epigenome bringing even more positive results.

How should we be dealing with disease that originate from the spiritual realm

In order to understand what we need to do, in addition to a healthy lifestyle and the disciplines mentioned above, we need to have the knowledge that Scripture provides. Having knowledge is what will keep us from being destroyed by the diseases that originate in the spiritual realm.

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your Elohim, I also will forget your children.

This implies that we need to get a good understanding of what Scripture expects us to do and also, what we are expected not to do. Let us first look at what we shouldn’t be doing if we expect to be healed from these diseases that originate in the spiritual realm.

What should we not do

One of the first things we need to realize, when dealing with disease caused by spiritual influence, is that we must not deny the power of godliness.

It is clear in the message from Paul to Timothy that we will deal with a lot of ungodly people, who will love things other than YHVH, and will deny the power of godliness.

2 Timothy 3:2–5
² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of YHVH, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

If we look at the English definition of the word “godliness” in different dictionaries, we see that they refer to conforming to the commandments of YHVH (pious living.) We see, in this context, that we should not deny the power of following the commandments of YHVH. From this verse of Scripture, we are also told that we should avoid people that do not hold to godliness (pious living.) This implies that we need to ensure that we lead a pious life and that we surround ourselves with people that have the same view on life.

What is also of great importance is how you react if you do sin. Most importantly, we should not start condemning ourselves for the sin. This is not the plan of YHVH. This is the accuser, accusing us.

Romans 8:1
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Y’Shua.

Revelation 12:10–11
¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our Elohim and the authority of His Messiah have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our Elohim day and night. ¹¹ “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

What YHVH really wants from us is that we realize our mistake and return to Him. He wants to be compassionate towards us. If only we would return. This is the purpose of conviction. It should make us want to return, not run and hide.

Isaiah 30:18
Therefore YHVH longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For YHVH is an Elohim of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.

1 John 1:8–9
⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 2:2–4
² And we know that the judgment of YHVH rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³ But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of YHVH? ⁴ Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of YHVH leads you to repentance?

YHVH wants for us to long to fellowship with Him. Sin brings separation and YHVH wants us to take the step to return to Him. We know that this separation is one of the things that allow spiritual disease into our lives. He does not want us to have fear (trembling; anxiety) for Him. He knows that this fear creates havoc in the human spirit. It opens the door for the accuser to bring more and more sin into our lives.

He wants us to get rid of the sin in our lives. But, as Paul mentioned in the Letter to the Romans, we still sin. This brings a lot of problems into our lives, unless we know the correct way of dealing with it.

What should we do?

So, what then is the correct way for us to deal with diseases that originate from the spiritual realm? It starts with the concept of speaking truth to ourselves. We need to see what truths of how to deal with this are already recorded for us in Scripture.

The first step is to understand that there is but One. We must know that YHVH is the master of all. We need to bow the knee to Him alone.

Isaiah 45:22–23
²² “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am YHVH, and there is no other. ²³ “I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

Romans 14:11–12
¹¹ For it is written, “As I live, says YHVH, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to YHVH.” ¹² So then each one of us will give an account of himself to YHVH.

If YHVH is the one, then we need to know that the only way for us is to trust in YHVH. There is really no purpose in us getting all anxious about what could happen. We are not in charge! YHVH cares for us, and He provides what is best for us.

1 Peter 5:6–7
⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of YHVH, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

By implication, this also means that we should not place our hope and faith in all sorts of other potential cures. If we start to place our faith in medicine, healthy eating, frequencies or some specific form of exercise, we will be disappointed. Even though some of these treatments may help some people, this should not be the place we put our faith. Ultimately, only YHVH will decide the outcome. If you believe that He loves you and wants what is best for you, you are already on the fast track to recovery.

Even if we have complete faith in the plan that YHVH has for us, He still demands some action from us. What then are the things we should be doing to rid ourselves of these diseases that the medical world cannot cure?

Avoid sin

We also need to understand that there exists a clear link between sin and disease. We have this link defined in Deuteronomy chapter 28 where the curses are mentioned.

Deuteronomy 28:58–62
⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, YHVH your Elohim, ⁵⁹ then YHVH will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰ “He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ “Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, YHVH will bring on you until you are destroyed. ⁶² “Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey YHVH your Elohim.

There is a saying that we hear quite often that is relatively simple to understand, yet we struggle to live by it:

AVOIDANCE IS BETTER THAN CURE

In this case, it is telling us that if we want to be free from the diseases that originate in our spirits, we should avoid whatever causes these diseases in the first place. Here we need to understand what it is that cause these diseases, if we want to avoid them. Disobedience to the Word of YHVH brings curses upon us. Disobedience to His instructions is what causes sin. We know that it is sin that brings the curses into our lives. These curses include all sorts of health issues. If we do not obey Him, we will have pestilence clinging to us and if we hold fast to His Word, we will have a long life. Contrary to what a lot of churches teach, even Paul and the apostles agreed that we need to keep His commandments.

Deuteronomy 28:20–22
²⁰ “YHVH will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. ²¹ “YHVH will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. ²² “YHVH will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.

Deuteronomy 30:19–20
¹⁹ “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, ²⁰ by loving YHVH your Elohim, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

James 1:22–25
²² But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. ²⁵ But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

1 John 3:22
and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

Romans 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

We cannot say – `This does not apply to me!` If you have that thought, then John states that you are a liar. And then the truth is not within you.

1 John 1:8–10
⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

The issue is not whether or not we sin. We all sin! The important point is what you do when you sin. YHVH states that He wants us to repent of our sins, turn away from these transgressions and return to Him.

Ezekiel 18:30–32
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares YHVH Elohim. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. 31 “Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares YHVH Elohim. “Therefore, repent and live.”

In the book of Psalms, David also points out to us that there is a definite link between healing and the forgiveness of sin. YHVH is the one that pardons us our transgressions and heals us from the diseases that come upon us due to the curses.

Psalm 103:2–5
2 Bless YHVH, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

YHVH’s love for us is not based on whether we sin or not. He is more concerned about our attitude towards sin. We know that both David and Saul sinned. Yet the outcomes were worlds apart. Why was David a man of YHVH’s heart and not Saul? Does it have to do with the fact that we have no record of Saul repenting? Yet, we see lots of verses describing to us the remorse that David had because of his sin. Nowhere does YHVH state that He will reject us if we sin. On the contrary, we have the wonderful passage in Isaiah that tells us that YHVH will be angry with us because of our sin, but He will still heal and comfort the righteous person.

Isaiah 57:15 – 19
¹⁵ For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ “For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made. ¹⁷ Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;I hid My face and was angry, And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart. ¹⁸ “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, ¹⁹ Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”Says YHVH, “and I will heal him.”

Cleanse yourself from the sin

2 Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of YHVH.

James 4:7–10
⁷ Submit therefore to YHVH. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to YHVH and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the presence of YHVH, and He will exalt you.

John 5:13–14
¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Y’Shua had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward Y’Shua found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

The Scriptures also show us that there is a correlation between the condition of our soul and the condition of our body (health.) We read in the letters of John, that if he sees people being in good health if their soul prospers.

 

3 John 2
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

Protect your thoughts

We need to implement as many preventative actions as possible. The Scriptures teach us that we need to have control over our spirit.

Proverbs 25:28
Like a city that is broken into and without walls, Is a man who has no control over his spirit.

We need to put up these walls around our spirit to keep the evil out that causes the disease in our lives. This can be done by putting in place things that prevent evil thoughts. We know that if we have love and forgiveness in our spirit and mind, that it will prevent evil. Thus, we need to build the cornerstone habit of loving. This includes loving YHVH, ourselves and our neighbor. We need to supplement this with the next cornerstone habit, forgiveness. We need to come to a good understanding of what exactly is meant by “forgiveness.”

An Example

We see the same process happening during the reign of King Hezekiah. When Hezekiah became king, the nation was in complete idolatry. It had gone so far that there were no more ordained priests. This means that there were no more sacrifices brought. The people were not repenting of their sins. They were living in sin and they were paying the price for it. When the king discovered the Word of YHVH, he restored the priests. The priests cleaned the Temple and the sacrifices were once again made. King Hezekiah even invites Ephraim and Manasseh to join Judah in Jerusalem for the Passover. Some of the 10 tribes did join them. You can read the details of this in 2 Chronicles 29 & 30. What was the result of this?

2 Chronicles 30:20
So YHVH heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

2 Chronicles 30:27
Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.

How to stop the cycle and start healing

All sin starts with your thoughts. Yet, there is always a choice between thought and action. We may get to the point where we make the choice, so often that it looks like we have no choice. We simply do. Yet, if you actually focus on any action / habit, you will find that you can create the pause that allows you to make a deliberate choice before the action occurs.

Renew the spirit of your mind. Make sure that you do not serve two masters. Paul also said that sin still dwells in him. We need to work on our sanctification every day.

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve YHVH and wealth.

Romans 7:16–17
¹⁶ But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. ¹⁷ So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Ephesians 4:20–24
²⁰ But you did not learn Messiah in this way, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Y’Shua, ²² that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self, which in the likeness of YHVH has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

The ultimate goal is not to resist the evil, but to defeat it. Resist indicates that there is still an ongoing battle within us. Once we have defeated the evil, the battle has been ended and we no longer serve the evil. We have renewed our soul (our thoughts) that will now lead to the righteous actions in our lives. These will be the actions that bear the good fruit. We need to train our minds to do what is good.

Hebrews 5:14
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul also mentions what happens if we manage to keep evil out of our lives. We see that this has an impact on spirit, soul and body. All aspects are preserved completely if we manage to abstain from evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:21–24
²¹But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil. ²³ Now may the Elohim of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Master, Y’Shua the Messiah. ²⁴ Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

Thus, if we want to ensure a healthy life, we need to make all effort to keep evil out of our lives. This once again shows us that what happens in the spiritual realm has the ability to manifest itself in our physical lives. What we think, can have an impact not only on how we feel (emotions), but also for our physical health. We need to ensure that we guard our spirit and soul if we want to be preserved completely. The one is not separate from the other.

Conduct a thought survey

If we want to change our thoughts, we first need to determine where we have a problem. Thus, it is a good idea to find out exactly where we have a problem. It is a good idea to start off with a “thought survey.” This is also referred to as a “self talk survey” in the book “Learning to tell myself the truth.” For a couple of days, write down all the thoughts that come to mind whenever you get angry, scared, anxious or unhappy. Then look at these statements later and see if they really are true. Look out for things like generalization, exaggerations, critical statements, etc. I a lot of cases you will find that these are simply misbeliefs. Then identify the actual fact, and concentrate on replacing the misbelief with a fact. Example: You can replace “things always go wrong” with “If I do not plan or concentrate on what I am doing, it goes wrong.” These facts, will lead to more positive thinking and reduce the negative emotions in your life. This in turn reduces stress and anxiety.

Also, pay attention to what you are paying attention to. Which thoughts are you allowing into your mind by the things you

see or hear. Think about things like:

• Movies
• Television
• Books & Magazines
• Music
• Internet

Can you honestly say that these only speak truth into your life? Be specifically aware of the lyrics of songs. Read the words for yourself. We have found so many catchy tunes that contain a lot of immoral statements, specifically regarding marriage. They try to make evil sound good. Be aware! Sorting through your music library may be one of the quickest ways to protect your thoughts.

Take your thoughts captive

Once you have identified false or evil thoughts you need to make them captive to the obedience of Messiah.

2 Cor 10:3-6
³ “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, ⁴ for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵ We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of YHVH, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah, ⁶ and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”

You have around 60,000 thoughts a day. Each one of these have the potential to lead you to sin. They could also simply distract you from what you should really be concentrating on. The power to control your thoughts is a skill that most of us have lost. We have lost the ability to have quiet time without Creator and sit and wait on Him.

Just as we need to use self-control to ensure that we are in control of our actions, we also need to take control of our thoughts. Learn to concentrate again, spend time focusing on one subject at a time Do not allow your phone, your computer or the television to interrupt your thoughts.

Research has shown that if we learn to focus our attention for 5 to 16 minutes a day, for example, your quiet time, will shift your frontal brain states. This shift in brain states will in turn allow you to engage with the world around you and produce a happier outlook on life.⁶ This in turn will reduce your stress and improve your health.

Restoring the separation that causes these diseases

One more thing that causes disease of the spirit is a separation from our Father and Creator. This happens if we do not truly realize that He loves us. It is the work of the enemy that convinces us that we must fear (as in tremble) YHVH. The accuser wants us to think that YHVH is out to catch and condemn us. Because we do not know His word, we step into this trap and a separation starts to happen. You need to realize that YHVH loves you so much!

John 3:16
“For YHVH so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

1 John 4:16–19
¹⁶ We have come to know and have believed the love which YHVH has for us. YHVH is love, and the one who abides in love abides in YHVH, and YHVH abides in him. ¹⁷ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love, because He first loved us.

We need to speak truth to ourselves when it comes to the love of YHVH. I challenge you to memorize John 3:16 and speak it to yourself whenever you begin to doubt YHVH’s love for you. If you remove your toxic thoughts about the nature of YHVH, you will restore your relationship with YHVH to where He wants you to be.

We must also remove any separation with our neighbors. We need to love our neighbor as ourselves. This can only be achieved if we ensure that we are not walking around with a spirit of un-forgiveness. When somebody wrongs you make sure that you would be willing to forgive if he/she asks for your forgiveness. Do not walk around with a hardened heart.

Forgiveness is also something we must learn to apply to ourselves. If you cannot love yourself, with all your flaws, how can you love your brother. If YHVH is willing to forgive you your mistakes, why must you keep on beating yourself up? Learn to accept your mistakes, learn from them and then move on. Do not keep dwelling in the past. These negative thoughts about yourself will surely create spiritual diseases in your body and start to impact your health.

All of these activities will put you in better control of your thoughts. Once you learn to become better at managing your thoughts, you will start to see the benefits in your health.

If it does not work

Sometimes a person will do all these things, but still not see any improvements in their life or health. When this happens, there are a couple of additional actions that you can take to try and correct this situation.

Ensure you have no iniquity in your life

Start off by inspecting your own life. Are there any things, like iniquities, in your life that is causing you to separate from YHVH. We see in Scripture that it is our iniquities that can cause the separation.

 

Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the YHVH’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your Elohim, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.

Psalm 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart, YHVH will not hear me.

Spend some time to reflect on any unrepented sin in your life. Look for a spirit of unforgiveness or fear. These slip into our lives so fast. When you feel that your health is under threat from a spiritual source, always start by ensuring that your iniquities are not in the way.

Fasting

In Scripture, we find many references where repentance is done together with a fast. Read the story of the return from Babylon in Ezra and Nehemiah to get a good example of the impact of fasting. In the story of Esther fasting is also used as a way to hear the voice of YHVH and know His way. Y’Shua also fasted for 40 days while He was in the wilderness. He often spoke of the act of fasting, but did also speak out against the ritual if it did not have a real intent behind it.

Matthew 6:16–18
¹⁶ “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ¹⁷ “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face ¹⁸ so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

When Y’Shua’s disciples had difficulty driving out the demon from a boy, we also find that the recommended prayer and fasting.

Matthew 17:20–21
²⁰ And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. ²¹ “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

It is clear that whenever we are in need of a breakthrough, that fasting is an option to consider. But this fast needs to be a spiritual experience that is used to seek YHVH. Hear his voice, understand His will! This also implies that you will need to spend a lot of time with Him. In prayer, in seeking His Word and spending dedicated time with Him.

With the help of others

We may need the help of others. The gifts of the Spirit are given to the assembly as a whole for the benefit of all. This includes the spirit of healing, the spirit of miracles and the spirit of distinguishing of spirits. Any of these can help us get healing. We never know which way YHVH may choose to restore us to good health again. If we have faith in Him, He will find the way to heal us.

1 Corinthians 12:6–12
⁶ There are varieties of effects, but the same Elohim who works all things in all persons. ⁷ But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. ¹² For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Messiah.

In James 5:14-16 we have seen that we may need to go to the elders for prayer in order to be healed.

We are also told to pray for one another. This makes healing not only a personal matter, but also a communal task. We need to help one another.

Conclusion

We have seen that the Scripture is clear about the fact that:

1. Sin leads to curses in our lives.
2. We are made up of body, mind and spirit.
3. We all sin.
4. We need to rid our lives of sin.

We have seen in this article that our thoughts are the key to our health and happiness. We need to understand where our thoughts come from if we want to know what to do about these thoughts. One of these thoughts may be YHVH speaking to us, via His Spirit to our spirit, or it may be the accuser trying to confuse us or lead us astray. We need to know the Scriptures so that we may be found in the truth. This knowledge sets us free from the lies of the accuser that works through our spirit into soul and body.

If we want to rid ourselves of the modern “incurable” diseases, we need to acknowledge that these may originate in the spiritual realm. We can minimize the negative impact of these diseases by taking control of our thoughts. Our actions start with our thoughts. If we can take our thoughts captive and ensure that your default thoughts are positive and focused on Messiah, we can experience the healing in our lives. In order to do this, we need to make every possible effort to rid our lives of sin. It starts with our own thoughts and actions, but also spills over into the world around us. What type of friends do you or your family keep, what music do I listen to, what books or newspapers am I reading? Are you building a fence around your thoughts to protect them and thereby improve your health?

You need to take action if you want to see a positive change in your health. Start with the basic steps identified throughout this article:

1. Identify the sin in your life, repent and remove it from your life
2. Speak truth to yourself about the love that YHVH has for you
3. Be willing to forgive – yourself and others
4. Get enough sleep – the 7 x 7 challenge
5. Do the thought survey! Identify your toxic thoughts and replace them with truth from Scripture
6. Learn to be still. You can learn to take your thoughts captive and allow YHVH time to speak to you. It will also do wonders for your ability to concentrate.

Start working on these new habits as soon as possible. Acknowledge that it may not go smoothly from the start, but persevere. It is worth it! YHVH wants us to be healthy.

Numbers 23:19
YHVH is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change his mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?

References

1. Kharrazian, Datis. Why isn’t my brain working? Elephant Press. ISBN 978-0-9856904-3-4

2. Walsh, William J. Nutrient Power. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62636-128-7

3. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/intro/

4. http://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Citation/2015/04000/Optimism_and_Recovery_After_Acute_Coronary.12.aspx

5. http://mic.com/articles/104472/what-sleep-deprivation-does-to-your-brain-in-one-stunning-infographic

6. Leaf, Caroline. Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health. Baker Books. ISBN 978-0801018398.