God's word...principle 3: God wants to restore our health and heal our wounds

Jeremiah 30:17

"For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ..."

Oh, this is the most exciting principle! Not only does God wants us to be healthy, HE WILL restore health to us and heal us of our wounds! We don't just have a God who is a cheerleader, a leader, a friend, we have a God who is a healer! That is such a wonderful thing to grasp and to celebrate. But what does it look like for Him to restore our health and heal our wounds? What does it mean in our daily lives? We know in the Bible that He just miraculously healed some people. He still does it today, and thank God He does! Most of us know, though, that that is not an everyday occurrence.

In my experience, this is the LET God, Trust God, and Obey God principle. LETTTING God restore our health, which we talked about in the second Kingdom Health principle blog is hard mental and heart work, but if we want Him to restore our health we must be willing to LET Him. Trusting that He will is about enduring the process. It's easy to trust that He wants to, but trusting the way that He goes about it in our lives isn't always easy, because sometimes the process is painful (literally), difficult, long, uncomfortable, and unknown. It's easy to lose trust in the process.

Then, finally, obeying God. Not listening to our flesh and it's cries for the comfortable, the pleasurable, and the convenient eventually just comes down to a matter of the will. At some point, you'll know all the things; your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health will be getting good so you're not craving all the things; and you're able to do all the wise things, but we live in a fallen, convenient world full of lots of yummy and pleasurable things, and it just comes down to our will. Not that we have to avoid all the yummy and pleasurable things, but we do have to use wisdom to maintain what God restores. A beautiful friend of mine who is a chiropractor and purveyor of natural health had Ramen noodles, the super cheap kind, for her boys at her office. I asked her about them. She said, "If you're not healthy enough to be able to handle eating Ramen noodles every once in a while, then you're not really healthy." That has stuck with me! (It's the every once in a while that gets us though, eh?)

Restoring Health

In a counseling office that I've been in called Restoration Counseling, they have a sign on the wall that says "Restoration: the act or process of returning something to its earlier good condition or position, or to its owner." This has been my experience and the experience I have witnessed in others as the Lord is restoring our health: mostly that it's a process. As far as returning to an earlier good condition or position, or to its owner, I have seen that where our health is restored to is all three of those things: the good condition of our bodies, minds, and spirit; restored position with God in areas of our lives in which our connection with the Lord has been damaged due to our health (more on this later); and restoration to our owner, the Lord, because we are no longer living by the ways of the world and the enemy...we are walking in God's Kingdom. In some cases, good health can even mean the restoration of human relationships. I know mine has! As God has restored my health, I am able to be a better wife, mother, friend, sister in Christ, etc.

What does He restore, though, and how? In today's Pray First message, the pastor talked about letting God restore our joy. In the process of returning us to the way we ought to be with our health, He removes the things that the enemy has used to try to steal our joy: fears, energy, thoughts, lies, and the list could go on and on. God restores our joy in many ways as well: renewing our minds with new and right knowledge, giving us rest, changing relationships (removing some, adding some, and just changing some), miraculously healing some things, deliverance from evil spirits, changing our habits, cultivating the fruits of the Spirit in us (especially self control), softening our hearts, etc.

When the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), nothing can stop us or hinder us in praising God and being laborers for souls in the Kingdom work God has for us. I love this passage in Nehemiah. Ezra is who the Lord showed me to be like, and this passage is when He reads the lost word of God and the people rejoice over it! Then they go eat! With joy. They are rejoicing that they have the word of God to guide them. I pray that you will rejoice as your learn the wise and beautiful laws of health, and that you will eat and drink with joy! I pray that you will LET God restore your health and heal your wounds, and you will abhor all the ways the enemy tries to steal, kill, and destroy your health. It is sooo worth it! God is worth it! Souls are worth it! Relationships are worth it! You are worth it!

Reading through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah have helped me see how God restores. They show us how He restored His temple then, and fortified the dwelling place of His people. He did it with physical work, but also through His word and the hearts and minds of the people. We are now the temple of His Holy Spirit. It was a process then. It's a process now. LET Him! : )

Healing Our Wounds

Health is a battle. There are wounds in battle. The enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy our health, our ability to choose God, our ability to choose God's ways, our relationships, and so many other things. In the process of restoring our health, God heals our wounds. He is our refuge. In physical battles, there is always a base camp. A place where the soldiers go back for nourishment, rest, knowledge, strategy, ammunition, and to have their battle wounds healed. Matthew 11:28-30 tells us that Jesus is our base camp. Sometimes in the process of restoring our health, some of us have to spend a lot of time back at base camp before getting back out on the front lines. Some of us need to start at boot camp. Wherever you need to camp while God is restoring your health so He can heal your wounds, please just camp there and LET Him.

Seek God First for Healing and Direction

The wounds are many (more on that later) and they can encompass all areas of our health: emotional, physical, and spiritual. Our flesh, our soul, and our spirit can be wounded. He is a good, good Father. He is our Healer. This is where it fits to remind us of King Asa...go to God first. 2 Chronicles 16:12 "And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians." Not that we don't need physicians/outside help for healing. That is not Biblical. But always remember that when we go to God first, He will direct us and guide us what to do and where to go IF we need outside help. King David always asked before acting. Be like David. We never find out if God would have healed King Asa's disease miraculously or through help, because He didn't seek God.

Conclusion

Baby step 1 of Kingdom Health is pray. Step 2 is just start learning. Step 3 is start LETTING God restore your health and heal your wounds. It may sound easy, but opening up our will to God's will, heading back to base camp, is when the enemy will often try the hardest to stop us: "Stay out on the battle field and keep fighting wounded." "You can't afford to rest." "You can't afford to heal." Get back to base camp. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He will provide all these things." God will get you back to base camp and provide all you need for healing.

May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you. Here's to winning the battle for health in the war for souls!

Photo source: https://answeredfaith.com/examples-restoration-bible/ . (It's also a pretty good article on restoration. I don't know a lot about the authors, but the article and their ministry appear okay on a quick search. Always do your own discernment and prayer about any article, book, and author. (Including me.)