Our beliefs and thoughts are crucial to maintaining or recovering our health. There is a well-established mind-body connection. Most would not argue with the idea that our thoughts affect our health.
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However, the logical question that follows is: “What should we believe and think to maximize our chances of recovering our health? ….READ MORE
Beliefs That Block Healing
At a sub-conscious level, there may be beliefs in place that motivate us to remain sick. To help uncover these limiting beliefs, I suggest three critical questions that anyone seeking to maintain, or recover their health should ask himself or herself.
If any of these three questions are not answered properly, they’ll be severe impediments to one’s health. Remember, it’s not what we say that matters, but what we actually believe.
It’s our beliefs that determine our thoughts. And through the mind-body connection, our beliefs will ultimately affect our physical well-being.
Question One
Do you want to be well? When Jesus healed the paralytic at the Bethesda pool in John 5, the first thing he said to him was: “Do you want to be well?” (John 5:6 ) At first glance this sounds strange, even a bit sarcastic.
However, Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. Jesus didn’t’ simply want to heal the man physically. He wanted to make him more whole, by freeing him from a limiting belief system.
There are likely many reasons someone may not actually want to become well. Maybe they’re finally receiving the sympathy that was missing in their childhood. Maybe a disability check would stop if they recover their health. Maybe they’ll have to get a job if they become well again.
I can’t say what it may be for you, but if you’re dealing with a health challenge, I recommend you do some soul searching, and see if there may be some underlying motivation for you to remain sick. What do you receive as a result of being sick?
Question Two
Do you believe you can be well? This one is huge. If someone doesn’t believe it’s possible to get well, they likely won’t.
Imagine this scenario. A woman has a lump in her breast; she goes to her doctor, and he runs a biopsy. The test results come back positive. She has stage four cancer.
Her doctor calls her in to the office and says something like this: “I’ve got your test results; I’m afraid its cancer. It’s in an advanced stage, and the cancer has metastasized throughout your body. I give you four months to live. Go home and get your affairs in order.”
This doctor planted the belief that she cannot get well. If this woman accepts what her doctor says as absolute truth, the results could be devastating. In order to start her journey toward recovery, she needs to reject this kind of pronouncement, and say: “That doctor is full of sh _ t, and I’m going to beat this.
I would suggest that to varying degrees, every cancer survivor, or anyone that has beat an “incurable” disease has to say, or come to believe something similar. They have to believe they can recover. It is a virtual necessity.
Question Three
Do you believe you deserve to be well? This one is more subtle, but can absolutely be a major block to healing. If we believe that we don’t deserve to be well, then it’s a slippery slope to the conclusion that we can’t be well.
An incorrect, or distorted self-image can lead to illness, or block our recovery from illness. Don’t be too quick to dismiss this thought. There is an awful lot of false guilt in the church today.
Again, there are perhaps many forms of this, depending on the individual person, and their life experience. Some may think that God is somehow punishing them for what they’ve done. These are false beliefs. God stands ready to forgive. (1 John 1:9)
Some may be thinking: “Good health is for other people; my lot in life is to be a sickly person.” In this case, there is likely some spiritual warfare going on. See my four-part series on spiritual warfare and health: The Secret To Finding Abundant Life.
It doesn’t matter how we came to the conclusion that we don’t deserve to be well. If we want to maintain and/or recover our health, we must believe the truth that we deserve to be well.
We must learn to love ourselves well enough to accept the idea that we deserve vibrant health.
Consider the following truths:
You are precious, and valuable. (Genesis 1:27) You are loved and pursued by God. (Jeremiah 31:3) You are exquisitely, and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) You are the apple of God’s eye. (Zechariah 2:8) (Psalm 17:8) Jesus hung naked, and bloody on a cross and died for you. (Philippians 2:8) You’ve been crowned with glory and honor. (Hebrews 2:6-7) God is working in, and through you, for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) And, if Jesus is your Lord, you are forgiven. (1 John 1:9) (Hebrews 10:17)
God placed you here at this time in human history. (Acts 17:26) You are God’s masterpiece. He put you here for a reason, and he has work for you to do. (Ephesians 2:10) Doesn’t it make sense that his desire is that you have the vitality necessary to accomplish those purposes? (3 John 1:2)
Let these truths sink in, and ask yourself: Is there anything that would disqualify me from enjoying vibrant health? Do I deserve to be well?….
Next week we’ll dig deeper into our identity in Christ by defining the believer’s heart.
