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The Body is Listening

“What you say can mean life or death. Those who speak with care will be rewarded” (Proverbs 18:21 New Century Version). The body can hear; it listens and sets out on a path to bring to fruition what it hears when you speak. As a babe knows the voice of its mother, so your body knows your voice.

Science, too, has confirmed that the body listens to its own voice. Research has shown that “vocalizing sounds change the vibration of the body” (Stockdale, Brenda. You Can Beat the Odds, Sentient Publications, 2009).

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3 Biblical Health & Fitness Lessons

The Bible is an amazing book filled with ordinary individuals who become extraordinary or normal people who have had extraordinary things happen to them. Yet we seem to overlook still the reality of these individuals to exist as normal human beings whom God uses supernaturally.

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Sculpturing the Body for God

Bodybuilding is the only sport with a sole focus on sculpturing the body. The body can be shaped like a piece of clay though genetics still play a major part in its outcome. Unless you have experienced the ability to chisel muscle into a masterpiece, you have no idea the thrill, the pride, the fulfillment one can feel to look into the mirror and see the actual formation of the human body sans fat. But how narcissistic this sport can be!

Being a former amateur bodybuilder, I have seen the worship of the human body. Though I shared, too, in the enjoyment of this sport, I couldn’t quite bring myself to the point of self-adoration. In other words, I could not worship the creature itself. I had to find my Creator in this beauty. Obviously, if He had created the body, it was art—a beauty to behold. As a result, I found myself admiring the Creator, for what a fine job He did: to have created the human body to be like putty! How amazing! When I stumbled onto Psalm 139: 13-16, these verses became my mantra during the sacrificial times of dieting for a competition.

Thus began my transformation. I had found the scripture verses and memorized them to replace the taunting thoughts of food. In unison, I joined the Psalmist David in praising God. He had “made me in an amazing and wonderful way” (Psalm 139:14). Indeed, what He had done was “wonderful”. Through the love of the Creator’s work, I found my way to worship that involved my entire being. My body worshipped its Creator, connecting with its Maker in a unique way. I felt Him in me, in my blood as I contracted each muscle: “for in Him [I] live and move and have [my] being” (Acts 17: 28). I was alive! Aware! That I was His “masterpiece” (Ephesians 2: 10).

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The Body Inherently Evil

For years the body has been viewed as inherently evil—a vessel we had to live in until it returned from whence it came. Yet, this is the same body in which the Holy Spirit of God lives. The Apostle Paul calls it the “temple” which we were to honor because of its purpose. A minister once told me that Jesus died for our souls not our bodies. Such thinking clearly opposes Paul’s view who claims that our bodies were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). The price for our bodies was Christ’s crucifixion. He redeemed not only our souls but won back our bodies as well. Because we were designed to be one entity– body, mind and spirit, Christ’s death and resurrection meant redemption for our entire being.

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Meditation a Means of Silencing the Mind

The Body is incredibly noisy. Yet it is the bridge from the seen world to the unseen world. We cannot ignore the body though throughout ages it has been. Today anything related to the body can make headlines: tabloids sensationalize news about celebrities and their physiques, discussions on health care permeate our airwaves, diets galore bombard us, and fitness buffs tout their horns. We wonder what will they come up next.

Meditation a Means of Silencing the Mind

I like to think that the head quarters for the body is the mind. I think many of us would agree that the mind is extremely loquacious, chattering unceasingly even when we are a sleep. The ability to shape the mind is what determines the quality and quantity of life we attain. The Bible instructs us to renew our minds. This ancient book is the greatest book of positive thinking and thus transformation. Meditation is a form of quieting the mind, but meditating on God’s words not only silences the mind but also transforms it as we attain spiritual acuity to hear from God. The believer who is destined to achieve the promises in the Book and to please God aligns his or her thoughts with the Word of God. Thoughts become subjected to the living Word of God.