Your Body’s Healing Depends on THIS and It's Not What You Think.

God is so good to us that he's made provision for us to be healthy and strong in every arena of our lives. That means in our spirit, in our souls, and in our bodies. And today I'm going to share some important truths with you that help you to understand that God's not only interested in your bodily health or your physical health, but he wants you whole in your soul, which is your mind, your will, and emotions. And you know, I am so excited to let you know today about my new book that's just been released. You can access the link for that in the comment section or in the description section. And I encourage you to get that book because in these next upcoming weeks, I'm going to be sharing from my heart, from really the pages of my life in this book. You know, we receive a lot of comments and prayer requests from those of you that are watching. And one of the most common prayer requests is, please pray for me. I'm having anxiety or I'm having depression. Well, I want you to know we have answers for you and we have been praying for every one of those prayer requests. And really, this is something that I overcame in my own life. And so what I'm teaching you out of this book is not just principles. It's not just rhetoric, but it really is from my heart to your heart. God set me completely free from anxiety in my own life, and I know that he'll do it for you too. And so today we want to talk a little bit about this. Really, today's message is going to be more of an introductory message to many more that are to come in these upcoming episodes along these lines. So we see this, every area of our life does not just include our spirit man or our bodies, but it includes our souls. Now in 1 Thessalonians 5, in verse 23, from the Amplified Classic Translation, it says, May the God of peace himself sanctify you through and through, separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God, and that's a key, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. I like one translation that says, found with nothing broken and nothing missing until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, really at the coming, certainly when he returns, we want to be found in this condition, but we can be in this condition from now all the way until he comes. It's not like an either or proposition. So many believers are waiting until the rapture or until heaven before they enjoy their complete redemption. That's wrong thinking. God wants us whole, spirit, soul, and body, now in this life, and of course in the life to come. So we see this. We see that mankind is really made up of three parts. We are a spirit. That's who we really are, the real us that no one else can see. That part of us becomes brand new when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and so your spirit doesn't need healing after you've received Jesus. Then we have our souls, which really the soul is composed of the mind, the will, and the emotions. Now, this is the part of us that is being made sound and complete. It's a process, and it's a process that takes place through the renewing of our minds, and we are to do that. God won't do it for us. We renew our minds with the Word of God. You know, this is a big part of our life as a Christian on earth, is we're continually learning how God thinks. We're continually learning his thoughts, and then we're embracing his thoughts and choosing to think like God thinks. Then our bodies, of course, are the houses that our spirit and our soul live in. Of course, for many weeks we've talked about healing, and we've emphasized healing of the physical body, but God wants all of us to be preserved complete and sound, and that includes our souls. So knowing this fact, knowing this truth, is really the first step to living whole. Now, we're going to see the will of God reiterated again in this following scripture. In 3 John, verse 2, it says, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health. So we see the will of God here, that we prosper in all things and that we be in health, but here's the next part, just as your soul prospers. So not only do we see the will of God in this passage, but we see a condition, and that is the condition is that our soul must be prospering. See, so many people say, Lord, heal me, heal me, but sometimes we don't take the time to examine whether or not our souls are healthy, and really until your soul is prospering or healthy as it should be, it could be almost impossible for your body to become healthy, and we're going to look at that today. So this leads us to a few facts of interest, and you know, many people say, well, I just want bodily healing, you know, why is this important? Well, one of the things I came across statistically when I was doing some research for my new book, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 60 million adults in the United States live with a mental illness. Now, let me just give you something by comparison. That is nearly 25 percent of all adults in the U.S. That's a high percentage of people that have mental illness, and those are the reported ones, and then there's another 40 million, 40 million of those 60, or that 25 percent, that have actual anxiety disorders, and then, of course, there's the adolescent population that was not included in that. We know that about 32 percent of all adolescents are affected by anxiety based on the statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health. So we could say this, that this has become an epidemic in our society, in our day, and there's a reason why this is so prevalent. The Apostle Paul prophesied about this day in which we live. In 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1 from the Amplified Classic, it says, but understand this, that in the last days will come set in perilous times of great stress and trouble, hard to deal with and hard to bear. So this is describing the day in which we're living right now. You know, Paul foretold this thousands of years ago, days of great stress and great trouble, hard to deal with, hard to bear, and so I believe the predominant reaction that we're seeing to these times of great stress is anxiety and depression. Now here's another problem. If people's minds are troubled, if their emotions are troubled, it's also going to have an effect on their health. You know, medically speaking, and I learned this decades ago when I was studying to be a nurse, 80 percent of all diseases are triggered by poor mental health. So if you're not sound in your mind, if you're not sound in your mental health or your thinking, it's eventually going to take a toll on your physical health. And so we see that sickness and disease are rampant in our day. I mean, and it's no wonder with this level of mental affliction. It's rampant in our day in spite of all of our medical advancements. And even though we have medical drugs or treatments, prescriptions that people can take for anxiety and depression, many times they're still suffering from physical disorders. And unfortunately, many of those that are affected by this are also followers of Jesus, which is why I felt it was so critical to write this book and get it into the hands of the church. You know, we expect people who don't know Jesus to suffer from these disorders, but those that belong to God don't have to live with anxiety or depression. And you say, well, how can you say that? Because I'm a classic example of somebody who has learned to live without anxiety and depression by the word of God. You know, sometimes people will see you ministering. Yes, the call of God's on my life. He called me to minister from the time I was born. Yes, I'm gifted to teach. It's not my doing, it's his doing. All of these things make up who I am because Jesus gave me these giftings. But you know, even people that minister to you have to overcome dysfunction. We all have a mind to contend with. We all have a body to contend with. And just because we're people of faith and of the word doesn't mean that we're exempt from the devil's attacks. He's going to try to attack everybody and see if he can get away with it. And so things sometimes try to afflict us as well. But I want you to know, I'm not just telling you how to do this just from teachings from the Bible, but I'm telling you from practical experience. You can be healed of anxiety and depression and you don't have to live with it the rest of your life. So there are spiritual remedies for these disorders, not just natural remedies. And really, frankly, the natural remedies, medical science is there to help. I am not against medical science and I believe in the help that they're bringing us because anything that helps is good. Anything that doesn't help is bad. But I know this, that a lot of times these treatment options are just putting a band-aid on the problem and really a lot of people report after so many months or years on these medications that they start losing their effectiveness. And so really we need answers that are long-term answers. And I'll tell you, if you're a child of God, the word of God is your answer. It works better than any natural medication or remedy. So we can see just from these statistics that I've mentioned that it's imperative that we address our mental health if we're going to live in physical health. Now, I believe one of the greatest contributors to anxiety and depression in our day is fear. That's right, fear. Fear is an emotion that will be incited through expectation of evil. In other words, you're not going to be afraid of something if you're not expecting something evil to happen. You know, people have fears about so many things in life. And really, we could say characteristics of fear would be anxiety. But also, what about just dread? You're dreading something. That's really fear in disguise. Panic. A lot of people suffer from panic attacks and panic disorder. You don't ever have to get that far out of control that you start panicking about anything because God's given us a sound mind. And we'll teach you in these upcoming episodes how to do that. So we see that these are all forms of fear. But according to God's word, fear is ultimately this. It's a spirit. Now, in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7, it says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So this is important for us. The fact that fear is a spirit is so important for us to know. It's a spirit from Satan, not from God. Because it lets us know that this spirit cannot be defeated with natural remedies. Certainly, like I said before, you can cause the symptoms to be subsided. You can gain some help through medication or therapy or whatever it is that you've chosen for help. And they'll bring some help, obviously. Even willpower goes to a certain length, a certain distance in your life as far as wanting to be well. But to experience true freedom, we need spiritual answers. Romans chapter 10 and verse 17 says this, So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Well, I said that for this reason. We know that faith comes by hearing, but it's also important to know that fear comes the same way. It comes by what we hear. It comes from hearing negative reports and negative information. And people that spend a lot of time with television, with news especially, or on social media are going to be more prone to fear and depression than those that spend the majority of their time in the word of God or listening to spiritual teachings. And so we need to learn this lesson that what we give our attention to is the fruit that we're going to bear in our life. So we don't want to give all of our attention to fearful news and people on social media stating things continuously. You know, this is an unusual day we're living in because throughout most of history you could not access news 24 hours a day. But today you can. And so you have a choice to make. You can turn it off and enjoy peace, or you can keep it on and continue to live in anxiety or depression. But I would encourage you, choose life, choose peace. Now here's another thing I want to mention. When the Holy Spirit came to live inside of us, we became masters of Satan and everything that he represents. In 1 John 4, in verse 4, it says, you are of God, little children, and have overcome them. Now if you read previously the context of this, overcome them means overcome evil spirits. And because it says this is why, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So you see, the greater one lives in us. We should never again be subject to Satan. Satan's under our feet. Jesus conquered him for us, which means Jesus conquered fear, Jesus conquered anxiety, Jesus conquered depression, just as much as he conquered sickness and disease. And we have authority over all the power of Satan. Luke chapter 10 tells us that. That includes anxiety and depression. That includes disease. But one of the first things we're going to have to master if we're going to receive healing in our bodies is master this thing called fear, which shows up in many forms as we've talked about. So fear is actually going to keep us from receiving healing or receiving anything from God. You know, usually if you're believing God for something, whether it's finances, healing, a relationship, one of the first things that God will deal with you about is giving up worry about it. Because as long as you're worrying, which is a form of fear, you're blocking the flow of the Spirit of God from getting the answer to you. And so this is why this topic is just so important for all of us to hear. But the good news is we can have faith. God's provided his faith for us through his word so that we don't have to fear again. Now, I'm not suggesting that you'll never feel the presence of fear because no matter how long you've been saved and how well you've mastered it, you will still feel things. You know, the devil lives on this earth. He is a spirit. He's in the realm of the Spirit, but we're spirit beings as well. And so there are times where we will feel the presence of fear. We will feel the presence of anxiety or of depression. But that doesn't mean it's ours. It doesn't mean that we're to accept it. It doesn't mean we're to sink into it. We have to learn to stand our ground against these things, just like we stand against sickness and disease. And so really, this is just an introduction today. I'm trying to let you know that there is hope. This is not a hopeless situation. That God wants us well, not just in our bodies, but in our souls, in our mind, our will, and our emotions. And again, I've been teaching out of my new book, Untroubled, Conquering Anxiety, Fear, and Depression. And I would encourage you to get a hold of your copy. You can click the link in the comment section or in the description section, and that'll take you right to the site to purchase that book. And again, I didn't write it because I'm just trying to write another book, but I believe that there are truths in that book that will help to set the captives free. So we encourage you get your copy. I want to pray with you today. If you've been watching and you say, yes, I'm one of those that's been suffering from fear, anxiety, or depression, you've heard it today. It's not the will of God for you. And so in the name of Jesus, I pray for every person watching. I know that fear is a spirit sent from Satan, but Jesus has set the captive free. So we take authority over that spirit of fear today, and we command you to go from the people that are watching in Jesus' name. Satan, you do not have dominion over those people. They belong to God, and they are masters over you. They are masters over anxiety, fear, and depression. And I thank you, Lord, now for your peace that passes our understanding, that passes our emotions, that it is completely penetrating and saturating their soul right now. Lord, I thank you that you're making them every bit whole, from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet, in Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah. Well, that's all for today. I want to encourage you to like and share this message and subscribe to our channel if you haven't already. Until next time, I also want to remind you that God has such a great purpose for your life, and it's so much bigger than you know. God bless you.