A number of years ago, I heard Cal Pierce, director of Healing Rooms Ministries, tell an insightful story. He had studied the topic of healing for many years but was bothered by the fact that he was not seeing lasting results in the lives of those to whom he ministered. He was crying out to God for the keys, when he received a drastic wake-up call. At the time, Cal was 40 pounds overweight and was greatly out of shape, and while ministering overseas, had a heart attack. In disbelief, he thought, “No, not here! Not now!” Immediately, God said, “What do you think you are doing? This isn’t your body; it is My body!”
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
–I Corinthians 6:20, NASB
God reminded him that he only had one body and that his lifestyle would either give him life or would end up taking his life. He began to realize that he needed to steward his body with the same diligence that he stewarded his spirit, because he needed his body in order to do what God had called him to do. After a week in the hospital, he returned home and had a dream that he became strong. He thought the dream meant that God was going to
supernaturally renew his youth, but God had something else in mind. He sent a professional bodybuilder and former Mr. Universe to Cal’s house to teach him how to exercise and eat right. At that time, Pierce was in his 60’s and thought it would be impossible for him to become physically strong, but as he implemented his trainer’s protocol, he began to see changes in his physical body. He lost 40 pounds in six months and, at his follow-up appointment, his cardiologist said in amazement, “I can’t even tell that you had a heart attack!” Pierce says, I knew then that we are never too old, nor is it too late for anyone to develop a healthy lifestyle.
“Victim eschatology” has caused many believers to neglect, reject and mistreat not only the earth but their “earth suits.” Instead of stewarding the mountains of earth and society, they remain sequestered within the four walls of the church, complaining about the state of the world and waiting to go to heaven. But God’s sons are arising and awakening to our identity and mandate and are beginning to understand that we have been given stewardship over the earth – starting with our own souls and physical bodies.
Every struggle in your life, at its very root, reveals an inability to love and be loved by God, an inability to love and be loved by others, or an inability to fully love and honor yourself. This, of course, includes your physical body. Maybe there are attributes of your physical appearance that you have not been able to fully accept. Maybe emotional, verbal, physical or sexual abuse has caused you to hate or reject your physical body, or to long for death. Perhaps you are even now experiencing the fruit of that self-rejection in your body. Anything less than unconditional love for your physical appearance and your physical being will stop the flow of the One who is love and who desires to manifest through your spirit, your soul AND your body!
If loving your body is a struggle for you, start by choosing with your will to shift this cycle of self-rejection. Then, each day for 30 days, stand in front of the mirror buck naked, choosing with your will to love the person you see standing there. Speak out the words of love and affirmation you may have never received. Call yourself by name and say, “I love you.” Speak to your body, saying, “Body, I love you!” It will, no doubt, feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar. It may feel insincere or like you are lying to yourself. But though your words may still be incongruent with the wounded places in your soul, they are in agreement with the Father and with your spirit (the real you). As you use the God-given power of your words to create spiritual reality in yourself, prepare to be radically transformed… into the person you really are!
Once you truly love your physical self, you will start acting like it, and self-destructive patterns like toxic eating will begin to fade away. When your internal frequency is one of love, you will desire to be surrounded by things that resonate of life and self-care. Remember, your miracle has already been done in your spirit and is just making its way into the tangible realm. On this outward journey, choose high-frequency external points of agreement like exercise, healthy foods, non-toxic personal care products, life-giving relationships, fun, laughter, rest, recreation, uncluttered living spaces, nature and beauty.
Beauty, like laughter, not only marks your emergence from the wilderness of survival but helps to lead you out.
This is an excerpt from my book, Miracles Are Normal: Co-Creating Through Oneness With God. You can purchase paperback or digital copies from my website here: Miracles Are Normal. And you can purchase from Amazon here: Miracles Are Normal on Amazon
Until next time…
Virginia