Second Chances

Jonah 3:1-3 NLT "Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: Get up and go to the great city of Ninevah, and deliver the message of judgment I have given you. This time Jonah obeyed the Lord's command..."

What an incredibly encouraging portion of scripture this is! Jonah ignored the Lord's command the first time. How many times do we hear deep within our spirits that we should (or shouldn't!) do a certain thing and just ignore or overlook it? Many times we find out later exactly why we got that warning and must pay the consequences for neglecting to pay attention.

Haven't we all experienced that awful feeling that we've blown it big time. We were warned - we just didn't listen. It's too late now. But God.

Those are the two best words you can imagine. But God...always gives us second chances, and third and fourth and however many it takes to finally "get it." He is so generous and so gracious. That is not to say we may not have to pay the consequences for disobeying the first time. But He doesn't just give up on us as we so often do ourselves.

Jonah out and out disobeyed and ran in the opposite direction! (Sound familiar to anyone?) God did not just wash His hands of him and find someone else to do the job. No. He pursued him and gave him another chance to obey. To his credit Jonah did and fulfilled the call on his life.

Jonah wasn't the only one to experience God's grace in this way. Think about Peter who denied Christ three times. Couldn't God have just said - that's too much, he's gone too far? Sure He could have, but He didn't. He called all His disciples and gave a special, personal invitation to Peter to make sure He knew he was forgiven and He gave him a second chance.

What about Saul? He persecuted Christians. He went so far as to hold the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen. Surely God couldn't use this man who was an accessory to murder? But He gave him another chance and Saul became Paul and wrote much of the New Testament!

Do you feel like you've blown it? Think it's hopeless? Feel like you've gone too far and God couldn't possibly forgive you or use you? Think again. God is the God of second chances...and third...and fourth! He doesn't give up on us.

If you're wondering what this has to do with health and how science and scripture agree - research shows the emotion most destructive to your health is hopelessness! People who ate properly, exercised and were not overweight developed diabetes solely when they felt hopelessness for an extended period of time. The same is true of some cancer patients. One of the most stress inducing emotions is a sense of helplessness. Believing you have messed up beyond repair and there's no turning back.

Don't fall for that lie! God is always present and His desire is always to redeem you, bring you back, renew your hope. Remember, scripture tells us 3 things will remain - faith, hope and love. While love is the greatest, it is intimately related to faith (faith works by love) and faith must have something to connect to and that is hope! Never, never lose hope! That's a command straight from the Father and He always knows best.

Faith at the Quantum Level

Hebrews 11:1 Amplified: Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.)

As Christians we know that right at this very moment our faith is the substance of things we hope for (Hebrews 11:1). So, faith is a thing – a substance. It’s not a substance like a chair or a car. It is not a visible, solid, or at least what appears to us as a solid, substance. But it is a substance none-the-less. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus Himself tells us we need only faith the size of a mustard seed. The principle of sowing seed is basic in scripture. Our faith (what we believe) is a seed we sow in order to reap a harvest on that seed. The harvest, of course, is whatever we believe for. Our words are also seeds we can sow to produce either faith or unbelief.

To return to the mustard seed, Jesus used that by way of description because the people of His time would recognize it as the smallest seed they knew. They could not imagine anything smaller. When we relate this to quantum physics I believe it will help us see faith more clearly. Much of the time, people will not accept a biblical principle unless it is proven scientifically. Personally I think that’s backwards. Science doesn’t prove biblical principle since it existed first. The Bible is the source and it proves what science eventually realizes.

Quantum physics is the study of the basic components of the universe. It breaks everything down to its smallest, most elementary, basic part. We think of our bodies as composed of cells, but those cells are not the smallest part. So, then we think of molecules and then atoms and to break those down even further, we go to electrons. Quantum physics has discovered even smaller sub-atomic particles, such as quarks, that make up every thing on this earth. Everything. All things are made up of different groupings of these particles depending on what they appear to be – a human body, a table, a car, the sun, a thought, a spoken word. Keep in mind, however, that even though an object appears to be solid, like a chair, no object is truly solid. Everything is made up of constantly moving particles.

These sub-atomic particles are amazing things. At their most basic level they are energy. Everything in the universe is created and made up of energy. The energetic makeup of the human body is different from the energetic make up of your car, but they are both concentrated forms of energy. Now bear with me if you are a Christian and are thinking this is sounding New Age or crazy. It is backed up, not only by science, but more importantly, by scripture.

Scientists have proven time and time again that these sub-atomic particles of energy actually respond to whoever is observing them. Scientists have discovered and proven that their expectations influence the results of any experiment. It’s impossible for an observer involved in an experiment to have no influence on the results. The particles behave differently for each observer, according to what that observer believes! For some it appears as a wave and for some it looks like a particle. So the things we interact with daily and those things we desire are all influenced and created of those very same atoms and sub-atomic energy particles which respond to our thoughts, beliefs and words. Just as a scientist, by observing it, changed the form of a particle by what he believed and expected, we also can change things with our beliefs and expectations. The Bible clearly tells us in Matthew 8:13 and in many other places that as we believe, it will be for us. The reason is because beliefs, thoughts and words are vibrations of energy. In Hebrews 11:3 we are told that everything we can see in this world was made by God’s Word so that the things we can see were created of things that do not appear. God’s Word is creative energy and since we are created in His image, our words are also vehicles of creative energy.

Understanding these principles underscores the importance of our beliefs, expectations and the words we speak. Remember, we are surrounded by an infinite supply of energy – substance – that we are simply to believe and speak into the particular substance we can see and touch in the physical realm. Everything begins in the spiritual realm. Remember, God first said “Let there be light” and then light was. The energy for light already existed, it just wasn’t visible yet. God’s faith-filled words caused light energy to become visible.

We have the same power in our lives. Whether we know it or not and whether we believe it or not, everything in our lives is responding to our thoughts, beliefs, expectations and words every single day. What better reason to become more aware of what we are thinking and saying! Since we are creating the substance of our lives, let’s create good things, things we desire and do it purposefully. Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:29, “According to your faith, be it unto you.”

In the Beginning...

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

As a biblical health coach, I am fascinated by how God's principles of health and wholeness are daily being recognized and proven scientifically. John G. Lake, a missionary, faith healer and mighty man of God, has said, "science is God's way of doing things" and I wholeheartedly agree! While some say science superseces God's Word, I respectfully disagree. I've actually heard people say, 'You can't take what God says literally because He wasn't a scientist!' Science is the natural progression, the outgrowth of understanding the "how" behind the "what" of God's Word. Only now do we have sophisticated enough equipment to reveal and understand these magnificent mysteries. Our God is most definitely a God of order. He sets principles and laws in motion concerning not just our spirits, souls and bodies, but our physical world as well. He is concerned with wholeness, the root meaning of the Hebrew word, shalom, in every area of our lives.

In case you were wondering about the title of the blog, in the 1950's and '60's there was a very popular television show called, "Father Knows Best." You may be too young to remember it (obviously I'm not!) but I felt the spin on the title was very appropriate. Who could possibly know better the intricasies of how our bodies are supposed to function, than the Creator of those bodies Himself?

As I read about medical and health research and studies, it brings certain scriptures to light, and I am continually amazed by how practical and relevant His Word truly is. In future blog posts we will consider:
how Deuteronomy 31:19 relates to probiotics;
is laughter really "medicine" (Proverbs 17:22);
how speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:11) extends life;
how your speech impacts your health (Proverbs 18:21);
how Abel's blood (Genesis 4:10) could literally cry out to God;
and MUCH more!

I invite you to join me in an eye-opening, faith-building journey as we study scripture and science side-by-side. I guarantee together we will see the unmistakable imprint of God's wisdom, power and love as we, too, say -

"Father really does know best!"