Genes or Habits?

Exodus 34:7 He punishes the children and their children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations...

"Everyone in my family is overweight - it's just the way we are."
"High cholesterol/heart diseast/diabetes/cancer runs in my family."
"My mother didn't cook vegetables so I just never learned to like them."

If any of these statements sounds familiar, chances are you're playing the "genes" card! It's very easy to look at your family history and decide that whatever health issue you are dealing with, it is genetic and there's little you can do about it.

I am not denying that your family history may predispose you to certain diseases. All of my grandparents except for one, most of my aunts and uncles and my mother all died from cancer. Does it seem to run in my family? Gallop may be more like it. I acknowledge the history but I do not believe it destines me or my children to go down the same path.

Consider a different question - what really runs in your family, genes or habits? Research confirms that although heredity and familial disposition toward certain conditions have an effect on physical health, it only accounts for approximately 20% - lifestyle and nutrition account for close to 80%! This tells me that while we can acknowledge our family's health history and be aware of it, we need not repeat it. Rather than just continue to perpetuate the habits we may have grown up with, we have the power to choose to change them and improve the outcome.

While changing lifelong habits may not be easy, remember, your choices not only affect you, but future generations as well. We need not feel we're doomed to suffer from the same problems and diseases as our parents and grandparents. Deuteronomy 30:19 encourages us to choose life, for ourselves and for our children. We can choose to do things differently. Our parents did the best they knew to do. Since we know better, we must make the choice to do better.

We must also embrace the truth that as Christians we now have a different, better Bloodline, one in which there is no disease! By doing these things we can create a new "history" and pass down vibrant health, wholeness and faith for generations to come.

What You Speak Has a Profound Impact on Your Health!

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

If you've been a Christian for very long you have heard numerous teachings on the power of your words. Sometimes I think we tend to over-spiritualize verses like these. The temptation is to relegate them solely to the spiritual realm and make them ethereal and impractical rather than apply them to our physical lives in a real way. The research of Dr. Masaru Emoto dramatically illustrates the literal truth of this verse and so many others relating to the power of speech. Before I even share the research let me say this - one website that ran this post had a complaint from a Christian lady saying that they should not include it because Dr. Emoto is not Christian. I just want to clarify that I am sharing his research because it excites me when science finally catches up to scripture. I make it a point in whatever I read to take what is valuable and leave the rest. Kenneth Hagin put it this way - eat the hay and spit out the sticks. So to clarify, I am not promoting the man, just sharing the research.

Dr. Emoto did scientific research on how water responds to words - spoken or written. He chose to study water because it is the most abundant substance on earth and in our bodies as well. He found that words of love, blessing and gratitude created perfect, beautiful, ordered ice crystals - whether spoken over the water or written on the container! Words of anger, hatred and cursing created ugly, distorted crystals. The dramatic photographs of his results are startling. You can see these amazing pictures in his books, such as "The Hidden Messages in Water," which are available from http://www.amazon.com/.

Without a doubt his research confirms the truth of God's Word. The Bible says pleasant words are health to our bones (Proverbs 16:24); a wholesome tongue is a tree of life (Proverbs 15:4) and by guarding our mouths we preserve our lives (Proverbs 13:3). It gives new meaning to the power of prayer to sanctify our food (1 Timothy 4:5)! Our words are vibrations and every emotion and thought expressed has a particular vibrational energy. In fact, we are "electrical" beings who are constantly transmitting vibrations with out thoughts and words, affecting not just ourselves, but those around us as well. You could say we are continally broadcasting! Just think about how an angry person affects the atmosphere in a room. Is it any wonder our words can change things on a molecular level? Research shows the electromagnetic frequencies of our bodies controls every chemical reaction.

Scientists have proven that the energy of our thoughts, feelings and emotions can positively or negatively effect our DNA structure - our very genes!! We've all heard about how someone taking a placebo is healed simply because they believe the medication (which actually has no medicinal value) will heal them. Worry and stress changes the pH of your body from alkaline to acidic very quickly. Even our food has energy - natural, whole food the way God created it does - and that energy is vital to health.

While all words are powerful, God's Word is especially power-packed (Hebrews 4:12). Speak and think words of life, health and blessing to yourself and others - we truly do have the power of death and life in our mouths.