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Just What The Doctor Ordered


He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26) 

JEHOVAH-RAPHA meaning “The Lord our healer”
         I don't like to go to the doctor's office. The biggest reason is that they put me through tests, examine me and then give me orders about how I should be living my life. I will have greater health if I follow those orders. Isn't that what healing is? The problem is that I don't tend to want to follow the orders. Even when I want the benefit of good health, I don't want to do what's needed to have it.
         The Lord, who heals you promised the Israelites the same thing. If they lived a spiritually healthy lifestyle, they would be healed. Today's passage says so. So does II Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14)
         In the New Testament, we find the same ideas. "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 'Make level paths for your feet,' so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed." (Hebrews 12:12-13) "Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:14-16)
         Like any physician, God puts us through tests, examines us and tells us how to live in order to be healthier. In the United States, here are the leading causes of death. All but the first are information provided by the Center for Disease Control.

Abortion
>1,000,000
Heart Disease
614,348
Cancer
591,699
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases
147,101
Accidents (unintentional injuries)
136,053
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases)
133,103
Alzheimer's Disease
93,541
Diabetes
76,488
Influenza and pneumonia
55,227
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
48,146
Suicide
42,773

 

      A lifestyle disease is an disease that is associated with the way a person or group of people lives. They officially include: atherosclerosis, heart disease, and stroke; obesity and type 2 diabetes; and diseases associated with smoking and alcohol and drug abuse. There are also lifestyle connections with abortions, some cancers, Alzheimer's, accidents, and suicide. In other words, if American followed God's guidelines for living, the vast majority of the major causes of death for Americans would decrease dramatically or disappear. 
        It's "just what the Doctor ordered." If we would but humble ourselves and obey.

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