Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So that's your new thing, right? You're walking well.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: Well, we're getting ready for the faithfully fit.
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: And. And you know Valerie, now, Valerie actually was her idea. She said, honey, I feel like walking. I was like, let me get dressed, because I actually enjoy walking with her. And so she. She says, let's go, and we walk. I said, honey, how much do you want to walk? I go, well, she goes, whatever you want. Like, okay, I usually go to the waterfall and back. That's three miles.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: So it's a mile and a half there and a mile and a half back.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:00:30] Speaker C: You would have told me three miles at, like, not even a quarter. I would have been like, I can't go no more. Give me my scooter.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: I'll ride with you. You should have seen this the day after.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Hey, but you know when. Socket. Listen, y'all sleep on w. What a beautiful walk.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: No, that bike path is gorgeous.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Gorgeous.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: It's absolutely gorgeous.
[00:00:49] Speaker D: I love driving my electric bike.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: That don't count.
[00:00:58] Speaker D: List the bloopers. If you've never driven an electric bike, you're.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: That's a great exercise. You actually told me I could use your wife's. Yes, let's do it.
[00:01:07] Speaker D: Yeah. I have two now.
Yeah.
And if you don't want to. If you don't want to use the electric part of it, you can pedal.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Because of my knee.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: So I'll be like, he should do that one.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: I can use the electric.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Actually, I can show you exactly how he uses the electric bike in this video clip right here.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: So long.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Doctor. Get out of here.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: See, after the day of prayer. Did you guys see me get on the motorcycle?
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Yes, you. Oh, my God.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Why are you laughing over.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Put that clip on roll.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Oh, my God. That was the most hilarious.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: We'll put the clip in right here. Get used to the clutch.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: You all right?
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: All right.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I fell right off that bike. But did you see me tuck and roll?
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. That was a suit on.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: I thought he was in James Bond or something. He just got off the thing. I just flew right up and was like, I'm ready.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: RIP to Al's bike.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: There was no scratches. Al.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: He didn't scratch it.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: He was. I don't think he was. He was worried more about me than that bike. It was a heavy.
[00:03:01] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to the Discover Life podcast.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: And I that, you know, and they ask you how you are, you just have to say that you're fine when you're not really fine.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: He did it he did it again, World.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Grab some paper towels.
[00:03:34] Speaker C: Welcome back to the Discover Life podcast, and I am your host today, Deacon Elu Hidalgo. And I'm joined with my best friends here, Minister Lewis.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: What?
[00:03:45] Speaker B: What.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: What's going on, everybody?
[00:03:47] Speaker D: Pastor Axel, it's good to be back.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: And Bishop Herson.
[00:03:50] Speaker D: Hey.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Hey. Welcome back to your favorite podcast, the Discover Life podcast.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: Yes. Let's go.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: We're excited to dive into a vital topic today, flourishing in our health and wellness.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Help me lo.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: That's it. Right. But. And the exciting part is that we serve a God that doesn't just want us to survive, he wants us to thrive. Right. His word assures us that flourishing in our health is a promise, not just a possibility. It's not just something that can happen, it's something that will happen.
[00:04:18] Speaker D: It's gonna be a short podcast.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Because in Psalm 91, 15, 16, check out the. Especially the last few words of this verse is beautiful. When he calls out to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.
[00:04:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: I will deliver and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: I mean, that phrase there speaks to me about. God doesn't just care about my spiritual life, he cares about my health life.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Because we are in a human body.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: You.
[00:04:59] Speaker C: You're not going to be able to function if you're not healthy. And so he's just saying that I'll satisfy you, you know, as long as you take care of yourself.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: What he's really saying is, when you're on hour two of your walk.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: I will be with you.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: I will. I will get you through this walk.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:05:16] Speaker D: It's. It's a powerful reminder how God just cares our. About our wholeness.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:21] Speaker D: Mind, spirit, heart. Yeah, It's. It's. He cares about everything, and that's why he tells us to go the extra mile.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: That's right. And so, understanding God's desire for our health, we're going to jump into this topic right now. Let's discuss God's desire for our health in the third book of John. In chapter one, verse two, we read, dear friends, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you. Even as your soul is getting along.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Well, he's making that connection between your good health and your soul. And a lot of folks kind of miss that when we become so spiritual that we really just forget about what God is calling us and the responsibility we have. To take care of this temple. He's saying, I want you to have good health. Even as your soul is prospering, I want you to prosper.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: God wants us to have good health. He wants us to think more deeply on it, be more purposeful about it, because there's a connection in our health between our body, our minds, and our soul.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Yep. So in this series, Flourish and Thrive, we started with the, the, the, the foundation that your spiritual life would, would thrive, that you would have a, a rich, wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit would be alive in you and that you would be communing with God. The second was, was finances. It's amazing how closely those two things are related. Jesus talked more about money than hell.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: You know, so, so say that again. Jesus spoke more about money than hell.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: In the Bible.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: It's, he's, he feels like he's perplexed.
[00:07:04] Speaker D: No, no, I don't think you're making it up. I, I, I think a lot of people don't see it like that. You know, a lot of people focus 99.9 on the spiritual part.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:15] Speaker D: I mean, growing up in a Pentecostal church, everything was spiritual and everything was hell.
[00:07:20] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:07:21] Speaker D: There was no conversation about take care of yourself. Look, you know, go see your doctor or, you know, everything was, you came up with something, pray it away, rebuke it, it's the devil and it's you.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:36] Speaker D: You know, it's, it's, it's your, your eating habits. It's, it's everything that, that, that you're responsible for. You know, we want to give it to God for him to be responsible.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: And think about it. It's mostly men are the ones that don't want to go to doctors. Most of the time, Most of the time we have a problem with going to see a doctor. I don't know why, but it's got to be pride or something in us. Right.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Stop asking God to heal you. Oh, oh, that's while staying loyal to what hurts you.
[00:08:06] Speaker D: You know, now that I think about that quote, that goes better here, here.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Because, yeah, think about it. Yeah, we're staying loyal to what's hurting us. And then we're saying, lord, help me with this diabetes. Lord, help me with this stuff. And it has a direct connection to how we're staying loyal to things that hurt us while asking God to heal us. Yeah.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: We don't put the effort into taking care of ourselves to get to the place where we could be healthy.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Just because we lean in one direction doesn't mean we got it right. Right. The person who said, well, it's. This is all a spiritual battle. Yeah, you're actually lazy everywhere. You just don't realize it. You just don't want to use the right ways to get to what it is that God is calling you. And I think that for, you know, for me, when I'm. When I'm most. When I'm most lazy, I can actually see it everywhere. It's the time where I'm like, oh, I'll just skip the gym today. But if I skip the gym, I'll also realize, oh, my God, I didn't study the way I usually study the Bible. It's connected. And so when we get spiritually lazy, you're going to realize that. That laziness is actually just a distraction the enemy has, has created for you. And you will stay stuck, not growing anywhere, not thriving anywhere.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:19] Speaker D: It's so important that when we align ourselves with God, we start flourishing and thriving in every area. Let's look at Daniel. Daniel is a perfect example of how he deny himself to something to prove that God was with them. Not just in one area, but in every area.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: I really feel like that was a spiritual flex more than a material flex. It was, it was, is included. But God wants us to enjoy good health, which is deeply connected to the condition of our souls. Daniel is showing more than. I'm not going to eat your food, Nebuchadnezzar.
Yeah, well, I'm not going to eat your food. I'm just going to eat these nuts and berries. And it's not about the nuts and berries. It was about his relationship with God that, that, that spoke loudly in, in. In this thing. My soul is right. My soul is connected to God. I could eat nothing and still be strong.
[00:10:20] Speaker D: Jesus and God honor that.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: That's right. Jesus ate nothing after 40 days, and he was still strong enough to defeat the three temptations of Satan.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: Come on now.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: The modern church has, like, unspiritualized things that could work. Right? And so here's what I mean. We might ask you to stay home if you're sick. However, the old church believe if you just walked in the doors, you might get healed. Right. And it's not to say God can't do it from home. What we're saying is there's an act of faith in your walking into the house of God. But it happens. That can happen in many ways.
I know that when we do fasting, sometimes we'll say, hey, do a modified fast. In the old church, it was like, don't eat. Are you sick? Great. Don't eat. You got diabetes.
[00:11:01] Speaker D: Great.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Don't eat. Right? And it was like. But it was because we just believed the way they believed. We just believed that if God is in it, something has to happen. I'm gonna be good in the physical if I'm being led first through the spirit.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: For the person that doesn't know the full story of Daniel, give it a little bit more context. So why did you bring up Daniel in this. In this phrase, in this sentence, in this example?
[00:11:27] Speaker D: Danny is a perfect example because he was taken to a land where they wouldn't allow them to eat the same way they used to eat. They wouldn't allow them to follow the same diet. They didn't have the same food. And he had a different mindset than the people that were treating them in that land. So he said, allow us to eat the way we normally allow us to do, you know, our type of meals. And you'll see the difference. You'll see the difference in us. And God honored that. And their diet proved those men wrong. And they show the wisdom. They show how healthy they were because they wanted to be presented to the king in a way where the king could see, you know, that they were healthy and strong and able to, you know, to receive the commands that the king wanted. But they were able to do all that with just following their diet.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: So it's not just about physical health. It's about the health of your soul. And I think that that's what that story is about. It's about both. It's physical, watching what you eat and all that stuff, I don't want to undermine that. And everybody that does the Daniel fast, they experience it. But eating the Daniel doing the Daniel F without having the relationship that Daniel had with God is empty. It's empty calories.
It's not going to get you what you want. Because Daniel still prayed three times a day, right?
[00:13:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Because even when he was fasting, he was drawing near and closer to God. So if you're just doing it to lose something, but you're not drawing near to God, is it really going to be effective?
[00:13:09] Speaker B: The point we're driving home is as you prioritize God's way, he's going to bless you abundantly.
[00:13:17] Speaker C: Yes. Moving on to the power of faith and prayer in our health. In James 5, 14, and 15, it says, is anyone among you sick, let them call the elders of the church to pray over Them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Hallelujah.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: You know, it's sometimes that they don't.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Get Pentecostal in this house.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: Some people are just, there we go. There's something important. They say that call on the elders. Those are the ones that are always in prayer. Those are the ones that are ready, that are always prepared to be ready to pray for signs, wonders and healings.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: We're ready. We're prepared. So sometimes we don't go to elders. We just say, hey, can you just pray for me?
[00:14:02] Speaker D: I want people to understand tonight as we speak about this that we're not in any way lowering the standards here to create something different. No, no, no. What we're saying is that we believe in prayer. We believe on laying on hands on people and praying for someone that's sick. You know, the decisions you make play a big role in your health. When it comes to eating, when it comes to habits. I mean, all those things play a role. We can pray for things and God. And God can do the work that we pray for. But the decisions you make after that, you know, really make an impact, whether you stay in that healthy body or your quote.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: And I see people who do the, the, the stomach operation.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:51] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Revert back.
[00:14:52] Speaker D: They, they, they do the cut your belly gastric bike.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Yes. And, and, and they lose and the weight just falls off. It melts right off. Right. And that goes back to my quote. Right. But you're staying loyal to what hurts you.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Right.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: And after a few years, you're not going to see it the first year, maybe not the second year, but after year three or four, they start to put that weight back on because they went for a fix that their mentality couldn't sustain. What you're talking about now is what minister was talking about. The old school, the old church believed that this was part of the health care program of the Christian.
[00:15:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: Because there are some things that come out of nowhere. There are some things that have nothing to do with what I eat or how I eat.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: It happen.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: All of a sudden, they just. People get sick. And for those issues, that's when you come to the altar.
[00:15:46] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: That's when you ask for oil to be poured on your head and you ask someone to pray for you. And that's the benefit of being close to elders. Pastors, ministers, deacons, they can pray for you. And the Bible says, call the elders and you will be healed.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: That's right. Prayer in itself is a lifeline to God. That calls him into your room, into your atmosphere, into your life, into your circumstance for that miraculous power to come and to manifest. I mean, I've seen it. I've been in ministry for a long time, and I've seen people instantly healed by things. I've seen it happen in front of my eyes from wheelchairs, from illnesses, cancers, all of those things. I've literally seen it happen. I mean, how many times have we seen it, even just within our ministry here?
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Well, one time we were at our tent revival. Do you remember the guy that came down from New Hampshire?
[00:16:37] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: He had reconstructive surgery on his face. He was in a motor motorcycle accident and broke 100 bones in his face.
They reconstructed his whole face, but they couldn't give him back his sense of smell and taste. And so he came to the revival because he heard that Oscar Gonzalez was going to be at the revival. And he says, I'm ready for my healing. He comes down and we start to pray. And he comes up and he says, I need prayer. And Oscar asks him, what do you want God to do for you? And for all my friends that doubt you have to hear this story.
He says, I had an accident.
The doctors did everything they can do. They put my face back together again, but I can't smell anything and I can't taste anything. And I want God to do what the doctors couldn't do. And his faith moved that whole tent. Everybody in that tent revival was praying for that man. Oscar prays for him. And while Oscar's praying for him, he tells me, get me a piece of gum. And I look everywhere and I get a piece of gum and I give it to Oscar. And Oscar, after he prays for him, he says, I want you to close your eyes. He closes his eyes, and I want you to take a deep breath.
And he puts this stick of gum and he shoves it up this guy's.
I mean, he puts it in his nose. And the guy. And Oscar says, I want you to tell me, what do you smell? And the guy starts crying. He starts crying. Spearmint.
I smell it.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Taste.
[00:18:05] Speaker C: Spearmint.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:18:07] Speaker C: It was powerful.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: That moment. He received the sense of smell and taste back. It was incredible to watch.
[00:18:14] Speaker C: It was powerful. I was there. That was so powerful. You know what that did? Because we were in a community, you know.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: What it did was that it really showed that God was real. That people that never ever seen that they. I mean, the altar was packed that day of people that gave their life to Christ.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: It just takes a Little bit of faith. Bible says faith the size of the mustard seed can really transform your life. Mountains will move for you if you.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Just believe when I say. I want everybody to understand. We're not done with the conversation. This is sort of like the beginning piece. When you go to prayer, when you go and believe that God can do it, believe that your job is coming. But we want you to take the first step and just believe that he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ask or imagine. So here's what I like to do with that scripture. If it says that he can do immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine, then I want to ask big.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: I want to ask as big as I possibly can. And maybe somebody's on here and they're only limiting the questions and those prayers to certain circumstances. Circumstances. Pray about everything. That's right. You know what? You're. You're home with a cold. God, give me the strength. Even if it's, even if I'm not healed. Give me the strength to make it through this day. He's going to give you the strength. God. I'm praying for my children that on their way to school, they get there safely. On their way back. Nothing happens. Like pray over everything believing that God can do it. And I'm telling you, it's not even going to be surprising because you should expect it. But when it happens, it's always going to be a big deal.
[00:19:46] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:19:47] Speaker D: And it's not just about an individual miracle. It's about community.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:19:52] Speaker D: When, when we pray for one another, we acknowledge our dependence on God and each other. And that's, that's the importance of faith and community. When we come together, things happen.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: And faith has to be a part of your health plan. Has to be prayer and, and, and faith. They play in to your physical health.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: I love it because when we look at Jesus when he was doing the Sermon on the Mount, there was all different types of people there.
That was community. There was different types of people. And they started listening to him and the miracles that he was doing that drew them right in, you know, so. But God is so good that he wants you to experience this as you pray and get a tight relationship with God. Man. The most intimate time is when he was breaking bread. Bread. Because he loves you that much. God loves us that much.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: Number one, we're talking about health.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: We're not talking about exercise yet. It's coming.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: But we want you to start Your understanding of health, your understanding of what God wants, is that he wants you to be healthy. That's what God wants. He wants you to be healthy. And number two, we want you to know that there's power in prayer that can relate to your health. We're done with those two things now. We're moving on to something a bit more practical, which is the stewardship of our body.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: In First Corinthians 6, 19, 20, we read, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? The understanding compels us to treat our bodies with respect. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. Remember, if he's holy, he's pure and he's clean, and he wants you to be the same way. You know, to understand that is he's the one that guides us to do the right thing. We're the ones that choose to do the wrong things. But he's saying, it's his temple. Take care of his temple.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:58] Speaker D: I heard someone said this one time, I believe it's a preacher. I can't remember who it is, but I remember what he said. And he says something like this. He said, the more you take care of the temple, the less miracles you'll need in your life.
[00:22:16] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:22:17] Speaker D: And I'm like, wow. But then when I thought about it and I said, yes, yes, we don't want less miracles. But it makes sense.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: The damsel. We don't need to be damsels. We don't need to self sabotage in order to call on God for a miracle. What we need to do is see the miracle at life in our lives as we actively steward.
By the way, that's a miracle for you to, well, steward what it is that God trusted in your hands. Right? Stewarding is taking care of what you have been entrusted with. And so for us, you said earlier, it takes faith. Right.
If I'm thinking about health, usually I'm not in the place I want to be in. And so I have to believe that the place that I want to be in is reachable. How do I believe that that's reachable? By faith.
I can't see it, but I do know it's gonna maybe physically, it's gonna take this amount of weight, it's gonna take this amount of time, it's gonna take this amount of effort. If I think mentally, it's gonna take this amount of sessions, it's gonna take this amount of reading, it's gonna take this amount of investment. And so it really takes faith to steward stewardship in itself. If you do it, well, can be in itself a miracle.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: I have to go back to that quote because he says you will need less miracles. You know why? Because you become the miracle. You become the miracle that somebod. You inspire somebody else to do the same.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: This stewardship involves making conscious decisions. This is what we're really talking about now. Now you got to start thinking okay on top of okay. I know God wants me to live healthy. I know that prayer has a big role in my life. But at some point it's got to be your responsibility to take care of what God gave you, which is our diets, our exercise, and don't forget our mental health. That's all a part of what God is. If you're, if you're working out and if you look good and, and all that stuff, but your mental health isn't there. I'm telling you that Jesus models the importance of rest and spiritual renewal in Luke chapter 5:15, over and over again, Jesus is doing ministries and he's doing all this stuff, which is physically taxing for anyone who's ever preached a series or preached a couple of sermons. It is exhausting in your body. You feel drained when you're done after. Pray for everybody. People just. I mean, how can you, how can that be so, so tiring? It's, it's not human, what we're doing.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: I wish people could see us on a Sunday afternoon.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Oh, we're knocked out.
[00:24:44] Speaker C: Especially, especially when, when you're ministering. Jesus was ministering all day and he was exhausted and he would go over.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: And over off to be by himself and he'd tell his disciples, all right, guys, let's go. Let's go rest now.
[00:24:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's the part that we really embody the least is rest the Sabbath. We don't really live the Sabbath, and that's why we're in the conditions we're in.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Yeah, we have to start to prioritize self care. We don't take care of ourselves well enough. And what I love, if we go back actually to this, the example of Jesus is self care is tied to the Father.
He didn't just go away. He went away to be with the Father. And so to find rest and to find good rest is to know your rest come from. So if, you know, even talking about the Sabbath, Hebrews tells us that the true Sabbath is Jesus himself. When I go off to take time outside of ministry or off of a side, like, I just finished a side job for Tim and it took me two and A half weeks to do this job. I'm not accepting another job just yet because I'm still spent from the last one. And so I need to take some time away. But not just time away. Time away with my family, time away with God. Time away in the word. But if I don't do that, I'm not building the habits that I need to build in. So how can we do that? Right. Let's talk about. Even for the body, you can eat mindfully, choose whole foods and limit processed sugars.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: What?
[00:26:15] Speaker A: We won't discuss the Coca Cola that was in your mug earlier.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: You drank one too.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: This is only my second soda of the week week.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Good for you guys.
[00:26:30] Speaker D: But follow this example.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: Praise the Lord for you. Right? So eat mindfully, exercise regularly.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Right. Have. Have a plan. I'll tell you my plan is I go to the gym four times a week. There's very few weeks where that doesn't happen because I know that if I want to enjoy my kids when they get older, I need to be healthy. My father always embodied this for me when I saw my. When I. If I go to see my dad today, he still outruns me. He still. He's up in the morning, first thing, he's probably at work 4, 4:30 in the morning. And after he gets out of work, he's doing something at his church or at his house or somewhere. He's constantly in motion and keeps himself healthy. I don't know how he does it right. Actually, I do, but I just gotta follow the example. Also prioritize sleep.
Actually, my father, we were having a conversation on the golf course, me, my father, and Pastor Alicio Sanchez, us. And he's like, man, I want to stay up for that, for that fight. And I. It might have been the Jake Paul fight or whatever. It was Tyson. The Tyson, yeah. So we're talking about that.
[00:27:28] Speaker C: He's.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: I want to say I just wanted to fall asleep, but my body was. I kept dozing off, but I. I fought and I stayed up and. And my dad goes, maybe your body was trying to tell you you were tired and you should have went to sleep.
Because in the end he goes, that fight was terrible. Anyway, it wasn't worth it.
So. So listen, your body will tell you things, and if you build the correct habits, you're going to realize that you can make yourself healthier, by the way, over time.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Don't try to rush the process. I go four days a week. I want something to happen. But if I go with the mentality that if it doesn't happen in two, three weeks, I'm going to quit. It's never going to work.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: That's my problem, Lou. When I go, I got to feel. I start to feel swole. I feel so quick.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: And it sticks with me for like three years.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it is mine.
[00:28:20] Speaker C: Oh, that's hilarious.
[00:28:21] Speaker D: Our bodies were created by God in such a way that they will not stay quiet when something is wrong.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:28:28] Speaker D: It will show up in your blood work. It will show up in your handle.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: That's.
[00:28:31] Speaker D: It will show up. I mean, it will find that's God created that way. So, so you don't just die, you know, he wants you to see the.
[00:28:40] Speaker A: Signs and fix it. So you. So earlier we said something. This just, just hit me. Just now we talked about fasting, okay?
[00:28:47] Speaker D: Oh, that's a bad word right now.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: Think about this for a second. Think about this. I'm not talking about intermittent fasting. I'm talking about fasting for Christ. I think God also wants us to fast so that the things that we put to death during fasting doesn't return. But it's interesting that we fast and then we go back to the same foods, the same habits and everything that we used to have before. Listen, why would you fast for. For seven days, for 21 days? Just to return back to the things and be loyal to the things that are killing you. God gave you a chance to eradicate that from your life. Right?
[00:29:19] Speaker B: I noticed that Deacon Elliot and I didn't talk much in that segment.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Well, but in the next time we talk about this, you're gonna see some different looking guys.
Guys, I'm on it. I'm on the assignment.
[00:29:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm gonna do better. I. I guarantee.
[00:29:33] Speaker D: You know, another thing I noticed is that it's very important who you hang out with because.
Not talking about breakfast Wednesday, I'm saying if, if you hang out, let's say you hang out with Mr. Lou for a few weeks, I promise you get active. I mean, you move you. I mean, there's a movement in, in, in his schedule four times a week. He's at the gym. And I'm a witness. I, you know, he sees me and I see him. Right?
[00:29:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:59] Speaker D: Please let he.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: No, he's there. He's there. And his wife is a witness too. Cuz she's, she's there.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Jesus.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: I think he wanted to throw that in.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: I have to say. Throwing puyas at me and you. I see.
[00:30:13] Speaker C: Hey, listen, I'm going to try.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: You're going to train you're going to.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: I'm going to train.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: You're making a commitment in front of our family.
[00:30:20] Speaker C: I'm going to train. It's a little tougher for me, but I'm going to. I'm going to push myself.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: That means anyone who heard anyone up here say that they're going to do it. You hold us, hold us to it.
[00:30:30] Speaker C: And when you see it, then you'll be like, yo, he changed. Lastly, let's look at the role of scripture and meditation in our health. Psalms 119, 105 states, Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light onto my path. You know, meditation is so important because when you meditate, it's really shutting the noise down, shutting everything in your life that's going on, all the chaos. And when you get to that place of just quietness is when you can really listen and hear God speak. What is the. What is it that he wants from me? What is it? Because we always want one. But in the meditation is, what do you want God? We're trying to hear the next steps of where he wants us to go and how he wants us to live our life as we meditate on the scripture to His Word. Because the Word is life.
[00:31:26] Speaker D: And mental health has been one of the big things in the last.
[00:31:30] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:31:31] Speaker D: In the last decade.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: And so why do we use that verse in Psalms? Your Word is a lamp for my feet. Listen, my anxiety goes away if I know where I'm going.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: And your Word is a lamp. If I can see that you're leading me, I'm not afraid to follow.
[00:31:47] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Fear, anxiety, all that stuff that's. That's kind of keeping us down and ruining our mental health. It goes away when you know the Word of God is leading you. It lights your pathway. And, and that's going to do away with a lot of what's holding you down in your mental health journey.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: I actually, I'll give an example. I'm. I currently, I've been having some issues with, like, headaches and stuff like that. And so first thing I did was pray. Second thing I did was follow up my pcp. I went to the doctor and I. And I. And I just followed that path and said, okay, I got to still take care of myself. And I took a new medication. It made me feel a little weird. I. I felt very uncomfortable. The headaches have been bothering me. And the other night, so I wake up in the middle of the night and I am Jarred with anxiety, really. And I wake up, I'm like, oh my God, I don't like this feeling. I don't feel like I'm at ease or I'm in control. And I'm not gonna lie, it took about not even 10 seconds for me to go, I'm not in control. But you are in control. I said, lord, you are my peace. And I just gave it over. And when I tell you that it left almost immediately. And I was able to close my eyes and get right back to sleep. It was me putting it back in its place and saying, lord God, I know that you're in control. I know that I'm doing the things that I have to do. I'm taking the right steps. I'm not being lazy. I'm not being irresponsible with myself and God. I know you got it. And I was able to go right back to sleep.
[00:33:12] Speaker C: People panic in that situation. And when you panic, you lose all sense of thought. All sense of thought. And so you can't think and it just increases. What he did was calm himself down and just. He went right to God.
A lot of people don't do that. They rather panic.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: I went to scripture, right? Colossians 3. 2. Set your, your, your mind, your thoughts on heavenly things, not on earthly things. And when I was able to put my mind back on him, it's the Word.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Put the word in action. Watch as God delivers because his Word never returns to him void.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: That's exactly what Jesus did to combat temptations. Now all of us are going to deal with negative thought and negative self talk, right? The other day, a couple months ago, I'm speaking with my therapist, who now I've been going to for four years, and I'm sharing with him some of my negative self talk stuff. That's just, man, I'm mean to myself, boy. Yeah, I'm cruel. The things that my, my. And, and, you know, and, and he said something to me that, that I never, I feel stupid that I didn't think about it, but he said it and it gave me permission to do it. He says, you know, Hurston, you can talk back to that voice. And I, I just, just listen to it. And I didn't fight back, I didn't talk back. And, and Jesus did it with scripture.
Jesus, Jesus. Every time the enemy tried to put a negative thought, tried to say something negative to Jesus, Jesus would combat him with the Word. And that's how we do it. And since then, I've been combating the negative self talk and the negative things that come my way with the Word. Because sometimes what I say isn't strong enough. How I feel, that's not strong enough. The Word is strong enough.
[00:35:01] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:02] Speaker B: The Word is strong enough to pull me out and to help me confront the evil thoughts, the negative thoughts that are coming to my mind.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: You're listening to this episode and you're thinking to yourself, man, I kind of struggle with that negative talk.
I struggle with that negative self talk, or I struggle with what the enemy seems to be oppressing me with. We need to take practical steps. You can take spiritual things and make practical steps and see God active in your life. Here's one of them. Daily devotions. Go into a. I mean, buy a book. Go straight into the Bible, the Bible app. If you go to the YouVersion app, you can open a plan. Basically, all that does is it gives you a path. So you're not randomly reading, but you're reading with a path in mind. And so if you can do that, what you're doing is you are strengthening yourself with his Word on a consistent basis. And then the other thing that you can do too, is scripture memorization. Let me tell you something. Scripture isn't there only for you to go find it. David said, thy word. Have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against thee. That is the intention, is that you can go to the Word and know the Word. I know. Sorry, squirrel right here for a quick minute, but the movie, the Book of Eli, what I loved about that is that in the end, they were looking for this Bible.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: And it didn't exist physically. Why? Because there were blank pages embedded into his life. And so when that happens, and when I looked at that movie, I realized, wait a minute. That's because the, the way that he fought. He fought from a place of the Word. That's why he never could lose. Yeah, right. And. And when the enemy comes against us, but we're armed with the Word memorized, you can pull up that scripture out of your pocket and you spit it out, and you just watch the enemy run. And so, and by the way, not just reading the Word, meditate. What's the difference, Bishop, between reading the Word and meditating on it?
[00:36:51] Speaker B: It's the difference between putting your feet in the water and going for a swim.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: I think it's that. It's. It's that different. It's. I, I. Reading the Word is good. It's. It's going to help you. Reading the Word is going to build you up now. Meditating on the Word.
[00:37:08] Speaker C: Come on.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Gives room for the Holy Spirit.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: That's good.
[00:37:11] Speaker C: That's good.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: To overtake you, to overtake your mind, to remap the way your brain fires. That's what happens when you start to meditate. Now, Eastern religions have really gone a real long way with meditation. And a lot of Christians look at meditation weird, but it's a part of our faith.
[00:37:31] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: And it's an underutilized weapon in our arsenal for mental health and for wellness.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: By his wounds, we are healed. Let me tell you something.
You don't have to be sick in any specific way.
I challenge you. Declare that over your life. It doesn't matter what you're going through. Everybody's going through something. But I want you to declare a scripture like that. By his wounds, I am healed. Speak it over yourself, because he's already spoken it over you. And you will see it come to pass in your life. I promise you.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: He took it all on himself. Everything. All your anxiety, everything. He took it on himself so that you can have victory, and you still can. And by the way we're talking, meditate on the Word. Learn it, know it, understand it, and use it as your weapon.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: One of the things that my friend David Marquad taught me is what he does is he'll. He'll read a verse and pray on that verse. Then he'll write it. The verse, Scripture and inciting. And he'll write it, and then he'll pray, and then he'll read it again, handwritten. And that's how he. That's how he memorizes verses. He'll read it from the Bible, and then he will transcribe it. He'll write it out in his hand, in his notebook. And now he has a notebook of. When he says healing, he goes to all his healing. That's so good. But it was his. His trials. He's got all his trial. That's how he fires off these things. When you hear him preach.
Pastor Dave, we love you, man.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Yes, we do.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: When he preaches, he's shooting. Because this is the way he meditates in the word of God.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: By the way, when he preaches, you know that he's preaching from a place that has experienced the truth of the word he's speaking. He's not. He's not just randomly talking because he knows the knowledge of it, but because he has the wisdom and experience of it. You can feel it in his preaching.
[00:39:27] Speaker C: And he's lived this. It he's lived those scriptures for sure.
[00:39:31] Speaker D: There's probably people out there that are living a life where there's a lot of facts going on in their lives.
The doctors are not lying to you. They're telling you the facts. But there's a higher truth, and that's what we're telling them because tr. The truth of God is higher than any facts that could be in your life. And that's what we want you to understand tonight, that the word of God, the truth of God, it's higher. It's over whatever situation that you're going through, whatever the doctor said or whatever is going on in your family, there's a higher truth to that. It might be a fact, but the truth of God is over that. And that. That's so powerful to know that even though, yes, it is happening, but there's a higher truth to that.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: We'll put some skin on that. Right. So the doctor says you're sick. That's, that's, that's a fact. The truth is, by his stripes, you are healed.
[00:40:28] Speaker D: Right.
[00:40:29] Speaker B: You can say I. I'm struggling with my, My, my mental health. That's the fact. Doctor can diagnose you. It's a fact. The truth is you are fearfully and wonderfully made. That's great. So there are this, this higher truth that you can live with, that can. That can have direct consequences on your wellness and your health.
[00:40:51] Speaker C: Him. Everything in life is in the Bible. It's in the Word. Any situation you're going through, it's there for you so that you can use it. Yeah. All right. So let's take this into action as we embrace God's call to flourish in our health and our wellness. Let's commit to prayer and stewardship of our bodies. Our health. Health reflects God's glory in our lives.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: That's the right.
[00:41:20] Speaker C: Listen to that. Our health reflects God's glory in our lives. I mean, it can't be that much more clear.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: There's a woman I met recently, it was probably in October, went to a golf tournament in Florida, and this woman has had cancer for 14 years. They told her she wouldn't make it past year two.
And it's so wonderful to hear her speak about God, because when you talk to her, she's never talking about her cancer, not even for a second.
[00:41:49] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:41:49] Speaker A: So we're at this golf tournament, and she's one of the people that help, you know, finance it. And she goes up to every person in her wheelchair and she goes, thank you so much for being Here, this was. Wasn't it so wonderful? It's wonderful because you were here and made this all happen. I appreciate your time, I appreciate your effort. And I'm like. From a person who seems seemingly doesn't really have much time left, she never lives from that place. Because being healthy doesn't necessarily mean that I have to see it manifest, necessarily. Because when my body is weak, my spirit is strong. And that's the reason why earlier, when Bishop was speaking, he said, we're not making excuses for the physical side, but what we're saying is that if you're led through the spirit, then everything else flows from that healthy place. But let's take a quick minute right now, even in the middle of the episode, if. If there's something in your life, if you're sick, if you're not feeling well or you feel like you're unhealthy in some sort of way, I wanna invite you right now to press in. I want you to bow your head, close your eyes, and I wanna pray with you. Father God, I bless you and I thank you for every single person watching this episode right now. And I pray your healing power over their lives. I pray, Father God, that in an instant you can do what someone's been praying for for years. If they just believe that you're the God that does immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, then it can happen. And so, Father God, I pray, let it happen. But I also pray, Father God, that after the miracle comes the stewardship. I pray, Father God, that the changes that need to come after the healing, that the changes that need to come after the mental restoration, whatever it is that you do for them and to them, I pray, what they do is return it back in good stewardship by taking care of themselves and also taking care of those around them. So, Lord, I pray, Father God, in a declarative way, this healing power, in Jesus mighty name, we pray.
[00:43:43] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:43:44] Speaker D: Amen. And we stand in faith and believe in that healing that God can produce, that God can bring into your life. So stand in faith today, tonight, whatever time you're watching us, just believe that God can do it.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: And so we hope that you leave this podcast feeling empowered to flourish in every aspect of your health and your wellness. And don't do it so that you would feel get likes on Instagram. Do it for the glory of God. Put it on Instagram, but give God the glory. He's the one giving you strength. He's the one empowering you. He's the one that's doing the work. And, guys, when we do it for his glory, God really just puts a little signature, a God signature on it and it. And you can't give credit to anybody else but him.
[00:44:35] Speaker C: We want to thank you for joining us today at this Discover Life podcast today. Until next time, stay blessed and thrive in his promise.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: That's good.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: Hey, fam.
What you doing, Mel? I'm getting Faithfully Fit.
This is our Faithfully Fit commercial. We're at the White the bike path, getting ready for Faithfully Fit Fit in April.
It is smart still, but we're getting a head start because we don't want to be left in the dust by all you young whippersnappers.
[00:45:09] Speaker D: No, no.
[00:45:09] Speaker B: But Monsacol has some beautiful places where you can go and take nice little walks. And we're hoping to have 50 people strong or more, who knows, down in the bike path. And as you can see this road behind me, see plenty of room for everybody. So let's do it.
