Spiritual Fitness & Living With Chronic Pain

Lately, I’ve been asked some questions about faith healing. I’ll offer some general insights from my point of view. It’s quite difficult to neatly tackle the subjects about suffering and healing given uncertain etiology and the smorgasbord of treatment possibilities.

Though I’ve personally gone through the gamut of medical, alternative, and spiritual methods for healing, all have certainly contributed to some reduced pain but none have entirely cured me from my physical calamities.

For anyone to infer that I lacked faith in order to be fully healed seems mindboggling against reasonable truth, and quite frankly, underscores the insensitivity of many on the sidelines who inadvertently judge the chronic pain sufferer. As we can all acknowledge, the reasons for painful suffering and the lessons to be learned are numerous. Nonetheless, anyone of us may have to suffer because of our righteous faith, not because of our lack of it.

Accordingly, this blog centers on faith healing; as purported by its supporters, the kind of healing that requires an acceptable measure of faith to eliminate a physical ailment. In my opinion, this definition of faith healing contradicts the very nature of God’s mercy toward man. Directly related to Jesus’ bloodshed on the cross, it is surely God’s sovereign choice whether or not remedial action about healing occurs for anyone of us according to His will.

In actuality, I do believe in faith healing because I’m aware of its manifested results, as seen internationally, and from my own experience as a treating doctor. Professionally I have literally witnessed patients who have had the miraculous occur against clinical logic. I do not believe that faith healing is extra-biblical nor obfuscates any doctrine about the authenticity of truth. Yet, I do take exception with misinterpretation of scripture and misuse of this wonderful gift.

Faith healing is not about mustering up enough faith to get our desired results of either physical or mental or emotional healing.

So then, what is faith healing? It’s healing focused on the resurrection power of Jesus Christ over sin. Whether you are referring to Isaiah or Peter or James, just to mention a few, it’s quite apparent that sin is integral to both pain and healing. When people were healed, they were spiritually healed from the fatal effects of sin rather than being healed from their laundry list of physical afflictions. Primarily, in the Word of God, healing is used as a metaphor for spiritual conversion.

By faith, do we have the authority to pray and intercede for the ill? Yes. Can we place our hands on the sick requesting healing in Jesus’ name? Absolutely. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16a, NASB).

In summation, let’s avoid unscientific claims and religious hyperbole about faith healing. In full consideration of the chronically wounded, we must practice this gift with reverence and submission to God.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

We have some real choices to make during these arduous times. Which voices do we follow? That of secular wisdom or that of spiritual wisdom.

Let me briefly explain in a contrasting illustration. Think of having two television sets in your mind. One set broadcasts stations such as CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and such. From this type of programming we will most likely glean gargantuan amounts of secular information about all types of topics, ranging from global warming and the war to our sagging economy and high-priced, unaffordable health care. Opinion polls and liberal commentaries dominate the public mindset. Usually after analyzing every angle of an issue the outcomes offer very few hopeful options. Hindsight perlustration often renders negative results. Regardless of religious beliefs, many people consider this source of information as the baseline for their decision-making, thus influencing how they will live out their lives.

Arguably, I certainly understand the importance of being informed about relevant political, social and economic issues, whether considering domestic or foreign policy. Each of us has a measure of responsibility as a societal whole. But if we primarily depend on secular wisdom for our chief guidance, what type of programming does our mental television offer regarding spiritual wisdom? I venture to guess that many people have a snowy tube when it comes to faith-based living. No wonder our society has adopted a mistaken tone of distrust and despair regarding the faithfulness of God.

Consider making some life-transforming changes for yourself. Instead of filling your mind with gads of secular information only, begin channeling words of truth into your mind. For much of what we learn from the “big” television networks simply punctuates fear and seldom offers any concrete solutions to our oversized problems. On the other hand, by filling your mind with scriptural truth, you’ll acquire an appreciation for the “bigness” of God and the importance of eternal perspectives. This allows everything, both secular and spiritual, to come into better balance.

Why not fill your snowy television with relevant truth? For example, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8, NASB). Imagine if you were to saturate your mind with thousands of nuggets of truth. Your life would be entirely different. You would begin to see the bigness of God and a future of real hope. Don’t you believe that you would really become an overcomer of any obstacles? I encourage you to change the channel of your life today.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Q: What type of exercising do you do when having so much pain?

A: Good question.

Physically:
My ability to exercise has always been based upon what my body can tolerate. For instance, because of the fragility with my neck, not being able to lift anything more than five pounds, I haven’t been able to perform exercises that I once did prior to undergoing four neck surgeries. Thus, anaerobic type workouts, such as weightlifting, are strictly off limits. Regarding aerobic exercises, like running, walking and swimming, there are significant limitations placed upon these physical activities for me as well. As an example, if I were to attempt to walk on an inclined or rocky road, more compressive forces would be displaced throughout the structures in my neck, causing periodic episodes of pain exacerbation. Simply, this is prohibitive for me.

So instead, I perform fast-paced walking on a treadmill with the low-impact surface. I started out slowly, almost at an embarrassingly slow speed, and then I gradually progressed in my abilities to walk at faster paces for longer periods of time. Building a solid aerobic foundation for my body has been quite beneficial.

Behaviorally:
Oftentimes I do my treadmill exercises with tremendous pain. It’s not the kind of pain that causes clinical instability. Nonetheless, the process to exercise against pain is a delicate one. To cause instability is certainly contraindicated. To prolong an illness or disease from recovery seems quite irrational. But with my particular chronic condition, I’ve had it for fifteen years and can reasonably gauge the parameters of acceptable pain responses. I’ve trained my body through the good as well as the bad times.

Also, there is a psychology about exercising when having pain. For me the process is a form of worship with God. As with parents who delight in watching their children play a particular, organized athletic sport, when I work out, it’s like exercising my entire being and doing it to please God. His joy in watching me literally gives me the needed strength to finish my workouts. So when the pain seems unbearable, I still feel motivated to push forward regardless. I think of this process as spiritually exercising. It represents practical, rational worship of my body onto the Lord, being my spiritual service unto Him. After I push through the barrier of pain, discipline of mind and body bring about an expression of freedom for my life. For me, it’s been a very real way to exercise regardless of chronic pain.

Hope my response offers you insight as well about exercise.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Haven’t you found yourself wandering in random thought, not really questioning yourself why you were thinking what had come into your mind? I think most of us have done this before. Assume that this random thought is the object of your attention. Normally we tend to view this thought through a myopic lens, generally seeing it from our narrow perspective, not giving it much credence to begin with. In fact, many of us have trained our minds to block out additional information because we are so overloaded today through media and technology about data, statistics as well as a plethora of opinionated material. Sometimes it’s just too much for us to process.

But on the other hand, if we carefully took any of our thoughts and asked God to shed light on our reasoning, we’d soon discover the benefits of contemplative thinking. In a nutshell, here’s what happens.

When we freely offer our thoughts to God, He actually gives us “life” through our mindset. One simple thought can be transmuted into completely different perspectives about what we are pondering. Basically, this process stops our non-directed thinking and moves us beyond our initial thoughts into something deeper, all the while, discovering the reality that lies behind the superficial things. As we repeatedly train ourselves in deliberate, contemplative thinking and grow more skillfully in this art, we’ll begin to refine our patterns of thinking according to the direction of the Holy Spirit. By this divine guidance of God we’ll learn how to “sense” the spiritual meaning behind many things, thus capturing the meaningful from the meaningless.

Progressively, we’ll move from random thinking to uncovering hidden meaning to deliberate, contemplative thought to realizing our ability to hear God as He communicates through the purification of our minds. From this point spiritual genius is defined, where our thoughts become reality as we put into action the ideas about faith that become unlocked in our minds.

Consider rooting your contemplative thinking in the redemption process of God.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Although God’s voice through the Holy Spirit might convict your heart, He certainly refrains from cruelty and condemnation.  To know that you are hearing the actual voice of God rather than another spirit or from your own fearful conscience, understand these three points of reference.

First, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.  And as you discover this, you’ll find that God’s truth builds rather than divides.  His truth discloses His glory.  His glory is expanding, not diminishing by division.  God wants you to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and to abide in Him to discover the magnificence of His realness.

Second, the Holy Spirit will speak to you by convicting you of specific things.  This differs from feeling condemned, as condemnation makes you feel unclean from past sin and causes you to search for something wrong within yourself.  Needless to say, the tendency is to try to repeat the concept of forgiveness for past mishaps, which simply leads to undesirable consequences. As a result of listening to the wrong voice, your self-image will appear debased and the idea of being transformed will seem fleeting.  On the other hand, God convicts you so that you will glean pain relief in your soul.

Third, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us in faith.  By having faith, you can increase to newer and deeper levels of faith when truly responding to God’s commands.  These are laid out nicely in the Bible.  Essentially, to walk in faith is to trust God even more so with every aspect of your life.  When hearing God’s true voice, He will carry you from one level of faith to another.  Again, His truth tends to build trust, to build relationships, and to establish the reality between you, the finite individual, and Him, the infinite God.  When we are sanctified, we are set apart for His good pleasure in us.

In essence, God’s voice breaks the strongholds of deception in your heart, so that you can experience the true freedom in Jesus Christ.  This includes all situations of struggle, whether related to chronic pain or the need to lose exorbitant amounts of weight.  God’s actual voice is deeply rooted in love.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Whoever guides you will offer vision, direction and transformation as it relates to your self-image.

If you’re not a believer in Christ, then consider this bit of truth when making change for yourself. For those who profess the Christian belief, you can certainly recognize God’s voice by His explicitness about your sin, and furthermore, you can totally be assured about the worth He places upon you as part of His family. Finding out or trying to improve your self-image is not entirely about multiplying who you are in human excellence, although these attributes are quite helpful in the short term. On the contrary, discovering your real self-image occurs when you actually connect with the living God. At this point, you’ll begin to see who God is and how He really speaks into your life through the Holy Spirit.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Just before Thanksgiving I began some discussions about learning how to hear the voice of God. I think that I’ll pick up from there. Specifically related to the ideas about developing spiritual hearing, my comments express the reality that God acts directly and relationally with everyone who calls upon His name.

What is the process like when trying to learn how to hear from God?

Think of young man who attempts to become a good golfer. When he struggles with mental interference during a round of golf, he will inevitably lose his learned ability to hit the ball accurately. Doubt and frustration literally creep into the mind, gaining momentum toward discouragement about his overall ability to even play the game. Usually the results are disastrous. Confidence erodes, trying to shatter any belief about improving at a game that he truly loves. In fact, this pattern exists for many who attempt to play the game of golf. As a result, the consequences of low confidence and unbelief prevent most people from trying to vigorously pursue this remarkable sport with excellence. Then there is the other perspective, in which the few who persevere through the trials of golf have the opportunity to learn its intricacies while developing an appreciated skill for the game. Golf is golf. One might acquire the mastery of skill, but no one will ever become fully perfect about the game.

Essentially, the same thing happens when learning how to hear God. Spiritual interference can disrupt your ability to detect the actual voice of God, trying to instill doubt about His active realness in the subtleties regarding His way to communicate with us. Like golf, confusion sets in very quickly, giving rise to unbelief and doubt. Even though many people might learn the scriptures about truth, they give up on hearing the voice of God in their own hearts through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Adopting spiritual disciplines, such as biblical study, prayer and fasting, as well as persevering through trials, even as the professional golfer faces constantly, can help you to discern the genuineness of God’s voice. In reality, the game of golf is easy to give up because of its difficulty; unfortunately, the same behaviors typically apply to those who easily give up on trying to discern the recognizable ways of God.

Learning to hear God’s voice is an ongoing process through the maze of change. It’s neither easy nor automatic. It carries challenges as well as sacrifices. With God, all things are possible, including your deep connection and learning to hear His voice clearly.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Walking through toothache pain in the legs

Are you tired after eating turkey? Most likely so, because turkey contains high concentrations of tryptophan, leading one to unduly fatigue and tiredness.

Typically, Thanksgiving is the one permissive occasion for Americans to celebrate the holiday by excessive indulgence of food, forgoing any sensibility about carbohydrate or fat intake. After the nap has been taken and the Pepto Bismol has been poured down the esophagus, the idea of making a New Year’s Resolution about losing weight comes to the mental forefront of many participants. The thought of feeling sluggish and trying to start the New Year against the backdrop of horrendous trials does not sound very appealing.

You don’t have to live like this, trying to sludge through life when carrying extra pounds and facing the health consequences that await your arrival in the future. It’s kind of like having a lion that patiently waits for its prey. Aren’t you tired of feeling weighed down? Do you want to be the prey of some horrible sickness or disease in the future? Of course not.

Instead of waiting until January 2009 to make some real changes with your body, why not get started now? Start today and begin taking small steps into something you thought beyond your capabilities, like losing weight, whether it is 10 pounds or more. I encourage you to read the “Article” section of this site to glean more information about weight loss. Or feel free to peruse through some video programs about the subject. What is really stopping you from making some real changes for yourself? Weight loss is the outcome from transforming change. Change awaits your participation.  Get started today.  No more excuses!