Part 2: 'Starting your journey to health and wellness'
- Jean-Thereze
- Jul 26
- 6 min read
Following my previous blog 'Part 1' , we discussed the start of the journey to health and wellness, Step 1: Surrender.
We have now set the stage for the healing journey by letting go of our old ways and completely surrendering to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
This brings us to step 2: Obedience!
This is a very personal and continual point for me. My instruction was clear that my healing would come through obedience. Some receive instant healing or gradual healing, but I, I have to obey. When I get weary, and I do, I lose sight of the mandate and often this is when I slip up. Let me explain:
I have received the gift of wisdom and knowledge, to know what is good for me and what is not, for instance, despite the fact that I know that sugary treats will be in contradiction to daily health and wellness practices and they usually give me an upset stomach, influence my mood badly, cause inflammation that make my joints ache and feel stiff (to name a few), I still fall into the trap of consuming it when I am tired and/or stressed and someone just happen to offer me a piece of cake, lollies or tart etc. Why in the world do I not remember the consequences until the plate is empty?! well, here's why.
Paul explains this well in Romans 7. It is the constant battle of our sinful nature vs our spiritual life. Verse 15 says:
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
Our battle is against the sinful nature that we are born into, and it is our free will to choose to obey God's instructions that we can know through His Word. We see this free choice of obedience vs disobedience yet again in 1 Samuel 15.
Here, in 1 Samuel 15 we read about Saul's disobedience, and how he (and the army) tried to correct or hide their sin of disobedience by religiously sacrificing some of the plunder and spoil that they gathered, when they were specifically told to not to. In verse 22 it is clear that the Lord values obedience more than sacrifice when sacrifice was not the required result of the instruction. This angered the Lord God so much that He regretted making Saul king over Israel (1 Samuel 15:35).
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”
So why is it important to obey, and what do we obey? Once we surrender (step 1) and lay our free will down to follow Jesus Christ, we, as children of God, love to please Him because we love Him. So, when we align ourselves with and obey the Word of God, the Rhema, we have the pleasure of pleasing the Most High God through our submission and obedience. This means, we are serving our God by choice, out of free will, and not out of a fear based obedience or slavery.
Practically, obedience stretches much further into the crevices of our lives. If, we believe what we read in the Bible, and I do, then even a scripture that tells us that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6), should send shock waves of change through our entire lives with lasting repercussions. We are bought at a price, with the precious blood of Christ, so we have to think about what we allow into our bodies: censoring what we listen to, look at and what we do. Furthermore, what we wear, what we eat and drink and how we behave and conduct ourselves also reflects our obedience and reverence for God.
So now we're back at square 1: If we want to receive the blessing of healing and health, we need to walk in obedience to our Creator and Savior, agreed? Agreed! But, how to we overcome the temptation of doing what we know not to do, and yet we still do it? Here are a few tips:
1) Start by spending more time in God's word. This will build your faith and sustain you in difficult times. It will also give you insight into the character of God and His will for you, which will deepen the love and respect that you have for God and in turn it would make obedience so easy to do.
2) Keep on surrendering: Yes, this was step 1 and we are at step 2, but surrendering really is a continual act of worship, and as we progress and grow in the path of righteousness, we constantly identify things in our lives that still need changing, surrendering and letting go of. Be encouraged to keep on doing this as you draw nearer to Jesus daily.
3) Get up and do it again: Yes, you may fail, but it does not mean that it is the end. Once you realize that you have made a mistake it is as simple as repenting (true repentance) and asking God to help you overcome. This does not give you the license to sin, as repeating the sin while being totally aware of your wrong doing is yet another sin and means that you are repenting because you are caught not because you actually feel any remorse. Think about this...
4) Remember that obedience is an act of love. It is a free will choice because we follow the laws of God, not because we follow the law out of fear, but rather because the law is now written on the tablets of our hearts and we follow it out of loyalty and love for God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
So now I want to challenge you to some homework until we meet again with the next blog:
Make a list of the things that you battle to overcome in your life. It could be anything.
Now make time to pray and submit this list to Father God, and ask Jesus Christ to help you to place strategies in your daily routines and life so that you can avoid and deter those pitfalls.
These strategies may be food prep so that you don't order ghastly unhealth takeaways when you are starvingly hungry, or not buying chocolates and chippies when you do the next grocery shop which will omit the unhealthy snacking when you are up late in the evenings (tired-snacking, when we should be sleeping...). It could also be strategies to lessen stress or pressure of household or work related workload: keep a schedule to stay up to date with the chores so that it does not all come crashing down when you have too much to do all at once. Omit unhealthy friendships or relationships: learn how to stop or cut short those unhealthy phone calls or visits; praying for them and challenging their comments with the Word of God usually works best to stop the negative and toxic talks.
I pray that you have found this helpful and that you will be encouraged to pursue your health and wellness, both physically and spiritually through obedience and drawing closer to the Lord daily.
I look forward to meeting you here again soon for Step 3: Please remember to subscribe at the bottom of this page to receive the notification of the next blog's release.
Also please feel free to contact me if you would like to have a personal session regarding step 3. I am more than happy to pray with you and ask the Lord for His guidance regarding your situation and needs.
Until we meet again, blessings in Yeshua Hamashiach,
Jean-Thereze Steenkamp S.T.H.
NOTE: This is not medical or counselling advice and it is not intended to replace professional advice. It is my personal view and opinion and you are free to choose for your self. I am not telling you to or not to do anything.
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