Healthy Life According To Divine Formula

                                             

The wisest men throughout history have been aware of the relationship between good attitudes and good health. Four centuries before Christ, Hippocrates, who might be called the father of medicine, taught his students to note the emotional states and the general background of their patients. He believed that health is affected by the mind, and that to be whole a person must 


get into harmony with himself and with the world around him.

            The Bible teaches us that positive spiritual attitudes enhance health. Attention to God's Word and His principles is given as the key to "life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh" (Proverbs 4:22 KJV). The therapeutic effects of laughter and joy are extolled in Proverbs 17:22: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

            Dr. Tohru Ishigami, a Japanese physician who worked for ten years with victims of tuberculosis, noted the connection between his patients' emotional lives and their disease. "The personal history," he reported in The American Review of Tuberculosis, "usually reveals failure in business, lack of harmony in the family, or jealousy of some sort. Nervous individuals are especially prone to attacks of this type, and the prognosis is generally bad." On the other hand, wrote Dr. Ishigami, a number of patients who recovered from severe cases of tuberculosis were "optimistic and not easily worried."

            There appears to be a growing consensus that the mind and emotions are a great influence on our health and well-being. It has often been demonstrated that if psychological factors can contribute to disease, they can also lead to healing. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., at the age of 53 was among the richest men on earth. But his relentless, solitary pursuit of money took its toll on his health. With an income of over a million dollars a week, he lost all his hair and could eat only crackers and milk!

            Then Rockefeller began using his vast wealth to benefit others. As he turned his thoughts from making money to the good that money could accomplish, Rockefeller's health improved. "He began to sleep, to eat normally, and to enjoy life in general," says Dr. S. I. McMillen (author of None of These Diseases), adding that "into the soul of John D. came refreshing streams of love and gratitude from those whom he was helping." The billionaire's health changed so radically that he lived until he was 98.

            Dr. Bernard S. Siegel, a remarkable surgeon who teaches at Yale University, is a strong believer in the close connection between health and attitudes. Sometimes he asks a patient: "Why do you need this disease?" Once the person recognizes the dynamics of his life situation, he is able to cooperate more effectively in the healing process. In his book Love, Medicine and Miracles he says: "We must remove the word ‘impossible' from our vocabulary." As David Ben-Gurion once observed in another context, "Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist."

            The process of using the mind to energize the body is clearly taught in the Bible. One woman, believing that just getting close to Jesus and touching His robe would heal her, did just that. Jesus became aware of her effort and said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well" (Mark 5:34 RSV).

            No one, of course, is immune to the problems and vicissitudes of life. But if some malady attacks us, we can remember that God is the source of health and healing.

*Bible power for successful living*