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Village Healthcare
What Every Family in West Africa Should Know About Health and Healing
1.01 God’s Will for Your Health
God Wants You to Have a Joyful and Full Life
Imagine a life in which you and all your family members are healthy. You do not suffer
from any serious diseases, you do not have any intense fear or worry, and your money
is not being spent on paying lots of medical bills.
You have the health and strength to work and earn a living. You are able to meet your own needs, able to provide for your family and are even able to help others who are in need.
Your mind is strong, you can think clearly and you are at peace with yourself and with the world around you. Your spirit is at rest, being in a right relationship with God, your Creator.
Your life has purpose and meaning. You have a reason for getting up every morning,
a reason for working hard every day, a reason for living -
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. . . .
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
(Genesis 1:1,31NIV)
What you have just read is a description of how life was meant to be, the way that God intended for us to live. In the beginning, when God created the world, He looked at everything that He had made and saw that it was very good.
But then Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the world. The world is no longer
very good. Now we live in a world that is cursed with suffering, sickness, and death
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“I [Jesus] have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full.”
(John 10:10NIV)
But God still wants you have a full and joyful life. When Jesus came into the world He set us free from the curse of sin. Jesus said that He came so that we can have life and have it "to the full".
When we think about something as being full, we can picture a cup that is full of water. The cup is so full of water that you can't possibly add any more water to it, because the water will just run over the edge and spill out.
This is the kind of life that God wants to give us. Life that is so full of His blessings that it cannot possibly hold any more blessing without spilling over. This is what David meant when he said,
Jesus is our Shepherd, leading and guiding us, taking care of us, protecting us from danger, providing us with everything we need, and filling our lives with such blessing that our cups overflow. This is the full life that God wants for us.
But because the world around us is still cursed, and because we have an enemy (the devil) who wants to rob us of the full life God has for us, there will be times when our life does not look like the description given above. Because of the sin in our hearts we do not follow Jesus the way we should. Just like sheep we wander away and try to live life our own way instead of following the Shepherd.
If we are to have the full life that Jesus is offering to us, we need to follow our Shepherd. God's Word gives instructions on how we can have that full life. If we are committed to living life God's way, and to following the instructions He gives in His Word, we can overcome the curses of sin, we can have deliverance from our enemy the devil, and we can have the full life that God offers us.
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. . . .Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil ,for you are with me. . . .You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
(Psalm 23:1-
In many ways this resource is like a machete. Your machete is a tool that you use to make a farm that will produce a good harvest. This book is also a tool, one that can help you and your family experience the healthy and joyful life that God intended for you.
Having a machete does not guarantee that you will have a good harvest, but learning to use your machete well can help you a great deal in your work. So also having this book will not guarantee that you will have good health, but learning to use this book well can help you a great deal in working towards having a healthier life.
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It Is God Who Heals
A farmer has many tools that he uses a hoe to prepare the soil. He uses seed to plant. He uses buckets to water the crops. He uses his machete to clear the grass and weeds. The hoe, the seed, the buckets, the water, the machete. . .these are all tools that the farmer uses. But it is the farmer is the one who does the work of planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting the farm. He is the one using the tools to do the work, so we know that he is the farmer.
We would not say that the hoe grew a fine harvest. We would not call the bucket or the water a farmer. We would not say that the machete was the one that did the work. No. . .we would give credit to the farmer. He is the one who worked his farm. He is the one who brought in a fine harvest.
In the same way, we cannot say that medicine heals a person. We cannot say that plants heal a person. We cannot say that words or knowledge healed a person. These are only tools that are used for healing. It is God who uses the tools to do the work. It is God who heals.
Many people, when they are sick, will do nothing about their sickness. . .they are just waiting to see if God will heal them. Many people teach that you do not need medicine, but you only need to have faith in God and you will be healed.
But God is the one who gives us plants for healing. God is the one who gives knowledge for us to use. Praying to God for healing, while not using the tools He gives us, is like telling a farmer to grow corn but not use any tools in his farm.
Anytime a person is sick, we need to seek God and ask Him what tools He is wanting to use to heal us, and then we need to use them.
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Righteous Suffering
Most often, the sickness and poor health we have is something that can be remedied, and it is not God's intent that we continue to live with these physical ailments. However, there are a few rare instances in which God specially calls individuals to suffer for Him through physical ailments or disease, usually for a time, but God is the one who determines the time.
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Why did the healing take so long? Or why in Paul's case did the healing not come at all?
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