This Spiritual Stronghold Can Make You Physically Sick

Our bodies are truly amazing. Artists have tried to capture the beauty of the human body for years.

The human body puzzles doctors and scientists, and every day they discover more truth about the human body. The human brain designed by God and placed in our head is far beyond medical comprehension. God designed a remarkable pump and placed it in man’s chest. It is called the heart. There is no machine on Earth that works as hard as the human heart.

Reading articles on the Internet, I found that on average, a healthy heart weighs 11 ounces and pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day. A healthy heart allows you to enjoy the life that God has given you.

On the other hand, an unhealthy heart causes disease in our body that brings pain and suffering. Our activities are limited in our daily lives, and much time has to be given to care for the needs of the body. An unhealthy heart leads to death, the death of dreams and visions and the purpose that God has put in your spirit, which is also known as your spiritual heart. Your spiritual heart is the center core of your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit when you are born again.

In all this, the Bible simply says, “I will praise you, for You made me with fear and wonder; marvelous are Your works, and You know me completely” (Ps. 139:14). The body is God’s masterpiece.

More and more the world is becoming conscious of the need to care for the human body so we can live healthier and longer, which is good. As a believer in Christ Jesus, we need to praise and worship God for His marvelous creation.

God made man an intellectual, moral and physical creature with spiritual responsibility and integrity. Man was created to express God’s own nature of love, to receive His love and to share His love. Man did not evolve or arrive on Earth by accident. As we read, he is fearfully and wonderfully made for a purpose.

With the knowledge of this magnificent masterpiece, why do we continue to abuse the body, which was created in the image of God? Every place we look we see information about taking care of our body. We hear about the damage done to our body from addictions that are destroying our bodies—food, alcohol, tobacco, pornography and so on.

Why can’t we stop? It is evident that we cannot break these strongholds by our own power. Addiction is a spiritual problem that can only be broken by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As a child of God, how long will the out-of-shape believer look in the mirror and say, “I must do something about this body”? How long do we depend on a drink to deaden the pain of hurt, or think we can get by looking at pornography and never be caught?

It is a heart problem—not our physical heart, but our spiritual heart. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” The New Living Translation says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.”

What’s in your heart affects everything you do. Are you full of bitterness, hate, jealousy or unforgiveness? These are some of the issues of life that cause addictions. We are looking for a way of escape instead of facing the truth and taking responsibility for our actions.

A healthy physical heart comes from a healthy spiritual heart. Lack of care for our physical heart comes from a lack of care of our spiritual heart. That is the heart of the matter.

“The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit (heart) who can bear?” (Prov. 18:14). “He who has no rule over his own spirit (heart) is like a city that is broken down and without walls” (Prov. 25:28). A city without walls has no protection against attacks of the enemy. You do have an enemy and he has one goal: to steal, kill and destroy. You, child of God, have a big God and He desires to give you abundant life (John 10:10).

Joyce Tilney is founder of Women of God Ministries and author of Why Diets Don’t Work—Food Is Not the Problem. Visit her website to sign up for a Free Devotional and a free monthly newsletter that will bring help and encouragement in your walk in the Spirit.