Christian Natural Health

Today's podcast comes from this blog post of the same title.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Mark Walker's story is one of humble beginnings and extraordinary success. Raised in Spokane, Washington, he pursued his education at the University of Washington before embarking on a remarkable entrepreneurial journey. In 1980, Mark founded Walker's Furniture with a clear purpose: to build a successful business that could make a positive impact on society and advance the kingdom of God. What started as a modest venture has since flourished into a thriving enterprise, with thirteen furniture stores and over 200 employees. With annual retail sales exceeding $70 million, Mark's business acumen and dedication to his vision have made Walker's Furniture a pillar of the community. Beyond his professional endeavors, Mark finds fulfillment in his role as a devoted husband to Pam, a loving father to two daughters, and a proud grandfather to seven grandchildren. Together, Mark and Pam are passionate about supporting ministries that are making a difference, both locally and globally. As a sought-after speaker, Mark shares his insights on partnering with God in life and business at conferences across the nation and around the world. To learn more about Mark or to get a copy of his book, The Multiplication Factor, see restore7.org or you can pick up a copy on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Multiplication-Factor-Truths-Partnering-Business/dp/1957616458/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2N5L8KUCSRF3L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PwOpiII7ijiXYZjXzoqrxQ.Q1fCSDXRBYz6gjhatyI4mzPaI_RfoKN8J1Swk-dkyLI&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+multiplication+factor+mark+walker+book&qid=1711743395&sprefix=The+Multiplication+Factor%2Caps%2C265&sr=8-1 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Russell Witte is a Professor of Medical Imaging, Optical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona. Dr. Witte's Experimental Ultrasound and Neural Imaging Laboratory (EUNIL) devises cutting-edge imaging technology, integrating light, ultrasound and microwaves to diagnose and treat diseases ranging from tendinopathies and arrhythmias to breast cancer. By integrating different forms of energy, special effects are created that enable ultrasound imaging of optical absorption deep in tissue, mapping current source densities in the beating heart, and elasticity imaging of human muscle and tendon for quantifying tissue mechanical properties. Dr. Witte's research further extends into nanotechnology and smart contrast agents, which have applications to functional brain imaging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Dr. Witte works closely with collaborators in the Colleges of Engineering, Optical Sciences and Medicine, as well as industry, to develop cutting-edge imaging technologies that potentially improve patient care. To find antennas in your area if you're in Tucson, see safetechtucson.com Dr Witte mentions Aman Jabbi - find a presentation on this subject by him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL_JQjjkOMY To contact Dr Witte: rwitte@protonmail.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

We all have disappointments in life - things our hearts were set on that just didn’t pan out. God does promise to give us the desires of our hearts if we’re following Him (Ps 37:4), but He doesn’t promise to give them to us on our time table, or through the avenues we choose.  His way is always best in the end, but that doesn’t make the immediate disappointments hurt any less.  Then there are those times when bad things happen to us that God had no part of.  These are the things that God specifically lists as a curse in the Old Testament - things like disease, death, destruction, destitution, and the like (Deuteronomy 28:15-38). They are listed as part of the curse of the law - but Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law, so God doesn’t do these things.  When these things happen now, it is because there is an enemy who “prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8-9), or because the world itself is fallen and waiting for redemption (Rom 8:20-22), or because of the free will of sinful people (Ps 37) - either our own or that of others who hurt us.  There are usually only a few ways that most people handle disappointments and sorrow: 1) they lie to themselves and pretend they never wanted (that thing) very much in the first place; 2) they run away, keeping themselves otherwise occupied so that they never feel the loss (and this includes addictions of all forms); 3) they get really mad, either at God or fate or whatever they blame; or 4) they grieve. The last one is the only path to true healing. Lying to Yourself (Denial) This is the “sour grapes” approach... “Well, fine, I never wanted it that much anyway!” It seems to work on the surface for awhile... the problem with this is simply that, well, it’s a lie.  Pretending you feel one way when in fact you feel another way entirely is suppression.  And the thing suppressed doesn’t go away... it gets buried deeper.  It’s like getting a splinter in your foot, and instead of having it removed, you shove it down inside the flesh so you can’t see it anymore, and just learn to walk with a limp.  This is often where emotional handicaps (such as depression) come from.  We are injured and isolated, and we don’t see that there’s anything we can do except learn to live with it - the “stiff upper lip” approach.  We move beyond blaming our needs to a denial of our needs.  There’s something we’re not admitting to ourselves, and the depression is a symptom of it. It’s trying to remind us that we need to enter the healing process. The solution, of course, is to submit to having your foot cut open so that the splinter can be extracted and the cut can heal.  Jesus says in Mark 8, If you try to preserve the things you want in life (by pretending everything is okay when it isn’t) then you will lose them.  But if you willingly lay them down for the sake of the Kingdom, then they'll be given to you.  As long as the splinter is still there, coping and “getting by” is the best you can ever do.  But that isn’t God’s best for you. In “The Law of Happiness,” Dr Henry Cloud writes, “...grief allows you to let go of what you cannot have in order to make room in your heart for what you can have.  Those who don’t feel safe enough to grieve find themselves holding on to lost hopes and relationships.  Then it’s difficult for them to seek out new attachments, since the ghosts of the past still occupy their emotional life”. Jesus promises that when we let go, the exchange he offers is beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3). Running Away (and Addictions) An addiction is anything that we run to in order to escape from unpleasant thoughts or emotions.  (That’s usually how all the physiologic addictions start, too.)  The obvious ones are substances, food, sex, gambling, shopping, and work (or busyness in general).  We can also be addicted to a person (that’s called codependence).  We can compulsively fill our lives with noise so that silence never has the opportunity to ask its uncomfortable questions.  We can park ourselves in front of the TV every night after work to escape from all the problems we don’t know how to solve.  Distraction techniques are very popular. These approaches all have one thing in common: they help us to avoid our pain, but they don’t heal it.  Because of that, they all enslave us sooner or later. But when Jesus first announced his ministry, he said it like this: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (Isa 61:1-2).  He came to heal, not just to offer a band-aid.  He came to set the captives free.  Once a hurt has been grieved and released, there’s no longer any need to run from it, and the necessity for addictive distractions goes away. Anger at God I tried this one.  My dad died when I was fifteen. I didn’t stop believing in God (I’d studied too much apologetics to do that, so I knew He was there,) but instead I decided that He was like an army general who made sacrifices for the greater good... and sometimes, guess what?  It’s your turn to get sacrificed. Because this was my basic philosophy, I therefore assumed that if I wanted any happiness, anything good to happen in my life, I had to take matters into my own hands.  I became a control freak.  Only problem was, I wasn’t in control of anything that truly mattered to me.  The moment I got set free was the moment I admitted this, to myself and to God.  And that was when He showed me who He really is.  He doesn’t do bad things to us; death and disease are a result of one of those three things listed above (Satan, a fallen world, free will, or some combination of the above).  But because He’s amazing, He can take all things (even the bad) and work them together for His purposes (Prov 16).  Once I turned to Him instead of away from Him, He was there to comfort me (Psalm 34).  One of my favorite verses to cling to even now is Deut 33:12: “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields them all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” I found out that “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in him” (Nahum 1:7).  I found out that if I seek Him, He will grant me the desires of my heat (Ps 37:4), but I probably can’t grant them to myself, no matter how hard I try.  Giving up and letting go was freedom. Grief Grief happens when we admit that what happened to us hurt, and we allow ourselves to feel sad about it.  God set up grief as a method for allowing us to accept those things we can’t do anything about.  Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that grief is what allows you to be comforted (Matt 5).  If you’re too busy denying and suppressing your pain, though, comfort can’t get in. I see this one all the time.  Patients come in with physical problems that started around the same time that someone they loved passed away, or they went through a divorce, lost a job, or had some other major life event happen to them.  They subsequently developed insomnia, depression, digestive disorders, crippling fatigue, or a full-blown autoimmune disease.  Then I ask what they did to grieve the loss, and they tell me they just do their best to keep going, because they can’t change the situation -- “so I just have to live with it, don’t I?”  It’s really no secret that “the body weeps tears that the eyes cannot shed.”  Grief is an important season, and without it, we will never quite function as well as we did before.  But (again quoting Henry Cloud and John Townsend in “How People Grow”): “We basically need two things for grieving.  First, we need love, support, and comfort... Second, we need structure.  We need time and space for grieving.  We need structured activities.  This is why good support groups that meet at a regular time and do regular tasks are effective in getting people through grief”. Grief isn’t something we can do alone.  We need the love and support of others to allow us to intentionally face pain.  Although no other human can ever fully understand how you feel (Prov 14:10), God called us to “mourn with those who mourn” (Rom 12:15).  Grief involves letting ourselves fall apart, and in order to do that in safety, we need God and others to hold us up.  Ps 55:22: “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.” 1 Pet 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Ps 62:8: Trust in God at all times and pour your heart out to Him, because He is your refuge. When we let ourselves feel sad for our losses in the context of relationship with God and others, true healing becomes possible.  God says that sorrow lasts for a night, but joy comes in the morning, and mourning will turn to dancing (Ps 30).  Isaiah 61:3 says that He will “comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion -- To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dave Stetzer has been an electrician by training, education and experience for over 30 years. He joined the United States Air Force, attended electronics school at Keesler Air Force Base—at the time, the world’s #1 electronics school, and was given top-secret military clearance, as much of the electronic equipment he worked on was, and still remains, highly classified. In 1975, Dave founded Stetzer Electric, Inc, specializing in power control in industry, municipalities, and motor control centers, focusing his attention on power quality analysis and troubleshooting. This led to the founding of Stetzer Consulting, LLC and the development of the STETZERiZER (Graham-Stetzer) Filter and Microsurge Meter in conjunction with the late Professor Martin Graham. Dave has been an Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Member since 2000. For his extensive and exemplary work and research, Dave was nominated for, and now holds IEEE Senior Member status.  To learn more about Dave, see stetzerelectric.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The scripture says a lot about seeking the Lord and getting wisdom from Him on the direction He wants you to go. But what about that most dreaded in-between stage, when you’re praying for wisdom and getting nothing, and no doors seem to be opening, and you feel unsettled - like you know your time in a particular circumstance or life stage is short, but you have not yet been released? In a word, what about waiting? The Fruit of the Spirit Patience is a fruit of the Spirit... but it comes as a result of a process. Paul lists the “fruit” that we bear when we’re walking with God’s spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).  Peter gives a similar list, but he doesn’t call them fruit.  His list looks like this (2 Peter 1:5-7): Add to your faith, goodness.  This makes sense, because without faith we can’t even become God’s kids.  So you have to start with that - faith is the seed that produces the fruit of goodness.  In the Old Testament, God started by giving the Israelites the Law.  They didn’t understand why they were doing what they were doing, but the Law produced “goodness” - meaning they weren’t killing each other and cheating on their spouses, and that sort of thing. And to goodness, knowledge.  God didn’t want them to stop there, though.  He wanted the Israelites to know Him, not just to obey a set of rules.  God wanted them to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).  Goodness therefore leads to knowledge - knowledge of the Lord. And to knowledge, self-control.  Now that we know what God asks us to do, and we know God himself, we need the ability to control ourselves in order to do what He is asking of us... but we don’t have the ability to control ourselves unless He gives it to us (remember Paul talking about how he used to continually do what he did not want to do, Rom 7:15-20? Instead, we get the fruit of self-control by getting to know the Holy Spirit (which is why Peter lists it after knowledge.)  So knowledge is the seed that produces the fruit of self-control. And to self-control, PERSEVERANCE.  We may have learned to subjugate the desires of the moment for the longer-term goal, but what happens when the longer-term goal looks REALLY far away, like it’s never going to happen?  That’s why we need perseverance.  The word implies a struggle: it’s suffering without quitting.  It’s hard, but we stick it out.  The writer of Hebrews says, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (10:36).  And to perseverance, godliness.  Notice that the corresponding fruit to perseverance is patience.  While the word perseverance implies a struggle, the word patience implies rest.  You’re not struggling anymore.  You know that God is going to come through.  Perseverance is the seed, and eventually it bears the fruit of patience.  Once you’ve got that, once you’re in rest, you become godly.  This was one of the key traits that set Jesus apart: when the storm blew up, while the rest of the disciples were freaking out, He was sleeping in the boat.  He’d said they were going to get to the other side, and He knew they were going to - he didn’t have to persevere through the storm anymore.  He was in rest.  He was godly. And to godliness, brotherly kindness.  Paul lists kindness after godliness.  Now that you’re in rest, you’re not so worried about meeting your own needs anymore; you know God’s got you covered, and you can wait peacefully for Him to come through.  Now you have energy to spare, and you can use it to see and joyfully meet the desires and needs of those around you.  (The fruit of kindness is joy, because it feels pretty great to help others.)  And to brotherly kindness, love.  This is the ultimate destination - to sow love into the lives of others, as we have received it from God.  (“Freely you have received; freely give,” Matt 10:8.) What this tells me is that we can’t just pray for patience and get it, in the same way that you can’t just pray for a Ph.D. and get it without putting in the necessary time and effort.  It happens as a result of a process - that’s how God set it up.  We have to first believe God, then follow after Him, then get to know Him, and then we gain His power to control ourselves and persevere, even in the face of hardship or long delays.  Once we learn how to do this, we bear the fruit of patience.  That’s when we can “sleep in the boat,” as it were.  We’re not worried about the circumstances - now we can “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7), because we know it’s gonna work out just fine in the end. David: Waiting for Deliverance David was anointed to be king when he was 17.  Then the current king, Saul, got (understandably) jealous, and tried to kill him... so David was on the run for thirteen years.  Almost anybody else would have given up long before that... but David had this principle down.  He knew God would come through if he waited for God to act.  And God always did. Ps 5:3 “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” Ps 27:14: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Ps 33:20: “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.” Ps 37:7: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Ps 38:15: “Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.” Ps 40:1: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.” Ps 130:5: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Ps 130:6: “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” Why Waiting? Personally I hate waiting.  I hate anything slow.  I walk fast, I eat fast, and some people say I talk too fast.  If I wasn’t a naturopath I’d be all about microwaves.  But James says that we should rejoice when we face trials (including delays) because “you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3) - there’s that word again - and perseverance is the seed that produces the fruit of patience.  Notice that all of the fruit before patience are about us - they’re about our growth in faith, in knowledge, and in controlling ourselves.  But patience is the one that allows us to start to produce for others - godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.  That’s where God wants us.  So James goes on to say that “perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4) - in other words, not lacking any of the other fruits of the spirit.  But it means more than that too - those fruits of the Spirit also bear physical results in our lives.  For example - Abraham’s patience eventually “bore the fruit” of Isaac (Heb 6:15).  The farmer who patiently waits for the appropriate season will eventually “bear the fruit” of a harvest (James 5:7).  Had the farmer tried to reap prematurely, he would not have had a harvest at all - he absolutely had to be patient, recognizing the season he was in and doing the work associated with it (Prov 20:4; Ecc 3:2).  Do Not Despise Small Beginnings The same is true of us.  God reminds us not to “despise the day of small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10) - everything great started out small.  We all start out as babies.  Every harvest begins with a seed.  Solomon reminds us not to try to “get rich quick,” for instance, because it will become a curse in the end - instead he says that if you gather money little by little, you will make it grow (Prov 13).  He says to build what you already have, and not to tear it down (Prov 14).  He says whatever your hands find to do, you should do it with all your might (Ecc 9).  He reminds us that our part is to do the possible, but we must leave it to God to do the impossible - that is, to bring victory (Prov 21).  “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Heb 6:12). Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Sally K. Norton, MPH is a distinguished expert in dietary oxalates with 35 years of health education and research experience. She holds a nutrition degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her path to becoming a leading expert on dietary oxalate includes a prior career working at prestigious medical schools in medical education and public health research. Sally championed a five-year, National Institute of Health-funded program at the UNC Medical School that educated students and faculty about holistic, alternative, and integrative healing. Her personal healing experience inspired years of research, culminating in the release of her groundbreaking book, Toxic Superfoods, which was released in January 2023 and is available everywhere books are sold. You can pick up a copy of Toxic Superfoods here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593139585?tag=randohouseinc7986-20 Learn more about Sally at https://sallyknorton.com/ or you can find her on YouTube as SallyKNorton Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Your words have tremendous power to influence the course of your life.    Jesus teaches it this way. In Matthew 15, the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus because he and his disciples eat food that is considered “unclean” by Jewish law.  Jesus explains to them, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean’... But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.  These are what make a man ‘unclean’” (Matt 15:11-19).   Jesus has connected three things here: thoughts, words, and actions.  They go in that order: your thoughts are seeds, and they get planted in the “soil” of your heart.  They don’t necessarily change the environment right away, but when that seed has been planted, it will germinate, and will spring up and become a tree, which will eventually bear fruit.  So you’d better be careful what you’re planting.   Round and Round We Go   When I was in my early 20s, I realized my life was on a merry-go-round.  I was living essentially the same story over and over again.  The names and details might change, but the characters and circumstances were basically consistent.  I wrestled with this for years; I had an intuitive sense that it was a spiritual principle somehow (because everyone’s story seemed to repeat itself, not just mine!), but I could not for the life of me figure out why.    I was 25 when I finally understood (and wondered why it had taken me so long, because it seemed so blatantly obvious in retrospect).  In all of those iterations of the same story, there was only one common denominator: me.  I realized that my beliefs were essentially, “My life will always be this way.  I will never get out of this cycle.  I will always repeat this pattern.”  I bitterly said something to this effect every time I told my tale of woe to a sympathetic friend.  I wrote about it every day in my journal.  I prayed about it every day to God - but despite the biblical promises that God had something better for me, I never actually believed what God said my future held.  Instead, I told Him that my future would be exactly the same as my past.  I gained a twisted sense of satisfaction by complaining, little knowing that my words were actually prophetic. I was planting seeds, and those seeds were bearing fruit - unfortunately, the fruit they bore was exactly the same fruit I was already harvesting in my life.  Instead of recognizing this and changing what I planted, I’d cut open that fruit, pull out the seeds, and plant them right back in the soil of my heart.  For years.   Jesus compares the Word of God to a seed in the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-23).  When it falls on good soil and isn’t choked out by the cares of this life and deceitfulness of wealth, Jesus said that seed will germinate, sprout and bear fruit - thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold.  But this process is indifferent: your heart will grow whatever you plant in it, whether the seed is good or bad. “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit... For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:33-34; Luke 6:43-45).   Guard Your Heart   The first five books of the Bible contain extremely detailed laws that the Jews had to abide by in order to be “right” with God.  The Pharisees had even added hundreds of additional laws of their own by the time Jesus showed up.  But their laws were all about external actions.  Jesus’ laws went much deeper - his dealt not just with wrong actions, but with the wrong thinking that eventually produced wrong actions (Matt 5).  Jesus said it’s not enough to not commit murder - don’t even think about murder.  It’s not enough not to commit adultery - don’t even look at a woman lustfully.  What’s he saying?  Guard your heart.  He knows that the heart will grow whatever you plant in it.  The thought will eventually produce the words, and the words will eventually produce the actions.   Because the heart grows whatever you plant in it, before anything else you have to start with Solomon’s famous advice: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Prov 4:23).    So be vigilant about what you plant in your heart.  Solomon talks about this a lot:   “Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.  Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart” (Prov 7:1-3). “A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction” (Prov 16:23). “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out” (Prov 18:15). “Apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips” (Prov 22:17-18). “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7).   Guard Your Mouth   If your thinking is right, then your speaking will be right automatically. But what if both your thinking and your speaking are already wrong?   In the midst of my “merry-go-round,” I don’t know if I could have changed what I said about my future.  The habit was too entrenched by then... but at least I could have kept my mouth shut!   In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel visits Zechariah and tells him that his elderly and barren wife Elizabeth would bear him a son (who would become John the Baptist).  But Zechariah did not respond to this statement in faith (as Mary did when she received a similar prophecy that she would become pregnant with Jesus, even though she was a virgin). Instead, Zechariah said, “How can I be sure of this?  I am an old man and my wife is well along in years” (Luke 1:18).  The angel’s reply is disapproving: “I am Gabriel.  I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.”  But then he adds something interesting: “And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time” (Luke 1:20).    This wasn’t just a punishment; the angel said this for a very good reason.  Zechariah didn’t believe God’s word, and the angel knew that he would continue to speak his doubts, for nine months.  Could that have stopped John’s birth, had Zechariah’s mouth gone unchecked?  Another story from the Old Testament suggests that it might have.   An Evil Report    The Israelite spies told the rest of the Israelites after exploring Canaan, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:31-33).  Objectively, this report was true: the spies reported what they saw.  There were giants in the land, and their cities were fortified and very powerful.  The Israelites, on the other hand, were a nomadic band of former slaves who had never fought a battle in their lives, and apparently they were a lot smaller than the Canaanites.  But God called this an “evil report” (13:32), because it disagreed with what He said.  He told the Israelites that He was giving them the land (Deuteronomy 1:29-31), so the size and might of the inhabitants was irrelevant.    What happened?  The Israelites had been complaining ever since Moses had led them out of Egypt and out of slavery that they would die in the wilderness.  After their disobedience and unbelief, God says, “I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall” (Numbers 14:28-29).  Not one of those Israelites who spread that evil report got to experience God’s Promised Land.   So an evil report is anything that disagrees with what God says, even when it accurately describes the current situation.  When you’re tempted to say what you see instead of what God says, Solomon advises you to hold your tongue. Speak only what agrees with God’s word, and if you can’t do that, then at least keep your mouth shut!   “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint” (Prov 17:27). “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue” (Prov 17:28). “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin” (Prov 13:3). “Do you see a man who speaks in haste?  There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Prov 29:20). “A chattering fool comes to ruin” (Prov 10:10). “A fool’s mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul” (Prov 18:7). “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity” (Prov 21:23).   Speak Life, Not Death   If the best you can do is hold your tongue, you do well.  But if instead you use your tongue to say what God says about the situation, you do much better!  We can plant the Word of God in our hearts as a seed, instead of a faithless, evil report.  It won’t change the way we think overnight, but eventually that seed will become a tree, and the tree will bear fruit, and the fruit will influence the direction of our lives.  We can “be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s]” (Romans 12:2).   “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them” (Prov 12:6). “From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him” (Prov 12:14). “From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things” (Prov 13:2). “From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied” (Prov 18:20). “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt 12:37). “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Prov 18:21).   Back to the story of the Israelite spies: all of the Israelites spread an evil report except two, Joshua and Caleb.  After the rest of the spies’ resoundingly negative report, Caleb countered them and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land,

Rafaele Joudry has dedicated her life to helping people overcome auditory problems and enhance their lives through better brain performance. She was guided to introduce her mother to Sound Therapy, which proved life-changing for fatigue, insomnia, sound sensitivity and difficulty hearing in social situations.  As a result, Rafaele and her mother developed the self help Sound Therapy program which helped thousands of people to find relief for tinnitus, dizziness, anxiety and sleeplessness. As a world leader in self help Sound Therapy, Rafaele has enabled individuals from all walks of life to benefit from unique discoveries about how the ears can enhance the performance of the entire nervous system. She has authored three best selling books, and helped many thousands of listeners to improve communication, learning, focus, sleep, creativity and brain performance. To contact Sound Therapy International go to www.mysoundtherapy.com/podcast Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

David Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm with offices in multiple states, managing $4.5 billion in client assets. Prior to launching The Bahnsen Group he spent eight years as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and six years as a Vice President at UBS.  He is consistently named as one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, and Fox Business, and is a regular contributor to National Review.  He hosts the popular weekly podcast, Capital Record, dedicated to a defense of free enterprise and capital markets. He is the author of several best-selling books. Today he’s here to talk about his upcoming book, “Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life.” To learn more about David, see fulltimebook.com or bahnsen.com  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Kim Shapira M.S., R.D. is a celebrity dietitian, nutritional therapist, and author, with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Tulane University and a Master’s degree in Human Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition from Boston University. Kim has spent over 25 years helping people lose weight and keep it off (with a giant emphasis on keeping it off), both in her private Los Angeles practice, in hospitals, sports clinics, addiction centers and universities. When she's not helping her clients take back their relationship with food, she is a wife and mother of three children and three pups. Kim often appears as a guest expert for Yahoo!, Just Jenny, Sky News, Vanity Fair, Pop Sugar, Podcasts, and will be happy to pop in and be a guest speaker for your book clubs. To learn more about Kim, you can find her on any social media platform, at kimshapiramethod.com or you can check out her book, "This Is What You're Really Hungry For," here.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Peggy Ployhar is the SPED Homeschool Founder & CEO, an organization that empowers families to home educate diverse learners. She is also the owner of Eternal Aerial Arts where she teaches aerial arts classes and coaches a student performance team. Peggy is a speaker, aerial performer, podcaster, author, breast cancer survivor, and 19-year retired homeschool veteran. She and her husband Doug live in League City, TX and enjoy paddle boarding, hiking, and camping in their classic Airstream. To learn more about Peggy, go to www.spedhomeschool.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Paul Harding is the owner of Total EMF Solutions in Tucson, AZ. Total EMF Solutions started as a personal journey and a fight for his life. He experienced a complete breakdown in his sleep after a smart meter was installed on his bedroom wall in the beginning of 2011. After further research he found that smart meters produced frequencies on the home wiring and electric field correlated with those that are used to open the sodium and potassium ion channels. His symptoms began to abate once he started sleeping in an area with very low levels of exposure. Once he found relief, his focus in life became studying the source of the problem.  To learn more about Paul, see www.totalemfsolutions.com If you are on the east coast, Paul mentioned contacting Dave Stetzer: https://www.stetzerelectric.com/about/ To find out if there are cell phone towers in your area, see: https://www.antennasearch.com/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Mike Van Thielen is a bestselling author on optimizing productivity and focus, a sought after speaker, and an entrepreneur who has owned several anti-aging clinics in central and northeast Florida. He was the CEO of an innovative stem cell clinic, treating top athletes including NFL players and heavyweight boxing champions. He is also a treating physician for Boston Neuro Pain and Psych Centers, helping tens of thousands of patients with chronic pain and mental health conditions.  To learn more about Dr Mike, see biohackingunlimited.com  You can also find his latest book, The Izod Method, here: https://www.amazon.com/IZOD-MethodTM-Superpower-Productivity-Stress-Free/dp/B0BR9GJLK1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3K1QAJUQD4G4G&keywords=The+Izod+Method&qid=1702672674&sprefix=the+izod+method%2Caps%2C221&sr=8-1  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Brant Hansen is a bestselling author, syndicated radio host and advocate for healing children with correctable disabilities through CURE International Children's Hospitals. His award-winning radio show, The Brant Hansen Show, airs on top stations in the U.S. and Canada. His podcast, The Brant and Sherri Oddcast, has been downloaded more than 15 million times. He has been named "Personality of the Year" multiple times by Christian Music Broadcasters and is called "Christian music's most beloved radio personality" by Christian Voice Magazine. Brant writes about varied topics related to faith, including masculinity in his book, The Men We Need, and forgiveness in Unoffendable, about which he was recently interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America. Brant’s new book, ‘Life is Hard, God is Good, Let’s Dance’, releases January 16. For Brant's book, see here; https://www.amazon.com/Life-Hard-Good-Lets-Dance-ebook/dp/B0BYYXTNQ2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1702662446&sr=8-1 For more about CURE, go to cure.org To learn more about Brant, go to: branthansen.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Sonia Gomez at Abundant Acres.com is focused on helping families design regenerative food systems, family compounds, and profit centers on their property to live healthy, happy, and free. Sonia Gomez has advocated for alternative health, has been a voice for freedom, and a community leader in alternative health education for the past 12 years. Recovering from a serious life-altering accident, Sonia discovered the secrets to eliminating synthetic medications and holistically rebuilding her health. Food was the first, and most important medicine. When Sonia isn't chasing rainbows and telling jokes, she is a wife and mom passionate about projects that are good for people and the planet. To learn more about Sonia, see http://soniagomez.tv and to learn more about Abundant Acres, see abundantacres.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

So far in this series, we've looked at prayers for ourselves, for which we must find the scriptures to stand on, we must have faith, and we must maintain our primary focus on the Lord. But how does this apply when we are praying for other people? We can't make others do or believe anything. God won't violate our free will, and we can't violate the free will of others in prayer, either. So how does this work?It depends upon the context. The default position is that we should be praying for all people at all times (1 Tim 2:1-6, Eph 6:18), as well as for the cities we live in (Jer 29:7). Just as for ourselves, this gives God "legal" entry into the affairs of men, so that He can intervene and do what He wants to do on the earth. The Old Testament priestly blessing was, “'The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace’” (Numbers 6:23-27). This was what God wanted to do for the children of Israel, and the priests were to invoke this, to give Him permission on earth to do it. In the New Testament, Jesus made this explicit in Matthew 16:19, and also in Matthew 18:18, when he said to his disciples, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." The spiritual realm is the greater reality compared to the physical. Paul tells us that "we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor 4:18). We are to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7), using our position of authority in heavenly places through Jesus to change what we see here and conform it to the will of the Father in prayer. Some examples of effective prayer of one individual for others in scripture: In Job 42, God told Job to pray for his friends, so that God could forgive their sin rather than punish them for it (Job 42:8). Clearly this was already God's will, but God still told him to pray for it. In Numbers 11, the Israelites disobeyed God and triggered the 'cursing' side of the covenant laid out in the Torah, and consolidated in Deuteronomy 28. But when the people cried out to Moses, and Moses interceded to God for them, the curse stopped (Numbers 11:1-2). God needed a man to ask Him. In a similar story, Miriam disobeyed God and triggered the 'curse,' (which now no longer applies to us, thanks to Jesus!), and Moses had to pray for her to be healed as well (Numbers 12:13). Moses also interceded for the Israelites after the incident of the golden calf (Ex 32:31-32), so that they would not be destroyed. Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would not fail, even before Peter denied him. Because of this, Jesus was confident that Peter would return to the disciples even after he'd stumbled (Luke 22:32). The faith involved was still Peter's, but somehow Jesus' prayer enabled Peter's faith to be revived. Paul believed that the prayers of his parishioners would occasion his deliverance, favor, and open doors of opportunity for him that might otherwise have been shut without them (Phil 1:19, 1:22, 2 Cor 1:11). Samuel the prophet acknowledged that it was actually a sin to fail to pray for his people.    1Sa 12:23 "Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way." We pray for others, as individuals, for the same reason that we pray for ourselves: so that God can do what He wants to do on the earth. How does the prayer of agreement fit into this? Jesus said in Matthew 18:19: "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." Why do we need anybody else to agree with us; can't we simply ask and receive all on our own? I don't totally understand how this works, but I think it's similar to what Solomon said in Ecc 4:12: "a threefold cord is not quickly broken," or to the story of Aaron and Hur physically holding up Moses' arms when he got tired, to ensure that the Israelites achieved victory in battle (Ex 17:8-16). It's why we need the body of Christ to come around us, to bear one anothers' (crushing) burdens, even though we should each carry our own (light) loads (Gal 6:2, 5). It's very possible for one person alone to grow heartsick rather than patient in a long wait (Prov 13:12); that's why we need others to "hold up our arms" in prayer and encouragement. When our own faith is strong, perhaps (this is my speculation), the prayer of agreement is less necessary. It's when we are losing strength or growing heartsick, that the prayer of agreement becomes important. This may be why James tells us that if we're sick, we should ask the elders of the church to anoint us with oil (a symbol of the Holy Spirit) and pray over us, to receive healing (James 5:14). The assumption is that the church elders are strong in faith, as they should be. The request itself would constitute an act of faith on the part of the person asking; the elders in this example would simply be in agreement. There are many examples of people receiving healing on their own faith alone (Mark 5:34, Luke 17:19, Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 10:46-52), so this isn't always necessary--but sometimes it is. When we are weak, God gave us each other, so that others who aren't as weak, frustrated, or discouraged as we are can join their faith with ours, and "hold up our arms," when they would otherwise fall.  When the father of the demonized boy asked Jesus if He could help the boy, Jesus replied that all things are possible when one has faith (Mark 9:23).  The father claimed to have faith, but then immediately cried out "Help me believe!" Jesus did not rebuke him for this, but gave him the help requested--and did heal the boy. The prayer of agreement doesn't always have to come into play in a place of weakness, though. This may also be the positive side to what God observed of the people who built the Tower of Babel: "indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them" (Gen 11:6). In other words, this is just a principle of the way God set up the world, and in itself, the law is neutral: if one has power, the combined strength of many is exponentially more so. As Moses wrote of the Israelites in Lev 26:8: "Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight." When we're around others who are strong, we become that much stronger ourselves. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Prov 27:17). I suspect this is also why we are admonished to not forsake assembling together with other believers (Hebrews 10:25). The assumption is that we are assembling with those who are in agreement. Our stronger faith strengthens those with a weak faith in a particular area, while our weaker faith is strengthened by others whose faith is stronger in another area in turn. But this also works in reverse--if those around you are not in faith, it's more likely that they will influence you with their unbelief than that you will influence them with your faith (Gal 5:9, 1 Cor 15:33). (So don't approach just anybody for agreement in prayer; be sure you are agreeing on the right things!)  There is one exception to the rule of intercession, and it falls under the category of church discipline. In Matthew 18:18, when Jesus said, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven," He was talking about church discipline. He also said in John 20:23, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Since scripture elsewhere makes it quite clear that only God can forgive sins (Luke 5:21), this must mean something different. We know that there are both spiritual and natural consequences for sins; Jesus took the sins of the whole world and paid for them on the cross from a spiritual standpoint (1 John 2:2), but we each must appropriate that to ourselves by faith in Him (Romans 10:9). Regardless, that covers only the spiritual consequences; the natural consequences remain, as sin can still give "place" in our lives to Satan (Eph 4:27), allowing him to influence us rather than the Holy Spirit. So the only thing that makes sense is that when Jesus spoke of binding and loosing, remitting or retaining the sins of others, He meant that when we sin, we're giving Satan an inroad into our lives--but through prayer, we can 'bind' Satan from bringing the natural consequences of others' sins against them. So while another person may continue to choose to sin, and we can't make them do otherwise, we can use our prayers to protect them from the consequences of those sins. That is a good idea only to a point, though. Negative consequences for our actions teach us not to do something bad in the future. Touch a hot stove, and you'll burn your hand, and learn never to do that again. Overdraw your account, and you'll have no money for things when you truly need them, etc. But if someone else rescues you from the consequences of your poor choices (or from the law of sowing and reaping, Galatians 6:7) repeatedly, you'll never learn to do anything differently, and will continue to make the same poor choices. You'll never grow up. That's why in 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul wrote of church members engaging in sexual immorality, "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." They deliver him to Satan by withdrawing their intercessory prayers to protect him from the natural consequences of his actions. Paul recommended this same course of action against blasphemers in 1 Tim 1:19-20. We see in 2 Cor 2:6-11 that this had its intended eff

Dr Jacob Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and nationally known expert in the fields of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, sleep and pain. He has authored numerous books including the best-selling From Fatigued to Fantastic! (now in its 4th edition). He is the lead author of numerous studies on effective treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and one study on effective treatment of autism using NAET. He also developed the popular free smartphone app “Cures A-Z.” Dr. T lives in Kona, Hawaii. To learn more about Dr T, you can email him at fatiguedoc@gmail.com or see vitality101.com or endfatigue.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Ed Welch (MDiv and PhD) is a licensed psychologist and faculty member at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Ed has been counseling for over forty years and has written numerous books on the topics of depression, fear and addictions. Most recently, he was a major contributor to the new Life Counsel Bible from Holman Bibles and New Growth Press. To learn more about Ed, see ccef.org  For the Life Counsel Bible, see here: https://lifecounselbible.com/  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

A final caveat in scripture to this is that we must have our priorities straight. Jesus said in His sermon on the Mount, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matt 6:33). Jesus repeated the same concept in His last instructions to the disciples: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit" (John 15:7-8). The precondition is that we must be seeking first the Kingdom, and abiding in Him. That way, the things we're asking for in prayer will be God's will for us, and they also won't be more important to us than He is. Any good thing can become toxic, if it becomes an obsession. (This is the foundation of all addictions--all of them take something originally intended to be a blessing, and twist it into a tyrant which ultimately enslaves us. Money is to be shared for good works and kingdom purposes, 1 Tim 6:18; but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, 1 Tim 6:10. Wine is a blessing to gladden men's hearts, Psalm 104:15, but drunkenness is warned against, Gal 5:21. Etc.) So in the same way, even if something is promised in scripture, it's unhealthy to fixate on that to the point that it becomes an obsession that enslaves us. Also, such a state is essentially synonymous with fear that we won't get the thing we so desperately want--and "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18). This is important when it comes to receiving what we ask for in prayer, because "faith works through love" (Gal 5:6). The opposite of fear is both faith and love, which go together. If we shift our focus from the thing we're begging to receive to the perfect love of the Father, peace comes, and our priorities will straighten themselves out, with no direct effort from us.  Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.