Even as your soul prospers and be in health. Pastor Ituah Ighodalo

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3 John 1:2 KJV

Today is our family Sunday and typically on family Sunday we take family issues. Today we want to focus on health; we will be looking at male health.
Your soul must prosper for you to prosper and be in good health. We are talking about the prostate health. Does prostate really matter? Is it important or not? What is the connection between the prostate and sexual health?

The most serious problem about prostate is ignorance about its existence, function and importance.
The right kind of diet, exercise, sleep is necessary so that the body can be properly managed to the end of its days. May we not make unnecessary mistakes concerning our health.

No matter what we go through in life, know this for a fact that “God loves you!” Sometimes we go through hard times, these hard times are not to do us evil but to do you good in the very end.
As you go about your daily activities be assured that whatever it is you encounter that God allows to happen it is not to do you harm but to give you success at the end.

Two; I wish. God has very good wishes for you. The only problem is that God will not interfere with your personal wishes and desires. God has given us free will therefore he will not interrupt or interfere, He will advise, guide and come to our aid when we allow Him to do so.

God does interfere in the actions and choices of man; when David desired to take Bathsheba for himself God did not interrupt, when Sarah tempted Abraham to take Hagai as wife God did not interfere.

From time to time we may be doing the right thing but the devil will force himself in, God will not interrupt. He will wait to see how we react to what the devil is doing to see if we will accept the evil and succumb to it. If we chose God and ask for His help He will come to our aid and ensure that we overcome. At the end He will give us an eternity that the devil cannot destroy.

What we need most in life is the right mind and understanding to the things happening in our life. If we have knowledge and we apply wisdom we will not go wrong in life.

People don’t want to learn, acquire knowledge, investigate and sometimes people reject revelation.
Our heath and prosperity is a factor of the choices we make. Deuteronomy 30:15  See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;  The problem with man is a problem of lack of information, knowledge and understanding and clarity of purpose.

The desires of God for man is that man should prosper and be in good health. This is why I believe the story of the life of Methuselah, Enoch, Adam who lived for many years in good health. They obeyed the laws of God concerning good physical and spiritual good health.

We are not to be ignorant of the wishes and command of God to obey and live by them from this day forward. Know it today That God desires that we are healthy. Do not be ignorant of your health, maintain good health. One thing is for your body to prosper but one thing that is important is that your soul should also prosper.

Heal me oh Lord………

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.  Jeremiah 17: 14 (KJV)

We have healing services from time to time like this because everything physical has spiritual undertone. While illness manifest physically the root cause is something coming from the spirit. Jeremiah 8: 17, 22 says, For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jeremiah was a prophet in Israel and he came at a time when the people had gone away from God. Jeremiah relayed to them the words of God and told them of the incoming wrath of God. The people did not listen and instead they put him in prison. Jeremiah in chapter 8 told the people that there will be sickness in the land that won’t be cured with the balm of Gilead.

A lot of us do not know or appreciate the value of good health. We take good health for granted. I visited a person in the hospital recently, a promising successful man who has being weighed down by an illness that affects one in a million persons. I looked at myself and wondered why such a promising person is faced with such a challenge.

You are going to get up and face every arrow of sickness that the enemy is using to prevent you from being that person God has created you to be today. Fight it in the spirit realm with prayers and reject it. You must face fiercely every seed of illness the enemy has planted in your life; the germinated plants must be uprooted with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The word says, “We shall live and not die to declare the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”. It says we shall decree a thing and it shall be established unto us and when we ask, we shall receive.

Why do people fall sick? A lot us will simply fall sick at some time. Sickness is a degeneration, a fault, a malfunctioning or an error in the body. Sickness is a messenger of death. But the issue here is that we will not die before our time. We will not be held down by any kind of sickness that will not allow our body to respond to us. Through Jesus we shall rise above them all.

Gods original plan was for man to live a simple and everlasting life, sin and disobedience came in the life of man and sickness came. Every illness is an attack on the body. If we open ourselves to attack, we will be attacked. The bible tells us the arrow flies at noon day looking for whom to attack.
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. 2 Samuel 12: 13-15 As a result of the sin committed by a father his child died.

People fall physically sick when their mind or their heart is sick. As we go through life, we must be careful what we hear, feel, see and say. Sometime sorrow, fear, unhappiness, depression and anxiety causes can manifest as sickness and manifest in the physical and that sometimes lead to death.  Proverbs 13:12 hope deferred makes the heart sick. A lot of people fall sick not because of any physical attack but because of emotional attack that result in sickness or death.

Some sicknesses are as a result of unkindness and bot being merciful to the people that look up to us for help. Nabal’s heart died within him and immediately he died.  1 Samuel 25: 37 says, “But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.” (KJV).

Sometimes, some sicknesses are generational and are passed on from grandparent to parent and from parent to children. This is not what God has planned for you. Since it is not the plan for God for us then He can cancel it and bring about good health to you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8: 36 KJV 

What foundation are you building on?

What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? Ezekiel 18:2 KJV

What harvest are you sowing? Is the journey of your life that which God has planned for you? For God himself says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29: 11 KJV. Or is the journey of our life that which our grandfather, and other preceding generation has mapped out for us? Or maybe it is one we have unknowingly choosing for ourselves?

A lot of us are reaping what we did not sow, with lives built on a foundation that we have no idea about. Some of us because of our foundation and lineage, we find ourselves facing challenges that we should have overcome. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11: 3 KJV 

What our forefather sowed has in many ways affected us. If you find out you have been stuck in a rot, everything happening in the same way in spite the effort in prayer and hard work, then we need to find out the reason behind being stuck in one place.

The parents have eaten sour grapes, yet it is the children who are on edge. This is the case for a lot of us. We reap the result of the seeds that generations before us have sown. However, the word tells us that this should not be so. As I live, says the Lord GOD, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18: 3-4

Accepting that this shouldn’t be so I the first step to freedom, acknowledging and accepting the gift of salvation and freedom that Christ gives is the key.

We must enjoy serving God. While we serve God, things must change in our lives and if they don’t then it is important for us to find out where the problem is and work it out.

Sometimes all that we need to do is to make positive confessions with out mouth. A lot of us have heaped hardships and challenges on ourselves just by the words of our mouth.

How does illness manifest in the physical? pt 2

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. Exodus 15: 26 KJV

Physical carelessness can bring sickness our way. The food we eat and the way we eat result in illness for a lot of people. We are what we eat. Some eat too much without knowing when to not eat and how to not eat. A lot of us we physically mess up ourselves because of what we eat. We are to eat those meals that will benefit our lives and health. A change in diet can result in the change in the physical well being of an individual.
Sometimes illness comes because of bad hygiene.

Lastly some illness are manifested in the physical due to emotional problems that we put ourselves into, most of which can be avoided. The word says, Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Prov 13:12 KJV. Some people are sick not because they have spiritual or physical problems but because they are emotionally down. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4: 23 KJV. A lot of us are bitter, weak, frustrated in our heart. We have allowed the challenges of life to dictate how we see life. Our bad emotional state embitters us and sours our life. This is manifested in physical illness that has no medical solution. This is why we go to the hospital and doctor says they can’t find anything wrong in our life. Emotional illness can also result from trying to living above our means; wanting to have more than what we can afford and pay for. 

There is a reason that people have spiritual illness that leads to physical illness.

1. Living and walking in sin. The word says the soul that sins will die. Death is the ultimate result of living a life of sin. The death is spiritual and when the soul is dead all forms of physical manifestations begun to happen. 
2. Disobedience to or dishonour of parents. Exodus 20: Our days will be shortened when we dishonour our parents. It doesn’t matter who or what your parents are it is only important that we abide by the words and command of God to honour our parents. 

It is more important to go to the one true God who is the source of all life. Life will turn out right for you if you just take things easy. Make a conscious decision to have a change today. Living in spiritual, physical and emotional wellness. When you are connected to God your emotion will be flowing with the joy of God and this will be your strength. This strength will become strength manifested in your physical.

How does illness manifest in the physical? Pt 1

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. Exodus 15: 26 KJV

In the life of the early fathers of the bible, people lived to a very long time. They slept in the Lord and there was no record of any dying as a result of sickness. At the beginnings of time man lived long because they were close to God and lived right, however, as man become distant from Him the length of their days became shorter.

God’s original plan is for us to live in good health. He said, beloved I wish above all things that you prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. Therefore, God does not desire for us to be ill. It is God’s desire that we are in good health. Now, Elisha was falling sick of the sickness of which he died. 2 Kings 13: 14. 

People fall ill or die for several reasons, but all sin can be from 3 main areas of our lives. These are;

1. The spiritual
2. The physical
3. The emotional

These are the 3 main sources of people’s illnesses. Really, the main source of ailment is the spiritual and this spiritual sickness is manifested in the physical and this may result in the emotional. Sickness is a messenger of death. Every time we are ill we depreciate in body and strength but it is death that is registering its register and it is telling us that we are not immortal..

The spiritual itself is broken down further. Some spiritual illness arises from foundational problems, foundation inheritances and agreements that our parents or their parents have entered into on behalf of the family. So many afflicted with one illness or the other have been appointed to die because their is a family covenant hovering over their life.  Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die. Psalm 79:11 KJV. 

From the day of birth some of us have been marked as a result of things that occurs in the generation and lineage we are born into. Some people have been bound by Satan; Satan has overwhelmed their life and these people have difficulty getting healing. In Luke 8: 43-48 the woman with the issue of blood was bound by Satan and she went through the physical manifestation of the bondage for 12 years until she found release by touching the hem of Christ’s garment.

Sometimes the spiritual illness may be as a result of fresh attack by the enemy. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Job 1: 9-10 KJV. Satan attacks children of God for no other reason than what he gave to God concerning Job.