Video #28 - Talk to the Doctor & Take Your Meds

After having a heart transplant  -  the recipient starts taking a regimen of medications vital to the health of their new heart.  For example, there are certain drugs that prevent the immune system from making cells that can reject the heart, and there are drugs that help control blood pressure, slow down the thickening and narrowing process of the blood vessels of the heart and there are drugs that will decrease the potential for inflammation or swelling.  All necessary to keep the new heart healthy and functioning the way it was designed.

Your spiritual heart also needs certain things in order to keep it (and you) spiritually healthy.  God says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22).  Let’s face it guys; unconfessed sin does not a cheerful heart make.  King David shared, “When I kept silent” - in other words, when I refused to confess my sin- “my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer” (Psa. 32:3-4).

So, the first thing you must do to maintain a spiritually healthy heart is to go to God with your sin, confess it before Him, agreeing that it is an offense to the Holy God, and claim the forgiveness He freely offers you.  Keep a short account with your Heavenly Father.  You see, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

Don’t be like the people of Israel who “did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right” (2 Ki. 17:9).  We battle with the temptation to keep our sexual impurity from others.  We even struggle with the desire to keep it from God.  Take a cue from David and don’t keep it hidden.  Rather, “make confession to the Lord … and do his will.  Separate yourselves” from sexual impurity (Ezra 10:11 cp. 1 Cor. 6:18; 10:14; 2 Tim. 2:22).  Confess your sin; be sorrowful over how you have hurt and dishonored your Heavenly Father (Psa. 38:18 cp. Dan. 9:4).  Understand that God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).  Acknowledge your sin to God, don’t cover it up any longer and He will forgive you (Psa. 32:5).

When you are sick, you visit your doctor. More than likely he will give you a prescription for what ails you.  You are expected to follow it completely – take all your meds at the times and in the ways prescribed.  If you don’t, you shouldn’t be surprised when you don’t get better.  Deuteronomy 7:12-15 says, “If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them,” - in other words, if you take your meds at the prescribed times and in the prescribed ways - “then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you … The LORD will keep you free from every disease.”

Sometimes taking your meds can be annoying, especially when you have to take it every four hours and you don’t like the taste.  Admittedly, there are times when we may not like the prescription God gives us.  Isn’t it a relief to know that God’s “words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones”! (Prov. 16:24)

Just like a parent lovingly urges their child to buck up and take it anyway, God says, “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body” (Prov. 4:20-22).  In other words, take your meds, do what the doctor tells you to do - and you will get better, guaranteed!

Exodus 15: 26 says, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you" (Exod. 15:26).

Guys - never lose sight of the fact that God wants you to be spiritually happy and healthy.  He wants you to know genuine, lasting victory over lust, porn, masturbation and every other form of sexual impurity.  Just as the doctor tells you to take two aspirin and call him in the morning – so you and I need to read God’s Word daily and talk to Him every day.

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About Steve Etner
Steve Etner is a National Men’s Speaker, Author and Purity Coach (www.thepuritycoach.com). He has authored many books, including “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to Transform Sinful Habits into God-Pleasing Patterns of Life”; “The Pure Man’s Devotional Guide: A Biblical Toolbox for Purity”; and “Are You A Super Man? Becoming God’s Man of Steel.” 

Steve’s conferences, seminars and retreats focus on what God has to say about the way we think and the impact it has on our behavior. By teaching men how to live in moral purity by equipping them with Biblical answers, Steve’s goal is for men to have a re-ignited passion for Jesus and learn how to prepare their minds to successfully overcome their temptations and thus live pure lives for Christ.