CURE FOR THE COMMON COLD by Linda
A virus is not from a sin or has a spiritual root. So we need to take precautions when being around individuals who are sick. However, the way we do it now may not be the way that really works! Right now we use all kinds of anti-bacterial soaps and lotions. We even use products that help prevent colds from coming on. There is a product that if you drink it every 3 hours it helps boost your immune system to help fight off any viruses. Well, that product is pretty close to what I found to be true, however, it's still something you have to buy, and it's still a drug and not a 100% cure.
I am going to share a case study with you, and it has to do with my personal experience. This is an area that perhaps you may want to consider the next time you start to have cold symptoms, or if you are around people who are sick.
First, I want to start by making an observation. We have what is known as the "Cold and flu" season. Why do we have a season? Is it because of the weather? Well some may think so, but I believe it's something else. I believe it's because during that season is when we have several holidays. These holidays represent relationships! It's when we get together with loved ones, when we are forced to visit with people we never see during the rest of the year, it's when we have to - I mean want to - visit family, or it's when we are the saddest because of losses in life. It's when old memories of past pains and regrets surface. It's when we have to be nice to people who treated us badly. It's when we make ourselves be around people that have caused us pain. Or it's when we remember how it "used" to be but only having feelings of abandonment. Because of these emotional ties, our immune system begins playing havoc in our lives. A healthy immune system comes from healthy relationships! It's as easy as that.
What I discovered is this. If you see a person who is sick, and you do everything to avoid them, you are in fear. And the thing you fear the most "could" come upon you. As we saw with Job - he feared and so his greatest fears came upon him. He feared for his family, and he lost his family - along with being attacked by the enemy with disease! So fear is an opened door to sickness. But the second part that is really important is relationship. I have personally tested this and found it to be 100% true. Let's say I have a friend who has a cold. This person is a real close friend and I love her very much. We can spend time together, even if she has a virus, and yet I don't get the cold. Why? Because my immune system was working properly!! I loved my friend. I had kindness toward my friend. Now on the other hand, if you are around someone you don't like - now lets be honest - I know we are to love everyone, but we are human and I don't know about you, but I can't MAKE myself love anyone. I have to pray for God to help me love that person, so in the meantime, if I come across someone I don't care for. Or lets say it this way, I love the person, but don't like their actions, then we will have problems in our immune system. If that person has a virus and is coughing all over the place and you find yourself getting mad and angry because that person is sick and you feel they are not being considerate of others, a resentment and bitterness will develop in your heart. That is a huge open door for a virus to land!
So what do we do? We repent! If I was around someone and first feared getting sick, and on top of that didn't like the person very much and would rather not even be around them, I would need to repent. First for not loving that person. We are commanded to love one another. So I stopped and confessed to God that I didn't love that person. It was clear when they were sick and all I could think of was getting away from them. And anger rose up in me about them. This is a tell-tale sign that I don't really love them - and even if they were a relative! So I had to confess my lovelessness toward them and ask the Lord to heal my heart in this area and put a love in my heart for them. Then I confessed fear of getting the cold. When we are fearing, it means we aren't being made perfect in love. So I had to realize that I was trying to protect myself and not relying on God to do it for me. I found that when I come into perfect peace with every person that is in my life, my immune system works properly and I don't get sick.
Now lets say you get a cold, you may not even know who had a cold around you. What do you do then? Well, even if you get a cold from your own heart condition of a relationship or if you get a cold from just being around people in public, the same thing is true for both. Having a healthy immune system is brought on by healthy relationships. I found in my life that when I get a cold from church, work, or stores, etc., is becasue I had some heart issues going on that broke my immune system down - for a period of time - that opened the door for a virus. And as I would ponder on it, I would see it true in every case. I had a breach in relationship with someone, just long enough to allow the enemy to take root with a virus. I encourage you to see that for yourself.
Now that you have a cold, how do you get well? The same way. After you realize your own heart condition in relationship with another person, do what you can to restore that relationship, quick! I have seen that when I do that my symptoms grow less and less and finally over the cold which could have taken weeks to get over. Test this for yourself. The next time you are around people who are sick, are you fearing or are you loving? And don't forget, whatever 'sin' you may have committed that opened the door - in my case - anger, unforgiveness and bitterness - by confessing them you are made clean! Jesus paid for your sins and replaced your sins with healing and health! It is your God given right. Let's start believing that we don't ever have to be 'under' anything because Jesus has made us free - and whom the son has set free is free indeed. And we are free from all sin - and free from all consequences of sin - including the common cold!
TOM'S TIDBITS by Linda
That was easy!
Have you seen the red "easy" button you can get at the Staples office supply store? We bought a couple and have put them around the house. We hit it each time we get to the other side of something we just went through. We have a grasp on the truth that we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us. It's a reminder that we are vessels. If we are full of the world, things will be hard and complicated to get through. But if we are filled with God's love and forgiveness, whatever we go through, though at the time seem hard, really isn't because of His strength in us to do it. It goes back to, what's inside of you? Are we filled with fear, anger, bitterness, self-pity, regret, victimization, and jealousies? If so, your journey will be extra hard. Oh, you'll be able to go through, but you won't be able to hit the "easy" button after it's all said and done. But, if you are filled with love, peace, goodness, compassion, gentleneness, kindness, forgiveness, tolerance and the like, you will go through your trials with confidence and joy because you have what you need inside of you to go through victoriously. You are actually being a "doer of the word" as James Chapter 1 indicates - "Count it ALL Joy when you fall into diverse temptations..."
As my husband Tom and I would talk things over that we just went through together, he hits the "easy" button. I don't say he hits it "always" because we have seen a difference when our own "wills" get in there. The Holy Spirit is our "easy" button. He gives us all we need to "go through" (because we are all going to meet up with trials and tribulations) but how we "go through" is the test. Will it be "easy" or will it be "hard." Easy comes when we trust God in all things; hard comes when we rely on ourselves (or when we are filled with self motives).
A situation came up as I was sharing with my husband how many are "stuck" because of their relationships they are in. They don't tell the person the truth about how they feel and so they remain miserable while the other person thinks everything is okay. But the truth is, we need to share our hearts with each other. As I told this to my husband he said, "It should be easy to tell the truth - if it's difficult there is no real love between them." When we are in fear of telling our spouse the truth, or others we are in relationship with, we need to see if we are living in fear or in faith. Fear comes when we aren't walking in love, faith comes when we are free to express ourselves without fear of retalliation or rejection. So if it's not easy talking to those who you are in relationship with, then perhaps you need to confess this to God and ask Him to help you love that person, help you forgive that person, and give you boldness to be honest with that person. The truth, and only the truth, can make you free!
My husband and I noticed something about relationships in marriage. We know so many people who say, "It's hard work." I even hear this in churches. He has often told me it's been easy being with me. Why can he say that when I have been the hardest person to live with? First because he really loves me, and love is forgiving and doesn't hold grudges. Those grudges are what makes is hard! He is a rare-breed I have to say. And he just can't see why people have such a hard time being married.