Inflammatory disease is on the rise worldwide. Why? We are what we think and eat. I have been gathering strategic scientific information that I want to share with you from a biblical perspective. Psalm 103:5 says, “Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” We can take this two ways. God gives us His word to put into our mouths. He also gives us good, natural foods to enhance our health.

Here is a verse that I have known and have used in counseling for many years. However, this morning the Holy Spirit opened my understanding through my gathering. Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression…” The second part of the verse is God’s RX. It says, “…but a good word makes it glad.” 

Our brain does not distinguish between real or perceived fear. Therefore any fear causes our brain to send out fight or flight signals to our body. Our body instantly responds with an increase of adrenaline. Our heart rate goes up, our breathing increases, and our digestive system slows or stops. Continual fear causes chronic stress. Stress increases cortisol which produces inflammation. Inflammation causes our brain to degenerate. Here is what neuroscientists have recently discovered about the gut connection and the brain. A healthy gut, which is also part of our immune system, produces feel good neurotransmitters like serotonin. 

This is my paraphrase of the above verse. Anxiety, fear, and worry are stressors. They increase cortisol. which causes inflammation, which decreases the feel good neurotransmitters. Depression is the fruit. As an aside, COVID produces inflammatory bacteria in the gut at an exponential rate. Regular exercise offsets inflammation, and keeps our immune system robust.

Here is God’s RX for inflammation. Meditating in God’s word offsets stress. Meditating is part of renewing our mind. The word, neurogenesis, is what neuroscientists have coined for the creation of new brain cells. I have this verse on my refrigerator. I often stop and read it. Psalm 139:14 TPT says, “I thank You, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything You do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly You know me, Lord!”

When we renew our mind through Scripture, we make new neuro connections. What fires together wires together. I copied this for you: neurons in the brain adapt during the learning process, a mechanism which is called neuronal plasticity. Our brain is a marvelous creation. Even if you have numerous toxic connections in your brain, you can change them! As we rehearse a verse over and over and meditate about it, we are building new neuro connections. What we think affects our health either negatively or positively.

Here is a great verse to meditate on if you are given to anxiety, fear, or worry. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” You can meditate on perfect, then peace. By connecting your two meditations, you have caused your brain to fire together so it can wire together. The next time you feel anxious, the Holy Spirit will instantly bring up this verse and calm your brain before it can send out fight or flight signals. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!