Why Biblical Health Coaching is important

People often ask me:  What are the benefits of Biblical health coaching?  Isn’t “regular” health coaching the same?  The short answer?  Yes and no.  And here’s why.

What is health coaching?

On the surface, all health coaching has the same basic tenet: to help guide, encourage, and motivate people in making healthier lifestyle choices, resulting in progressive and sustainable health and wellness.

The coach and client establish a trusting and interactive relationship through the use of various coaching techniques and science based education.  The approach is collaborative in nature and designed to improve self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, positivity, and lifestyle related behaviors. This in turn helps clients manage, improve, and/or prevent disease and live a happier, healthier life.

Preventable chronic disease levels and costs continue to rise, irrespective of the increase of information or medical services available. One reason for this is that most physicians are not trained in behavior change.

Have you ever been told something that you should do but that you didn’t want to do or didn’t think was necessary?

A health coaching approach helps the client discover and think more deeply about their personal motivations for, as well as what might be hindering them in, making a change. By doing this and by helping the client connect their behavior change to their personal goals, desires, dreams, and values, it emphasizes client responsibility and accountability in their overall health, helping to move the client forward on the wellness continuum.

A Biblical health coach does all these things, but does it with faith in the Lord Jesus and His word as the foundation. Herein lies the difference.

In health coaching, a tool we use is the “wellness wheel.” This wheel illustrates the different dimensions of wellness and how they are all interconnected. Spirituality is one of those dimensions.   It is equally placed in the circle with the others and with nothing in the center as the central point. For the Christian, however, our relationship with the Lord Jesus is at the CENTER of the wheel, with all aspects flowing out from that relationship.

Making lifestyle changes is challenging, because changing usually means giving up something we like, or that’s convenient, or has become a crutch or coping mechanism, or an addiction.

It can also be challenging because we’ve tried and failed in the past, and we are afraid of failing again. Changing also involves moving into something unknown and this can be scary. We don’t want to give up what we have, because we think what we have is good, when God is saying…I have something much better.

Giving up things, setting aside our selfish interests and desires, changing our heart motivation, is not just a physical discipline but also a spiritual one.

This is why, for the Christian, biblical health coaching makes such a difference.

Jesus tells us in Mt 4:4 (NLV): “Man is not to live on bread only. Man is to live by every word that God speaks.” This command He gives us is integral to Biblical health coaching.

We are triune beings. We are a spirit being with a soul that lives in a body. Too many times it is our body and our mind that is driving our actions and decisions and not our spirits.

Part of habit change is learning to turn the tables: instead of your flesh ruling over your born again spirit, your spirit rules over your flesh. What is our spirit to be ruled by? Our relationship with the Lord Jesus and His word.

God’s word is full of so many promises of health and healing. One of my favorites is Prov 4:22, where God tell us His words “are life to those who find them, and healing and health to all their flesh.” For those who find them… meaning, we have to seek them out.

When we put Jesus at the epicenter of our health and wellness, instead of Him being just an incidental, we can be guaranteed of success.

Prov 16:3 [ERV] says, “Turn to the Lord for help in everything you do, and you will be successful.”

Now read it backward: you will be successful if you turn to the Lord for help in everything you do. Changes the dynamics, doesn’t it, and highlights our responsibility in the process.

Partnering with God in the process of change is a powerful health tool. By learning what His values are and adopting those values as our own, and by learning what He has to say about health and wellness and applying those biblical truths to our lives, it creates a dynamic catalyst for change.

If you are interested in learning more or need help in making and implementing lifestyle changes, contact me for a free discovery session to see if we are a fit.  You can learn more about me here.