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28:08And whether you are Protestant or Catholic or Orthodox, I think this is something all of us share together is this incredible thing that happens when we take communion as the body of Christ and sort of connecting us all together in this remembrance of our Savior. And so I think that there is a level of spiritual nourishment. And so next time you take communion, really think about Jesus' body as you read about in the Gospels, in the resurrection, his body broken, that that was all done for you specifically. And his brokenness leads to our healing and our wholeness. And so just really meditating upon that and his body being, when you're taking a bite of that bread, you are literally, in a way, consuming or accepting what Jesus did for you.

28:59The other thing is cleansing and renewal. It reinforces forgiveness, grace, and a fresh start. And then also, I think when you're doing the wine, you're thinking about, to me, there's a level there of sort of that sacrifice that was taking place as well for us. And also taking communion, it's an act of obedience, as the Bible calls us to have. It's a way of honoring Jesus' command to do this in remembrance of me. You know, one other thing I think about when I think about the Last Supper is that it was a meal that was meaningful. It was a small intentional gathering, Jesus eating with his disciples in a setting of trust, intimacy, reflection.

29:43You know, we're also seeing there, you know, you have the apostle John who calls himself the apostle that Jesus loved, leaning back against him. So you kind of see this element of great intimacy and love and deep connection there during that meal. You know, the longest study on health, on longevity done today is done by Harvard. It's about 90 years now. And the number one factor in someone being healthy long term, having longevity was having a really strong sense of family and friend support. So having friends and family that are really there's intimacy. There's you're fighting for one another.

30:25There's there's that that support. And that's what I see here. There's another study I read on family dinners, on how if you want to raise up great kids, maybe the single greatest thing you can do, in terms of just a general, one of the things that was foundational at least, was doing family dinners, I think it was at least three days a week, but seven days a week or more was ideal in terms of doing a family meal. And it could be a family dinner, it could be brunch on the weekends, those all count. but really to where you're connecting as a family. There's intimacy. There's talk about meaningful things there.

31:03My best friend growing up was Jewish. They had this incredible practice during Thanksgiving. Everybody would be around the Thanksgiving table. And before everyone ate, which by the way, this is a great idea in some sense, and it was very long in another sense, is everybody would go around and say what they were thankful for. Now, there's typically like 20 people there. So it was very long. And some people kept it short, but some people would really just, I mean, you know, share, share things that they maybe had a hard time to there. I remember the year that one of the years that I was there, somebody had, I think he was maybe even in prison for six months because he had a DUI or something like that.

31:41And he ended up just like sobbing and just saying, thank you for the support and love. And I mean, it just, everybody went around and shared this is what, and every, nobody kind of like threw it off or made it a joke necessarily. I mean, there might have been a few jokes in there, but generally people said, this is what I'm truly thankful for. And everybody was crying and hugging, and it was such a meaningful time. And I think about that's part of what certain meals, this isn't done every day, but what it should look like in terms of how can I create a meal where there's greater intimacy with others and honoring Jesus during that time as well.

32:16You know, when I had my spinal infection and I was just so, so sick, and when we've had other major, major health issues, we have done communion at our home. So again, number one place we do it is in our church. But also, we would do this at home. And so we would get either some wine or grape juice and break off a piece of sourdough bread. And Chelsea and I would say, Lord, we accept your body broken for us. And we would read Luke. And your blood shed for us. and by your stripes I am healed. And I would receive that healing for my spine or someone else for an injury or if we were praying for somebody.

32:55But we would do that as an act of healing. My mother-in-law is something that really turned us on to doing that for healing. And so that's another way you can take communion is by breaking bread, drinking wine, and actually doing that in your home or amongst other Christians in that same way. So again, there are numerous benefits of communion, but I think the thing to keep in mind is, one, doing it regularly at your church. When you do it, truly remember and think about the bread and the blood. And what that is, when you take that, that you are following, you're being obedient to Christ, and something is happening inside you, a healing, a change in what's happening there.

33:39And I think you can also do it on your own at home as a form of healing as well in remembrance of Christ and his body and his blood and what he did for us. The CDC now estimates that one in every three adults has pre-diabetes. The signs are there long before a diagnosis. Things like constant fatigue, stubborn belly fat, sugar cravings, brain fog, frequent urination, and increased thirst. And these are all symptoms of insulin resistance, the root cause behind most cases of type 2 diabetes. Now, here's the good news. This condition is completely reversible with the right diet, lifestyle, and healing herbs.

34:23And if you or someone you love is struggling with blood sugar issues, head over to DrXDiabetesClass.com to watch a free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms. That's DrAxeDiabetesClass.com to take back control of your health today. And one other thing I wanted to mention too, we're in this sort of digital age where so much of what we do is online, but there's also tremendous benefits of just attending a religious service in the first place. And whether it's church or mass, whatever you're going to, or growth group, there are so many benefits for your physical health, for your mental health.

35:02In fact, Studies show you have a reduced risk of death when you are attending a religious service regularly. Studies show religious people live longer. And this is from a Harvard University. Here's what they said when it comes to attending religious services. It says people who attend religious services at least once a week were significantly less likely to die from deaths of despair, including deaths related to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol poisoning, according to the study. Other benefits of congregating and going to religious services like church or mass are reduced risk of depression and anxiety, greater social support and resilience, lower blood pressure and longer lifespan.

35:48In fact, a 2016 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association found that women who attended religious services more than once a week had a 33 % lower risk of dying during that period. Another study published in the PLOS One journal found that religious churchgoers were 55 % less likely to die in the following 18 years to non-churchgoers. And I believe there's a few reasons for that. One, you're getting spiritual nourishment. Spiritual growth, love, connection, the fruits of the Spirit are so healing to us physically, but there's also a sense of purpose and community that happens there, a greater sense of identity, that when we have great spiritual health, it tends to also lead to better physical health.

36:38Now, the Bible talks pretty consistently about fasting, and it also references communion, as we talked about. But more than anything, the Bible talks about for our own health and wellness, the power of prayer. You know, prayer from a scientific standpoint, we know via the medical literature, it activates the parasympathetic nerve system known as your rest or digest state, gets you out of that fight or flight state. It slows breathing. It lowers your heart rate. It improves your mood. So there are loads and loads of scientific benefits today that modern studies prove have benefits of prayer for our physical health.

37:18And there are other studies that prove the benefits of prayer. A 2017 study found that daily prayer significantly reduced stress and improved mood in hospitalized patients. Prayer was found to help boost compassion for yourself and others. So it actually helped you grow in character, also helped you defend against the negative effects of stress and enhance your coping mechanisms, lowering stress. Another study found that when healthcare workers prayed for sick patients, 85 % of patients found it helpful for their healing. So we see that there are these benefits of prayer that are talked about in the Bible.

37:56But beyond that, here's what prayer truly is. Prayer is talking and having a conversation with God, your heavenly Father. And it's really a two-way communication. It's both you speaking to God and you listening for that still small conscious voice that can lead you, guide you, love you, and work for your good. You know, I had a friend of mine who, and by the way, this tends to be a lot of people, I think, you know, when I think about, so growing up, half of my family was Protestant and half of my family was Catholic. Okay. My dad came from a Catholic background. My mom from a Protestant background.

38:37And when they got married, my mom was like, okay, you need to become Protestant or we're not getting married. Anyways, that's a whole another discussion. But, and by the way, so, but my, but growing up, my grand, my grandmother, I had two incredibly religious grandparents. One was my grandfather who was Protestant and he was the most spiritually nourishing person, maybe to this day I've ever met. I mean, he was the sort of man, He was a World War II veteran. He would go to the hospital weekly. He volunteered at church to go to the hospital once a week, and he would bring somebody their favorite meal.

39:13I remember they would be in bed, and he would put his hand on their hand or shoulder, and he would pray for them. Just powerful prayers. And I would go with my grandfather because I would sometimes go live up there in the summers and help him out and take part in that. And to me, it was one of the greatest spiritual experiences I've ever had to this date. And so I had incredibly, incredibly, and my grandfather was like a big Billy Graham fan and just an amazing man. And then I had my grandmother who was Catholic, who was a very devout Catholic. She was constantly praying for other people and was just very religious, but also service oriented in a good way.

39:52And so I got to see really sort of somebody who was really virtuous from the Catholic faith and somebody from the Protestant on both sides of my family. And here, I want to share a couple aspects when it comes to just prayer and thoughts about religion when it comes to this. One, I today, by the way, think a lot of what—I lean Protestant, but I don't really necessarily say I am Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox, because I really believe there's a lot of things that are both right or missed in some of these things. I'll give you an example of this. I think Protestantism really forgot the saints.

40:32I think that the Bible talks about honoring and thinking about the saints. These are people we should be modeling our lives after. And so really not honoring or talking about them. I would say the same thing with Mary. The Protestant church should be speaking more and thinking about Christ's mother and Mary. So I think that there are things, and even being more intentional about these rituals, I think that the Protestant church is missing something by not having Lent and repentance and a number of things. But the reason why I lean towards the spirit of Protestantism is that relationship is put before ritual.

41:14It is the most important thing that I've experienced in terms of me having a strong, deep, intimate relationship with Christ. To me, that is the biggest driving factor. factor. And so relationships should feed ritual, not ritual relationship, but some people can get away with the other. And so that's been my opinion. And I'll give you an example of this. I had a friend who grew up, I think he had one parent that was Catholic, another that was Lutheran, and he attended a number of worship things, but he never really felt connected with God. It would be like if you were in a relationship, but the relationship was dead.

41:53Do you know what talking about. If you've ever been in a relationship, you just don't connect with a person. You don't feel like you understand them. There's just real no, you might be together, you go through the motions, but there's really no strong sense of, I love this person or I even like this person. There's no love there. There's no connection or intimacy. And that's what his relationship was like with God. But so he would pray and do certain things. And it was very cold and amazing man, by the way, guy attended West Point. I mean, to talk about a 10 out of 10, like virtuous, amazing guy.

42:25And I remember having a conversation with him and I said, Kyle, you know what? I know that you go through all these rituals in attending this mass and some of the things you're doing, but I really want to encourage you to know that just like you and I are connecting right now, that's how we connect with God, you know, in terms of, you're pouring out your heart and soul. He hears everything you have to say. If you listen, you'll hear via your conscious that still small voice. And for him, I said, listen, I think I kept saying over again, remember this, it's a relationship. It's not a religion. It's a relationship.

42:59It's a relationship. It's a relationship. You are building a true relationship. Like you and I have a relationship, like you have a relationship eventually with your spouse, with your mom now, like that. Part of the reason I think he was cold as well is he had a father that was in the military. And so his dad was cold and hard to him. And probably, you know, and I can share this as well, I had a family member who his father never told him he loved him. And it was very cold, very hard as well, strict. And so there was not that sense of love. And so he thought or felt like God was similar to his father in there, and he never felt connected to his father in that same way either.

43:36So all that being said, I think that when it comes to prayer, remember, it's a relationship. up. Cancer, dementia, heart disease, they're coming for so many people. And it's not just because of what most people think, which is that it's bad luck or bad genetics. The truth is your daily choices are either creating health or setting the stage for disease. And your doctor is probably reading your blood work all wrong. They're missing the cellular issues behind the symptoms. I'm currently offering a simple at-home blood test that actually tests for the right things. And just as importantly, it comes with proper interpretation of the results.

44:18This new test flips the script. The future of interpreting test results is here. If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. So I want to share with you how my grandfather taught me to pray. Okay. Here's what he told me. He said, Josh, when you're praying, if you're getting down in your hands and knees, imagine that Jesus is sitting in a chair right next to you or on the bed. So I would get down on my hands and knees and lean up against my bed, and I would imagine Jesus, he's sitting right there on me, and he's got his hand on me. So that's how I would pray and think about it.

44:51And then my grandfather encouraged me to use one of two acronyms, ACTS, that's A-C-T-S, or pray. I want to share what those are. ACTS is adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. So adoration is sort of speaking out who God is. And so you're sort of aligning your prayer with making sure that you know who God is. God, you are good. There's no one like you. You are the Alpha and the Omega. You are my Father. You are, you know, and recognizing Jesus, you know, thank you for your sacrifice for me. So there's this adoration of getting into this state of awe and wonder and being blown away that you have a God who created the entire universe, who knows you to the very hair on your head, who knows everything about you, who's constantly working things out for your good.

45:42So there's this adoration of praise of, I recognize God who you are. This really aligns with A.W. Tozer who said, the most important thing about you is your belief about God. So it's really saying, And this also helps someone like my friend Kyle, who, again, had a cold father, but then now he's recognizing that he is a perfectly loving and compassionate and intimate father. So it's adoration for acts. C is confession. God, I am so sorry when I was unkind to that customer service representative yesterday. I'm so sorry that I lost the cool with my kids. I'm like, like it's repentance. It's confession.

46:17So number one is adoration. Two is confession, confessing our sins. Number three is thanksgiving. God, thank you for my amazing wife. Thank you for my two daughters. Thank you for healing me. I'm in the process of healing. Thank you. Right. And then supplication is making your requests known to God. God, I could really use help this week. I've got this work thing coming up in this challenge. God, my daughter's been struggling with, you know, tonsillitis or ADHD or, hey, I'm praying for healing for her and her body, right? So that's acts. It's adoration. It's confession. It's thanksgiving. It's supplication.

46:57And then there's another acronym, which is very similar, called PRAY, which is start off with praising gratitude, praising God for who he is and for what he's done for you. Two is repent. Three is ask. And four is yield, which really aligns with the Lord's prayer. Yield is a sense of surrender. say, God, I'm praying for these things, but I surrender my life. I surrender my kids' lives. I surrender my plans for your plans. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So pray is another great acronym of praise, repent, ask, and yield there as well. So I want to encourage you when you pray, do a couple of things.

47:42One, imagine and know that God is with you in that moment. Okay. And know that it's a relationship first. Number two, follow one of these acronyms like pray when you're praying as well. And the last thing is this, you know, the Bible talks about pray without ceasing, literally. So, you know, I have a practice where every morning when I wake up, I pray. When I'm in my daughter, my bed, putting my five-year-old daughter now down to bed, I will pray for her and with her. So I have two times a day I pray, and then I always try and pray around my meals, right? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, but also just throughout the day.

48:22Listen, I am at my best when I'm just living in a state of prayer all day. There's a great book called Practicing the Presence, which is written by an amazing monk named Brother Lawrence. And he talks about just living in a state of prayer all day long. It's really amazing. So I would say this, one, have your rituals that you put in place of regular prayer but also in addition, try and really have that sense of praying without ceasing. And also invite God into things. If I have a big call coming up with somebody, I will say, Jesus, I am requesting your manifest presence on this call. Holy Spirit, I invite you in and I ask you, would you work through me and speak through me on this call coming up or in this presentation or in this difficult thing I have to do?

49:04So, and then remember, prayer is two-way communication. You're speaking, but then take a moment and really listen to what God's saying to you. And I think this also really ties into meditation. You know, the Eastern sense of meditation, and I don't mean actually Eastern because the Middle East, where Jesus grew up, is in alignment with all of this. But some of these Eastern religions like Buddhism, as an example of this, they tend to believe sort of meditation is clearing your mind of everything, okay? And then sometimes inviting whatever spiritual thing is in, which I think can actually be incredibly dangerous, because how do you know if the spirit you're inviting in is good or evil?

49:46So I think that there's some issues there. But biblical meditation, when the Bible talks about it, is meditating not on nothing, but on something very specific, and that's God's words. An example of this is Psalms 1-2, where David says, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. So it's meditating in something in God's word. You know, right now, my wife is doing such an incredible job on training our five-year-old to memorize verses of the Bible. So every time we get in the car, the first thing that happens is my wife says, okay, honey, say your Bible verse.

50:27And so my daughter Arwen says a Bible verse every time she's in the car seat of the car. So right now we're having her memorize 1 Corinthians 13, which says, Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not arrogant or rude. So she's memorizing that verse. But you're going to take a verse like that and think about that. And you could start off with a few words. Love is patient. Love is kind. Or love is patient. Three words in God's word and meditate on what does it mean to be kind? What does that look like? How can I apply that? How is Jesus kind? And think about that.

51:02So you're going to take that and you're going to meditate that on, chew on that and talk to God about that. God, show me where I can be more kind. How can I be more kind? That's biblical meditation is you are reading something in the Bible and you are meditating on those words and how, and allowing it to fill you and transform who you are. That's biblical meditation. These other forms of meditation today, they pale in comparison. They're not effective. Oftentimes they're opening people up to negative things. I mean, there's a form of meditation maybe that's good for relaxation where people are kind of just, there's a lot of busyness happening in life.

51:41So they're sort of cleansing their mind and just thinking about nothing. So, I mean, there really are some benefits of just emptying your mind. But imagine being empty and the benefits of that versus filling your mind with love, joy, peace, with perfection, right? One is better than the other. So modern mindfulness and meditation practices are aimed at detachment or emptiness. But biblical meditation is about intentional connection with the divine, with God, and chewing on the Word of God and letting it transform who you are from the inside out. And we do know via the scientific studies, there's so many benefits around this that show that it reduces stress, improves your immune system, increases self-discipline and self-resilience, fosters great relationships.

52:30But also I think the big thing is healing breakthrough. You know, when my mom was sick with cancer, we prayed every day, all day. We were living in a state of prayer. And we made sure at least at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we were constantly praying for her. My mom had many people praying for her. So we had the whole church praying for her, close friends praying for her, her family praying for her. She was praying for herself. And we were living in a state of prayer. And I believe that prayer is effective at healing. Now, listen, we all know people who we prayed for and who prayed themselves, and they weren't healed, and they didn't see a breakthrough.

53:07And I don't have a great answer on exactly why that is outside of as Jesus asked God, Lord, if it be your will, take this cup from me. He prayed that if it was God's will, that he wouldn't have to go through that crucifixion, that his death. But he said, your will be done. So sometimes God's will is better than ours. And think about that. Jesus, because he died for our sins, what that did for us, where he sits right now at the right hand of the throne of God, but what it did for us now in being able to heal and have an abundant life. So I believe that God knows something we don't in those situations.

53:49But overall, we are still called to pray. And we know that generally we're all better off if we pray. And in many cases, people do see healing miracles, like my mom being healed from cancer. I was healed from a condition where I was told I might have to have my spine fused and be permanently disabled. That was just three years ago. And I prayed daily. I had so many people praying for me, by the way. I literally had Heidi Baker praying for me, John Bevere, Lisa Bevere, just pastors from all over the world, Johnny Enloe, Bill Johnson, just amazing people. I've had so many people praying for me and for my healing.

54:28and it meant so much. And I believe that that's one reason why I'm 100 % again today. So know that prayer, as it says in the Bible, is powerful and effective, especially when it's coming from a person that is obedient to God. And these biblical principles I want to share with you as well, these aren't outdated. These are modern. These are meant for yesterday, today, and forever. And I'm so excited today that I think that more and more people now are embracing and realizing that science today, pharmaceuticals, a lot of this sort of superficial stuff of materialism and technology, it's not the thing that matters most.

55:07Our connection to God, our connection to others, our connection to the planet, that matters more than all these other things. And taking communion, meditating, fasting, and more than anything, prayer is so incredibly powerful at allowing us to be our best spiritually, mentally, and physically. I want to encourage you to try incorporating these rhythms into your week and notice how your health and your faith begins to flourish and change. I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Ack Show, where each and every week we dive deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, and spiritually.

55:48Make sure to subscribe, like, and share. You know, there are so many people who don't necessarily know how to pray or the healing power of community or how to fast in the right way. And this could really help them. So thanks so much for sharing. Thanks so much for subscribing. I'll see you on the next episode.

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