Living in Faith and Your Digestive Health

If you are a believer, you will always be able to see the wonders of God's creation in everything around you. The complexity and intricacy of your digestive system is a case in point. Indeed, the digestive system is one of the most remarkable creations of God, in which man is provided with the fuel to power the physical body. The digestive process in itself is so complex, involving digestion, absorption, transportation, and elimination that one cannot help marveling at the ingenious coordination and interrelationship between each of the organs in the human body.

Because God has created an extraordinary digestive system for us, He does not expect us to misuse or abuse it. "Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple." (I Corinthians 3:16-17)

Unfortunately, many of us, wittingly or unwittingly, have abused our digestive tract, which is responsible for converting the food we eat into the nutrients we need to sustain life. Due to the abuse, it is only natural that our digestive tract becomes a source of ailments, instead of a fountain of energy and vitality.

Modern living has led us to abuse the digestive system through not only our wayward lifestyle, but also our lack of faith in God. Instead of living in faith and putting our trust in God, we strive to accomplish what we want to achieve through our own efforts. And thus, many of us have wandered away from God, and we have become self-centered and self-righteous. Instead of relying on God, we become self-reliant. In the process, we have created stress in our lives. Stress generates negative emotions, which decrease our secretion of hydrochloric acid, which in turn reduces the production of pancreatic enzymes for efficient digestion. Thus, begins a chain of reactions, giving rise to heartburn, indigestion, constipation, and a host of digestive problems, including food allergies and sensitivities.

The panacea to all digestive disorders is obedience and trust in God. "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Before eating, do the following:

1. Relax, slow down, and reduce your stress.

2. Meditate on God's Word. Read: Close Your Eyes, Open Your Mind.

3. Clear your mind of all clutters and negative emotions.

4. Pray and give thanks.

Once you realize that God is in charge of your life, including your eating, you will know what to eat, what not to eat, and how much to eat. Once you understand that your digestive system is a creation of God, you will think twice before you put any food into your mouth.

Living in faith can enhance your digestive health. Say goodbye to digestive disorders: Goodbye to IBS.

For more information on living in faith, visit my website: The Tallest Order.

Stephen Lau

Self-Reflection on Pain as We Experience It

Pain is inevitable in life: whether we like it or not, we experience all types of pain - emotional, physical, and spiritual pain.

It is important that we have self-reflection on pain as we experience it.

For a non-believer, pain becomes meaningless in life. A believer, on the other hand, would crave divine healing. However, even for a believer, the experience of pain would raise questions about why God would allow pain in this world. Therefore, it is not uncommon for people to search for the meaning of pain in their lives, especially if their pain is intense and severe.

No matter what, we all experience pain - personal, social, and global. We all strive to control our pain, adapt ourselves to pain, or simply escape from pain. Living is all about pain management. Strive as we may, we fail to deal with pain. With birth comes aging, separation, and dying; social injustice, such as racism, oppression and persecution, abounds; natural and man-made catastrophes strike indiscriminately. We only feel our own inadequacy and vulnerability at the onslaught of pain.

Generally, to look for a way out of pain, we do three things:

1. We deny our negative realities.

2. We rationalize our unhealthy attitudes, feelings and behaviors.

3. We blame someone, our society, or just anything for the cause of pain.

Essentially, we are all focusing on "our" pain - or, more specifically, the egoistic self. We even devise our own ways of dealing with our pain: addiction to drugs and alcohol, success, work, sex, money, food, and pleasure. We customize them to suit our needs. They are no more than special effects to transform temporarily the self into self-esteem, acceptance, or belongingness. We simply want to be healed of our pain.

The Christian faith provides the greatest healer - Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us to believe in Christ as our Lord, and in the sufficiency of His grace for all our needs, including healing our pain. But the healing would take place only when we completely surrender ourselves to God.

So, the next time you feel any type of pain, do some self-reflection and soul-searching on your relationship with God. It may give you a different perspective of pain.

For more information, go to my website: The Tallest Order.


Stephen Lau

How To Overcome Loneliness

You may be unhappy even though you have so much in life. The reason is that you never become satisfied despite your abundance. Loneliness is a fact of life, especially among the elderly. Loneliness is real to many people. Even Albert Einstein had this to say about loneliness: “It’s strange to be known universally, and yet to be so lonely." Loneliness is no respecter of persons.

We are living in a society that promotes self-reliance, and hence loneliness. We make ourselves lonely because we often reduce direct human contact to a minimum. For example, we may choose to leave messages on a machine instead of talking directly to people.

If you feel lonely, maybe there is something wrong with you. St. Augustine wrote in his classic work The Confessions of St. Augustine, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find peace in You.” Maybe that is the reason why many of us never become satisfied until we find God in our hearts.

If you feel lonely despite your abundance, maybe it is because you do not feel love in your life. You may be reluctant to express your love to others, or you may feel unloved or undeserving to be loved. Remember, God is the essence of love. God loves each and everyone of us for what we are and who we are, because He has created us in His own image. Love is a free gift from God. Not only does He love us, but also expects us to love others as ourselves. Loneliness is a reflection of the lack of love.

Loneliness is different from solitude. Loneliness is a state of mind. It is an inner thing. Possessions do not alleviate your loneliness, just as having people milling around you may still make you feel lonely, when you are alone, all by yourself.

Only through your relationship with God can you overcome loneliness in life.

Meditation or solitude holds the key to overcoming loneliness. Learn to meditate. (Go to my web page: Meditation Techniques for more information on how to meditate.) Through meditation or solitude, you come face to face with your loneliness and, more importantly, with your relationship with God. Once you realize there is a connectedness between all human beings because we are all created in the image of God, you will understand there is a need to love others as yourself. As soon as you can relate yourself to everyone and to everything in life, you will no longer feel lonely any more. Loneliness is only an expression of fear, worry, or uncertainty, but the Bible has this to say: "Love has no reason for fear." (1 John 4:18) So, love conquers everything, including loneliness.

Living in faith makes you come closer to God, and it is this closeness that enables you to open yourself not only to God but also to others. Without this openness, there will be no connection and no communication with others and with God, and hence the loneliness.

Visit my web page: Living in Faith Resources, and my website: The Tallest Order.

Stephen Lau

The Spiritual Meaning of Pain

No one is immune from pain - especially, emotional pain, due to bereavement, disappointment, frustration, and rejection. Life is not meant to be a bed of roses, and Christianity is not painless. But pain has a spiritual meaning for all those who believe in the word of God.

Living by God's word, which, supposedly, is to give us peace, is often the tallest order in life. Why is that? We are human beings, and we are all self-centered in some way. To give up self is never easy. But this is exactly what pain demands us do: become God-centered instead of self-centered. We too should undergo the pain of not communicating Jesus' love, just as He wept over Jerusalem. In other words, if we preach His word or live by His word, we too will suffer. We do not pray to be delivered from this suffering, but, instead, we pray to become less self-centered and more God-centered.

When we are afflicted with pain, two things could happen, demanding us make a decision: we could open ourselves to God and to others; we could also close ourselves to God and to others, resulting in loneliness, withdrawal, and emotional turmoil requiring psychiatric help. So, confronted with emotional pain, we have two options: let past hurts control us in self-centered ways, and thus perpetuating the hurts; accept the hurts, and let God take over for ultimate healing. Remember, abandoning yourself to God's providence is to know your destiny, and it is only in the abandonment of self that you experience hope, love, and faith, which are prerequisites of healing of emotional pain.

To truly appreciate the spiritual meaning of pain, we need to do the following:

1. Thank God with a heart of gratitude for the gifts He has rendered us, in spite of the pain He has permitted to happen to us. Gratitude is manifestation of spirituality.

2. Become closer with God through reading His word, prayer and worship. Devotion is an act of spirituality.

3. Open ourselves to others by sharing our pain. Often times, it is difficult to be honest with ourselves, especially regarding our nethermost painful thoughts with others; openness with others requires an element of trust in others as well as in God. We need faith to believe that God will use our openness and communication to heal us of our painful memories. Trusting in God is spirituality.

4. Healing of pain is never complete unless and until there is forgiveness - forgiveness not just of others, but also of ourselves. Forgiveness involves four steps: making the decision to forgive, just as Jesus has forgiven us; following Jesus' example of doing good to others who hate us, or "turning the other cheek"; blessing those who have done us wrong - saying good things can change another as well as ourselves; expressing anger at the deed, not the person who has inflicted the deed, or more specifically, showing compassion rather than resentment.

The spiritual significance of pain is that it may lead us closer to God, because it demands surrender of self, which is often a barrier between man and God. Spirituality is essentially your personal relationship with God. Learn how to develop and cherish that relationship.

Begin your simple steps to Divine Healing Success.

Visit my website: The Tallest Order.

Stephen Lau

All About Stephen Lau

How To Use Money For Spiritual Development

Paul said: "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pieced themselves with many pains." (Timothy 6:10)

Is money really the root of all evil?

Money is nothing by itself. However, money is a measure of the meaning and value to different things in life. It is our attachment to and perception of the meaning and value of money that determine whether it is the root of all evil.

We can attribute spirituality to almost everything that money can do; in that case, we are using money for our spiritual development.

1. If you have a lot of money, you can share it with those who are less fortunate than yourself. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)

2. If you have a lot of money, you don't have to spend it on yourself. See your life as abundant, and express your gratitude to the source of all things - God. Gratitude is spirituality.

3. If you have a lot of money, you can express your humility by surrendering your will to the will of God. "Thy will be done." Ask God to let you Know Your Destiny. Humility is spirituality.

4. If you put God first in spite of your abundance, Your Relationship With God will be a strong testament to your spirituality.

5. If you have a lot of money, you can demonstrate that you are a good steward of God's money by investing it wisely, and not spending it on yourself. A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom shows you how to manage your money the Christian way. Good money management shows your obedience to the will of God, which is also spirituality.

So, it is not a sin to have a lot of money, and one should not feel guilty about having the abundance.

For more information on living in faith, visit my website: The Tallest order, and web page: Living in Faith Resources.



Stephen Lau

All About Stephen Lau

"It is the Lord!" Living In The Present

Living in faith is living in the present - the most direct contact with God. "It is the Lord!" (John 21:7) is what you should always remember when you are living in every moment of your life. Just like everyone else's life, your life is filled with joy and sadness, fulfillment and disappointment. To live in faith, you need to welcome the pleasant as well as the unpleasant.

In Zen (an ancient Chinese philosophy, not a religion, even though it is often associated with Buddhism), one welcomes the good as well as the bad, and one does not seek a way out of life's problems, but rather through them. In other words, one just embraces everything that comes along the way. Living By Zen is a way of life, and the way to health. In Zen philosophy, human misery is a result of the futile attempt to choose only the good without accepting the bad, because picking and choosing is a sickness of the mind.

Likewise, in Christian faith, we believe that God speaks to us through everyday events, whether they are good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. Everything that happens to us is an expression of the presence of God. "It is the Lord!" (John 21:7)

Jesus shows us in the Lord's Prayer that living in faith is living in the present moment - neither the past, which is gone, nor the future, which is uncertain. Only the present is real: "give us this day our daily bread." Zen also emphasizes the importance of living in the present moment.

In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus also tells us to put our trust in God's providence. Living in faith, you abandon yourself to God's providence to know your destiny, and it is only in the abandonment that you experience hope, love, and faith, which are attributes of spirituality. Abandonment is not easy; in fact, it is the tallest order in living in faith. But it is the only way you can contact God directly.

For more information, visit my web page: Living In Faith Resources.

Stephen Lau

The Tallest Order

Faith Is A Major Decision In Life

To seek spirituality is a major decision in life.

Spirituality is the Spirit of life. Paul says spirituality demands a major decision in life to be interested in spiritual things, that is, things of the Spirit, instead of things of the flesh. "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5).

What is the difference?

If you are interested in things of the flesh, you become self-centered, and your motivation in life is self-oriented. In other words, your focus in life is more on yourself, rather than on God or others. The result is that it is more difficult for you not to sin because "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)


In modern life, spirituality is more than a challenge: it is a daily struggle - it is like striving to stay awake when you desperately want to sleep. It is never easy. Living in faith is the tallest order in contemporary living, but it is essential to foster a personal relationship with God.

The good news is that the process of struggle is also a process of discovery - discovery of self as well as discovery of the mystery of God. Through this discovery, You Know Your Destiny, and accordingly God's plan for your life. Your heart yearnings for the Spirit will be richly rewarded. Spirituality is no more than a heart-searching process; it renews the heart, the mind, and the soul.

Spirituality is not something you do consciously; it is simply a way of daily living. There is no blueprint for success. Spirituality is a vision of who you are - a unique individual created in the image of God. It inspires action through decision to believe. This decision to believe is the foundation for your spiritual life, the corner stone of your personal relationship with God.

Visit my website: The Tallest Order, and web page: Living In Faith Resources.

Stephen Lau

All About Stephen Lau