I am about to get started making pralines and fudge today. Going to NOT eat any of them today. I plan to have one of each on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and that is it. I want to give myself the gift of good health and strength of body and mind this Christmas. I pray all of you are looking to the power of the Holy Spirit within you, to be victorious in every way, today! God bless you all!
I am posting some Scripture prayers I compiled from reading the Scriptures, in different sections of Joyce Meyer's book, The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word. These are the Scriptures from the Amplified Bible, but worded in prayer or declaration. The Word of God is powerful and sharp and able to divide joints and marrow and the thoughts and intentions of the heart. They have already built me up this morning and prepared me for the battle, in the kitchen, to come.
I have printed out and posted these on my refrigerator and plan to start memorizing 1 Cor. 6:12 right away and the rest throughout this new year. I also plan to keep a copy visible on my bathroom mirror and in my car and purse!
These Scriptures are not just for those wanting to be healthy in their eating and exercising plans, but also for those struggling with other issues, as well. Hope these bless you today!
SCRIPTURE PRAYERS:
I always exercise and discipline myself [mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires, endeavoring in all respects] to have a clear (unshaken, blameless) conscience, void of offense toward God and toward men. Acts 24:16
I do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what I am to eat and what I am to drink; nor is my mind anxious [troubled, unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense]. I only aim for and strive for and seek His Kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to me also. Luke 12:29 and 31
Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything, or be brought under its power. 1 Cor. 6:12
In the day when I called, You answered me; and you strengthened me with strength (might and inflexibility to temptation) in my inner self. Psalm 138:3
I keep awake and watch and pray (constantly), that I may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mark 14:38
I pray to God that I will not be overcome by temptation. Luke 22:40
I will be subject to God. I will resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from me. James 4:7
Blessed (happy, to be envied) am I when I'm patient under trial and stand up under temptation, for when I have stood the test and been approved, I will receive [the victor's] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12
God is my refuge and strength (mighty and impenetrable to temptation), a very present and well-proved help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
My eyes wait for You (looking, watching and expecting) and You give me food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy me with favor. Psalm 145:15-16
But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day! Habakkuk 2:3 (TLB)
Friday, November 05, 2010
From the very first day I began this weight-loss journey, I knew in my heart it was not about the weight loss. That I was going to be learning a lot spiritually through this journey and I was excited. This has proven true over and over.
Last week, I learned something new about myself and something new about God. I had the head knowledge about this, but not the experiential heart knowledge. There is a big difference! I had been planning to have this particular "crazy day" off my Michael Thurman 6 Week Body Makeover eating plan for about 8 weeks. The date for the "crazy day" was planned for October 31, my grandson's 8th birthday. Well, the week before the 31st, the day for his party was determined to be on the 30th instead of the 31st this year. So, I had my "crazy day" on the 30th. I enjoyed the day very much and ate whatever I wanted--CAKE, Ice cream, etc. Then, on the morning of October 31st, I woke up 2 lbs heavier on the scale.
I wasn't surprised. The other times I had "crazy days" I had also gained 2 lbs, so I was expecting this. I felt it was pretty much what I deserved and I expected to see that number. Then on the 31st I had total loss of control over my eating. This "crazy day" was NOT planned at all but I was craving everything and anything. I ate pretty much what I wanted all day. Things I never craved were calling my name--like CHILI CHEESE DOGS WITH ONIONS!!!! I was eating Halloween candy and dreaming of chili dogs. My DH wouldn't allow me to go get one and I was pretty well okay with that, because I had already had a full day of eating off plan anyway. But, boy was I craving that Chili Cheese Dog with Onions!!!
I went to bed on the night of the 31st beating myself up pretty good over losing control. No one has to beat me up EVER, because I always do a much better job LOL. So, before I feel asleep, I made up my mind that I would see another 2 lb gain on the scale the next morning and I determined that it was exactly what I deserved to get because I made the choice to eat that way knowing the consequences.
The next morning, on November 1st, I awoke to a weight LOSS not a gain! I was shocked. Then, I immediately felt God speaking to my heart and He said this:
"This is what GRACE looks like. You made wrong choices and had determined that you deserved punishment and you had made up your own mind what the penalty would be--weight gain; but, you are not to determine your own punishment or what you deserve--only I can and will do that. I chose to give you grace. That is what I decided to do for you".
I was humbled and greatly thankful! I learned a lot about myself through this. I learned a lot more about grace and God's unconditional love as well. I hope I never forget it!
I miss my son. I miss our alone times together. I miss the way we used to snuggle and give butterfly kisses at bedtime and other times and just be silly together. I miss doing homework with him. I miss making his bowl of Cheerios and putting sugar on it for him. I miss the way he used to come home from school and say, "Hey mom, will you make your Famous Chili for me". I miss the times he did crazy things to me, like "Let's go out for donuts, mom", and me the fool, believing he meant Shipley's and all the while he had other mischievous plans in store for me. I miss the day my little 8 year old boy rang the doorbell and when I opened the front door, he was holding a dead squirrel in one hand, a b.b. gun in the other and with tender tears of regret running down his face, he cried and confessed to me, "I thought killing an animal would be fun, but it wasn't"; and he let me comfort him. I even miss the "bandaide" times with my son..the times that the snips and snails and puppy dog tails would visit my world with cuts and bruises and dog bites and near overdoses on baby aspirin and putting a screwdriver into the wall socket and various hockey injuries...I miss my little son. He is all grown up and more than happily married now. He lives too far away to visit very often. Now, when I do see him on those rare and precious occasions, I am thankful for each and every nano-second. I drink up his voice and I capture his smell and I hold it all in my heart until the next precious visit comes. One of those visits will be tomorrow at our family reunion. I exhort you, drink up all these precious moments with your child, now. Store up photographs in your heart and mind for a near and coming bittersweet day when he is no longer your little boy, but he is a handsome and caring and strong man who loves the outdoors with a passion, who loves to hunt and fish and dress up in camo and lay stealth in the bushes before dawn, as still as a picture, for a cause he enjoys. He has an amazing wife he is madly in love with and who works together with him every day and plays together with him every weekend. He is a son who has inherited the joy and desire of his heart to live on a lake with a boat and a fishing pier. A son who turned out to be everything I had prayed he would be, and more than I could have imagined, which is exactly the way it should be, and I wouldn't change a thing; which is what makes the bitter sweet. But for all of this, God help me, I still miss my son.
WHAT IS YOUR FEAR AND IS IT HINDERING YOUR PROGRESS TO A GOAL?
Friday, October 01, 2010
I have felt fear over many things in my life, even about losing weight (see the blog I posted called "THE MIRROR OF TRUTH". Fear can trip you up and keep you from the very things you desire to have or do. My dear husband had a great desire for the two of us to get certified for SCUBA. But I was terrified of deep water and wouldn't even go into the deep end of a swimming pool, much less an ocean! But, because I loved my husband and I truly wanted to be free of this paralyzing thief of joy, I faced the fear and learned that the lie I was believing was, "If you get in water over your head, you will drown". I easily believed that lie, because when I was 9 years old, my brother who was just being a silly kid, stood on top of me in a pool and held me under until I almost drowned. When I took that fear to God a couple of years ago, He told me something very approximate to this: "You didn't drown because I didn't allow it, and I am with you still. Have no fear". The next thing I knew, I was in the deep end of a friend's pool while another friend taught me to tread water. The next week I was enrolled in a SCUBA diving certification class with my husband, and we both got certified. That is just one of the fears God helped me overcome.
I have come to fear God. I used to fear people more than God, but now I fear God more than people. He takes care of all my other fears. This has been a long and intentional process. I have learned that Fear is a liar & Perfect Love casts it out. I wasn't always in this place of being free of fear, so I can totally relate to anyone still being hindered by fear.
I don't believe I would be accomplishing this new found weight loss success, if the fears I believed about myself were not exposed and exchanged for truth. Everyday I am thankful for this. Now my question to you, my friends, is this: Do you sense that there is something holding you back from reaching your goals? Is it some kind of fear based thinking? Go ahead and look inside and see. If so, expose it for the enemy it is to you and replace it with the truth. You are so worth it! God bless you!
Recently, as I was taking notes and looking down at my lap, I had the thought "you are really small", in reference to my bust. Even though I am a 34F, that thought felt true to me. It was a random, but familiar thought. Soon after that thought, as I was at the sink washing my hands and looking into the mirror I realized, "You are NOT small!", Then, I immediately felt God telling me, "When you look into the 'Mirror' of Truth you see reality; when you walk away from the 'Mirror of Truth' you immediately go back to believing the old lies'. Soon after this happened, I had a Theophostic Prayer Ministry session where I had a memory of someone telling me in about the 6th grade, "YOU don't need a training bra". That statement stayed with me all my life until recently. It was a lie, of course; but no matter how big my bra size became, I saw myself as 'lacking'. So every time I would begin to lose weight and my bust measurements would shrink I would start to panic and think,"Something must be wrong with me", or "Something is lacking in me", or "I am not normal". Those were 12-year old conclusions in reaction to another 12-year old's observations of me that were actually misconceptions that I had latched onto as truth. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit speaking His truth to me, I don't believe those lies anymore. The amazing truth is, there is nothing wrong with me, I am not lacking anything, and losing weight in my bust does not make mean I am not "normal" or "lacking". This has been life-changing for me and I hope, others will be free also from any similar childhood beliefs that are hindering their attempts at healthy weight loss.
I know you are feeling sad, angry, ashamed, lost, alone, unloved, uncared for, unappreciated, abandoned, rejected, and a million other bad things. I see it in your eyes and in your tears; in what you say and in what you don't say. I know you wonder if this pain will ever go away, if you can ever forget it, push it down deep enough that you never see or feel it again, but suddenly, when you least expect it, it bursts forth like a volcano...bubbling over, memories crashing down around you, again...Beloved, as you are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and as you begin to see Him faithful in meeting you in each of those painful memories, you will feel those chains begin to fall off. You have begun a very important journey that so very few Christians know to travel: Putting on the Armor, and marching into those places where pain and lies reside, and bringing each and every one of those lies to the foot of the cross for Jesus to speak TRUTH to. When the Holy Spirit speaks truth, the lies crumble. The only power satan has in a Believer's heart, is the through the lies we believe. He is the LIAR and Father of Lies; so He tries to keep us bound up and shakled by tormenting us with his relentless, button-pushing, LYING little self. BUT GOD who dwells within us is greater than any lie. We just have to be willing to "go there" and take back the ground that we, as young adults, teenagers, little children (sometimes infants) innocently gave him. We are not little chidren ANY MORE. We are strong in the Lord and in the strength of HIS might, we can take on any foe--including the father of lies. I am praying for you now and EVERY DAY, that each and every day you would have the grace and the strength to go to EACH and every painful memory in your past (one by one, week by week) until you have discovered all the lies you have believed about yourself in each one and as you lift those lies up to Jesus and ask Him his opinion, that you then receive every truth Jesus has for you in each one. Write down what HE tells you and believe HIM. It is in choosing to believe Jesus and His opinion instead of the lies, that we are set free and the chains come off...unshakled, free to dance, free to laugh, free to be. You can do this! When you know (intimately, and experiencially), know the Truth, then you will be free indeed. My love and prayers are with you forever. Be free. That is my prayer.
In the Word today, I was so amazed to look at these refernces again and ponder anew the reality of Christ IN US, our Hope of glory!! I hope you take the time to read and ponder them for yourself. You will leap with unexpected joy inside, when you do! We are looking at how God dwelt with man in the Old Testament/Covenant; and how He dwells with us now, in the new Testament/Covenant.
OLD TESTAMENT:
Exodus 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
Exodus 40:33-35 He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
2 Chronicles 5:1-14 Thus all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver and the gold and all the utensils, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God. Then Solomon assembled to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers' households of the sons of Israel, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. All the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, that is in the seventh month. Then all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. They brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils which were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles.The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. When the priests came forth from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions), and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the LORD saying, "He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting," then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.
2 Chronicles 7:1-3 Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house. The priests could not enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD'S house. All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying, "Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting."
God's FIRE coming down like a lightning bolt-(remembering here the dream God gave me Christmas Eve--thanks going up and simultaneously His atomic power, like lightning bolt with fire, coming down); His Shekinah Glory (visible dwelling of God-The Cloud); God's Presence among his people; in answer to prayer!
Then, the New Testament:
Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
John 2:13-17 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." His disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME."
John 1:12-17 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is Immanuel, Word of God, made flesh, and who Tabernacled among us. We beheld His Glory; like Father, Like Son. God dwelling with us in the Divine tabernacle of His Body; revealed the fullness of God. He explained the Father. Jesus, in us, is God, The Cloud, The Glory, The Shekinah Glory, dwelling within us! We are His Temple; His Cloud, His fire, is in us! Oh God, help us to comprehend this awesomeness! Help us to behold and sense This Power, and to live as though YOU dwell and Tabernacle within us! Oh LORD, allow us to behold your Manifest Presence and visibly see you, even as Israel saw you in Exodus, on the Mountain of God, and in the Temple. LORD let us visibly see you and feel your power within. May we glorify you in these temples of flesh and KNOW what a treasure we contain in these "arks of flesh", containers of the Living God! What a mystery...what a privelege...what a responsibility! Amen.