Nov
30
2007
Many people follow a strict diet to try to lose weight. Most of the time this doesn’t work for them and it’s not surprising because according to this scripture, this strategy goes against God’s design for us.
Colossians 2:20-23 says “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”
Diets are about rules. God is about freedom, grace and love. When we try in our strength to follow a set of rules, as we do when we follow a stringent diet, we set ourselves up for failure. These diets might seem to be wise, these rules are “of this world” and contrary to the freedom that we have if we have accepted Jesus in our heart. When we try to follow a set of rules associated with a diet, we are attempting to do this out of our own strength. I believe God wants us to abandon these “rules” and to look to Him for wisdom and power and the ability to eat well and to live a healthy life.
If you’re dieting in a formal sense consider this – surrender the “diet” and go deeper inside to God asking Him to help you eat in a manner that will help you lose weight. Make sure you’re getting in some regular physical activity as well. And don’t forget to ask God in prayer that He empower you, through His Holy Spirit to make the changes you’re trying to make. Then give God the glory when you lose the weight!
Take care!
Dale
Nov
29
2007
God does love each of us! The graphic to the right was sent in an email to me along with several others that must have been written by very young children in their notes to God… I suspect prompted by a teacher.
What this young girl can not comprehend is how great God’s love is for her and for all of us. Ephesians 3:18 & 19 says – “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
He does love us more than we will ever be able to comprehend but He wants us to experience His love in a very personal way. The more we experience God’s love, the more we will want to get to know Him and to please Him by being faithful to His principles found in the Bible. In turn, my belief is that we will experience improved emotional and physical health.
Have a terrific day!
Dale
Nov
20
2007
Romans 15:13 says “So I pray that God who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Hope is key to maintaining an optimistic view for one’s future. Researchers have documented that optimism and hope are related to health. The question is… what or who do you place your hope in?
The degree to which we believe in the object of our hope will determine the level of hope that we have. I have learned to place my hope in God and in what is written in the Bible which is His truth. As the verse indicates, as I place my hope in Him I am happy and have peace. It’s God’s Holy Spirit that provides me with so much hope that it overflows within me.
Imagine if you were trying to make a health-related behavior change in your life. To be successful you’d need a certain degree of confidence that you’d be able to make the desired change. In behavioral terms this is called self efficacy. A Christian who is full of God’s Spirit has an extra source of power to make behavior changes. Knowing that the Holy Spirit lives inside us gives us this additional hope. The Holy Spirit provides us strength that we would not have otherwise.
Paul’s prayer for us in this verse is my prayer for you. I want you to know God in such a personal way that you’ve accepted Jesus as your savior and know that the Holy Spirit lives inside you. I believe that as you mature in your faith you’ll be able to gain extra power to live a healthy life… a life that more glorifies God.
Have a blessed day!
Dale
Nov
17
2007
We each have a body given to us by God. Isn’t it our responsibility to take care of it? That’s what Paul tells us to do in Romans 12:1 when he writes – “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” New Living Translation 
Caring for our physical body certainly makes sense because each of us would want to be as healthy as possible but it’s also a commandment by God. Our physical health is affected by our emotional health and our emotional health is affected by our spiritual health.
Paul tells us to give our body to God and that it(our body) should be a form of sacrifice to Him. In fact, I believe Paul is telling us that caring for our body is a form of worship. Caring for our body is a way to demonstrate to God that we love Him. If you believe that God sent His only son Jesus to die for our sins, isn’t it only reasonable that we should care for the physical body that He gave us?
Caring for our body means taking care of our physical health. Being physically active, eating well, getting adequate sleep and rest, being free from addictions and managing our stress are a few key aspects of attending to our physical health. The beautiful thing is that the Bible spells out so many guidelines on how we are to go about doing this.
If you are a believer you have an extra incentive to care for your body. Once you accept Jesus as your savior the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your physical body. God actually lives in you. If you love God, and He lives in you in the form of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t it make sense to care for our body in the best way possible? I believe it does and I must admit sometimes I am too relaxed at some of my health-related behaviors, especially my eating behaviors. Coffee with its caffeine and sugar added, candy bars… and I could name many other items that are not healthy to be putting into my body where God lives. The wonderful thing is that God is a God of grace and forgiveness. In my case, he knows that I am slowly surrendering that area of my life to Him and asking for His help in changing that part of my behavior.
If you’re not taking really good care of the body God has given you, He can help you change that. If you make a decision… a conscious choice to change and ask Go to help you then He will. He will honor your intentions. If you’re not a Christian and you are struggling with an aspect of your behavior that affects your health, then God wants to be a part of helping you do that. You can make a choice to ask Jesus to come into your heart… and He will help transform the areas of your life that you ask Him to. It’s a matter of believing, asking and surrendering.
Our physical bodies really do belong to God… and He wants us to take great care of them! So make healthy choices… with God’s help.
Have a wonderful day!
Dale
Nov
14
2007
I feel refreshed!!
Thanks to all the people who worked hard to put on a great John 17:21 Conference in Indianapolis for about 230 YMCA employees throughout the world. I attended this conference from Nov. 8-10 so that I could share with the attendees how I can assist them in serving their members and staff.
The YMCA’s mission is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that help build healthy spirit, mind and body for all. The attendees were assembled to be encouraged in their efforts to accomplish this mission at their respective branches. I feel fortunate to have met so many great people with a heart to serve others. I also established what I hope will be some long lasting friendships.
To all the attendees who were there for the last session…..Love you!
Nov
08
2007
How can words help our health? Proverbs 4:20-22 tells us “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.”
As I read this I understand God to be be saying to read the Bible, His words and to keep what we read deep inside… in our heart. I have intentionally read scripture over and over again and the more I read the more I sense that His spirit… the Holy Spirit, mixes with my spirit deep in my heart… my inner self. When this occurs my body and my mind responds in healthy ways. The more often I read the Bible the better I appreciate what God has in store for me and the better I understand how much He loves me.
I believe that is one of the secrets to living a really full life… understanding the love that God has for us as an individual. When we really believe this we begin to live it out. By that I mean that we are better able to develop and sustain habits that honor our body and honor God. We also are better able to keep our mind on things of God and not things of this world.
So, allow God’s words… His truths… found in the Bible, to penetrate your heart. This will bring you a richer and fuller life… and good health, in spirit, mind and body.
Nov
03
2007
The Bible has much wisdom regarding stress and how to manage it. “As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands” is from the New Living
The New International Version says “Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight.”
Translation of Psalm 119:143.
This says that as a person becomes stressed that he can
find relief by following the principles and commandments of God that are found in the Bible. I would contend that the Bible is the first book written on stress management. As you read and study God’s Word you find that there are so many nuggets of truth and such great wisdom. The reader can gain so much if his heart and spirit are open to this great wisdom and God’s principles.
More and more I have found that as I ask God to reveal to me His truths, I find them. And as I find them tucked throughout His Word, I then am challenged by figuring out how to implement these truths in my life. That is the challenge we all have… how to make it personal to us and then to do it!
There are many sites on the internet that refer to other Bible verses that might assist us when we are stressed. Here is one site. The principles found in these verses are in fact what God would want us to implement during stressful times.
As I reflect on a few of His principles a few come to mind. First, cry out to God. This is a form of Spiritual Exercise. So many times in the Bible you read where people cried out to Him when there had heavy burdens or we “stressed.” Simply taking time to open up our hearts to God during these times is so very critical. For me, I have to make it a point to go deeper into my heart, not just converse with God from my mind. To be really effective for me, it has to be a heart thing. That is where we really live and relate… from our hearts. If we expect God to provide direction and strength and sooth us during difficult times, I believe He wants us to come to Him from deep within… from our hearts.
I have also learned that it takes making a certain amount of time to be alone with God. This must be a precursor to crying out to Him. We have to be able to slow way down and spend time with Him. Too often I let time rush by. One day becomes two and two days become three. I might have thought about my concerns and lifted them up to God in a quick prayer and this is good but it is not as good as spending some dedicated quiet alone time with Him. When I am able to do this and still by inner self…still my heart and go to God in an intentional deliberate way I am rewarded by the peace that comes my way. This more complete and deep peace and calmness does not come when I send off a ‘quick’ prayer to Him. Those quick prayers don’t seem to give my spirit time to mix with His Spirit in the same way that comes from a lingering time with Him.
So, a key to being able to better manage our stress is to read the Bible and know His principles, His commandments and then to implement them into our day to day lives.
Read It. Study It. Do It! And have a wonderful day!
View this short presentation on stress and how God can help.
