Are you searching or looking for strength? Well, God is looking for people who desire the kind of strength that only he can give, but there’s a catch. He’s looking to strengthen those who’s hearts are really committed to him.
“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9
In the few verses before this, we are told that if we put our trust in people instead of God, that we will not have the full favor of God. King Asa put his trust in the king of Aram instead of God and so he missed the chance to destroy his opposing army. But, in an eralier time, when Asa relied on the Lord, God handed over the vast armies of Ethiopia and Libya to him and they were defeated. We see that, in the later case, God strengthened Asa because his “heart” was fully turned to God.
When times get really difficult and we need extra strength, God wants to come to our aid…. and he will if our heart is committed to him. When our hearts are turned to other “idols” then we forfeit the favor that could be ours if we had turned to God. (See Jonah 2:8)
God wants to reward you with the strength you need for your life circumstance, and he promises that he will, if your heart is fully committed to him.
Questions to Reflect On:
Has your heart and mind been turned to other sources of strength instead of towards God? If so, confess this to him, tell him you’re sorry, and turn more earnestly to God.
How can you demonstrate to God that your heart is fully committed to him?
Obesity and diabetes levels are still on the rise. That’s according to the State of the States Report released this week.
According to this Gallup Poll, my state, North Carolina had a nearly 2% increase since last year. Twenty eight percent of North Carolinian’s are now obese – a Body Mass Index of 30 or greater. (Calculate your own BMI) Almost 12% of the people in North Carolina have diabetes – the 9th highest state.
Obesity Rates in America - 2009
Certainly, many people in our country die of weight-related problems each and every day. These deaths are preventable. Let’s take a deeper look.
There are many factors that contribute to the high obesity and type 2 diabetes rates in our nation. Access to health care, the environment, annual income/poverty level and heredity all play a role. But the cornerstone of these two conditions are physical activity and eating habits. The bottom line is that these two lifestyle choices most contribute to both of these conditions and they are almost totally under one’s control. These are choices we make, day in and day out.
Faith and Health
High levels of body fat and high glucose both represent a form of “death.” The Bible tells us that we have a choice. We can choose between life and death. In the Old Testament, God tells his people -
“Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.” Deuteronomy 11:26-28
Later in the same book, God continues to share his instructions about the choices we have between life and death. He says “Today I am giving you a choice between life and death.” (Deut. 30:15) In verse 19 he urges us “Oh that you would choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”
We Can Choose "Life" or "Death"
We all have choices to make each and every day or our life – all throughout the day. We can make choices that are life-enhancing or death-enhancing; good health-enhancing or poor health-enhancing. The choice is ours.
With God in our life in a big way, it’s easier to make healthy choices. It’s easier to make the countless healthy choices that are important in managing our weight. But even that begins with a choice. We must make a conscious choice to involve God in our life day in and day out. It really all begins with this decision.
The more diligent we are in involving God in our life, the more strength he will provide for living and making wise and healthy choices. God can enable us - empower us – to choose to be more active and to eat more nutritious food. One key to this is to relinquish control of your life to God and to live in a more surrendered way to him.
The Bible tells us that God’s Spirit lives in us if we have accepted Jesus into our life as our Savior. Imagine, God lives in us. When we relinquish control to his Spirit, it is actually God that is empowering us as we live. In this case, it is God’s Spirit that helps us to get off our seats and be physically active. It is his Spirit that prompts us to buy and eat healthier food. His Spirit gives us greater discipline. It is God’s Spirit that comforts us when we are stressed and feel like opening the refrigerator and eating a carton of ice cream or devouring a box of cookies.
My hope and prayers for all of you who might struggle with your weight is that you lean more heavily on God and a deeper faith to assist you in making healthier lifestyle choices. That you’ll make a conscious choice to tell him in your prayers that you need his help and that you are unable to make these desired changes on your own.
I hope that you will experience the love of God in it’s full measure and that that you will be empowered by God to make the kind of healthy changes in your life that you might want to make. See the verses in Ephesians 3:16-19
Questions To Reflect On
If your health is impacted by your weight, what lifestyle changes could you make that will help you lose weight?
How much are you really depending on God to help you with these changes?
Does God’s Holy Spirit live in you that he might enable you to make any desired changes in your life?
Struggling with life as well as your weight? Desire to know God in a personal way? Desire to have God’s Spirit in your life to empower you to live? Read about God’s love.
I’m pleased to announce this free 1-hour webinar, or online seminar, on September 3rd, at 7:00 PM EDT. As of Wed, Sep 2nd, we have over 40 people participating. Hope you’ll join us.
My intent and heart is to provide an overview of the Spirituality-Health Connection from a Christian faith perspective in an interactive session. I’m looking forward to using this technique to share my insight about this very interesting and relevant topic. Hope to meet with you on the 3rd!
Topics Covered will Include:
God’s Design for Man – How the spirit, soul and body interact
Your Most Basic Needs – How your choices affect our health
Life, Stress and Your Health
Spiritual Exercises for a Healthier Life
You can pre-register for the webinar by providing your email in the box below. After you register, you’ll receive a confirmation email with details on how to join the Webinar on the day of the event. (A phone number and link to view and hear the presentation will be provided.)
Laughter really is good medicine. The Bible tells us “There a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:4
Today I read a wonderfully written blog post by Bonnie Gray sharing how she rediscovered fun and laughter amidst the great “work” she was doing for God. She begins … “Some might say that spirituality is measured by hours spent in prayer or in the Bible. But, the ability to have fun can be a tell tale indicator of good faith health.” Read her entire post.
“A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22
Reading Bonnie’s post was a reminder for me to continue to slow down and smell the roses and that having fun can certainly be part of God’s work in my life! What about you?
Questions to Reflect On
Do you have a ‘happy heart?’ Are you making time to have fun on a regular basis, especially if you’re the task-oriented type.
“Honestly, what’s happened here is our Army is under stress,” says Lt. General Rick Lynch, Commander of Fort Hood. “So anything you can do to reduce stress is going to help prevent suicides. That is my fundamental theme.”
These were recent comments made by the general as he talked about initiatives undertaken at the Army installation in Texas. You can read the article – Army General Wages War Against Stress in the San Antonio Express News. The article will give you a good sensing of the types of initiatives that one post is taking to combat the suicide problem our Army is having.
The skyrocketing number of suicides over the past few years has sparked a search for answers on how to reduce these rates. For this reason, the Army has also established a suicide task force and launched a joint five-year study with the National Institute of Mental Health.
2 Minute Slide Presentation
Life and stress – they go hand in hand. We will experience lots and lots of stress in our life. There is no getting around it. I believe that the degree to which we effectively manage and cope with the stress in our lives will determine the degree to which we are healthy. If we turn to unhealthy behaviors to cope with the stress, our physical and emotional health will suffer. Suicide is perhaps the ultimate “unhealthy” action a person can take to cope with chronic and significant stress, such as repeated tours of duty in a combat zone in the case of a soldier.
Resources and Information on Stress, Health and Faith
Today I went for a short run before the summer heat and humidity rose too much. The forecast high in Charlotte is 93. On many of my runs I get ideas for my posts on my blog and that was the case today.
The thought popped into my mind that I have been running over 40 years. It’s actually been 42 years as I started in the 10th grade in Atlanta, Georgia. Through high school, prep school, college and then for a time afterwords, I enjoyed success as a long distance runner… the longer the distance the more competitive I was. My last major run in a competition was the Louisville Marathon in 1985. Since that time, I’ve run primarily to stay healthy, fit and manage my stress. I also enjoy it.
As my thoughts during my run continued, I wondered how many miles I might have run over the years. I suspected that I could come up with a pretty good estimate because I kept good records when I was competing in school and afterwords for a while. When I finished my run, showered and ate, I went upstairs to pull my running logs off the shelf of my bookcase. I used 3-ring spiral notebooks, typically using one page to log my running efforts during each week.
High School Running Log
Looking over the notebooks revealed some neat facts and memories. On Sunday, September 1, 1968, I ran my 1000th mile. During three years of high school, I logged 1,914 miles. The most covered in one day was 18 and the most in a week was 60. At West Point, I ran during cross country, indoor and outdoor track. At the peak of my competitiveness, I was averaging close to 8 miles/day and on Thursday, December 13th, 1973, I passed the 10,000 mile mark!
Over the last 25 years or so, my runs have been about 2-3 miles and I’ve gotten out two or three times a week. By my calculations, I have covered approximately 39,000 miles over these last 42 years. Wow! I had no idea. I am amazed that my joints, especially my knees, have held out. It’s a good thing that I have not continued with the competitive running. I can’t imagine that my knees would still be hanging in there if that was the case.
I have had a major shift in my overall motivation for working out and staying in shape in the last handful of years. It’s so that I can stay healthy which helps me better do the work that God calls me to do. I know that I am more alert, have more energy and can stay better focused when I work out on a regular basis. Keeping fit also contributes to reducing my chances of the many lifestyle-related diseases that could set in and hamper my efforts to do things for God.
Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:10 that “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Certainly, it is a miracle in itself that God designed the human body so that it could run 39,000 miles and more over a lifetime. He has put our bodies together in unimaginable ways. My Heart has beaten at least 1.8 trillion times over the last 58 years. Imagine that! Another miracle.
In 1 Timothy 4:7-8 we are reminded by Paul “Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness. Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.”(New Living Translation – First Edition)
Personalized License Plate
Clearly there is much benefit to being physically fit, but it is even more important to be spiritually fit. Spiritual exercises like reading the Bible, praying, surrendering to God, serving others and forgiving others are all important aspects of one’s spiritual fitness program.
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to run the race that God has set before us and we are to do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. (See Hebrews 12:1-2) In the middle of the 12th chapter, we are encouraged to mark out a straight path for our feet so those who follow us will not stumble and fail but will become strong.
I’m thankful to God that I’m still able to enjoy my short runs and that while I am on them, He gives me the inspiration and creativity from which I can share spiritual truths with my readers. I’m also thankful that He has given me the ‘work’ to encourage others of the faith to “remain on a straight path.” I pray that He is also using me to share the Gospel with those who do not know Him.
In the ‘race’ of your life, don’t give up. Stay the course. If you are a believer, others are watching you and many need to experience the love of Jesus that flows through you. Go deeper in your faith. If you don’t know God in a personal way and are looking for spiritual strength to help you cope with the stressors of life, consider accepting Jesus into your heart and receive His strength, peace and joy.
Questions to Ask Yourself
What ‘work’ has God called you to do? Is your health an obstacle for doing this ‘work?’
How spiritually fit are you? Are you engaged in meaning spiritual exercises throughout each week?
Do you have real peace, joy and hope because you experience Jesus’ love?
Related Material I’ve Written on Spiritual Fitness and The Connection
“For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.” Galatians 5:6-8
People are looking for strength in their lives today as much as any time in the recent past. I see this played out in the number of times that people have landed on my site with searches for strength using search engines.
Take a look at the graphics below which summarize landings on my site over the last year with searches using the keyword “strength.” True, some of this has to do with the content I have added to the site, but nonetheless, the data is pretty convincing.
What this represents to me is that a whole lot of individuals are looking for information, especially scriptures, on how they can receive strength during difficult times. Fortunately, scriptures in the Bible are a great source of strength. Scriptures are the Word of God and truth – something we can all benefit from when times get tough.
Earlier today, I read a teaching from David Wilkerson’s World Challenge Pulpit Series titled – “If Foundations Are Destroyed, What Can the Righteous Do?“ Wilkerson reminds us that God is to be a source of strength during difficult times. “Go home, my people, and lock your doors! Hide yourselves for a little while until the Lord’s anger has passed.” Isaiah 26:20 Wilkerson suggests that the “secret hiding place” is a chamber in your mind.
If that is so, how can that spot in your mind be comforting? I would propose that the only way your mind can really be a respite for what’s happening in the world around us is for it to be filled with the truth of God’s Word. Reading the Bible is the most ‘sure-fire’ way that ou can get to know God and His character and nature. It’s in the Bible that the disciples and other authors write about their experiences with Jesus and their interactions with God.
Paul tells us in one of his letters to Timothy that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
This scripture reminds us that the Bible prepares us and sustains us for living and for handling the stress we encounter. It’s through reading scripture that we can get a better understanding of who God is and how He wants to work in our lives. When we read the Bible, we have an opportunity to draw close to God and to sense His presence. And it’s when we are in God’s presence that we can have peace and receive strength that will sustain us through tough times.
The more frequently we read scripture, the more likely we can recall the truth that we read when we need to be reminded of who we are in God and His Son, Jesus. Frequent reading of the Bible will cause the ‘chambers in your mind’ to more likely be filled with His truths rather than the lies of the enemy. It’s what you constantly think about that really impacts on whether you are at peace or whether you are fearful and anxious. And, over the long haul, these two mindsets will have radically different impacts on your emotional and physical health status.
Yes, God can be a source of strength in your life … and one of the best things you can do is to regularly read the Bible so that you can be reminded of His truths. Hopefully, your thinking patterns will also be affected in a positive way.
“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Ephesians 6:10
Questions to Ask Yourself
To what degree is God a source of strength during your difficult times?
How often are you reading the Bible to better understand the nature of God and to be reminded of how much He cares for you?
What is one scripture that is a source of great strength for you?
Dr. Christina Pulchaski, Executive Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, is interviewed by Sally Quinn of the Washington Post’s On Faith column.
Topics addressed in the 5-minute video:
Intercessory prayer
The power of belief
Research design
Mechanisms of religious practices and health outcomes
POWERPOINT FOR PURCHASE
Preview this 85-slide package. Includes permission to administer a Spiritual Fitness Assessment & a 30-page booklet, Spiritual Exercises for a Healthier Life. Fully customizable.
If that is so, how can that spot in your mind be comforting? I would propose that the only way your mind can really be a respite for what’s happening in the world around us is for it to be filled with the truth of God’s Word. Reading the Bible is the most ‘sure-fire’ way that ou can get to know God and His character and nature. It’s in the Bible that the disciples and other authors write about their experiences with Jesus and their interactions with God.
