Happy Monday!
I have been doing a lot of straight spiritual emails lately. That’s what God has put on my heart and I try to follow that.
This week, however, we are going to go back to the physical. Maybe because this is a daily struggle for me and I am really trying to do better, God led me back to this. This takes me back to the basics of the Daniel Plan. One of the reasons I love the Daniel Plan so much (6 years for the group) is the fact that it incorporates so much spiritual with the physical.
What we learned in group is that it walks hand in hand. Anyone can go on a diet. For true success though, you must change your lifestyle. It can’t be radical, you still have a life! It must be sustainable, otherwise you may win in the short term but eventually you will end up right back where you started. Last, but definitely not least, you are not your BFF, your sister, your daughter or anyone else. You were created to be unique in every way. This includes your very distinct metabolism, chemical makeup and lifestyle. What works for them, isn’t necessarily right for you.
As for me, I want to be and really try to be a good steward of what God has given me, including my body. That being said, one of the most important things I have learned is that I cannot do it on my own. I need the power of God walking right along beside me, in everything I do.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.
Pray Unceasingly!!
Lois
God’s Power for Healthy Living: Wellness Devotional & Scripture 1 Corinthians 4:20
Lifestyle Factors and Your Health
By some estimates, approximately 40% of all deaths in the United States are premature (at least 900,000 deaths annually) and are due to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as tobacco use, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, misuse of alcohol and drugs, and accidents. Other contributors to early death include genetic predisposition (30%), social circumstances (15%), poor access to quality health care (10 percent), and environmental exposures (5%). (David Anderson, Ph.D., StayWell Health Management)
So more than any other factor, it’s our lifestyle that causes us to be unhealthy. Changing old unhealthy habits is not easy but it’s essential if we want to become healthier and live a better quality of life.
God’s Power is Available to You
“God’s way is … an empowered life.” 1 Corinthians 4:20 – The Message
God wants to assist us in living a healthy life and He has given those who believe in Jesus a helper – the Holy Spirit. (John 14:16-17) Just one of many blessings we receive as followers of Christ is that we have God’s power in us to live the kind of life that He wants us to live and this includes the ability to make desired lifestyle changes.
The Bible tells us that the same mighty power that raised Christ from his grave is available to us who believe in Jesus. (Romans 8:11 and Ephesians 1:19-20)
One key to being empowered by God’s Spirit is to recognize that in our own strength we cannot do what we can in God’s strength and power. We must recognize this and depend on the supernatural power of God to work in us. We must submit and surrender to God and embrace the spiritual truth that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9) “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
Your Body is God’s Temple
Because God’s Holy Spirit lives in those of us who have accepted Jesus into our hearts, our bodies are His temple ( 1 Corinthians 3:16) Therefore, we have a responsibility to care for His temple. It’s an awesome thing that God’s Spirit in us empowers us to live in such a way that we can care for His temple as a matter of love and worship to God. One beneficial by-product is that by appropriating God’s power, we can live a lifestyle conducive to good health.
My Prayer for You
Like the Apostle Paul, I pray that the “eyes of your heart” might be open and that you are able to understand and appropriate the power that is available to you to make any lifestyle changes you might want to make… all for the glory of God! ( Ephesians 1:18 and Ephesians 3:14-21)