I don't know about you, but anger is my least comfortable emotion, yet, it is God-given. The Bible says, "Be angry and sin not" (Ephesians 4:26a). That's the key. Even Jesus got angry, yet He did not sin. Let's see how getting angry can be beneficial.
John 2:13-16
"It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; He also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, He told them, 'Get these things out of here. Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace!'" (NLT)
Jesus was angry at those who had turned the Temple courts into a marketplace of unjust profit. The merchants forced the people to buy "approved" sacrificial animals in exorbitant prices and exchanged their currency for Temple currency at inflated rates. They abused the public trust and mocked holy worship. It wasn't right, and Jesus was righteously indignant. Anger is an emotion, and one of the emotions God created in us. It can be used for good or for evil. Anger that is measured and authorized by God's purposes is justified. This kind of anger can play an important role in our spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery.
What this has to do with weight loss: You will know, beyond a doubt, that you will experience success in the area of weight loss, when you get angry enough to do something about it. When you stand up to the abusive forces in your life, and that includes addiction to food, you will be able to make the changes that will set you free from its grip. As you do, God will stand by you.
Today, think about anything in your life that God says, "Let's get this OUT!" Allow holy anger to well up inside you, and do the hard thing, to get that destructive, abusive force out of your life. God can use even anger in you, to encourage you to make changes. Surrender to the process.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Life Plan Devotion #154 [The gift of true life]
John 1:1-5, 10-13
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it... He came into the very world He created, but the world didn't recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn--not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God" (NLT).
The same Power that created the universe is available to create a new life within us, to create a new life from our shattered hopes and dreams. The Light of Life, that exposes and drives away the darkness of the human race, is the same light that brightens the dark corners of our world, whatever those dark corners may be.
Eternal life and renewed earthly life are ours when we believe what God says, renounce our tendency to do things our way, and receive the One whom God sent to help us. It is our personal decision to make, whether or not to receive the gift of salvation, to receive the gift of help.
What this has to do with weight loss: Everyone who is trying to lose weight needs support. Support can come from family, friends, the medical community, the internet community (like ObesityHelp.com), but the greatest help can be found on the spiritual level, in a day-to-day relationship with Jesus Christ. He is our High Priest, acquainted with every sorrow, with every experience we could ever have (Hebrews 4:15; Isaiah 53:3b), and has promised to make a way out whenever we experience temptation (I Corinthians 10:13).
Today, if you've never received the gift of salvation, and would like to, contact me, and I will be more than happy to help you. If you have asked Jesus into your heart, previously, take the opportunity to remember the sweet moment your surrendered to Jesus, and thank Him for the gift of salvation and the gift of help He gives you daily.
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it... He came into the very world He created, but the world didn't recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn--not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God" (NLT).
The same Power that created the universe is available to create a new life within us, to create a new life from our shattered hopes and dreams. The Light of Life, that exposes and drives away the darkness of the human race, is the same light that brightens the dark corners of our world, whatever those dark corners may be.
Eternal life and renewed earthly life are ours when we believe what God says, renounce our tendency to do things our way, and receive the One whom God sent to help us. It is our personal decision to make, whether or not to receive the gift of salvation, to receive the gift of help.
What this has to do with weight loss: Everyone who is trying to lose weight needs support. Support can come from family, friends, the medical community, the internet community (like ObesityHelp.com), but the greatest help can be found on the spiritual level, in a day-to-day relationship with Jesus Christ. He is our High Priest, acquainted with every sorrow, with every experience we could ever have (Hebrews 4:15; Isaiah 53:3b), and has promised to make a way out whenever we experience temptation (I Corinthians 10:13).
Today, if you've never received the gift of salvation, and would like to, contact me, and I will be more than happy to help you. If you have asked Jesus into your heart, previously, take the opportunity to remember the sweet moment your surrendered to Jesus, and thank Him for the gift of salvation and the gift of help He gives you daily.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Life Plan Devotion #153 [Breaking down the barrier]
I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (NIV).
I have learned some lessons from my own wilderness wonderings, and I have shared several with you:
1) Even in the wilderness, God provides and guides.
2) Sin will stop the flow of God's provision to you.
Today, let's briefly look at Lesson #3, that repentance is the solution to the problem/barrier of unconfessed sin stopping the flow of God's provision to you.
It is crucial that you daily reflect on how you are living your life, what you are doing, saying, even thinking. Unconfessed sin is a spiritual cancer. Do not allow it to spread. I John 1:9 is a wonderful promise, and it is the solution to the problem.
Just as I John 1:9 states, when you know of (or the Holy Spirit reveals) an unconfessed sin, immediately confess it, knowing that the Lord is faithful and just, and forgiveness is instantaneous.
Yes, Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross paid for all the sins of all mankind--past, present, and future, but it is up to each of us to safeguard our close walk with Him, as well as break down the barrier of our individual shortcomings which can keep God's blessings from flowing to us, by utilizing confession and repentance. How true the saying, "Confession is good for the soul."
What this has to do with weight loss: The definition of "sin" is "missing the mark," and based on that definition, I miss the mark in my weight-loss journey quite often. Now, I can choose to feel condemned by that or I can choose to confess it, repent of it, and allow the Lord to help me to do better next time. All too often, it seems we do the former and just beat ourselves up by our lack of self-control, or our laziness, or our "cheats." Let's make a better decision, and choose the I John 1:9 approach, truly making each day a new start, even in our weight-loss journey.
Prayer for Today:
"Heavenly Father, I know I miss the mark often, daily it seems. My desire is to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, who is faithful to shine His light on each area that I need to get right with You. May I also keep a clean slate, confessing and repenting of each time I sin in thought, word, or deed. I thank You that forgiveness is assured. May I do my part to bring down every barrier that keeps Your provision from coming to me. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen."
Go forth today, with nothing between you and the Savior.
I have learned some lessons from my own wilderness wonderings, and I have shared several with you:
1) Even in the wilderness, God provides and guides.
2) Sin will stop the flow of God's provision to you.
Today, let's briefly look at Lesson #3, that repentance is the solution to the problem/barrier of unconfessed sin stopping the flow of God's provision to you.
It is crucial that you daily reflect on how you are living your life, what you are doing, saying, even thinking. Unconfessed sin is a spiritual cancer. Do not allow it to spread. I John 1:9 is a wonderful promise, and it is the solution to the problem.
Just as I John 1:9 states, when you know of (or the Holy Spirit reveals) an unconfessed sin, immediately confess it, knowing that the Lord is faithful and just, and forgiveness is instantaneous.
Yes, Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross paid for all the sins of all mankind--past, present, and future, but it is up to each of us to safeguard our close walk with Him, as well as break down the barrier of our individual shortcomings which can keep God's blessings from flowing to us, by utilizing confession and repentance. How true the saying, "Confession is good for the soul."
What this has to do with weight loss: The definition of "sin" is "missing the mark," and based on that definition, I miss the mark in my weight-loss journey quite often. Now, I can choose to feel condemned by that or I can choose to confess it, repent of it, and allow the Lord to help me to do better next time. All too often, it seems we do the former and just beat ourselves up by our lack of self-control, or our laziness, or our "cheats." Let's make a better decision, and choose the I John 1:9 approach, truly making each day a new start, even in our weight-loss journey.
Prayer for Today:
"Heavenly Father, I know I miss the mark often, daily it seems. My desire is to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, who is faithful to shine His light on each area that I need to get right with You. May I also keep a clean slate, confessing and repenting of each time I sin in thought, word, or deed. I thank You that forgiveness is assured. May I do my part to bring down every barrier that keeps Your provision from coming to me. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen."
Go forth today, with nothing between you and the Savior.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Free Samples really help!
I know this is a different post from what I normally write, but I want to tell you about a great site where you can get free samples (seriously, free!), http://www.shop4freebies.com/. I don't know about you, but I love a bargain, and you can't get a better bargain than something that's free!
Visit Shop4Freebies.com, and if you like what you see, sign up to receive their daily email. If you're concerned about your email address getting on a billion business lists, due to signing up for the individual free offers, you can create an email account just for your freebies, orders, and on-line sign-ups. Frankly, I've never had a problem with this, but I've heard my friends express concern.
Maybe I'm just a kid at heart, but I still love to get mail, and when it's a free sample, it feels like Christmas. Now, if they'd only wrap them in pretty paper. [sigh]
Visit Shop4Freebies.com, and if you like what you see, sign up to receive their daily email. If you're concerned about your email address getting on a billion business lists, due to signing up for the individual free offers, you can create an email account just for your freebies, orders, and on-line sign-ups. Frankly, I've never had a problem with this, but I've heard my friends express concern.
Maybe I'm just a kid at heart, but I still love to get mail, and when it's a free sample, it feels like Christmas. Now, if they'd only wrap them in pretty paper. [sigh]
Life Plan Devotion #152 [It's a barrier]
Isaiah 59:1-2 "Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear" (NIV).
Last time, we looked at the first of just a few lessons I have learned in my wilderness wanderings, that even in the wilderness, God provides and guides. Today, let's look at the second lesson I have learned. It is a lesson that is crucial.
Lesson #2 is that sin will stop the flow of God's provision to you. Sin is a problem. It separates you from God, the very One who can provide for your needs as you're in the wilderness.
Sin creates a barrier. God will not look at sin, and He turns a deaf ear to the prayers of those living in unconfessed sin. What sin is worth living without the help of Almighty God?
What this has to do with weight loss: When the weight-loss journey begins to feel like a wilderness wandering, when you have asked God to help you but the answers just don't seem to come, it is helpful to take stock of your life. See if there is unconfessed sin that may be keeping the Lord from blessing your weight-loss journey. If there is, take care of it.
Prayer for Today:
"Heavenly Father, it is good to remind myself that sin is a barrier to Your provision, to Your willingness to intervene in my life. My desire is to keep a clean slate with You, every day. May I be so spiritually sensitive, that the second I even think of sinning, my conscience is pricked. I don't want anything to keep me from a close walk with You. I want to be a person You can bless. In Jesus' Name. Amen."
Go forth today, living a life God can bless.
Last time, we looked at the first of just a few lessons I have learned in my wilderness wanderings, that even in the wilderness, God provides and guides. Today, let's look at the second lesson I have learned. It is a lesson that is crucial.
Lesson #2 is that sin will stop the flow of God's provision to you. Sin is a problem. It separates you from God, the very One who can provide for your needs as you're in the wilderness.
Sin creates a barrier. God will not look at sin, and He turns a deaf ear to the prayers of those living in unconfessed sin. What sin is worth living without the help of Almighty God?
What this has to do with weight loss: When the weight-loss journey begins to feel like a wilderness wandering, when you have asked God to help you but the answers just don't seem to come, it is helpful to take stock of your life. See if there is unconfessed sin that may be keeping the Lord from blessing your weight-loss journey. If there is, take care of it.
Prayer for Today:
"Heavenly Father, it is good to remind myself that sin is a barrier to Your provision, to Your willingness to intervene in my life. My desire is to keep a clean slate with You, every day. May I be so spiritually sensitive, that the second I even think of sinning, my conscience is pricked. I don't want anything to keep me from a close walk with You. I want to be a person You can bless. In Jesus' Name. Amen."
Go forth today, living a life God can bless.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Life Plan Devotion #151 [Even in the wilderness]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go" (NIV).
We have been looking briefly at the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel, as they were led out of Egypt (the land of bondage) to Canaan (the land of promise). For the next few days, let's look at what it all means for you, right here, today.
Perhaps you are smack in the middle of your own wilderness wandering, right now. Perhaps you will find yourself in one in the future. Perhaps you have been in one in the past, and you've learned a few things. Allow me to share some of the lessons I learned, from my own wilderness wanderings.
I want you to know, fellow believer, lesson #1, that even in the wilderness, God provides and guides. The fact that you're in the wilderness does not mean He has abandoned you. Look to Him to guide you through the wilderness. He will do it. Look to Him to provide for you while in the the wilderness. He will be faithful to do that, as you trust Him.
What this has to do with weight loss: I'll be honest. I want this weight-loss journey to be easy, to be effortless. I want each day to be like it was right after surgery, when no matter what I did or didn't do, I lost weight. It was exciting to get on the scale, to lose a pound or more nearly every day, it seemed, for months. Well, it isn't like that anymore. Now, the scale certainly shows what I've done or not done, and, frankly, some days it feels like I'm in some weight-loss wilderness, and it's difficult to walk it. Maybe you're there, too. Let us remind ourselves that even if it feels like it, we are not alone. We have each other, and, more importantly, we have the Lord who provides and guides, as we look to and trust Him.
Prayer for Today:
"Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me today that I can be strong and courageous, and that You do not want me to be afraid or discouraged. Thank You that the reason is that You have promised to be with me, wherever I go, even when I am in a wilderness. Thank You for your faithful provision and guidance through the most difficult of circumstances, the times when the path is strewn with stones, for I know that with You on my side, I will make it to the land of promise. Remind me, if I forget, Father. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen."
Go forth today, encouraged, knowing that God is with you wherever you go.
We have been looking briefly at the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel, as they were led out of Egypt (the land of bondage) to Canaan (the land of promise). For the next few days, let's look at what it all means for you, right here, today.
Perhaps you are smack in the middle of your own wilderness wandering, right now. Perhaps you will find yourself in one in the future. Perhaps you have been in one in the past, and you've learned a few things. Allow me to share some of the lessons I learned, from my own wilderness wanderings.
I want you to know, fellow believer, lesson #1, that even in the wilderness, God provides and guides. The fact that you're in the wilderness does not mean He has abandoned you. Look to Him to guide you through the wilderness. He will do it. Look to Him to provide for you while in the the wilderness. He will be faithful to do that, as you trust Him.
What this has to do with weight loss: I'll be honest. I want this weight-loss journey to be easy, to be effortless. I want each day to be like it was right after surgery, when no matter what I did or didn't do, I lost weight. It was exciting to get on the scale, to lose a pound or more nearly every day, it seemed, for months. Well, it isn't like that anymore. Now, the scale certainly shows what I've done or not done, and, frankly, some days it feels like I'm in some weight-loss wilderness, and it's difficult to walk it. Maybe you're there, too. Let us remind ourselves that even if it feels like it, we are not alone. We have each other, and, more importantly, we have the Lord who provides and guides, as we look to and trust Him.
Prayer for Today:
"Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me today that I can be strong and courageous, and that You do not want me to be afraid or discouraged. Thank You that the reason is that You have promised to be with me, wherever I go, even when I am in a wilderness. Thank You for your faithful provision and guidance through the most difficult of circumstances, the times when the path is strewn with stones, for I know that with You on my side, I will make it to the land of promise. Remind me, if I forget, Father. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen."
Go forth today, encouraged, knowing that God is with you wherever you go.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Update to Devotion #146 [Experiment in Tithing]
As always, I was pleased to see that someone left a comment on my blogspot, but I was excited to discover that the person who commented is Thomas Woodward (name used with permission), grandson to Perry Hayden, the Quaker farmer, who, in the 1940s, conducted an experiment in tithing.
While I had lost the title to the book in which the tithing experiment is chronicled, Mr. Woodward was able to tell me that the book title is God Is My Landlord by Raymond J. Jeffreys, published in 1947, Van Kampen Press, Chicago. It is no longer in print, but I found a copy from Goodwill Industries at Alibris.com, at a very reasonable price (unlike the other copies listed). It is on its way to me now!
Sometimes, with my blog, I wonder if anyone is really reading. I see the statistical ticker number going up, and I have 8 wonderful blog followers, but there's nothing like a personal comment to encourage me. Thank you, Tom Woodward, for sharing some of your story with me. Not only did your grandfather's tithing experiment positively impact his life, and even though he did not live long enough to know you, and for you to know him, you were, obviously, positively impacted by him.
What we do in this life, what we know (especially about God and His Word), what we say, everything really, is important and can have eternal significance, not only for each of us personally, but for our family and friends, and even strangers. May what you do and say today carry eternal significance.
While I had lost the title to the book in which the tithing experiment is chronicled, Mr. Woodward was able to tell me that the book title is God Is My Landlord by Raymond J. Jeffreys, published in 1947, Van Kampen Press, Chicago. It is no longer in print, but I found a copy from Goodwill Industries at Alibris.com, at a very reasonable price (unlike the other copies listed). It is on its way to me now!
Sometimes, with my blog, I wonder if anyone is really reading. I see the statistical ticker number going up, and I have 8 wonderful blog followers, but there's nothing like a personal comment to encourage me. Thank you, Tom Woodward, for sharing some of your story with me. Not only did your grandfather's tithing experiment positively impact his life, and even though he did not live long enough to know you, and for you to know him, you were, obviously, positively impacted by him.
What we do in this life, what we know (especially about God and His Word), what we say, everything really, is important and can have eternal significance, not only for each of us personally, but for our family and friends, and even strangers. May what you do and say today carry eternal significance.
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