My child, fear not, for I have called you and placed on you My covenant of peace. You will not be shaken. You are My bride whom I love. Joy and peace are yours for the taking. You only need to walk in Me. My Spirit longs to reveal all that I have for you. All you need to do is receive.
Isaiah 54:10
My child, I alone will be exalted. I alone am to be glorified. Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils, for why should he be esteemed? Worship Me alone. Delight yourself in My Presence. Love Me for who I am, not for what I can provide for you.
Isaiah 2:17 & 22
Ingredient #7 is, you guessed it! EXERCISE! All I can say about this one is find something you love to do and do it. And learn to love some form of resistance training. Use weights or your body weight to build and strengthen your muscles. Increased muscle mass increases your metabolism. Your body will burn more calories and burn them efficiently when you lift weights. You can actually reshape your body by weight training. No need to worry about bulking up. Most women won’t. You can tone your muscles and have a remarkable outcome by resistence training. Start out slowly and with light weights. The more you build up your muscles, the stronger you will get. The stronger you get, the more your metabolism will crank up and turn into a calorie burning machine. Muscles burn more calories than fat does. And if we don’t use them, we’ll eventually lose them.
Do some form of exercise 3 to 4 days a week minimum. Find something you enjoy. Do something you’ll keep doing, not something you dread. Good options are walking, running, biking, hiking, swimming, zumba and dancing. Anything that gets your body moving.
Now here’s some really NEAT tricks for burning more fat. It’s called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). NEAT includes all of your physical activity throughout the day, excluding your “formal” workouts such as casual walking, shopping, yard work, housework, standing, pacing and even little things like talking, chewing, changing posture and fidgeting. You can implement more NEAT activity into your life by taking the stairs, stand or pace more, get up more often throughout the day and walk around and stretch, do your own yard work, walk instead of driving short distances.
Earl Loomis said: “We deny our talents and abilities because to acknowledge or confess them would commit us to use them. Don’t deny them please. If you do deny them, you deny your family, yourself, your church, your friends and your community the benefits of the talents that are inside of you.”
There are sees of greatness in each and every one of you.
St. Augustine said: “Man travels hundreds of miles to gaze at the broad expanse of the ocean. He looks in awe at the heavens above and stares in wonderment at the mountains, fields and streams, then passes himself by without a thought. God’s most amazing creation. That is you.”
I asked the Lord to let me know if I should send this word out to our subscriber list this morning and so I took the Bible and it fell open to Matthew 5:16 which says, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” That was pretty clear, so here it is:
My child, all power comes from Me. Strength and joy comes from Me. I also am the giver of life and love. Look to Me alone for everything you need. If you lack anything, I alone can provide. Trust in Me and My provision when all else seems lost. I’ve called you to live a life of faith. The circumstances you are in provide you with the opportunity to believe Me. Will you?
Glorify God today by believing Him!
My child, it’s just a matter of time. I have made My promises known to you. Set a guard over your mouth and keep watch over the door of your lips. Speak words of life. I give life to the dead. Call the things which are not and believe Me for the things you don’t see yet. Walk in My power, authority, belief and love. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows.
Psalm 141:3 & John 10:10
My child, I have given you My Spirit so that you may know the things freely given; spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. I have given you the mind of Christ. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? The temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Be set apart from this world so I can use use. Walk according to My Spirit. I will lead you in My path of righteousness.
1 Corinthians 1 12 &16, & ch 2 vs 16 & 17
My child, time spent with Me is your most productive time of day. Don’t let distractions enter in to our time together. I have much to say to you so let your ears be attentive. Don’t let the thoughts of the day take over. I am jealous for you. I want our time to be just you and Me. Be single minded in your pursuit of Me. I am in hot pursuit of you!
Your King and lover of your soul.
My child, it is for freedom that I have set you free. Keep standing firm and don’t let yourself become a slave again. And don’t use your freedom to indulge your flesh. Choose to serve others in love instead.
Galatians 5:1 & 13
Ingredient # 6 – Nutrition! Finally we’re going to talk about food!! An ancient Egyptian doctor once said, “Man eats too much. Thus he lives on only a quarter of what he consumes. The doctors however, live on the remaining three quarters! So true. Our doctors are living on our western diet obesity epidemic. Over 1/3 of the U.S. adults are considered obese. That doesn’t even take into account the ones in the overweight category.
Our bodies need to be nurished. When you give your body nutrient dense foods they will fuel your cells. Eating foods as close to the way God made them as possible such as whole fruits, vegetables and grains will give you energy and leave you with a feeling of satisfaction. When you eat processed, empty calorie foods, you’ll be left hungry and craving more because you’re not nurishing it.. Your body wants to be fed, but not only just to fill up your stomach, it wants to be nourished with whole, natural, live foods. When you put these types of foods in, your brain’s hunger mechanism automatically turns off. It KNOWS when your body has received what it needs and says “ENOUGH FOOD! YOU CAN STOP EATING NOW!”
If you need to lose weight, keep track of the calories your taking in. You need to eat at a deficit. When you eat less than your total daily energy expenditure, you will lose weight. If you don’t keep track, you’ll have a tendency to forget those few nuts, the cafe’ latte or that bite of cake you just didn’t want to go to waste…but ends up going to your “waist”. Do you want to double your efforts? Add exercise.
There are many tools on-line that will help you track your calories. MyFitnessPal.com and Livestrong.com/Dailyplate are free and easy to use. Keep track for a few weeks to get an idea of how many calories you’re actually eating. You might be surprised and it may be just the information you need to start you on a plan to lose those extra pounds. It sure works for me.
The foods I’d highly recommend that you start decreasing are sugar, sodas, white flour, cakes, cookies, processed foods, fried foods and ice cream. Add in green leafy vegetables, high protein grains such as quinoa, beans, lentils and fresh fruits.
Eat smaller meals three hours apart. You’ll keep those hunger pangs away if you make sure you’re eating nutrient dense foods every three hours. And did I mention that my energy is through the roof eating this way? It’s true. Try it and see for yourself.
Compliance is what’s important. We’re not expected to be perfect 100% of the time. There will be those occasions to have a treat. But if you are compliant 85 to 90% of the time, then you can enjoy your treats with out any guilt. Who needs extra guilt these days? Go a ahead and have that treat. Only make sure you enjoy it on special occasions only!.
Ingredient #5 is Accountability.
Accountability is huge and it’s a key component to your success. Find someone that you can trust and that you will be accountable to. Show them your goal cards and check in with them regularly. If you want to be successful in your fitness and nutrition goals, get an accountability partner. They can help you stay on track with your fitness goals. Sharing your goals with each other increases your odds of success. Commit to meet often and work together. You will discover a greater level of enthusiasm and energy and achieve more in less time. Other benefits include having a cheerleader or coach to help you when you feel like giving up. – It encourages loyalty, friendship and trustworthiness. – Knowing someone is counting on you keeps you motivated. When I know my running buddy is waiting for me then I know I can’t just blow off my workouts. I also have someone to celebrate my successes with! It’s a great added benefit!
Reaching goals is a lot more fun when it’s done together!