Author Archives: Karen Lemburg

About Karen Lemburg

Hi I'm Karen, wife, mother and grandmother. I am on the journey of a more intimate relationship with God. I'm blessed to married to a wonderful husband who is also in pursuit of intimacy with our Lord. We work together in real estate and ministry. We have four children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Opportunity to Believe

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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!

Speak Words of Life

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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

The Mind of Christ

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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

Most Productive Time

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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.

Seven Ingredients to a Healthy & Fit Lifestyle #6

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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!.

 

Seven Ingredients to a Healthy & Fit Lifestyle #5

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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!

Be Strong & Courageous

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My child, do not fear for I am with you. Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for I the Lord your God am with you wherever you go. Be strong and very courageous. Go out and be who I’ve told you to be and do what I ‘ve told you to do. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. Cling to Me and My promises. I never told you this life would not have difficulties and challenges. You just need to keep believing Me in the midst of them.

Your Father who leads you on the path of life.

Joshua 1: 7-9

Seven Ingredients to a Healthy & Fit Lifestyle #4

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Ingredient #4: Discipline. Happiness and health is the result of what you do, here and now. As Christine Caine from Hillsong Church says, “Daily disciplines may not seem glamorous, but they provide the foundation to do what we need to do in the future.”

Joyce Meyer says, “We need to meditate on the word of God and here’s the problem. We have bad habits that have to be broken. We are undisciplined in these areas. We are going to have to work with the Holy Spirit diligently and consistently over a period of time so don’t expect that just because you hear this message on discipline you’ll never have a battle again. You’re going to have to fight! It’s much better to fight for your life and fight for victory than it is to try to fight the devil all the time while he’s trying to defeat you.”

She goes on to say that our flesh is a gambler. It thinks it can get away with every little thing it wants. But our spirit is an investor. We might not see rewards right away, but down the road we will have success if we keep doing what we know we need to be doing.  Ephesians 4:23 and Romans 12:2 says that our mind and attitudes must be renewed and Proverbs 23:7 says as a man thinks so is he. Set your mind and keep it set on victory. Make your mind up that you’re not going to remain unhealthy, out of shape and tired all the time.

When I made my mind up things changed. Make up your mind to leave a healthy legacy for your family. Making your mind up and resolving to be healthy and get in shape will bring joy and vision and will increase your energy. Shake off lukewarm, lazy, passive, apathetic, poor me attitudes and say, “I’ve made my mind up! I’m going to be healthy. I’m going to lose the weight I need to lose. I’m going to be an excellent person.” Joyce still speaking here!

Discipline your mouth and watch what comes out of it as well as what goes into it. Every day make your mind up to eat the right foods and get some exercise. Discipline yourself to have a positive attitude and to be obedient to God. This will cost you. You won’t get your way all of the time. It doesn’t FEEL good all of the time. But you will become someone God can use and be proud of.

I was getting ready to go running with my 21 year old running buddy one morning recently and as I was putting on my hat I looked in the mirror, and the thought crossed my mind, “Who do you think you are? Who are you trying to kid, going out running with a 21 year old?” I had to immediately take that thought captive and turn it around to, “Why not me? I’m in pretty dang good shape and I can do this!”

We’re going to have to constanly take our thoughts captive as it says in Second Corinthians 10:5. Negative thoughts will continue to bombard us. Picture the devil as a little “insignificant guy” with a huge mouth that sits on your shoulder and whispers lies into your ear. All we need to do is flick him off!

Start saying out loud: “I am healthy, fit and strong.” “I have more energy than I know what to do with.” “I am living to my full potential in Christ.” “I am giving today my best effort.”

Speak these out loud to yourself until you believe them. When you believe them you will become that person.

How do you view yourself? What image do you see?  If it’s negative or not right, change the way you view yourself. It takes discipline.

River of Life

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My child, I am your peace in times of trouble. I bring comfort in times of mourning. I am the solid Rock when all else seems like shaky ground. Don’t rely on anyone or anything else to comfort your soul. I am the only One who can bring the deep peace you long for. Come to My living water and immerse yourself into My river of life.