Full Armor of God Diet

This is a Bible verse that inspires me. I have prayed this numerous times throughout my life, so many times in fact, I couldn't even attempt a guess at how many. I need more tenacity and persistence in my quest to give glory to God in all things, including my health. Every day, I need to renew my commitment to remain close to Jesus and follow His ways, not my ways, including the way I take care of my body. So, this is my prayer for today. "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

I am re-reading Scott Peck's book The Road Less Traveled and am reminded of an important tool for discipline. It's being totally dedicated to the truth. I have a tendency to stop tracking daily calories on days I eat too much junk food, which is a way to avoid the truth. So dedicating myself to the truth, I'm back on Livestrong.com logging my daily calories. Being dedicated to the truth is completely supported in the Bible. We are told to put on the belt of truth as part of God's armor to resist temptation. It is a necessary and powerful part of the armor of God. If we have the discipline to be dedicated to the truth, in other words to wear the belt of truth, we will have a powerful tool, part of God's armor, to help us make good decisions. This applies to all areas of life, not just a quest for health and fitness. Being dedicated to the truth is a goal I want to focus on this year.

Great Bible verse for today: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

My husband and I are close to the end of our 90 days of the popular P90 work-outs. We have 10 days left. Over the past few months while working out and eating better (not always as good as I could) I have found that my motivation goes back and forth between vanity/pride to a humble spirit of honoring God with health. I want my motivation to be focused on God and His glory, not my personal vanity. But vanity slips in. This is a great Bible verse for me to remember during this last 10 days of September as we finish the P90 work outs and get ready to move to the next level, to keep my motivation focused on God. Not just with health, but with everything I do. Work at it with all my heart, and remember I'm doing it for the Lord.

I'm getting ready to download a song by Avalon called "Testify to Love." I'm getting it free, too. It's so exciting. My son talked me into buying Pop-tarts. Pop-tarts of all things! Not exactly your nutritious breakfast. I told him it would be a treat, like having a cookie, and not to just eat a pop-tart for breakfast, that would be like eating a cookie for breakfast! So, guess what? There's a free prize inside my poptart box. I picked a box with a free $15 iTunes gift card. So I have my gift card and I heard this great song by Avalon. I had heard it many times before, but this time it really sunk in. "For as long as I shall live I will testify to love...With every breath I take I will give thanks to God above." I want this to by my approach to live.

Giving thanks to God. I've been thinking a lot about my purpose here on earth, the talents God has given me, His plan for my life, what it is He really wants me to accomplish for Him while I'm here on this earth before He comes again. I've been thinking about this more because this came up in a conversation with my son last night. "God has a plan for your life," I told him, just like Elisha. We were reading about how Elisha was faithful in small ways and because of this, he was able to be faithful in big ways. So I'm thinking about the small ways I can be faithful to God, and I'm getting ready to download my Avalon song and it just occured to me...Wouldn't it be great if God's plan for my life was as simply to praise Him. He tells us "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." But I get all stressed out with so many things, keeping up with caring for my family (taxi driver, meal planner, house clutter buster), making time to exercise, work work work at my job, use my talents for Him by helping the church and my kids church school, on and on and on. I get stressed, but Jesus has said "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

You know, I want my main job to be simply to praise Him. That would be the greatest job, the easiet job He could ever give me. If Jesus said to me, "Hey, here is your job on earth, my purpose for you, I will bless you and I want you to use your talents to praise Me and tell others about these blessings." Wow, what a great job! What a great and easy purpose for me on earth. I like that job. I want that job. Give me that job!

So, let's start today with a praise. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I want to let go of all the old bad health habits and be a walking, living, breathing example of how God's ways are better than my ways. I want to follow his plan for health by eating all the great foods he made to lift up our health and avoiding all the junk food that tears our health down. I want to be an example of the blessings that come from following His ways. And then guess what? I want to do nothing else but praise Him for it!

That's my passion today. I'm getting ready to go for a walk before it's time to taxi my kids around to piano lessons. I'm going to get that song by Avalon to remind me to give thanks to God above with every breath I take.

That's my purpose here on earth. I just want to fulfill it!

Have you heard the saying "Follow your heart?" Sounds like good advice, and sometimes it is. But what if your heart deceives you? It could happen, you know. Jeremiah recognized this when he wrote

"The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

I've been pondering times when my heart might deceive me and get in the way of my quest for good health. It happens when I crave things that aren't good for me. How long has it been since you craved something that wasn't good for you? And you knew it? For me, oh I would say, pretty much always! I'm tempted by junk food at least daily. This is an example of my heart and mind in conflict. My emotions tell me one thing, but my head is telling me something else. The thing about this is, my heart wins this battle when I rely on my own strength. My heart doesn't always want what's best for me and it can be pretty demanding when I'm facing chocolate ice cream!

One of my favorite Christian authors (EG White) wrote about this conflict and encourages us to rely on Jesus to fight these heart battles for us. Here is how she decscribes it:

"But you must remember that your will is the spring of all your actions. This will, that forms so imporant a factor in the character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan; and he has ever since been working in man to will and to do of his own pleasure, but to the utter ruin and misery of man. But the infinite sacrifice of God in giving Jesus, His beloved Son, to become a sacrifice for sin, enables Him to say, without violating one principle of His government: 'Yield yourself up to Me; give Me that will; take it from the control of Satan, and I will take possession of it; then I can work in you to will and to do of My good pleasure.' When He gives you the mind of Christ, your will becomes as His will, and your character is transformed to be like Christ’s character. Is it your purpose to do God’s will? Do you wish to obey the Scripture? 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.' There is no such thing as following Christ unless you refuse to gratify inclination and determine to obey God. It is not your feelings, your emotions, that make you a child of God, but the doing of God’s will. A life of usefulness is before you if your will becomes God’s will. Then you may stand in your God-given manhood, an example of good works. You will then help to maintain rules of discipline instead of helping to break them down."

I like this passage because it reminds me to give up my own will (my own desires, the things this heart of mine craves) to the will of God. It’s amazing to me how a simple prayer at the time I’m facing temptation helps “Lord, please help me not to follow my will but your will. Please make the desires of my heart what you desire for me.” It’s the moment of decision, deciding to give up my will to Him, and it’s marvelous when His will becomes my will and the annoying temptation goes away.

I need to remember I can't always trust this heart of mine. I want to trust the Word of God. He does understand my heart, and He knows what's best for me. Instead of following my heart, I want to follow Jesus' heart. How about you?

PS: Shaun Groves sings a song about the heart, which I love and which also inspires me, called Welcome Home. He wrote the words and music. If you have never heard this song, you might want to track it down and listen to it.
Welcome Home lyrics

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2008 is already starting to speed by, but I still feel the joy of a new beginning. I love a new start. I love that God gives us a new day every day to forget about the past (past mistakes, of course). And I love a new year to renew my commitment to God, to living for Him, and remembering this world is not my home, it's only a short time until Jesus comes. Have you been filling up your calendar for 2008 with all the many projects and meetings and commitments already building up for this year?

Did you know that Martin Luther said that “today” and “that Day” were the only days on his calendar?

In 2008, I want to focus on each new "today" as another gift from God and remember with all the priorities of "today" that what happens to our destiny on "that day" is the most important thing of all. I want to remember that what I do "today" can make a difference on "that day."

I thought about this a lot last month when my Grandpa Sorensen passed away. I started thinking about his first wife, Evelyn (my grandma), who passed away when I was very young. It got me thinking about that day when Jesus comes and we are reunited with family and friends.

When I was growing up, at church campouts all us kids would sit around the campfire and sing “Side by Side we Stand.” Some of the words were “meet me in heaven, we’ll sing songs together…” I remember the words to this song now and think about who might be looking for me in heaven. When I think back to all the friends who sang that song around campfires with me, I wonder “Are any of them thinking about seeing me again when they think about heaven?” I doubt it. I can’t think of a single one of them who today might be thinking about meeting ME in heaven. Oh, I know we’ll all be happy to see each other there, but I’m talking about people who will be looking specifically for me. There is only one person who comes to mind. When I think of who will be looking for me and wanting to meet me in heaven, it’s Grandma Sorensen, Grandpa’s first wife, Evelyn. My mom has a photo of me in Evelyn’s arms when I was 2 years old. She was holding me over a kitchen sink washing my feet under the faucet. I was wearing a diaper. She died before I ever had a chance to know here, and I miss not knowing her.

When I think about “that Day,” she is always the first person I think about. What an amazing impact she had on my life by keeping the faith and by teaching her children the faith, which my father (and mother, of course) taught to me, and which I’m teaching to my children. Maybe I think of her as looking for me because she is someone I’ll be looking for. It’s odd. But now that my Grandpa has passed away, I find myself missing her. I can’t wait to see her, in her vibrant healthy body, rejoicing because she is so happy to see me.

Like me, is there someone you are anxious to see on "that day" who will also be looking for you? Let's live 2008 with today and that day in mind, so we'll be ready for that day when we can embrace our family and friends from previous generations and praise God that our journeys through life on earth are over, ready to be with Jesus and praise Him for eternity in Heaven.

I have a new favorite Psalm. Read the whole thing in NIV. It's all about God saving us from distress. When you're hungry and thirsty, when you sit in the darkness in the deepest gloom, when there is no one to help, if you're in chains, when you feel like you're near the gates of death, when you're courage is melted away, when you're at your wits end, you can cry out to the Lord and He will deliver you from your distress.

When you're in the middle of a raging storm, listen to verses 29 and 30.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.

30 They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.

And here is verse 43. When things aren't going well. I mean when things are bad and completely hopeless, remember God's love. He will lift you out of your distress if you call to Him.

Whoever is wise, let him heed these things
and consider the great love of the LORD.

And since this is a blog about God's armor and choosing health, remember not to use food as a cruch when you're sad, mad, frustrated, betrayed. Turn to God for deliverance from life's problems. Here is verse 9
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

He is such an awesome God and He loves you so much. Cling to Psalm 107 when life gets rough. Remember God's amazing love.