Reading Philippians this morning...
Good morning everyone,
I hadn't read my Bible the past two days because things were so busy and crazy, so I decided to read a little extra this morning. And I really liked what I read and wanted to share it.
I read Philippians 1:27 and Philippians 2:13:
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. - Philippians 1:27
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. - Philippians 2:13
The two passages kind of run together well, don't they? They both have to do with the fact that God is working in your heart to make you better and better every day.
A lot of us have trouble with back-sliding. Like "I used to do that, but when I stopped, it ruined all my progress." Well the problem is that you stopped, right? You were trying to maintain a habit that wasn't maintainable. So the first step is to make sure that the habit you're forming is maintainable. A permanent change. Not a "just for now"change.
This is why I'm doing EM2WL instead of eating 1200 calories a day. At a low-calorie diet like that, I'm just going to gain everything back again and then some (like LAST time! :P) It's also why I've committed to spending just a FEW minutes with God a day; I can do that, it's a maintainable goal.
I have no problem with eating as much as I'm eating now for years and years and years - same with reading the Bible for a few minutes a day. It's maintainable. Not only that, but as I get stronger and am able to lift more, I'm sure I'll be able to eat more. And as I move forward in life, I think I'd be able to devote more time to my quiet time with God and the Bible. These are things I can see myself doing for the rest of my life and being perfectly okay with it.
If fact, it's what I WANT for the rest of my life! As I get older I want to get stronger. I want to show my future children how strong they can be if they work hard, and show them what hard work looks like. I want to be able to carry the groceries in with one trip, build a deck, pour concrete, move furniture, chop wood, and just do anything and everything necessary to be self-sufficient and capable - and more importantly, be able to help anyone else who needs my strength. I can't do that eating 1200 calories a day!! lol
Equally so, I want to become an example for my future children and the people around me as a Christ-like, wise, caring and generous person. This gets me to my point. We want to move forward in life towards becoming this person who we want to be - the person who GOD wants us to be. And the person who God wants us to be is a different person from who you are now. You may be a good person and everything, but the new person who God will turn you into is EVEN BETTER. And He doesn't want you to backslide.
That's why I think of every day as a chance to become a new person. A person who is brand new - just a little bit better than who I was yesterday. And the person who I was yesterday is gone. Today I am a NEW person who is closer to becoming who God wants me to be. And tomorrow I will be a new person AGAIN who is even CLOSER to who God wants me to be.
This way, I'm never going to backslide. There's no going back. Only forward. God will continue to work in me and give me the desire and power to do what is pleasing to Him, which will make it more and more natural for me to conduct myself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Woo! Praise God! I'm all pumped now! My lower back muscles are pretty sore from shoveling yesterday but now I want to do a P90X workout. #badidea :P I'll get other stuff done like with food and cleaning up and whatnot. :)
Also, thank you everyone for all of your support and kind words - it's just wonderful to have so much positive feedback from you all <3<3<3 MUAH!!! ^_^
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
So, even if you screw up today, there is always tomorrow.
@starryskies Oh don't worry I'm eating plenty of protein, I had a protein shake before and after shoveling yesterday and had bacon, eggs and milk with my breakfast this morning - lots of protein!! haha
And keep in mind, there are things that YOU may not be able to change about yourself, but... "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" - Philippians 4:13 Right?? (it's like the Christian MFP motto! lol) Nothing is impossible with God!
If there is something unChristlike about you and you feel as though it is a part of you that is just impossible for you to change - Pray on it! And God will show you the truth in how you can be more Christ-like. Now, His answer may be that you need to do a serious make-over in your life that will be difficult and it might be painful, but it is always the right thing to do. It might take a long time, but God can help us through it.
Nice lesson on David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17), about how we all have "giants" in our lives and how he overtook this giant not because he was so great of a fighter, but because of the way he thought. He was a:
-Faith thinker, not a fear thinker (Hebrew 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.),
-Four Dimensional thinker (God is with us, in this invisible realm, angels too and we remember that, we don't have to fear the "giant:)
-Fresh thinker (Everyone came to Goliath doing what they always did before, with a sword or javelin, and he knew to expect that. However David came to him with a sling shot and Goliath did not take him seriously, which allowed him to get close enough to get a good shot and kill him. Same with life, if it isn't working or used to work and no longer working, its time for a change in thinking) -Forceful thinker (Devil and his agents will try to bring you down. They will discourage you, so you must stand up for what you believe knowing God is on your side.)
So if we are struggling, even non-Christians, I think these ways of thinking can help us get over whatever our Goliath may be in our lives. Have faith, believe in a higher power guiding you, change the way you think or approach things if things aren't working, and stand up for something you really believe and want in your life.
Greatness is in us now, we just need to learn how to use that greatness. Have a blessed day!
"And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation." (Psalm 35:9)
thank You, that was very uplifting...... we all need that lift....sometimes we need to be carried, If the mountain is to hard to climb alone... we may need a push and you have pushed us in the right direction.... today......God is love.....
My life verse is Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a futue." I know that God's plan for my life is NOT to have me focusing on food constantly, NOT to be focusing on feeling not good enough to stay away from an unhealthy lifestyle, and certainy NOT to rely on anything but HIM to make this lifestyle change stick. I need to remember to constantly rely on God, through prayer, to keep me strong in all of this. Thanks for your blog post, and for the reminder that I need to be focusing more on the word of God on a daily basis.