attitude is everything – Christian Vitality | Christian Weight Loss | Christian Health & Fitness

Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength & power

Growing wearing when on an exercise and weight loss program is often a setback. If we keep the right mindset and perspective however, we can renew our strength and continue building fat loss momentum.

When I went out on my bike ride today this song came to me. It’s sung in various circles performed by different people, but they all get the words from the same scripture verse.

31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. Isaiah 40-31 Amplified Version

Though many take the words from the King James Version, I looked at several versions and the Amplified Version struck me as applicable to you and I on our journey towards weight loss (and long-term fat loss). Wait in the Amplified Version is defined as [who expect, look for, and hope in Him], which we should definitely do. We should tie our expectations & hopes in the Lord and look for evidence of his prescience in our lives.

One of those God moments where he shows himself through those odd (what secular people would call coincidence) circumstances happened to me today.

One of our key Bible verses in my small group at church today was this scripture verse and as we had a dialog about how it applied to our lives a friend of mine, Jenny, was sharing some difficulties she was having letting go of a situation between her brother & mother. She admitted to being a worrier her whole life and that she just couldn’t let go.

I felt like the Holy Spirit was reminding me of a close friend of mine (who is the Pastor of thriving church in Oregon) once told me that the Greek word for the word wait in the verse from Isaiah 40:31 is actually better defined as someone who waits on you. Like a waiter. Always there asking “is there something I can do for you? Do you need anything? How can help you?” I shared this with her and told her that every time she feels compelled to worry she should take it to him…let it go and ask…”what do you want from me Lord in this situation? How can I serve YOU? What do you want me to do Lord? That way she can transform herself from worrier to warrior for Christ.

I pray friend that today you would wait on the Lord. For everything. Renew your strength and not grow weary as you pursue Christian Vitality through exercise and better eating..

Rest on his word and you can rest assured…

Take some quiet time today and go through the exercise we’ve done before, where you take serious God’s scripture where he says to be still and know that I am God.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

There’s a song I learned about 30+ years ago that turned that scripture into a little worship song. I couldn’t find who wrote it, but here are the very true, but simple words:

Be still…and know…know that I am God. Quiet your heart and steal away…rest on my word…and you can rest assured…be still…and know that I am God…and know that I am God…and KNOW that I am God! – unknown

A simple command and some simple truth in that great little song.

Steal away…I believe, refers to you stealing yourself away from everything…taking some quiet time. Some Jesus Time (JT) And rest on my word because you can rest assured…what truth! Jesus loves you, his word (the Bible) tell us so. He died and rose again, so that we can have everlasting eternal life…not only that, but a life that is lived to the full while we are down here on Earth. A John 10:10 kind of full and abundant life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10b NIV

So, once you’ve stolen yourself away and had some quiet time with your best friend here on earth and throughout eternity…let’s get you a new state of the YOUnion address. 🙂

Christian Vitality Prayer – It’ll change your life inside and out…if you let it.

There was a time in my life where I spent about 30-50% of my life traveling for a living. I was a regional sales manager for a high tech company in the electrical & electronics industry. What I did for work is not what matters, it’s what I did during all that down time on the plane at 33,000+ feet high and in airports and hotel rooms.

I spent those five years diving into every self-help & success book I could find. I also spent that time going through the Bible 5 times (The New Testament 10 times) and really getting to know the character of God and how he shapes how humans succeed in life. I’ll admit a lot of the authors of books I’ve read are secular (many are also strong Christians), but what I found to be true after all that research & study is the there is a:

Universal Conspiracy For or Against Your Individual Success, You Decide! – Dan Matejsek

26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:28 The Message

Putting it a different way, you get to decide whether you have a successful life or an unsuccessful one…a happy one or unhappy one…either way that you choose what kind of life you’re going to have, you’ll get it.

Once you decide & commit (submit) your plans (long-term & short-term) for your life to God and have his blessing you will succeed (Proverbs 16:3).

Whatever you do, do it as service to Him, and He will guarantee your success. Proverbs 16:3 Voice

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3 ESV

Another by-product (or extreme blessing to me and hopefully you) of that time of self reflection, Biblical Study and Science of Human Success studying, is a prayer (with some affirmation built into it) that I’ve prayed for literally the last 10 years straight. Some days it’s first thing in the morning and then again at night. Some days it’s a portion of the prayer to remind me of God’s promises. Sometimes it’s a portion right before I jump on the scale or after an apparent problem in my life.

This evening when you have time (and if you’re game, do it every day) please pray this prayer with me. Own it. If you can commit to memorizing it and praying it every morning and/or evening before you go to bed. I faithfully & firmly believe that God will use it to change your life on the inside & outside. It will likely help you believe different things about yourself, which will lead you to lose even more weight & fat off your body. It will touch areas of your life that you could not have ever imagined.

My prayer is that this prayer that God helped me craft, is a blessing to you and helps bring Spiritual & Physical Healing to you, that will result in a closer walk with the Lord Jesus and a Healthier, Happier You that has a longer stay here on earth as a result. In Jesus Name, Amen!

Oh God, Creator and Sustainer of the whole Universe. You are my loving Father and interested in every detail of my life. You only have good for me and desire to give me healing, wholeness, and forgiveness. Therefore, I place myself at your feet under your authority and your control & protection for your will to be done in my life.

Everything over which you’ve given me authority, I place at your feet…my family (name them), my loved ones (name them), my blessings (name them), my gifts, my talents, and my life experiences. Everything over which you’ve given me authority Lord I place at your feet…

[I often do this kneeling and physically act out (with my hands) laying things at his feet]

In Christ, I deserve, desire, and willing receive the abundance & prosperity of the Universe. It flows to me, is promised to me and is mine to keep. In return for my obedience to the Lord by fully utilizing the gifts he has given, the Universe benefits directly and indirectly by the value added by my obedient actions and prosperity.

All my debts have long since be paid for and forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ and I honor the Lord by forgetting them and learning from them.

I retain focus and gain strength with help from the Holy Spirit of God and overcome all obstacles.

For yours is the Kingdom, the Power, and Glory forever and ever. Amen!

Christian Vitality Prayer – Dan Matejsek

What do you think? Awesome isn’t it.

I’ll spend the time in another post and go over the dozens of scriptures that were pieced together to help construct that prayer. I’m sure it resonated with you as most of it is right out of the Bible.

If you like it, print out this prayer and use it…daily…morning and night if you can. Pretty soon it will become a part of you like it has for me. Welcome Jesus & the Holy Spirit of God into your life as these truths become a reality in your prayer life and real life.

Get an attitude of gratitude to conquer a case of the grouchies

We all have those mornings from time to time where we get up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe its because we didn’t have enough sleep, or we wake up stuffed up from allergies, or maybe its that annoying cat or dog bugging you to go outside. Whatever the stimulus is, we need to be careful about how we allow it to affect us.

If we stay in that grouchy state and start to allow that to taint the words we say, we can start to bring others around us down to, and before you know it (if not prevented) we enter a spiral downwards.

I speak of this today because I was guilty of allowing myself to enter the grouchy-zone this morning. Allergies were at an all time high and I had our little dog, Dolly, whining me out of bed. I started to get a little grouchy about the little things and even said the word “hate” a couple of times when describing little things like a malfunctioning toaster oven.

I pulled myself out of the tailspin of destruction by taking a break from everything and getting away to a quiet place. I prayed and asked for forgiveness from God and started to focus on things I was grateful for.

Very quickly I pulled out of the grouchy-zone into the grateful-zone and my attitude was now full of gratitude.

In Philippians it talks about focusing on the good…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 ESV

And in several places in Proverbs it talks about how words can be damaging or creative depending on how they are used.

Jesus also spoke about “from the mouth the heart speaks”.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 ESV

So, if today happens to be a day where you run into the little things that could put you in the grouchy-zone conquer them by building an attitude of gratitude.

Be blessed today friend and stay away from the grouchy-zone.

Have you ever had a case of the groucies? Tell me about it in the comments? Tell us what you do to deal with trying times when your attitude needs a check in the comments below.