How to Stop Worrying the Christian Way

How to Stop Worrying the Christian Way?

The answer is Real-time living.

I’m in the final stages of finishing my new book called Christian Vitality™ and while doing so, I wrote this piece that I wanted to share with you all here. I hope it is a blessing to you. Let me know your thoughts by commenting here.

Real-time Living

Jesus is the Great I AM not I was or I will be. It’s the greatest of all names for the Lord Jesus. We hear it often sung in songs and have come across it in scripture, but I think it is important to point out that Jesus Christ our Lord, is the one and the same God that Moses spoke of when he had the encounter at the burning bush.

God told Moses his name is “I AM THAT I AM”. The Hebrew variation on that name is YAHWEH or JEHOVAH. Jesus has been given all authority on earth, heaven, and under the earth. He is the one true God, not one of many Gods, but the One and Only (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 Cor 8:4) and even references himself as: “I am he [God]” (when he is responding to the Samaritan woman at the well), “Before Abraham was born, I am (John 8:58), “I am” (John 4:26, 6:20, 8:24, 8:28, 8:58; 13:19; 18:5), “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35), “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12), “I am the Door (John 10:7, 9), “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11, 14), “I am the Resurrection and Life” (John 11:25-26), “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), “I am the True Vine (John 15:1, 5). Finally, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, “ says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev 1:8).

Jesus is the Lord of the Present, the Past, and the Future. There is no doubt about that. I think however, that we humans are locked here in the Present. We cannot, and should not try to, live in the Past or the Future. That is a revelation I feel I was given recently in reading the “Sermon on the Mount”.

I believe we are all called to live, what I call, real-time living. Living in the moment and forgetting about the past and the future. I don’t mean to give up on future planning or taking short trips into the future as directed by a vision God grants us for our lives. I’m talking about day-to-day living. Living solely in the moment.

Visit the future for brief periods of time if, and only if, you are accompanied by God himself for him to show you what he has planned for you. Meaning, go into the future with a great deal of prayer and meditation on his word in deep surrender to his will for your life knowing that he always has your best interest in mind. He has, after all, the master plan for the Universe and knows where you fit into it perfectly.

Think about what you know about Jesus and how he lived his daily life. The Bible reveals to us quite a bit about how Jesus lived while he was down here on earth. If you go over the Bible passages, I think you’ll find that Jesus lived his life moment by moment. Asking God for direction every step of the way. I know and agree with you that yes, Jesus did know his future as was prophesied about him in the scriptures, but I think he lived every moment of his life in real-time.

When confiding in God, Jesus would often steal or sneak away to pray. In times of prayer he would commune with God the Father to get fresh revelation for his life. So, take God with you when you are looking to get fresh revelation about your future. Obtain vision for your life about the future cooperatively with God. Never take a trip into the future with out taking God with you. Then come back to the present and make your choices for the now in such a way as to be congruent with God’s vision for your life in the moment.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians that we should be “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” I think many of us have trouble with this and this is critical for you achieving Christian Vitality™. You must forget the past. Don’t spend any time there. You’ve received forgiveness for your past transgressions and it’s time to put them to rest. I believe that the only value the past has for us in the present is for us to use it to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again in the present. We shouldn’t dwell on the past. If we do, we are not living in the present. It’s kind of like driving a car with your eyes on the rear-view mirror all the time. You wouldn’t do that, would you? That would be dangerous as you might run into something. The same is true about your past. Put it behind you for good my friend.

Paul also stated in Philippians 3:13 that we are to strain forward to what lies ahead. We have a bright future in Christ and God has some really cool things planned for your future, but I think many Christians (myself included) have a tendency to worry about things that “might happen” in the future. Now that is where we get it wrong. A term I learned from my lovely wife Diana long ago is “future tripping”. Taking a life circumstance or event and projecting what it might mean into the future. What could happen? What does this mean to my future? We let our crazy, often negative minds run with it and before we know it, our lives as we know them are going to end. That’s just not right. Instead, we should put Paul’s advice from Philippians 4:6-9 (The Message) into to practice.

6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Philippians 4:6-9 (The Message)

Why should we focus all of our attention on the present and nothing else? Well, the Lord Jesus commanded it in his sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:34 The Message) when he said, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” See, we are to live in the now. Be real-time Christians serving the Lord and living how he did when he was here. In the moment, asking God “what’s next papa? What can I do now Lord in this moment to bring you glory with my life, this decision, right now?”. And when you do ask, be direct with God. Jesus told us a bit later in that same sermon (Matthew 7:7-11 The Message) “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need…don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better [than how you would provide for your kids]?”.

In the English language and specifically in America, the word gift and present are synonymous. At Christmas and other holidays we give presents. Well, you may have heard or seen the expression that “today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present”.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present! Also, remember that it isn’t the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it.” – Ellen Glasgow

Appreciate God’s generous gift (the present) of today. Make an effort to build “magic moments” (as Tony Robbins calls them) throughout the day where you truly help yourself feel a deep sense of gratitude & appreciation for the little things. Be in the moment. Be present. Be grateful. Show God how much you appreciate his huge giving heart for the gift of the present moment. Like The Message says in Philippians 4:4a “Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!”

At the end of our lives we are not going to remember all the chaos, challenges, or frustrations that we experienced down here. We’ll go back to “magic moments” we had while we were down here. So, make certain that you take as many as you can with you.

What would it be like if you woke up 5 years, 10 years, or even 20 years from now and realized you could not remember any of it? That precious time wold be lost completely. Doesn’t even the thought of that possibility concern you? I’ve heard many people throughout the years and history talk about how life flew by. How they don’t even remember portions of their lives. “Where did it all go?”, is what they ask themselves.

I think we should should make a conscious effort to make sure that doesn’t happen and I think the secret to doing so is living in the moment, in the now by being 110% present as often as possible.

So, the next time you are with a friend, or family member, or even alone with the Lord make absolutely certain that you are present. You are here, right now. You can do that by turning off or blocking your thoughts of the past or future and filling yourself with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for the present moment. Also, be sure to also block out or turn off any distractions that you may have like cellular phones, computers, TVs, etc.

Finally, as part of a Christian Vitality™ Lifestyle, you must live your life in real-time as Jesus did. Work these words of scripture into your life that are not incidental additions to your life, but foundational words. They are words to build a Vital Christian’s life on. He warned us in Matthew 7:26-27 that if we only use his words in Bible studies and don’t work them into our lives that we are like a “foolish man” whose home washed away with the storms of life. When he concluded that wonderful Sermon, the crowd listening burst into applause because they never heard anyone teach like that. The Message says in Matthew 7:29 that “It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying-quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.”.

Thank you God that someone was around to write all of this down, so that we know how to live our lives just like Jesus did.

If you found this article helpful on How to stop worrying the Christian Way, please tweet, and share with your friends. Thank you!

Pastor Dan

The State of my Union with God & a Testimonial for friend Matt Trainer

Amish Shah & Matt Trainer changed my life!

In 2008, I was running a 7 figure Affiliate Marketing company. My personal life at the time was in turmoil (understatement) going through a horrible (another understatement) Divorce. I took time away from my personal nightmare and attended an event at that time my friend Amish Shah put on. I owe Amish Shah the credit for getting my bum down there and to him, for that I will always be grateful. It literally changed my life. At that time in my life I was at the bottom emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. It was so bad, I let all my employees go to pursue other paths and let my business, which I could have sold (I had several dozens of offers), just dry up and die.

Over the best sushi I’ve had in my life (I’ve had tons) I met Matt Trainer for the first time. Thanks Amish Shah for footing the bill that night by the way. 🙂

Call it serendipity, divine intervention, or the Universe coming to a place of convergence, either way I’d like to thank God for introducing me to Matt Trainer back then. When I had hit rock bottom and turned back on course for where I am today.

It’s more of a point of reference in my life where my life took a turn upward.

Amish Shah, Matt Trainer, and I went our separate ways, but I reconnected with Matt Trainer earlier this year (2014) with help from another gentlemen I hold in fairly high esteem. Greg Davis. Thanks Greg Davis for reconnecting me with Matt Trainer.

I went on to help build a brand new start-up company (3 of us founded) to an 8 figure business in three years with a 100+ employees.

So, this last weekend 8/9 through 8/10 (2014) I had another turning point when attending the “The Marketing Moron Conference” held by my older now much wiser (and enlightened) friend Matt Trainer.

I can’t give all the credit to Matt Trainer or the speakers etc, but it was a turning point in my life. One I have not had since 2008 (with the Amish Shah event)

This event is another a point in time, one I will look back and can honestly say it was a point when my life took another turn (like the 2008 Amish Shah event) and placed me on course for an exponential growth in abundance & prosperity.

So, even though most people on the outside looking into my current life before, hanging out with Matt Trainer this last weekend, would say I am already at a great place in life. I now realize that I’ve been thinking too small and limiting the amount of God’s wealth and abundance that could/would enter my life.

I now have a degree of clarity and focus that makes me feel attuned to what God’s purposes for my life are. Allowing me to operate in a place where I am truly and genuinely 110% me and 110% present in the moment. The person who God wants me to be and allowing myself to be used by him to change the world we live in.

I feel like I’m on fire now, in a permanent state of “flow” like I’ve been possessed by God and just need to step out of his way and let him do absolutely amazing things. Things I could never do myself.

I will be my only limitation, getting in the way of what he has planned by letting my “self” or ego get in the way. I am committing to God and anyone reading this to never again allow myself to operate at the ground level of life and only operate in a place where I am flying high in the clouds on God’s coat tails and having a significant impact on humanity by being 110% present at all times and 110% surrendered to the fact that God is my source and supply and guides me in all my steps, if I’ll let him.

Thank you Matt Trainer for being the vehicle of change that brought me to this place. You are a true brother and I will be forever indebted to you.

Anyone who has the opportunity to attend another event Matt Trainer puts on, should reflect back on their current state of life and ask themselves…am I thinking to small? Am I ready for some more abundance & prosperity? Am I ready for a turning point? One that would elevate me to higher plane of abundance & wealth exponentially greater than where I am at today? If your inner “still small voice” says yes. Don’t hesitate to go. Just go…

Sincerely with immense gratitude and appreciation,

Pastor Dan

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. 🙂

Find your place in life & power yourself into your work!

Find your place in this world and pour yourself into your work

Ever feel out of place? In strange surroundings? Not sure where to start or what to do next?

That was the case when we rolled up this morning at the home-site of Don Juan (Juan) and Alejandrina this morning.

Roughly 25 people of all shapes, ages, and sizes (all loving the Lord Jesus) showed up this morning to serve him by serving other people. These folks were in desperate need of a real home. Their existing home was a mish-mash of pieces of scrap wood found slapped together to form walls and a roof made up of overlapping scraps of tar paper Juan found.

There was a thin concrete floor for only one portion of the home the rest was mainly covered (rags & rugs) dirt floors. The dirt in this part of Mexico is mostly sand and fairly dusty, so it gets just about everywhere and in some places forms sand-dunes from the wind storms they often get.

These folks have to serve their communities for a large portion of hours with the 1Mission people and with regional and local church pastors in order to get these homes. So, this is no random chance free home for these folks…they’ve earned it by spreading the love of Jesus in their local community.

I digress…back to the finding your place part.

Well, there were a few of us (me included) that had some construction experience. Several who had no construction experience and five kids whose sole purpose was to be there to have fun with the neighbor kids (we had 15-20 at our job site the whole week).

For the first 15 minutes on the site there was a little bit of standing around each of us was wondering what to do. After that, everything seemed to fall into place and everyone found their place and poured themselves into it.

All things work for the good of those who love them (in my name) and are called to his purpose, seems to be the theme for this trip.

When your are called to his purposes and are obedient to his calling, you don’t need to have all the answers or the entire plan…you just need to take action (active Faith in progress) and God will sort out the details.

Looking back on it later in the day I could see that God slid people into there proper places based on their giftings and talents…just as you would expect him to do. I could give you case-by-case examples that would be an entire post by itself.

We each have a place and a purpose for our lives and God has gifted us with different Spiritual gifts, different talents, skills, and life experiences to do his will here on earth. We just have to surrender to his calling on our life and take action when he presents opportunities to serve him.

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 1 Corinthians 12: 21-26

God will show you your part if you say “Yes, Lord. I’m listening!” Then do whatever it is he tells you to do next. Just do your part to best of your ability as if you are serving Jesus Christ personally in the flesh. You’ll start to see the people you serve the way he does and they’ll win over your heart.

23Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 ESV

What a beautiful thing our lives can be if we’ll surrender our lives over to Christ and let him use us to love the world the way his Father loved us when he sent Jesus to die for us on the cross.

Be blessed today friend…but more importantly surrender to him and be on the lookout for opportunities to serve Jesus personally.

How to experience God smiling on your life. You are Blessed to be a Blessing!

Your are blessed to be a blessing — Put a smile on God’s face by being a blessing today!

You might have heard this before and it’s used quite often in church circles to the point that I think it may have lost some of it’s true meaning. Today I want bring back some of the true meaning by sharing an experience I had while serving on a short-term mission trip to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico. We were in the barrios (severely impoverished areas). I think it will give you some context on what “Blessed to be a blessing” truly means. The family we were serving, by building a new house for them, was Don Juan and Alejandrina and their grandkids. They are two grandparents do their best to take care of their two grandchildren, who lost their parents.

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 6-11

God's Grace is amazing experience it by serving others — God’s Grace is amazing experience it by serving others

When I was serving today, the thing I noticed the most, was an overall feeling of God’s Grace. I’ve not experienced this level of overwhelming Grace before. While I was working today, there were several times that I was interacting with a 6 year old little girl named Liliana and her 60+ year old grandfather, Don Juan. I felt such great joy and peace with every interaction. The only way I could describe it is, if you could feel God smiling on your life, than that’s what I felt. I felt proud in a good way. I felt Jesus was pointing his finger and saying “see…this is the way to love others…the way I’ve loved you.

I felt this and knew it deep in my soul “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Grace has defined a times to me, as God’s unmerited favor. I felt that my actions were favorable to God and that this was pleasing to the Lord. I felt that I was in his favor at that moment.

This older couple went from unknown strangers, to a brother & sister in Christ. The kids of the home and the entire neighborhood (15 or so we there at times) went from strangers to dearly beloved ones.

My heart broke for them all…in a good way. In the way you feel your heart break when you fall in love with someone. All of this came from a simple act of obedience…showing up to love on these people in the name of Jesus.

I believe this gave me the biggest gift. I felt so blessed with peace, joy and love.

In the scripture above it talks about God enriching us. I think this is the promise that is given to us as our reward for being cheerful givers. “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way.”

So, today. Take the time to ask God in prayer. Lord, I’m here. I’m available. What can I do today in the name of Jesus that would be pleasing to you? I want to feel you smile on my life today Lord. Show me what to do and how to do it to bring joy to you Father.

Your goal today is to be a blessing to someone else in addition to staying on track with your eating and exercise.

Have a blast today friend and may the Lord Jesus put a smile on your face and on your life today!

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Some photos of Don Juan & Alejandrina’s house and neighborhood.

Missions trips are a blessing — Little barefoot neighbor boy helping us (Jesus) & Corrine

Realign with your reasons why to conquer the doldrums in your life!

Imagine for a moment that you’re on an old sailing ship out on the ocean. You hear the gentle creek of the ship from the very small waves that rock it back and forth ever so peacefully. The sun is high in the sky and the temperature of the air is perfect. There’s just a very gentle breeze across the bow of the ship. Sounds peaceful and relaxing doesn’t it?

We’ll imagine that you are in the middle of the ocean on your way to America, half-way across the ocean and you’ve had these exact same conditions for days…even weeks. Conditions that are not suitable to set your sails, due to the lack of wind, and you are basically stuck. Stuck for days or even weeks, drifting.

That’s where the term doldrums came from.

From Wikipedia we also see that it is defined as:

Colloquially, the “doldrums” are a state of inactivity, mild depression, listlessness or stagnation

I was hit with a mild case of the doldrums this morning. For me it was more likely best described as mild depression and a feeling of discontent.

Physically I think it could have been explained as a combination of mild physical exhaustion and emotional exhaustion. The two combined together, brought me down a little. Also, a mild feeling of discontent combined with the desire to do nothing started to overwhelm me a little this morning. I started to doubt why am I doing this, writing all this content here? Will anyone care to hear from me? Will my work on the Christian Fatloss™ Program & Christian Vitality actually help anyone?

I think somewhere through the fog, I heard the Holy Spirit say remember your reason why.

I quickly listed some of the reasons why I was doing this:

100s, 1000s, and maybe even 10,000s of Christians will use the knowledge and Biblical wisdom to live a better (more spiritually & physically healthy life) It may even save some of their lives from the misery and unhappiness I experienced.
A quest to help cure people of obesity is an admirable quest with God’s stamp of approval. Doing so and giving Glory to Jesus along the way should be doubley-blessed.
Over time I’d like to work on this online business full-time and have it provide a hugely valuable service, which in-turn my customers will be pay me a small fee & gladly to do so.
God has blessed me with the knowledge and wisdom (from the Bible) and I owe it to him to be a blessing to other believers and show them the way.
Going through this process myself is moving me personally from a state of Obesity to a Healthy one and will help me live a happier healthy life.

Realign with your reason why — What’s your reason why?

So, what are your reasons for starting a weight loss program? Did you start the Christian Fatloss™ Program because:

You know that staying on the path of obesity is a short-lived one and your tired of struggling through life being over-weight?
Are you afraid you won’t get to see your kids and grand-kids grow up if you stay on your current path?
Do you have family members that are obese and you’ve decided that you want a different path for yourself?
Are you tired of shopping for your clothes in the big girl or big guy section?
Are you tired of feeling embarrassed over you weight at public pools, beaches, and gyms?
Do you feel that God has called you to live a healthier, happier life without the physical challenges that obesity & an unhealthy lifestyle bring?

What are your reason why? They’ve got to be strong. They are going to have an element of pain or pleasure associated with them. Because as humans we are really motivated by only two things. The avoidance of pain or the desire for pleasure. Pain seems to be the leader in this camp.

So, if you’re feeling a bit discouraged or start to sense that you’re feeling like you should quit. Realign yourself with your reasons why and get motivated again to succeed. Then set your eyes back on the goal.

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 3:14 ESV

Set sail for continued weight loss & spiritual growth with routine!

Set sail for weight loss & spiritual growth — Routine can be the key to new growth towards your weight loss & spirtual growth.

With the weight loss doldrums behind us lets set our eyes on Jesus and set our eyes back on the goal of Spiritual & Physical Recovery. Press on by looking forward so to speak.

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25 ESV

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2 ESV

Routine can get you out of the doldrums — Lose more weight & grow spiritually with routine

Get back to a routine. For me this meant get back on the bike yesterday even though I didn’t feel like it. It meant starting my fast again the night before last, even when I was hungry. It meant get back on the supplements I was taking. It meant jumping back on the scale yesterday and today (which I was blessed by seeing some additional weight loss). It means doing what is right as far as eating right, exercising, and spending quiet time before the Lord. Doing so consistently. That’s the key. Routine will help you build momentum and help you power through the ups and downs of life that are thrown your way.

Look back on the last few weeks and analyze what routines have been working for you. What are some routines (maybe a new exercise routine or reading the Bible everyday) that you can add to your life that would help you become a more physically and spiritually fit person.

Do so and you’ll find that you’ve set sail again on the weight loss voyage of a lifetime. Remember all things are possible for him who believes.

ALL things are possile! — “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” mark 9:23 NASB

Empty calendar days are good for the soul & weight loss!

Booked calendars are not good for the soul — Booking empty calendar days lower stress & help make weight loss gains

Running the calendar for five kids and two adults could overwhelm the average person, but my wonderful wife Diana is gifted with organizational skills & talent and runs our family’s calendar. As you might imagine our family calendar is usually filled with baseball & softball games & practices with three kids playing on teams…one of which is playing for two teams in two cities.

Well, this morning Diana let me know that we have nothing on the calendar. “Nothing?”, I asked. “Yep, nothing”, she said. I was in shock when she told me. Sadly, I can’t remember the last time we had nothing on the calendar. Are you in the same boat with me? When’s the last time you had nothing on your calendar?

What a blessing it is to have an empty calendar, eve if it is only for one day. I have to work all day, but that means that my evening has no commitments. My wife isn’t off to run to a meeting somewhere (which she often does) and I don’t have to drive across the state of Arizona to get a child to a practice or a game.

are you stressed out? Not good if you want to lose weight. — Reduce stress on purpose by scheduling empty calendar days. It may help you lose weight or prevent weight gain by keeping your hormone (cortisol) levels in check.

Discovering you have nothing on your calendar may seem an opportune time to plan something. Don’t do it. Don’t kill the blessing of an empty calendar. Instead, surrender this chunk of time to the Lord and ask him what he’d like you to do.

Get yourself in a still, quiet place away from distractions and listen for the “still small voice”.

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper (still small voice in KJV). 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

You’ll hear the Lord speak to you ever so softly. It’s almost like a gut feeling.

Then do what he says and look for the opportunity to serve him…to fellowship with him…to worship him.

This could mean you use the time to go to your favorite coffee shop with your Bible and open up your ears to allow God to speak the word of life into your life. This could mean you surrender your time to ministering to your wife & children. Whatever it is, do it without hesitation or guilt.

Why not schedule days on your calendar that have no plans…doesn’t that sound silly. Choose a day (for me its Thursday this week) where you refuse to schedule anything and let God take the lead on what you do.

It’s my belief that having a day every week that has no scheduled commitments will reduce the stress level in your life. Surrender that time to the Lord for whatever he chooses and be obedient to his calling it will open the doors of heaven for God to pour himself into your life. As I’ve often discussed before, lowering your stress is a good way to help keep your hormone levels normal and help keep you on the path of gradual and continuous (sustainable) weight loss which is the goal of some of the readers here.

On the opposite end of the spectrum if you keep yourself stressed out all the time its the quickest way to start putting on the unwanted pounds. Unhealthy pounds at that. Combine that with not enough sleep and you have a perfectly ugly storm brewing. Don’t do it.

Be blessed today my friend in the name of Jesus Christ!

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What do you think? Will you take on my challenge to have an unscheduled day in your calendar? Share your victories and struggles in the comments below…

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.