What Has God Been Doing With You

In the time I have been gone, God has impressed on me how much I let the "world" shape my mind. Then to get the following in an e-mail, well, that did it. OK, I hear you Lord!!!!

Today we're going to tackle the #1 most important question any Christian can ask: "What did God put me here to do?" Finding the answer to this crucial question will give your self-esteem a huge boost, bring you real peace, AND help you get to your healthiest weight -- and stay there. Pretty nice rewards, eh? But then, God's rewards are boundless if we'll only do things His way! So what IS your purpose on this earth? Why are you here -- really? What's your mission in this life God has given you? What's your "job?" Why did God even bother creating you? And could there possibly be a more important question for every Christian to ask -- and answer? With that in mind, here are three things I believe should be at the very top of every Christian's "to do" list: 1. Ask the BIG question: "Why am I here?"
2. Get your own answer to the BIG question.
3. And once you have that answer, start ACTING on it.
And yes, you'll also develop great self-esteem, find real peace, AND get to your healthiest weight as part of the deal. So let's get going! Because only when we know God's will for us can we start doing it and start reaping the rewards of living His way!
To help us discover our purpose, God has given us certain "key" Scriptures. And at the heart of our journey into discovering God's will for us is my favorite teaching Scripture, Romans 12:2. This is also the core Scripture of the Weight Loss God's Way program, and if you've been reading this newsletter for any length of time, you've heard me refer to this "magical" Scripture often.

Romans 12:2 is divided into three parts, and each part describes a major key in discovering our mission. I'll paraphrase for the sake of simplicity:
Part 1: Do not be conformed to the thinking / ways of this world. (You need to stop thinking and behaving like the world you were born into, because it keeps you off-track, unhappy, out of God's will -- and also out of shape!)
Part 2. Instead, you are to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Your life will literally be transformed when you stop thinking as the world has taught you to think, and start thinking as God wants you to. And your behavior will change accordingly!)
Part 3. Then you will be able to know God's pleasing and perfect purpose. (Once you "trade in" your worldly thinking for Godly thinking, you will no longer be in the dark about what God wants you to do with yourself and your life. You will know!)

OK, now that we understand what this remarkable Scripture is telling us to do, how do we start applying it in our own lives? We start by asking ourselves, "How am I thinking in worldly ways right now?" The simplest way to spot your own worldly thinking is to identify the areas of your life that are not working very well -- a sure sign that your thinking in these areas need some "renewing." Let's start by looking at an area of our lives where it's just about impossible to fool ourselves if there's a problem.
Yes, let's start with a look in the mirror. And while you're looking in the mirror, ask yourself these two questions:
1. How do I look right now?
2. How do I "see" myself right now?

If I told you that how you look is quite literally determined by how you "see" yourself, would you believe me? Well it's absolutely true. That's because the physical self you see in the mirror is a simply "reflection" of how you see yourself in your mind's eye, in your heart of hearts. And just as Scripture tells us that "what is seen is made of that which does not appear," your self-image actually "shapes" the physical body you're looking at in the mirror. Amazing, but true. Now with that mind, what do you think would happen to your physical body if you started "seeing" yourself in a more positive way? What do you think would happen to your body if you started "seeing" yourself in a more loving way? What might happen to your body if you started "seeing" yourself as a worthy, lovable Child Of God, deserving of every good thing a Father wants to give His beloved child? And if you could start SEEING yourself in a more positive way, might you also start to TREAT yourself in a more positive way? You sure would. And both your self-esteem and your peace would dramatically increase in the process, AND you would see those unwanted pounds in the mirror disappear for good! So with all these blessings in mind, let's get back to the big question: What are you here to do? What IS your mission? Well your first and most important mission is to RID your mind of your worldly thinking about your own being! Yes, the very FIRST place we need to start applying the lessons of Romans 12:2 is in our own lives! After all, how can we worry about the speck in our brother's eye while there's still a plank in our own eye? So in short, your first job is to fix YOU. Your "#1 Mission" is to start getting your mind renewed about YOU -- by discovering who YOU really are in Christ. And like Romans 12:2 (and like our loving God) the most important mission in your Christian life is also in three parts.

Your three-part mission is
(1) to learn to see yourself as God sees you -- as His own unique and precious creation,
(2) to love yourself as Jesus loves you -- unconditionally and with complete forgiveness, and
(3) to make your Temple a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit -- by putting nothing into your body that will diminish your health in any way!

Are you with me so far? Do you really "get" what I'm saying? It's time to wake up to who you REALLY are -- and leave behind any old notions of who the world taught you that you were. We who are lost must become found. We who are asleep must now waken. We who have been blinded by the world must now open our eyes to the truth of the Word! We must close our physical eyes, and open our inner eyes. As my favorite praise and worship song says, we must open the eyes of our hearts! And to help you do that, here's a link to a page where you can download my favorite live church recording of that wonderful song in MP3 format: http://www.weightlossgodsway.com/audio/download-openeyes.htm

WOW~~I know that was long, but it has been exactly what God has been doing with me lately. Yes, I have been not listening well, and turning Him off alot lately. But the time is now to listen and then to do. My favorite author, Elisabeth Eliott has a quote...."Do the next thing"

Let's pray to our Lord Who wants the best for us in all things. And....Do the next thing.