Diet + Exercise = Healthy Growth

May 5, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

The right diet will start you on the road to excellent health, but to keep growing in a healthy way you will need to incorporate some regular exercise too. This is true physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

If I just eat the right foods but don’t exercise, my physical metabolism will not be stoked to the proper levels. To put it another way, a good diet may lower my LDL (bad) cholesterol, but it takes exercise to raise my HDL (good) cholesterol. I need both to be healthy.

So, too, for my heart and mind. If I hear good preaching and think good thoughts (diet), but never put those words or thoughts into action (exercise), I’m not going to grow in a well-balanced, healthy way.

Here’s a couple of things I have learned for body, spirit, and mind exercise.

Set challenging but realistic goals

  • I don’t run without a goal. (1 Corinthians 9:26 CEV)
  • “You must have long-range goals to keep from being frustrated by short-term failures.” —Charles N. Noble

Exercise a little bit when you can

  • There’s no need to jump into lengthy workouts.
  • Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. (1 Timothy 4:7, The Message)
  • “Let him then think of God the most he can; let him accustom himself, by degrees, to this small but holy exercise; nobody perceives it, and nothing is easier than to repeat often in the day these little internal adorations.” —Brother Lawrence, in The Practice Of The Presence Of God

Make exercise a fun habit

  • Remember that you may not feel like exercising, but you will feel better after you exercise.
  • “Life goals are reached by setting annual goals. And annual goals are reached by reaching daily goals. And daily goals are reached by doing things which may be uncomfortable at first but eventually become habits. And habits are powerful things. Habits turn actions into attitudes, and attitudes into lifestyles.” —Charlene Armitage

For a healthy body, a healthy heart, and a healthy thought life, watch the diet you consume and then exercise for maximum benefit. Feel free to share any exercise tips you have learned.

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Heart Food

May 4, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

I was running from meeting to meeting, and when I got done I was hungry. So a quick stop into a gas station for a Diet Pepsi and… well, my first impulse was to grab candy or chips. It took no small amount of willpower to make myself grab a healthier alternative.

One of the top rules for healthy dieting: don’t let yourself get too hungry.

Seriously, I know it sounds backward but it works. If you eat three smaller meals with three healthy snacks in between meals you will lose weight. Why? Because keeping the good stuff in you makes the bad stuff less tempting. Try it and let me know how it works for you, but it’s been working well for me.

But what about “heart food” or “thought food”? The Bible says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 4:23, New Living Translation).

If you don’t keep the good stuff in your heart and thoughts, the bad stuff becomes more tempting. And just like the junk food aisle in the convenience store is front-and-center, so are the “junk food headlines.” Swine flu … economic woes … earthquakes … war … these junk food headlines dominate and it’s so easy to snack on them unless you have some healthy stuff in your heart and thoughts.

Health experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. What about some healthy heart/thought food each morning? How about some healthy conversation time with God: “In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation” (Psalm 5:3).

Then you could make sure you have a healthy heart/thought diet throughout the day: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

And then how about a healthy bedtime snack: “I set Your instructions to music and sing them as I walk this pilgrim way. I meditate on Your name all night, God, treasuring your revelation, O God” (Psalm 119:54-55, The Message).

How’s your heart/thought diet doing? Are there any changes you need to make? Best of all, how about sharing with us some heart/thought diet tips that have worked for you.

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God’s Originality

May 1, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever noticed all of the different ways that God reveals Himself to people? He is original with every original person.

I love looking at the Aha! moments that people have. You know, the moments when the light comes on and they understand Who God is to them?

  • When Jethro heard how God delivered Moses and the Israelites from Egypt he said, “Now I know that the true God is greater than all other gods.”
  • When Elijah raised a dead boy back to life the boy’s mother said, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that you only speak His words.”
  • When Naaman was healed of leprosy he said to Elisha, “Now I know that there is only one true God.”
  • When David recalled all the ways God has delivered him from certain disaster he sang, “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed.”
  • When Peter was delivered from prison by an angel he said, “Now I know that God did this.”

(check out the references for these examples by clicking here)

God reveals Himself uniquely to everyone because we’re all unique originals.

“Let God be as original with other people as He is with you.” —Oswald Chambers

Here’s the problem with God’s originality: We try to make our unique experience with God a universal experience for everyone else. We think that because He did it such-and-such a way for us that everyone ought to experience it the same way.

Wrong!

Think about the deliverance from lions in the Bible. In Samson’s case, God gave him supernatural strength to kill a lion with his bare hands; Benaiah went into a pit to kill a lion with his club; Daniel never even touched the lions, and they couldn’t touch him either.

Imagine if Samson was there with Benaiah: “Hey, brother, if you’re going to go after that lion, just wait on God to give you supernatural strength. If you really had faith, you would lose that club!”

Imagine if Benaiah and Samson were giving lion-killing advice to Daniel: “My friend,” Benaiah might say, “Please use my club.” And Samson would interrupt, “How many times do I have to tell you? No clubs!” Yet in Daniel’s case, God wanted the lions alive.

Perhaps you had your “Now I know” moment after a prolonged struggle in a particular area. Your tendency would be to tell others, “Get on your knees and pray and pray and pray. Pray really hard! It might take years, but God will eventually help you breakthrough.” Perhaps God wants to deliver someone else instantly.

Perhaps your “Now I know moment” came while reading from the King James Version of the Bible. Your tendency is going to be to hand out KJVs to everyone. Perhaps God is going to speak to someone through the New Century Version.

Let God be original with you. Let Him uniquely work with others too. Don’t make your “Now I know” experience the theology which rules everyone around you.

I’m so glad God is unique with every unique individual because each of us is a one-of-a-kind original!

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