Our own strength is limited but God is the source of great power. Tap into that power by praying. Get to know Him more closely by reading the Bible. He has given us Bible scriptures to bring healing and promises we can pray. Learn how to love yourself, forgive others and be fit for battle. While eating a balanced diet and getting the right amount of exercise is vital to living a healthy lifestyle, prayer is just as important if not more crucial. Your diet and exercise can easily get out of balance if you do not include God. Become spiritually fit and find a strength that only God can give you.
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This Prayer Plus page is organized into six sections:
1. There are many ways to pray
2. Fit strategies to overcome eating temptations
3. Scriptures for the renewing of your mind
4. Spiritual strategies to overcome emotional issues
5. Be fit for others and the kingdom
Yes! You are in a fight and you can have victory. Make your prayer and exercise time strong with the book Fit for Freedom. Get it now. Use it for individual devotions, small group studies, group exercise classes and as a gift of ministry to others.
THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO PRAY
When do you pray? Meal times and bedtime are typically identified as good and routine times to pray. Beyond that people pray at church, some special events and in urgent or needy situations. Getting fit for freedom can help you expand your opportunities to pray and improve your prayer experience. Begin to cultivate these three ways to pray:
Prayer with others – We need to do as the Bible instructs and come together in agreement. This can be encouraging and affirming. It will help transform how you pray and expand the way you pray. This strengthens your accountability too.
Dedicated/serious prayer – All prayers are serious, but sometimes we need to set aside time with no distractions to pray. We can schedule conference calls and time to meet with people but can we schedule time with God?
Ongoing prayer – Throughout your day take time to pray. It can be short prayers during the day, while you work, drive, exercise, and more. These brief moments you pray during your day can accumulate into significant amounts of prayer time. More importantly they contribute to a continuity of conversation with God – a more frequent and greater closeness.
Living life – Prayer doesn’t just have to be words or thoughts. Everything we do can be a prayer to God. The food we eat, the thoughts we think, songs we sing, the way we serve others and even our exercise (which gives new meaning to “body worship”) they all lead to what the Bible encourages, “pray without ceasing”.
Laurie and her husband Mike have compiled many of their favorite Bible passages that you can use as you pray. The downloadable Prayer Plus PDF can be printed so that you can take it with you to the gym, outside or wherever you get fit for freedom.
FIT STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME EATING TEMPTATIONS
Many times our wounds from the past can cause ongoing personal issues. Emotional upset from the past or present, having hurt feelings, being embarrassed about your weight, afraid of being looked at or made fun of, feeling unloved or unappreciated, feeling judged or just feeling bored can lead us into the temptation to medicate with food.
We all need a healing. Some are here because they are pursuing health due to a doctors diagnosis, some of us are here as a preventive measure to ward off disease and some of us have some weight to lose. All three situations call for a change in our eating and exercise movement to some degree. For most people I work with, addressing these areas of their life are generally tempted more in the area of overeating, not eating, or eating high fat, junky or sugary foods.
Think about food stories mentioned in the Bible. Eve was enticed by a fruit that held the promise of wisdom. The first murder in the Bible happened over food offerings between Cain and Abel. Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of stew. The children of Israel complained about the lack of food in the desert despite the fact that every morning God sent manna bread from heaven. Jesus was tempted by Satan when he was fasting. Satan told Jesus to command stones to turn into bread. It’s interesting that Satan would bring the temptation for food first, isn’t it? We are not alone, Jesus was even tempted with food and his reply was, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” How are we to ever overcome food temptations? It comes with a healing in our mind first.
SCRIPTURES FOR THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND
Romans 12:2 – Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Proverbs 23:7 – For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
Ephesians 4:23-24 – Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, putting on new attitudes of righteousness and holiness.
Philippians 4:8 – Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of a good report, think on these things.
Think about some of the things that might help you find and receive the healing you need in your spirit, soul and body. For example:
• Feeling Loved and Accepted
• Understanding your true identity in Christ
• Reading God's Word and other uplifting books
• Seeking out tools and strategies that have helped others get healthy
• Finding practical help from coaches, fitness trainers
• Being connected to the Body of Christ and attending worship services regularly
• Start or join a support group and invite friends and family to join you
SPIRITUAL STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME EMOTIONAL ISSUES
FORGIVENESS
Sometimes you have to forgive by faith. The Bible taught that we should forgive 70 times 7 – that is a lot of forgiveness! There are some people in our lives that actually will require the whole 490 times! In the Lord’s Prayer we are instructed to forgive others so that the Father in Heaven can forgive us. It’s so important to forgive by faith so that we ourselves can heal and move on with our lives in a healthy way.
James 5:16 – Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
GRACE
Always remember that you don’t have to be perfect. God has given us Jesus as an extension of grace as you draw on that grace you are now free to be all that you can be because Jesus died and paid the price for you.
Romans 8:11 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
PRAYER AND PRAISE
Tell the Father what is on your heart, He wants to hear from you. Praise is like rolling gratitude and thanks into one beautiful song to the Father. Be thankful for all that he has done for you. Psalms has great praise verses that you can and should read out loud. Listen to positive praise and worship songs. Sing praises to God, even if it's not in key. Pray out your thoughts to the Father. Remember, the enemy does not want to stay around when God is being praised!
Isaiah 61:3 – To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Ephesians 5:18-19 – Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,
LOVE YOURSELF
God loves us, Jesus loves us, the Holy Spirit thinks we're great, so why don’t we love ourselves? The more we practice self-hatred the more physically, emotionally and spiritually unhealthy we become. The cycle of self-hatred can continue as we overeat. The more we overeat, the more we will speak negatively over ourselves and the more unhealthy and overweight we will become. Once you truly being to understand that you are loved you will begin to love your temple and you will want to care for it properly.
1 John 4:16 – So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
LOVE OTHERS
Distraction is THE BEST cure for self pity. There is nothing better you could do to get your mind off yourself than to get busy serving someone else. When we care for others our own problems seem smaller! Look at the following list for some ideas:
-Find an organization that is giving to the community
-Help your church with a special outreach project
-Go on a mission trip
-Minister kindness to a friend or neighbor that is sick or hurting
Doing these things will take your mind off of your own problems and help you remain Kingdom minded.
Philippians 2:3-4 – Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
BE FIT FOR OTHERS AND THE KINGDOM
Did you know that the purpose of a healthy body is not just so that you can feel better about yourself? The Lord desires that you have a healthy body so that you can further His Kingdom through giving to your family, community, your church and the world. Here are some individuals who have taken the Fit for Freedom Challenge and it changed not only their lives, but the lives of others.
Kurt Pafford – lost weight was mobilized to go to Vietnam to lead child abuse prevention seminars with Northwood Church.
Ashley Ball – lost 70 pounds and was empowered to share the gift with her family and fellow teachers at the school where she works.
Jodi Pafford – was healed when she became obedient to the Lord and lost weight, the blessing that followed was her womb was opened and after 5 years of trying to conceive, the Lord blessed her and her husband with a second child.
Margret Mowery – lost 106 pounds and has gained a new lease on life. She now inspires many as she continues to walk towards her goal weight in 2014.
Mitzi White – is new to Fit For Freedom, but she has already lost 15 pounds plus emotional weights in the first two weeks of a LIVE class that Laurie leads in Keller, TX.
Becky French – lowered her cholesterol and she no longer is required to be on cholesterol medicine. She in her family go to the gym together AND she recently completed her first ever 5K race!
Nancy Anson – found friendships and lost depression when she participated in at the LIVE sessions of Fit for Freedom at Northwood Church.
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FIT FOR BATTLE
Understanding your enemy is half the battle in losing weight.
Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) – For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
There are many verses in the Bible about battle, weapons and the enemy, it was the world they lived in. It's the world we live in. We are fighting an enemy that we can't see, but we can see the effects daily in our life when we give him power that rightly was handed to us because of Jesus' death and Resurrection.
Many Christians act like Switzerland when the Nazi's invaded, “Oh, Enemy, your here, well we're not really feeling like defending our country, our families or ourselves today. We heard you were coming, but instead of preparing we thought we'd just make it easy on you. Rather than engage and fight for our freedom, we're just walk over here and take down this Swiss flag that represents our country and put your flag up instead. We will comply peacefully and willfully. You just take what you want, make yourself at home, go ahead and repress us. It's ok.” Are you kidding me?! Now, imagine the battle that took place in the belly of the earth between Satan and Jesus during those three days Jesus was in the tomb.
Colossians 2:15 (KJV) – And having spoiled principalities and powers, he (Jesus) made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
According to Colossians 2:15 Satan was stripped and plundered to nakedness and torn apart piece by piece. Imagine this next scene, a victoriously returning Jesus riding in on a white horse dragging Satan behind in chains. It must have been a parade like no other with Jesus riding in having saved the day. Jesus defeated Satan for YOU! So, when you look in the mirror: Why do you say you CAN'T? Why do you say you'll never be able to get healthy? Why do you tell yourself you'll never be able to stick to an exercise program? Why do you see yourself as never being able to get ahead in life? Why do you think you'll never get out of debt? Why do you believe that you will never have that special relationship you desire? Change your thinking and begin to see yourself as somebody victorious! Jesus gave you the authority to keep the enemy under your feet. He not only defeated Satan, but gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us and help us have daily victory over the enemy. How you see yourself through the Fit for Freedom training process is vital! Do you see yourself as defeated already before you've even started, or are you feeling strong and ready to take back what the devil has stolen from you? Would you be bold enough this week to NAME the thing(s) the enemy took and begin to ask the Father to restore it back to you.
Define and name it – What was stolen through your unhealthy lifestyle? What was lost? Time/ Energy/ Confidence/ Intimacy with your spouse /friendship/dreams /marriage /health/ your spiritual walk with God . Whatever it is, you need to know that our Father is fantastic with healing broken things. We can trust him! IT'S TIME FOR WAR! You can't continue to see yourself as a struggling loser, you have to vision forward with faith that you can move past this place and conquer the areas in your life that are holding you back. YOU have to take back what the enemy has stolen. You have to fight like Switzerland should have!
Romans 8:37 (KJV) – In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. This verse says "in ALL these things", "all" means "all", every last one of them. There is nothing that you and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit can't handle. Additionally, The Greek meaning of "more than” should really encourage you. "more than" means: over, above and beyond, something way beyond measure. It also means having superiority, higher than, paramount, first-rate, first-class, dominant, incomparable, more than a match for, unsurpassed, unequaled, and unrivaled by any other person or thing. Now, That is the way we should start seeing ourselves! You may not even consider using words like this to describe yourself, but because of Jesus and who he is inside of you, you can take on his likeness. Believe that a new Biblical way of thinking combined with positive action steps will move you beyond feeling defeated to a place of victory. Keep pushing forward and know that God is with you.
2 Corinthians 10:1-6 (NIV) By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Catch that – DIVINE, NOT the power of positive thinking, NOT mind over matter, we're looking for the true power that comes through meditation on God's Word and understanding our authority in Jesus. VERSE 6 goes on to say, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.“ Who takes these thoughts captive? We do, we take the action!
Ephesians 6:10-11 (KJV) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Isaiah 54:17 (KJV) No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 40:31 (KJV) But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Use the comment feature below and tell others how you have found prayer to be an effective way for you to be fit for battle.
