23 pounds

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.NLT

My devotion was out of 1 Cor. 3 so I read all the way to 7. I have wanted to write about this for a while, but have not been allowed to until today. The Lord has convicted me on numerous occasions since January 2009 about my weight and eating habits. This January He really got me. I am supposed to be around 215 to 220. On Feb. 12 this year I stepped on the scales at 268 (the most I have ever weighed in my entire life). In my mind I had a shift in my thinking. It was instantaneous and I felt new strength and I knew it was on. The Lord had been showing me through many people and His word what I needed to do. Three years ago I fasted for 40 days without food for my marriage. I also found out during that time it was about my eating and discipline as well. I got down to 220 and stayed there for a while. I let the sin creep back into my life very slowly.

Discipline ……… what a strong word. I have noticed that since I have developed discipline in my eating it is carrying over into other areas of my life. Today I weigh 245 (23 pounds lost) and I am on my way down 220 at least. I am not eating special foods I am not doing HCG. I am not doing weight watchers. What I am doing is eating right and not stuffing my face. I have stopped drinking DR. Pepper and eating fast food. What has made the biggest difference I feel is where I am getting my strength. My prayer life and time with the Lord plays a huge part in my life. I do not eat over 2000 calories a day where I was eating 4500 to 5500 a day. Am I doing this for me? Yep. More importantly though I am doing it for Him.

One morning I got really convicted. I felt like I heard "Kevin how do you speak to someone about how they are living when you live in gluttony and have NO discipline in your own life? How?"

How do you answer that question?

1 Corinthians 6:19
Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,NLT

Luke 24.16

Luke 24:16
But God kept them from recognizing him. NLT

There is much precious significance in this. The Lord is often present in our lives in things that we do not dream possess any significance. We are asking God about something which needs His mighty working, and the very instrument by which He is to work is by our side, perhaps for weeks and months and years all unrecognized, until suddenly, some day it grows luminous and glorious with the very presence of the Lord, and becomes the mighty instrument of His victorious working. He loves to show His hand through the unexpected. Often he keeps us from seeing His way until just before He opens it, and then, immediately that it is unfolded, we find that He was walking by our side in the very thing, long before we even suspected its meaning.

1. B. Simpsom
   

How many times has this happened to you? You have something going on in your life that you have been praying about ….. and you wonder …….. Where is God in all of this? Then suddenly you realize that God has been right in the middle of it the whole time. YOU just didn't see Him or better yet you chose not to see Him, because you didn't like where it was going. In the end you are glad for the results; you just didn't like the road you traveled.

 

At this time last year I was on crutches recovering from a broken leg. It sucked! It was very hard to see God in that picture. When I look back, I see what He was doing. It gave me an opportunity to learn my design software, refine my paperwork, and refine my advertising. I may have been down for three months, but starting in June I did more work last year and had my best year in business ever and I did it in six months. Thank you Lord!

 

Think back…… where was the Lord when at the time you thought He had left you.

Bless you

Apologetics

This morning my devotion comes from Colossians 2. Immediately I think of apologetics. Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of information. Early Christian writers (c. 120-220) who defended their faith against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists. Colossians 2:4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments.NLT Colossians 2:8 Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.NLT You have to pay attention to what you are listening to. You have to quit listening to what the world says. Be transformed by the daily renewal of your mind. Romans 12.2

Lee Strobel's wrote a book called The Case for Christ. Lee was an atheist who set out to prove the Jesus and the bible was just a book of stories and Jesus was not real. What he found out was Holy Spirit is very real and Jesus is real and he could not prove the bible was false. He came to know the Lord through his research. Here are some examples:

The bible has parables, prophecy, song, romance, biography, law, etc. And, depending on the translation, there are some 785,000 words comprised in 31,101 verses, which hold 8,000 predictions, 6,468 commands, 3,294 questions, and 1,260 promises. You can't prove the bible wrong! No matter how hard you try. Archeologists have found over 25000 sites that prove and validate the Old Testament.

From Bible Believers.org For example, what's the likelihood of a person predicting today the exact city in which the birth of a future leader would take place, well into the 21st century? This is indeed what the prophet Micah did 700 years before the Messiah. Further, what is the likelihood of predicting the precise manner of death that a new, unknown religious leader would experience, a thousand years from now - a manner of death presently unknown, and to remain unknown for hundreds of years? Yet, this is what David did in 1000 B.C. Again, what is the likelihood of predicting the specific date of the appearance of some great future leader, hundreds of years in advance? This is what Daniel did, 530 years before Christ. If one were to conceive 50 specific prophecies about a person in the future, whom one would never meet, just what's the likelihood that this person will fulfill all 50 of the predictions? How much less would this likelihood be if 25 of these predictions were about what other people would do to him, and were completely beyond his control? For example, how does someone "arrange" to be born in a specific family? How does one "arrange" to be born in a specified city, in which their parents don't actually live? How does one "arrange" their own death - and specifically by crucifixion, with two others, and then "arrange" to have their executioners gamble for His clothing (John 16:19; Psalms 22:18)? How does one "arrange" to be betrayed in advance? How does one "arrange" to have the executioners carry out the regular practice of breaking the legs of the two victims on either side, but not their own? Finally, how does one "arrange" to be God? How does one escape from a grave and appear to people after having been killed? http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/radio034.htm

There is so much more than just this. The point is this. You need to know apologetics so when you come up against the person who says. The bible is just a book ….. just a bunch of made up stories, you need to know this information it will help you. The flip side is if you come against someone who just doesn't want to believe, it will not matter what you say. Then you just have to shut up and let Holy Spirit do his job.

You couldn't make me believe when I wasn't ready.