Psalms 118:24, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Welcome to Day 21! The final day of our challenge.

Hopefully today, you are feeling differently than you did when we started this journey. Better naturally, because we are eating more healthier than before. Better physically, because we have become more physically fit minded. We may not have gotten to where we need to be, but we are certainly on our way. Better spiritually, because we are approaching our personal time with God with a different mindset. A new perspective altogether.

For this I am grateful.

But we must be sure not to lose momentum. We must keeping going on to rep all the benefits.

Hopefully you have experience some weight loss. Found recipes that appeal to you, and are healthy for you. You have drawn closer to God, by strengthening your relationship. You have developed a strong connection between moving forward in God and daily devotion with God.

On this final day of the challenge…

Devotion:

Let us spend time just thanking God for all the good we have gained. Spiritual growth. A closer relationship with God. Grateful for a new perspective and approach to healthy eating and physical fitness. Giving God the glory for all he has revealed to us.

Exercise:

Simple – your favorite 30 minute workout. Don’t forget to have fun.

Healthy Eating:

For our final recipe I thought I’d share a dessert – we deserve it!

Here is one I found on The Pioneer Woman website.

I am grateful and humbled that you all decided to take this journey with me. I trust God that you were as blessed through this process of as I was.

Keep going, and keep growing!

Have a blessed night.

Joshua 3:5, “And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

It’s day 20, with just 1 more day of the challenge remaining. We are going to finish strong!

We are still discussing fasting and consecration.

Christian Library says of Joshua 3:5 “But before they could move, they were first instructed by the Lord to sanctify or consecrate themselves. This meant that they had to make themselves ready to follow the Lord’s instructions. They had to be holy. That’s what the word “sanctify” means. It means “to make yourself holy.” It means that they had to focus on the Lord and what he was doing. They had to prepare their hearts to listen to the Lord. “

This is very important to understand and apply to our own lives because we have the same goal. We want to be led by God. We want to receive instruction and direction from God before we make our next move.

We cannot just sit back and wait for God to miraculously change our life at the snap of his fingers. There are some things we must do. We have to sanctify ourselves. By definition, to sanctify is to set apart as or declare holy; consecrate. We must pull away from things and people that would come between us and God. These would be some of those distractions that we talked about yesterday.

But notice how we are required to sanctify ourselves. That is the responsibility of salvation. We must take initiative in this walk with Christ. Remember, God wants our choice. He wants us to willingly choose him over everything else. As a part of that choice we must seek to do the things line up with the word of God. As the scripture says faith without works is dead. We need to put action to our faith.

Here is my favorite part – as we take action by sanctifying ourselves and adding works to our faith, we in the place we need to be. Spiritually speaking. Our hearts and minds are focused on God and we are prepared for the next move/level. We are now ready for see and receive the wonders God wants to work in our lives.

Devotion:

As a part of sanctifying ourselves, let us spend some time in worshipping God.

Exercise:

As balance is our goal, we must remember to make time for physical activity. Drawing closer to God is no excuse for not properly taking care of the one and only body he has given us. Set aside 30 minutes of brisk exercise and have fun doing it.

Healthy Eating:

We are still focusing on fasting and consecration, so you may not be eating today. Just remember when your fast is over go back to those healthy meals. We are going to treat our bodies better and improve our health.

Enjoy your time in the Lord and have a very blessed day!

Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

It’s Tuesday and Day 19 of our challenge.

As I mentioned before, these last few days of the challenge we are going to focus on fasting and consecration. We are seeking God. We want to hear from him, so we can get to that next level in him. We want to be balanced in our life so we can please him.

God knows all thing. He knows your thoughts afar off (Psalms139:2). He knew you before you were even in your mothers womb (Jeremiah 1:5). But he still requires us to ask and seek him. He is a gentleman, he does not force his will upon us. We must decide that we want God, then we must ask. (Joshua 24:15).

Going a little deeper.

Once we make him our choice, we must keep choosing him over and over again. Why? Because everyday, the devil comes after us to see if he can get us to make a different choice. If today is the day that we will go back to serving him and our flesh. He always temps us with things that appeal specifically to us (James 1:13-14). That is what makes it a battle – because it is something we would be attracted to. Something we like and are familiar with.

We fast and consecrate:

So, we must keep this body under subjection to the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 9:27). We must mortify (or make dead) the deeds of this body (Romans 8:13), so that God gets the glory out of our lives. We seek to be holy and clean before God and man. From this foundation, we seek God to know what his will is for our lives. Then we seek him to walk in that will.

This walk is a never ending cycle of seeking God and walking in what he reveals.

It is a faith walk, and we must seek God continually to navigate it successfully. But our seeking is not a chore. It is an awesome experience that we get the honor and privilege to be a part of. Psalms 16:11, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

God always gives us more that he gets from us.

We get to enjoy his presence and walk away from the experience with so much more that we had before.

Devotion:

Turn that plate down. Give up food for a period of time that works for you. Generally a fast is at least 24 hours. However, some people do half a day, or anything in between. Whatever your sacrifice, do it as unto the Lord. Don’t forget about it, but keep it at the forefront of your mind.

Exercise:

Keep it going and keep it moving. Find something the flows right along with your fast. Don’t overdo it.

Healthy Eating:

We are fasting today, but we will pick this back up once our fast is over.

Enjoy your time in the Lord.

Have a blessed night.

Matthew 6:16-18, “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

Welcome To Day 18! This has been such an interesting challenge and I am grateful to God. For the last 3 days, we are going to incorporate fasting.

We are pursuing God. We are working on strengthening our relationship with God. Getting to know him on a deeper level. Drawing closer to him and walking into his will and plan for our lives. To reach this goal, we must be willing to bring our flesh under subjection to his spirit. We must be willing to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily causes us to stumble (Hebrews 12:1).

Because no good thing dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18), we must learns to kill the deeds of this flesh (Romans 8:13), so we are positioned to please God and do his will. This is a major part of the balance we are seeking.

For the next few days, we will focus on fasting and consecrating ourselves before the Lord.

Devotion:

Choose a fast (sacrifice) unto the Lord. During your fast take time to keep your devotion – spend time with God in prayer and reading the Bible. Replace the time spent in other leisure activities with praise, worship, and personal Bible study. Go on about day as needed, but consecrate yourself to the Lord during your designated fast time.

Exercise:

Choose physical activity that will not conflict or interfere with your consecration. But still get the full 30 minutes in (if not more).

Healthy Eating:

More than likely, as you are fasting, you will not be eating according to your normal schedule. However, depending on the type of fast, please stick to your healthy meal plan.

As usual, enjoy your time in the Lord!

Have a blessed night

Romans 8:1-2, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Happy Sunday. I pray that your Sunday worship routine was blessed and enjoyable.

Our goal this final week of the challenge is to settle ourselves to hear from God. We should seek the Lord at every opportunity to hear from him. This would include the preached word, corporate Bible study, personal Bible, Sunday school, corporate prayer and personal prayer. God is always speaking, we just need to have an ear to hear. We must seek to hear him.

To assist us in hearing from God, we might also consider adding fasting to our devotion time. But we will discuss this more on day 18.

For now, don’t forget to make time for exercise and eating our healthy meals!

Have a blessed night.

Matthew 19:26, “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

Happy Saturday and Day 16 of our challenge!

It is another beautiful weekend here in North Carolina – God has been so good!

I trust that your challenge has been going well. You have come a long way since day 1. It is a blessing that we have made it this far, and are encouraged to stick with the plan. Not only through the end of the 21 days, but as our new lifestyle. A balanced lifestyle.

With God, we can achieve a balance that will propel us to the next level. This last week of the challenge, let us focus on hearing from God. Yes, we will continue to have our devotions, exercise time, and eat healthy – every day. But we also want to focus more on hearing from God. As the scripture says, Matthew 11:15, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

How can we do this? Turn off the noise that blocks us from hearing God. Turn off programs, music, literature, and people who are a distraction. When are too busy hearing and spending time with these distractions that we cannot hear God. Then, see your heart (ear) to hear from God. Expand your devotion so that it includes an atmosphere of praise and worship. Once you have welcomed the presence of God in and are basking in his presence – just listen. I guarantee God is saying something to you.

It is a good idea to have a note book handy as you may want to write down what you hear the Lord saying.

Have a blessed Saturday!!

Psalms 75:6-7, “For promotion cometh neither from the east,
nor from the west, nor from the south.
But God is the judge:
he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Happy day 14! Yes, we are 2 weeks into our 3 week challenge. I trust that God’s grace is abounding toward you in this endeavor!

Today we are going to talk about promotion. By definition, promotion is activity that supports or provides active encouragement for the furtherance of a cause, venture, or aim.

Our cause, venture or aim is to achieve a healthy balance in our life/walk with Christ. To this end we have identified the need to evaluate 3 important relationships in our life.

1. Our relationship with God.

2. Our relationship with physical activity.

3. Our relationship with food.

If we can achieve balance in these 3 areas there is nothing we cannot accomplish in this life.

The driving force behind it all? To be in a position to fulfill God’s plan for our life.

We must have a strong connection with God to not only hear his voice, but faith to move accordingly. To do this in a spirit of excellence, we must be physically fit to the point where we can move swiftly and assuredly. The food we eat works hand in hand with this, so that our bodies are not only strong, but they are also healthy. Strength alone will not sustain. We must be both strong and healthy.

Now back to promotion.

God is the one who encourages us to strive for more. He is the one who places the desire for greater in us. This desire for more also has a way of illuminating just how inadequate we are on our own. This is where our faith comes in. Our faith, fueled by the want for more, causes us to connect with God. God is our source. God opens doors, puts people in your path, and plants the seeds of the actions we need to take.

Here is a personal example. The next thing you know you find your self, thinking about going back to school to finish your degree. You keep seeing commercials for schools that make it easier to continue to work and go after your degree. Then you find yourself enrolled. You don’t know how, but you pushed yourself through the degree program. Now you graduate, and you think “what’s next?” Something floats across your desk. An opportunity that you would not have considered before. You take action.

All this time, God was working and moving behind the scenes. Orchestrating our lives to position us where he needs us to be. Our promotion comes from him, and only him.

We may think the goal to seek balance is just a good idea with the side benefit of weight loss. But the truth is God is positioning his people for the next level. We cannot get to and maintain/sustain at that new level the way we are right now. We must be changed.

Change takes hard work and dedication. But it is worth it!

Devotion:

Praise is always appropriate because we serve a great God who is always doing great things. Try a 15 minute praise break and 15 mins Bible study. It might be just what you need.

Exercise:

Because of the break in weather (no more extreme heat for a while), it might be time for a pleasant 2 mile walk outside. Just aim for that 30 minute goal.

Healthy Eating;

Fish anyone? I found this recipe on Pinterest

Happy eating and have a blessed day!

Nehemiah 8:10, “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Whew… we made it to day 13! Happy Wednesday to all.

For me, this has been a tough day physically. But I made it through, and to God be the glory!

Let’s talk about joy. By definition Joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. The joy of the Lord is the pleasure, happiness, and satisfaction that comes from God dwelling on the inside of us. This pleasure, happiness and satisfaction gives us strength through God to accomplish anything; to overcome anything; to make it through anything. So no matter how tough the day, or how heavy the load we must bear, accessing this joy strengthens us. It propels is forward. Gods is that good.

On days like today – those tough days where you were extremely busy, or where it seems everything has gone wrong, it is important to rest in joy. This is why daily devotion – spending time with God – is so important. It provides an avenue to just give all that heaviness to God.

Exercise is important because it is a stress reliever. It reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators.

According to World Health Organization, A healthy diet is important because It protects you against many chronic noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Eating a variety of foods and consuming less salt, sugars and saturated and industrially-produced trans-fats, are essential for healthy diet.

We need to achieve a balanced life for both natural and spiritual benefits.

With that said, let us make sure to spend quality time daily with the Lord. Let us make sure to move our bodies in exercise for at least 30 minutes daily. Let us pursue healthy eating options, both at home and if eating away from home.

In the spirit of trying something new, you might like this breakfast recipe:

The joy of the Lord is your strength and praise is your weapon. On tough days lean into that strength and pull out your weapon of praise and get to work! This is how we make it through tough days and hard times.

Be blessed and keep push towards your goal.

Psalms 118:24, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”

Happy Tuesday and I trust that you are still going strong with the challenge!

Today I just want to share some encouragement. I forced myself to climb on the scale this morning. I must say I am down a few pounds since starting this challenge. It is awesome to see the physical results of seeking balance. It shows the exercises and healthy eating does have awesome side effects. But what I am most excited about is my relationship with Christ. I appreciate the consistency in the time spent basking in his presence.

At work we have a process called 2-2-2. We break our day up so that we spend 2 hour on the 3 main categories of things we must accomplish each day. It provides balance in the management of our case load. It is a tool that keeps things manageable. If you work the process faithfully, (even on the days when the unexpected occurs and we cannot get through everything) you will eventually work your way back to balance.

I have found this same approach in achieving balance in my walk with Christ works well too. i structure my day to fit in devotions time, exercise, and healthy eating. When you designate a thing as important to your life – you will make time for it. Excuses do not play into. It is something that is necessary for your happiness and growth.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Life is full of ups and downs, strive for consistency. If you fall, get back up and shake yourself off. Get busy again.

Devotion:

We are going to us our tool today. For the time you allotted for devotion. If you set aside 30 mins we will do 10-10-10. Ten minutes in scripture reading, 10 mins in praise and 10 mins in worship.

Exercise:

For variety sake, you can choose 3 different tasks and do each for 10 minutes. 10 mins jump rope, 10 mins elliptical, 10 mins bike. Or whatever tasks you like.

Healthy Eating:

Select a new recipe and enjoy the process of cooking and relaxing!

Have a blessed night!

Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Happy Monday and I hope your Day 11 has been spectacular!

Many times, when trying to develop new habits, after so long, we begin to question ourselves. We have thoughts like: Is this even working? Why don’t I see any progress? And the worst thought of all – what if I go back to living like I was before?

If and when you find yourself at this point – that just mean you have been making some real changes, and your body (and the enemy) is fight to go back to what use to be normal. But through God, real change is possible. You are a living witness.

Think of life pre-COVID-19. Now, think of life now. There has been a great number of changes that we have dealt with and now accept them as normal.

You will do the same with the changes you are making. They will become your new normal. You just cannot give up. Yes, you are going to fall down or miss the goal a time or two. But don’t let the be the standard. Get back up and try again. Let your success be the standard.

Mix it up. Don’t get locked into the same routine or activities – both physical exercise and devotion. Don’t lock onto the same healthy meals. Expand your horizons and try new foods. Exercise in different areas or surroundings, or even with other people. Try different types of worship music. Have your devotion at different times of the day. If you are an early riser, try and early morning worship session. They say variety is the spice of life. Do not be afraid to switch things up. You may find a whole other aspect of life to enjoy.

As the scripture says above you will reap the rewards of your hard work, if you keep at it. There is no reward coming to those who faint or give up.

For each day this week – change up your routine.

Devotion:

Try something new – pick a different time of day to spend quality time with God. Maybe choose a different style of worship music, but something that still sets an atmosphere that invites the presence of God. Our goal remains the same 20-30 minutes of quality time with God. Pick a scripture and meditate upon it.

Exercise:

Chose a different activity. Try something new that is still challenging for your physical activity level. Try to keep it fun and enjoyable, while at the same time challenges you or pushes you just a little. Listen to your body, don’t over do it. But get a solid 30 minutes in.

Healthy Eating:

Try a different style of food. But keep it healthy.

I found something that I want to try from Food Network site:

Remember the assignment to try something new and or switch up your routine each day this week.

Happy eating and have a blessed night.

Please share your comments below or email me at otp.ministry1@gmail.com.