Living A Victorious Life

We can achieve a victorious life through living a deep dependence on God. People usually associate victory with success. But those who are successful in their own strength tend to go their own way and forget about God.

It is through problems and failure, weakness and neediness, that we learn to rely on God.

True dependence is not simply asking God to bless what we have decided to do. It is going to God with a open mind and heart, and inviting God to plant his desires within us. We forget that God can infuse a dream that seems far beyond our reach. When we know that we cannot achieve our dreams or goals in life. When we do this it begins our journey of profound reliance in God.

It is a faith walk, taken one step at a time, leaning on Him as much as we can. It is not a path of continual success but of multiple failures. However each failure is followed by a growth spurt, nourished by increased reliance on God.

Nothing becomes victorious if we take an easy path. It’s when we take the difficult paths that we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Strategies To Help Stop Emotional Eating

Don’t let your emotions trigger bad food habits

Maybe you stand at the freezer, steaming over a fight with a family member searching for ice cream to cool your emotions. Or sit on the couch and mindlessly munch through a whole bag of chips after a stressful day.

This is emotional eating. You might have heard it called “stress eating,” Many negative emotions including anger, sadness, and stress can trigger bad eating habits,

Here’s The Problem:

The feel good foods we reach for can actually make you feel worse. Fortunately, there are strategies to help make sure your emotions don’t turn into diet damage in the long term.

I have made a decision this year to work on emotional eating. Not as a new year resolution. But as a goal. I started by writing down simple goals for a month at a time. That way it doesn’t seem so long and drawn out,

I sat down and made a list of goals for this month. My goal for this month is to:

Week 1. Get down to the root cause. While a bad day or a fight with a friend or family member are short-term issues. Emotional eating can stem from bigger issues.

I’ve been reading, and what I’ve found out is that is if chronic stress, long-term anger, depression and other concerns lead to emotional eating, it may benefit me to join a stress management class (whether online or in person) or there are exercises and other techniques that can help. Ultimately nothing can be solved if we don’t know the root cause of any issue you have in life.

Week 2. Ask Why You’re Eating. When I walk to the refrigerator, pantry, or vending machine, pause and ask myself a simple question: “Am I really hungry?”

I’m going to try and rate my hunger on a scale from 1-5, with one being I’m not hungry at all, and five being I’m so hungry that I would eat the food I hate most in the world. (mine would be Tuna Fish).

It’s too easy to just dive into mindless eating, but by asking myself this question, I at least would begin to recognize my motivation behind eating.

If my hunger clock is at a level three or four, I’m going to try eating a healthy balanced snack, instead of reaching for chips or a candy bar. If my physical hunger is lower than that. I will reach for a cup of coffee or a herbal tea,or try going for a walk.

Week 3. Swap Out My Worst Snacks. If I don’t have a pack of mini donuts or a candy bar, I can’t eat them. Eating processed snacks can actually raise levels of the stress hormone cortisol. I’m going to switch sweets treats, with a small bag of popcorn or something that have whole grains, these will boost my immune system and have fewer calories.

Stress eating, anger or sadness can trigger my sweet tooth. So I’ll work on remembering that a sugar high comes a low, which can lead to increased cravings for sugar later,

An alternative for sweet, high calorie foods could be fruit. Actually studies show that having easy access to fruits and veggies when they are easily available,

Week 4. Choose Foods That Fight Stress. Many people drink tea in emotional situations because the steam is smoothing. Tea also has helpful antioxidants. And Green, matcha, or white tea contains an amino acid called L- theanine that may help reduce stress levels.

I have habit of eating late at night, maybe because I’m not a very good sleeper and I get stressed about it, so I hit the refrigerator. But I’ve learned that dark sweet cherries, as not only a sweet treat, they also help increase natural levels of melatonin to help you sleep. Guess what I’m buying on my next trip to the grocery store.

Here’s a list of a few foods I’ve read that help in maintaining a healthy mind:

  • Dark Chocolate – at least 72% cacao
  • Whole grains
  • Nuts
  • Legumes
  • Fruits
  • Vegetables

The key is stocking up on foods that help with stress or emotions, and avoiding processed junk that might make us feel worse after we eat it.

This is my goal for the next month. I’m hoping I can improve my health.

Hope Is A Rope

“Being joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer“ (Romans 12:13). That verse is written to a group of people who live in the midst of chaos, struggle, and persecution. To hope in something or someone means that I’ll live an expectation that something I desire or along for will happen. To hope means I trust that there is something more than I can see, touch, or feel. To hope means I don’t give up, even when I can’t see what’s ahead. To have Hope results in the belief that my life is not worthless, and one’s of the ways I do that is to add meaning and richness to the lives of others.

In English, hope is a somewhat abstract idea of expectation. The word for hoe in Hebrew(Tikvah), however, is more concrete. In Hebrew, the word means expectation, it also means cord or rope, which comes from the root word that means to bind or can you wait for or upon. Tikvah is a rope that we can hold onto when the world seems out of control or when we don’t know how to make it through a difficult season in life, like the promise given to the Israelites in captivity in a foreign land. “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (tikvah) (Jeremiah 29:11). Is it possible that a rope can you give me hope? I can clean to God and cry out with the Psalmist, “ for you are my hope, Lord of God; my confidence from my youth (Psalm 71:5).

Tikvah is used in the biblical account found in the book of Joshua. As Joshua prepared to lead the Israelites into the promised land, he sent out two spies who come to the house of Rahab to turn them over, but instead, she hides them on the roof and deceives the King. Rahab is in a vulnerable place and tells the spies, “ I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you” (Joshua 2:9), This sounds like a hopeless situation.

She asked the spies to swear an oath that when Jericho is conquered, they will let Rahab and her family live. The spies say to Rahab, “We shall be free from this up unless we come into the land, you hide the cord of scarlet thread (Tikvah) in the window you let us down and gather into the house of your father, mother and brothers and all your father’s household” (Joshua 2:17-18). Spice keep their word and spare Rahab and her family. The scarlet cord was used here in a literal sense, but it gives us a picture of what hope looks like. The cord of Rahab’s only guarantee that her household would be spared by the Israelites. Though the physical cord has been tied to the window to ensure their safety, Rehab still had to wait for the realization of the spies’ promise. One of the most difficult thing to remember is that hope is rooted in waiting.

I imagine Rahab walked through the steps laid out in Romans 12:12 – being joyful in the hope that her family would be rescued, patient in the uncertainty, and praying to the one true God that she didn’t even know, but hoped would be her salvation.

How do we cling to hope and keep waiting? How do we keep doubt from overwhelming us? In my experience, the answer is rooted in the vital relationships with God, ourselves, and others. The spies needed Rahab in order to leave a dangerous situation; Rahab needed the spies to follow through with their promise to protect her family; Rahab needed to wait and trust the one true God; and Joshua, the leader of the Israelites needed assurance from God and the people who told him, “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:18:.

I connected relationship with God is like grasping onto a strong rope. We can cling too and depend on Him even when we can’t see the next right step. I need to rest in God, trusting that the issues I’m facing are part of what God is using to transform me. And like rehab in the five, I need to risk allowing other people into my life. God really is in control, and I will relinquish my anxiety over to him. I will find hope and I long for in the midst of chaos.

Change Is The Key To Success

Accepting Change

We are all experienced daily discomfort and being faced with difficult challenges it caused worry, angst, and fear. Are we equipped to deal with these changes and calendars?

Here are a few steps to focus on that will hopefully lift your spirits.

Stepping Stones

Relieve discomfort is being annoying is something we don’t want to do. However, in truth, it’s actually a step to a greater place. Remember that feeling of discomfort and frustration are simply the opening of new horizons.

Spiritual Awakening

The feelings of dissatisfaction are the beginning of a spiritual awakening. So, the first step in building any type of courage is to do something we’re not comfortable doing. It doesn’t have to be dangerous and it doesn’t have to be repulsive, but it’s something that required and demand us to go outside of our comfort zone. The question is: can we turn the awakening into a higher state of awareness and consciousness?

New Opportunities

Discomfort means that something is happening, and we have a unique opportunity to change and to grow. However, when we choose to run away from discomfort, we are closing our mind to greater experiences and new opportunities because of fear.

Embrace It

The key is to try to find new ways to embrace changes around us, let us open ourselves up to the changes around us and let them transform us. Don’t shy away from discomfort, embrace it.

Try This Exercise

Note an event in your day that wasn’t in your normal comfort zone and how you work through the process to embrace it. How was it different than your typical reaction to discomfort?

Cows And Buffaloes

The Cows

When a Cow sees a storm approaching from the mountains, they run away from the storm. While this approach appears wise on the surface, eventually the storm catches up to the herd and they continue to run. This means that the cows end up being caught in the storm for a longer period of time then if they didn’t run at all.

The Buffalo

When a Buffalo sees a storm approaching from the mountains, they run directly into the storm. Which might seem counterintuitive at first, this actually means that the Buffalo are running right through the storm, and experience the storm for a shorter period of time than the cows.

The Paradox Principle

The paradox principle of sacrifice states that easy short term choices often lead to difficult, long-term consequences and that difficult short term choices often lead to easy long-term consequences. It’s a principle that, based on experience, I believe to be true in most circumstances. While it may make sense in theory, execution of this can be challenging.

How To Pray

I was approached yesterday at church by a man. He asked me to teach him to pray. I realize maybe some people don’t know where to begin when they start to pray.

So I wanted to share 5 practical tips on how to get started praying..

Prayer is an amazing privilege. In Scripture we have an open invitation from God of a creation. In Jeremiah 33:3 God states “Call to me and I will answer you. We have a promise that God hears us: “ you will call on me and come and pray for me and I will listen to you (Jeremiah 29: 12).

Through the pages of the Bible, we see examples of people who prayed. Even Jesus the Son of God prayed.

Prayer carries power and changes lives. But sometimes when we sit down to pray, it’s hard to focus, our mind begins to travel to the way our day is going or what we are going to have for dinner. Simply draw your attention back to prayer. Always ask God to help keep you focused before you start praying.

Why Do We Struggle With How To Pray?

Maybe you think you have to over spiritualize it. We think we have to pray long and eloquent for it really work. Maybe we measure our self with spiritual giants like Billy Graham or Mother Teresa and we feel unqualified and unworthy. Sometimes We separate prayer from the rest of our lives, we look at it as something we do at prayer meeting or in quiet time.

Paul says in Colossians 4:2, “ devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Many people, wonder how do I devote myself to prayer when I have a regular life, a job and kids? Paul was talking about our heart attitude, not a never ending prayer meeting or devotional time. Devoted prayer is a heart tendency to turn to God at each turn in our day,

1. Pray Simply

We think we have to pray passionate, persuasive words for God to hear us, but in reality He listen even to our shortest prayer,

The fewer the words the better the prayer. We can talk to God in every day language, just like we were talk to a friend. We don’t have to pray long drawn out prayers. God you like in a simple word of praise, like “Lord I love you.” Or When something good happens say, “Thank You God.” He treasures the anguished prayer of a parent when they call, “Heal my child.’ He answers the simplest request: “Lord give me strength for today.”

2. Read the Bible and Pray Over The Verses

Have you ever had a one-sided conversation with someone who continually talked to you without listening to you? that conversation didn’t go very far, did it? We do the same thing to God when we pray without reading the Bible, His eternal letter of love and wisdom to each one of us on earth. Reading scripture helps us get to know God. It brings life to our prayers.

If you want to have a more effective conversation with God, read scripture. Let David words and the songs brighten up your prayers. Stop in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to pray over a verse that strikes you, asking God to work the truth and to your heart. Let the words of Paul’s letters give you specific prayer requests for yourself and the people you love.

3. Make Prayer Active and Multi-Sensory

Prayer garage door when we turn it into a purely mental exercise. God made us to be creative beings, so why don’t we bring creativity to our prayer lives? Lighting a fragrant candle can send a signal to our brains: “It’s time to pray.” I can bring a secret sensor off to a few minutes of prayer. Listening to music and help us focus on God, putting on low volume worship songs and help us pray.

Try making a prayer journal. Making a list of requests keep your mind off work, stopping to pray each request keeps your mind alert. Stop to pray for each request after writing it down. Occasionally, take the time to write out longer prayers like a letter. A prayer journal build faith when you look back over your request and recall God’s answers.

You don’t have to sit quietly and pray. Sometimes my best prayer times happen when I’m walking a quiet trail. Praying out loud also helps keep my mind engaged, but I save that prayer time at home alone.

Matthew 6:5-6 says “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

4. Make Prayer A Fundamental Part of Your Day

1 Thessalonians 5:16-17, used to really baffle me, ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.” I used to think “is it really possible to pray without ceasing?”

It isn’t about praying all day. Try starting and ending your day in prayer. Lift up short prayer to God as often as you can throughout your day. If something good happens say thank you God, or pray over your busy schedule for the day. Ask God to help you with your today list. Say a prayer for your partner or your child or you give them a hug each day. Pray for the person you’re talking to. Every morning when I get in my car, I ask God to watch over my and my car “God put Warring Angels around me and my car today and keep me safe.”

5. Pray Expectantly

Prayer becomes a life with exercise when you’re not looking for answers. Jesus invites us to expect God to work. Matthew 7:7 says, Ask, and it will be given to youAsk, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.”

How much more exciting prayer become when we keep our eyes open to watch for God’s answers. Sometimes I wonder how many answers we miss because we don’t expect God to respond.

James 1:6-8 says “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubt it like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not the man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Expect all your prayers to be answered. Do not doubt

Always begin your prayers with praising God. And always in your prayers with in Jesus’s name Amen.