A Husband and Fathers Purpose and Way of Life

My husband is often moved by the Holy Spirit and writes beautiful notes, thoughts and often sermons about the word of God and how it applies to our lives. I really was excited to read something special he wrote yesterday. In it's simplicity is the beauty.

 

 

A Husband & Fathers Purpose and Way of Life

 

A mans purpose in life is to honor God and give HIM all the glory. We have to realize that all things come from God. He has blessed me with an amazing wife and three wonderful children. The way that I look at it, my wife is HIS wife and I need take care of and love her as Christ loves her. My children the same way in that they are God's children and it's my duty and privilege to love and take care of them because they were God's children before they were mine.  He has also blessed me with a wonderful job which I am truly thankful for.

 

God tells us (To Adam)  in Genesis 3:18-19  "Also thorns and thistles will it bring forth to you, and you will eat the herb of the field, By the sweat of your brow will you eat bread, until you return to the ground, for out of dust were you taken, for you are from dust and to dust you will return." God is telling Adam (us) that the free ride that he once had in the Garden of Eden is over and he will now have to work by the sweat of his brow to live. When we work hard God will bless our work.  Man should not be afraid to work hard for fear that it looks like you love money more than God. That might be true at for some people so it's always important to not judge the motives of others nor stop what others might think of you from doing what you know to be right and true for you and your family.  

 

The scriptures proves that God honors and blesses those that work hard but most importantly loves the one that is rich in Spirit and turns from evil and REVERES God.  In the book of Job 1:8-10 while Satan was there to accuse each man of their sin God himself asked Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the Earth, a perfect and upright man, one who reveres God and turns away from bad. This is from God himself. Ten in 1:9- in this passage Satan tells God 'have you not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work at his hands and his substance is increased in the land. That passage proves that Job was not simply rich by the work of his own hands, but rich because God blessed him for being perfect, upright, flees from evil and reveres HIM.  God blesses our hard work and all that we are able to do comes from and through him.

 

Jesus came and was crucified on the cross for our sins and to teach the many ways to live.  Jesus taught us that where we have sowed our seed there we will find our harvest. I sow my seeds (the work by the sweat of my brow) with God, my wife and children then there I will find a great harvest.

 

Saint Paul was a great example of working hard and not relying on others while doing the work of the Lord. He was very insistent on not being a burden to the Church (Jesus). 2 Thessalonians 3:8

 

 A man's work is worth his pay.  

 

Work hard and Jesus will give you rest. Matthew 11:28-38 "Come to Me and all those who work are burdened and I shall give you rest. You must immediately take my hoke upon you and you must now learn from me, because am gentle and humble in my heart, and you will find rest in your lives for my yoke is pleasant and my burden is insignificant."

 

Honor God, Love Him with all of your hearts, Give him all the Glory in your life and realize that everything comes from him. Work Hard and be blessed and always turn to Jesus for your rest.

 

Psalm 90:17

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

 

 

 

 

~God Bless Your Brother in Christ

Donald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Top 10 Reasons to Run Slow

 

Top 10 Reasons to Run Slow!

1) Slow Running builds your endurance while strengthening your musculoskeletal and cardio-respiratory systems

2) No matter how slow you go you will become more fit vs. not doing anything at all

3) Reduces your risk for injury - most especially when you are training for peak performance

4) Enhances your fat-burning ability

5) Improves blood flow to your muscles

6) Builds mental toughness

7) Builds slow twitch muscles needed for endurance running

8) Keeps Burn-out at Bay - Over training by running too fast can lead to burn-out which is a very serious condition.

9) Allows you to focus on starting and finishing the run feeling good vs going out too fast and not accomplishing your distance goal

10) Joy of Running when pace is comfortable- Remember why you are Running for JOY & PEACE!

45-60 Seconds slower than Race Pace for Long Runs

(If not a little bit more depending on how your body feels)

My Addictions the Running & Food Kind

I rarely watch tv, however when I do it usually has everything to do with Human Nature. I recorded three episodes of my 600 lb life and watched three hours of it last night.

End Result of their story was the same as mine= emotionally hungry= finding comfort in food.

I may have only reached 310 lbs but in my heart I was a thousand pounds. Whether we are 50 lbs overweight or 400lbs our stories line up the same. We fill the empty voids in our life with food. There is an addiction that is covering up an emotion. Those emotions manifest themselves as depression, anxiety, worry and often sometimes worse. In those moments we lose hope, self esteem and sadly any ounce of worth is diminished in our souls. I know, I've lived there for a very long time.

Holding onto too much weight is a symptom of a much deeper problem. We are no different than a person addicted to drugs or alcohol; our addiction is food. A deeper need is getting met.

We all know that is what we are doing, the hard part is getting out of the habit and beating the addiction.

Two years to lose 150lbs and almost another 3 years fighting to maintain! This is a fight, every day. This is not an exciting notion. It is much easier to wish that it was easier. It's much easier to when we don't actually have to pick up the burdens and deal with them everyday. It's much easier to hide and escape reality.  When people lose a large amount of weight and find that "key" to success the reason why they fail and go back to the "old life" no matter how long they have been on the journey is because the intensity of having to daily choose "life" means we actually have to fight and deal with life head on. I'm like others, some days I'd rather hide my head under the covers and think "I can't do this today, it's much easier to forget about it" and truth is, I've been there more days that I'd like to admit. Yet, I see what lies on the other side of that option. The only other way around getting busy daily with dealing with my body/soul/spirit is to actually succumb to the past and get swallowed back up. I've been there and done that. I'm fighting. I'm not giving up, even though at moments I felt like in some way it was happening without my consent. I wonder if that sounds confusing to you?  What if everyday I fight and yet in some ways I still lose parts of the battle? What if I think I'm doing all the right things but it's not enough? What if the measure of my success is in my numbers or thoughts?

The GREATEST component for me in this weight loss journey has been discovering who I am in Jesus and what he can do for me. I discovered what I could do for myself (even then the Glory belongs to God; he did many things in secret in my life and has brought me to the secret knowledge that even before Christ I was NOTHING and Did Nothing on my own...WOW) but who I am in and through Jesus in this journey is completely new. I often feel like I'm starting over again. Everyday I'm learning to do this journey with Jesus - the Grace and Mercy that involves is both beautiful but at the same time has given me a permission to fail. How can I NOT be ok with failing but yet God is ok with falling/failing? Woah!  Going to take sometime to envelope that notion into my life. I know he does not want me to fail but he gives me Grace when I do and that is way more than what I can say for myself. Incredible God.

I was emotionally hungry when I was losing weight and maintaining. I fed myself through Running. That addiction replaced my food addiction. At the time I knew that and totally thought, what a BETTER trade off! God says different. So here I am and I learn to feel again, I learn to struggle again and this time I can't eat my way through it, this time I can't run my way through it. Lord Help me! Precisely his point! That is an exciting promise. Through God this journey WILL be succesful. On my own, I'm bound to ultimately fail and even if I did keep the weight off - I'd fail in my soul/spirit. I need wholeness in my trinity (Body/Soul/Spirit) I can ONLY get through the Cross. I praise and Thank my Lord daily. Amen!

I spend my running days on God. My Runs are Worship and Continued Self Discovery. I'm thankful for the Soul Shift inside my running and my Life!

Prophetic Poetry #1

To the man lying in wait, the time has come for you to reap what you have benefited from all along. The earth dried up and the sun scoured down. 

Refined and beaten to what is left is the only thing that matters to God. 

When you find yourself on empty, you are actually where God wants you to be, burnt up, refined and set ablaze for the fire of God roars inside you.

 I gathered the twigs and put them on your blaze. 

You consumed all you had, till you had your fill. 

It raged and consumed and devoured. 

Whats left is ashes and the core of who you are is in tact. 

I have preserved you for a time just as this!

Do you have a Relationship or Religion?

Spirit of Religion wages war against the grace of God in our lives and acceptance of Jesus' work as true fulfillment of God's covenant between God and man.  A hypocrite is someone who claims to know and understand the Grace of God but fails to LIVE it out. We don't do this intentionally, rather we fall victim to it because in the hypocrisy we find a twisted self fulfilling purpose to it.

Religion & Relationship Simply Don't mix. Here are some key identifying factors of the Religious Spirit. Read each one carefully and get with the Holy Spirit and determine if you have been experiencing the symptoms of a religious spirit:  

• judgmental- You look at others and form opinions about their relationship or heart
• self-righteousness- You feel "perfect" in comparison to others
• religious pride- You pat yourself on the back for being a "Great Christian"
• criticism- You get busy pointing out flaws in the church or with ministry etc
• legalism- You live by a set of Human standards in your life/home/church/ministry
• perfectionism- Your aim is to be perfect
• division- Constant conflicts in marriage/church/family/ministry
• error (doctrinal falsehood)- A demon would love more than anything to mislead you from the true meaning of scripture-
• unbelief- the spirit would love to lead you to disbelieve the power of God and his Grace
• doubt- Uncertainty to the Scriptures, Who God is and what he can do for you
• confusion- If you are confused- we know that is not from God- he is not the Author of Confusion- that confusion comes from an unclean spirit-
• argumentative- Nit picking the bible/scriptures with friends/family/brothers/sisters in Christ
• false holiness-  Self Belief that you are Perfect no matter what
• salvation by works- Because of your inequity you will make it up to God by doing great works in others ways.
• guilt- Constant feelings like you let God down and you are failing him
• condemnation- Doing it to others or feeling it being done to you
• fear of losing salvation-
• fear of God (unhealthy, scared feeling)
• intolerance- intolerant of the world/people/ideas (Living with fixed ideas)
• Having a feeling of not being "good enough" for God
• Living by Tradition to be "right" with God 
• Adhering to a set of Rules outside the commands of the Bible
• Experiencing feelings that you are either always right and everyone else is wrong
• Someone in Christ that believes that they know "it all"
•  Someone who is not growing spiritually may have a religious spirit 
• Wanting others to be punished for the wicked behavior - more interested in punishment and justice vs giving them grace & mercy

That was just a list. Truth is, each person needs to reflect on their personal life, ministry and church to determine if this legion of demons is destroying you from the inside out.

Signs of the Religious Spirit

• You are burned out - you do all your work through your works and not through the power and ministry of the spirit 
• You fail to take care of yourself (Physically, soulfully and spiritually) 
• You stop communing with God 
• Your prayers are focused on others and rarely for yourself. For you feel you must work for everything and not deserving of his provisions so you stop praying for yourself and only focus on others 
• You become consumed by focusing on others and their walk with God- what they think, what they are doing, what their theological bases are etc. 
• You can reflect on a time in the past when your walk with Christ was full of grace. 
• Your friendships and marriage is lacking deep intimacy (if you are not having it with the Father, likely you are not having intimacy with the your spouse) 
• You become consumed by studying the word of God AND fail to Live it out! This is just like the pharisees- they knew the word of God but failed to live it out and that made them Hypocrites. The challenge is discovering if you too are the Hypocrite?

 In order to be Free from this Spirit- you must call it out! If you have a spirit of Religion then you need to get with God and Pray. You need to begin to rebuke that spirit from within your life, church etc. You need to own the grace and mercy that Jesus provides. If you refuse the Grace and Mercy you fail to interact with God because it's through the Cross that you find any true peace, joy and redemption.