This weekend I did something I need to do far more frequently… I took time to BREATHE!

I set aside an entire day, to do nothing but BREATHE in God’s Spirit and BREATHE out His Love! I sat still amongst tall redwood trees. I surrounded myself with friends who love Jesus. I listened to Truth from God’s Word. I sang songs of worship to my God. And I BREATHED! I breathed in God’s Spirit, and I breathed out God’s Love.

I will admit to you that it was not easy! Although, “breathing” is one of the most fundamental activities we do every second of every day, I mean, after all, it is necessary if we want to continue living, it can be one of the most difficult activities to put into practice spiritually!

Seriously, if we do not take air in through our lungs and “inhale,” and then let the air out and “exhale,” we will die! It’s plain and simple! It is the way our creator designed it.

However, I have come to realize that “Spiritual Breathing” is just as vital to our existence as Physical Breathing is. If we desire to LIVE this Christian life and not just walk through it, we must learn to Breathe spiritually.

This is easier said than done! I had to set aside other opportunities to participate in, in order to BREATHE Spiritually. I was presented with two of my very favorite activities the same day I had set aside to BREATHE. My sister and nephew planned a trip to visit my “Happy Place”, Disneyland, on the same day! They offered to take me with them. I had to say no, and it was not easy! To make the decision even more difficult, they were traveling to Disneyland in Southern California where my daughter and grand babies live! Now, I was saying no to spending time with my family that I love and miss! That was certainly NOT EASY! Then, one of my favorite conferences which is usually far from where I live, was coming to Sacramento, only 2 hours away, which was drivable, and I had to say no again! Truly Not Easy!

As hard as it was to say no to these other “good” opportunities, I knew God was calling me to BREATHE! To Breathe in His Holy Spirit and to BREATHE out His Love!

The dilemma comes when we make the mistake of thinking that we can live our spiritual lives without taking the time to BREATHE God in! That’s the inhaling part. We never stop to think about breathing in physically. We simply suck in the air God has placed around us in His perfect atmosphere. But what would happen if something prevented us from taking in that air. Would we fight with all of our might to free ourselves from what ever was hindering us from breathing physically? Of course we would! We would pull those covers off of our head so quickly that our hair would stand up on end! We would tear that plastic bag off with such physical force that we would feel like a super hero. It would be our natural reaction to anything hindering us from breathing! We want to live! We fight to breathe physically.

Now think about this question, do we fight to breathe spiritually? Do you really fight to push all distractions out of your way so you can breathe spiritually? Do you set aside whatever hinders you from sitting at God’s feet, reading His Word, taking in His creation around you, and listening for His voice?

Are you willing to do whatever you need to do to practice “Being still and knowing He Is God?”
To sit still long enough and calm your mind, heart, and life down so that you can take a deep breath in and feel His Spirit fill you up. Then to breathe out (exhale), His love to all those around you. I believe this is as vital to our spiritual life as breathing is to our physical life!

Without Breathing in God’s Spirit on a regular basis, we will die spiritually! It is a slow death. We may not even notice it at first. We lose our joy and enthusiasm, our pace and service slows down, we attend church less and less and being a part of a small group becomes a distant memory. Before we know it we are walking around out of duty and obligation, as lifeless as a corpse! Our physical body continues to breath in the air around it, but our spiritual body is dry and lifeless.

In Genesis 2:7 it tells us that the reason we have physical life is because God breathed His breath into us…

“God breathed the Breath of Life into man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” Genesis 2:7

Did you catch that? God had already created man, but man was not LIVING until God BREATHED LIFE INTO HIM!

We are alive because God Breathed His Life into us! We remain alive in Him when we take the time to BREATHE Him in!

Truth Bomb

Breathing God in is vital to our spiritual life!

It is worth it my friends! When we take time to “BE STILL AND KNOW HE IS GOD,” He gives us His PEACE. He frees us from anxiety, tension, pressure and worry. When we Breathe Him in, His spirit refreshes us and gives us vitality and joy. We have a spring in our step. We look forward to being in fellowship with fellow believers and we can’t wait to get to church and to our small group. Our bodies are filled with the life only God can give and we are ALIVE!

You may be able to attend a Retreat like I did, but let’s face it, those do not come around everyday. When they do, I highly recommend you take advantage of them. They are a true spiritual high! I know I have a bigger spring in my step this week! But all of us can do something to BREATHE spiritually each day. You can remove distractions and read your Bible. You can journal what you feel God is teaching you through what you are reading or is speaking to you. You can listen to worship music and hear him speak and teach you through the words of the songs. You can take a walk in His beautiful creation, hear the birds sing, the bees buzz or the simple silence that surrounds you. You can simply be still, rest, and listen for His still small voice. You can practice inhaling and asking Him to bless you, hold your breath for a few seconds, than exhale and ask him to bless others through you as you do. These are the best ways I know how to BREATHE His Spirit in DAiLY, and Breathe His love out to others around me as I walk in the vibrancy of the life He fills me with.

I am Spiritually ALIVE as I BREATHE HIS SPIRIT IN AND BREATHE HIS LOVE OUT!

Speak Truth Love

 

 

This week we continue on in the theme of “Accepting Challenges!”

I shared my “Life Verse” with you last week through the VLOG and encouraged you to seek out and find your Life Verse and send it to me.

I am happy to share that several of you did just that! You “Accepted the Challenge” and proved that you too, are “getting into shape!”

Now I know that I spoke last week about my 30 day challenge to give up sugar, grains, dairy and Diet Coke. I also shared about my challenge to move this body God gave me each and every day. And yes, hopefully with commitment and repetition the best of doctors tell us that I should see a change in my health and shape.

I want to be healthy so that I have endurance to run this race that God has set before me!

“…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.”    Hebrews 12:1

That is why I am doing my best to “strip off every weight that slows me down.” But this Blog and my Challenge is not about losing weight, looking good, or even exercising. This Blog/VLOG is dedicated to what I believe is the “race God has set before me to run with endurance,” which is, Speaking His Truth In Love!

That is the reason that I chose to share my three part challenge with you. The third part and the least important part, is the physical. Without taking Step One, to get up early and put God’s Word into my heart and mind, and Step Two, to step out in faith to Blog and VLOG, I would never have the strength to accomplish Step Three, eating healthy foods for my mind and body!

The “getting into shape” that I am referring to is the kind that lasts forever! It is the kind of shape that draws us closer to our living God. It is the kind of shape that forms our character into those that care, love and give selflessly to others. It is the kind of shape that puts the power of the Word of God into our lives and changes us and the lives of others. It is the kind of shape that puts us at risk to being conformed to the image of Christ!

It truly is the only “getting into shape” that really matters! It is the putting of God’s Word into our lives daily so that as the prophet Isaiah shared; “The Word of God will accomplish the purpose for which God gave it.”

I was blessed and encouraged by all of the verses you shared and I want to share them this week with all of us, so that we can all be encouraged by them.

When we talk about the Word of God we are speaking about POWER! GOD’S POWER!
The only power to accept any challenge God gives, and accomplish it!

As you read the powerful LIFE VERSES these women have shared with you and I, I pray it will encourage you to step out in Faith, find your LIFE VERSE, and develop a “DANGEROUS HABIT!” The habit of reading scripture and allowing it to “SHAPE” your life!

Debbie shared: Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, For the Lord Your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Sheri shared: Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in The Lord with all your heartened lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Kelly shared: Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

These women have stepped into the Challenge with me to “Develop the Dangerous Habit of Allowing God’s Word to Shape Your Life.”

“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Do you want to get into shape? Are you ready for the Power of the Word of God to cut away anything in you that doesn’t look like JESUS? Are you ready to have your life changed into the very purpose that God created you for? Are you willing to get into the best shape you have ever been in in your life?

Then Let’s GO!!!! Let’s accept this Challenge together to form the “Dangerous Habit” of reading Scripture daily! God promises it will change us from the inside out, and put us in the best shape we have ever been in! The shape God intended for us to be in!

TRUTH BOMB

Reading God’s Word daily, whips you into shape!

That’s the challenge this week friends, TO BE IN THE WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY!
YOU CAN DO IT! Open up the word of God, and let it’s transforming power whip you into the best shape you have ever been in!

We are in this together! See you back here next week as God lays another TRUTH BOMB on us! KABOOM!

Speak Truth Love

 

Week two of continuing my challenge to trust God at the next level! As I step out in faith and do a VLOG!

Today is day 30 of my 30 day challenge! As I come to the end of this challenge, God presents me with a new beginning. A beginning to continue putting Him first each morning, moving my body, and staying healthy in my eating choices. It is at the same time that my precious granddaughter, my Cami Cakes, faces a new beginning in her life as she closes another.

Cami is starting Kindergarten!

Here you go, VLOG #2…

Truth Bomb

With every ending, God gives us a new beginning!

In our own strength, we are not necessarily able to take on each new beginning we are presented with. But with God’s strength and our dependence and reliance on Him, we are MORE than able!

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Excited to meet you back here next week as you find and share some of your life verses!

Speak Truth Love

 

Today is the day! I’m just a woman with a voice and I believe God has given me a voice to speak His Truth in Love!

I have been challenged by God in three specific areas, as I’ve been sharing over the past three weeks. Today, I am sharing two of those three challenges, and next week I’ll be sharing on the third. The challenge has been hard, but God has been faithful! Today is the day that I start my first Vlog! Ah! Even typing that is hard to believe! It is in no way perfect, but it is honest and real-something I think as women, we have a hard time doing! I pray God somehow uses this to bless you as you encounter the giants in your life!

 

Truth Bomb

In order to complete our challenge we must slay our giants!

“David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword, and spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.‘”   1 Samuel 17:45

Whatever challenge you have to face, or whatever giant you have to slay, remember the Lord your God is with you! With Him, you cannot fail, with Him there is no giant too great!

Speak Truth Love

ROUTINE! What pops into your mind when you hear that word? Does it excite you at the thought of something familiar? Or, does it make your stomach turn a bit at the thought of doing something over and over and over again?

The Dictionary defines routine as, “commonplace tasks, chores or duties as must be done regularly.”

My favorite definition of the word routine is by Eugene Peterson,” A Long Obedience In The Same Direction.” He also wrote a book with the same title.

In this book he brings clarity to the idea of making a commitment, or in my case, accepting a challenge, and following through on it til the end no matter the cost. Too often, we make a commitment, or accept a challenge and when the “routine” of it falls into place, we quit, we give up, we find excuses to rationalize why it’s perfectly fine for us to throw in the towel and not complete the course.

If it were not for the strength of God living in and through me, I would too, easily quit, throw in the towel, and give up. The struggle I must face and deal with, each and everyday, for it truly is a daily struggle, is to create a daily routine that begins and ends with each new day. To think beyond that, can set us up for failure. But when I take each day that God has given me and say, “this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it,” and then ask Him to give me the strength to follow through on my commitment that day, then I am learning the “routine” of spiritual discipline and commitment. As I routinely  practice that “routine” every morning, I find that Day 1 turns into Day 2, and then into Day 9, and then into Day 16. And I can say in confidence to my God who gives me the ability to persevere, “Thank you for the grace to have accomplished my challenge one more day!”

The strongest Biblical example that I draw strength from in this area is Daniel. As a young man, kidnapped and taken from his family and country, he did not let his circumstances of fear, doubt, change, etc, veer him from his routine. Daniel was committed to God and to daily discipline  that kept his physical body, his emotional body and his spiritual body clean and right before God. Allowing him to be in the best, physical, emotional and spiritual health no matter where he was or what he had to deal with. Even while tempted with the richest of foods that royalty had to offer, Daniel remained true to his God and to his routine.

Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. he asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.”

Daniel makes this commitment and sets this standard for all of us when he was a “young man.” The true encouragement and inspiration comes as we follow Daniel through his life, and see that the commitment to this godly routine was maintained throughout his lifetime! As a much older man, Daniel is faced again with a great challenge, and we see him continue to remain faithful to his God and his routine. They tried to trap Daniel because they knew that he prayed to God, three times every day! When faced with prison or even death, Daniel’s routine had become his lifestyle and he would not stray from it. The king’s decree went forth not to pray to any other god, but Daniel kept doing what he routinely did!

Daniel 6:20 says, “Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”

We live in a culture of indulgences. We open up a refrigerator or a cupboard full of food and say, “we have nothing to eat,” which actually means we don’t have what we want to eat. One television in our homes isn’t enough, we need one in every room. Our car isn’t “nice” enough, so we overextend ourselves and take on the big payment because we “need” it. We have a nice two bedroom house, but another baby is on the way so we need a bigger one. We don’t like someone we work with or we feel misunderstood, so we quit that job and get another. We don’t like the sermon the pastor preached that last weekend so we church hop, looking for the next best one to meet our personal taste and need. And the word routine becomes boring and easily expendable and traded in for something new. So we quit and move onto the next “latest and greatest.” But when it comes to our spiritual lives, when it comes to making a commitment to God, this can prove to hurt us in a deep way. We want the end result of glory, without the daily grind of routine.

Eugene Peterson puts it eloquently when he says, “There is a great market for religious experience in our world. There is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.”

Truth Bomb

Anything worth the end prize will take a dedicated routine of daily sacrifice.

My sixteen days living out my challenge have not been easy, or without sacrifice. However, after only sixteen days, I feel a stronger sense of commitment and dedication, and a true sense of believing that with Christ as my strength, I truly can accomplish the challenge He has set before me!

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

I pray that whatever challenge you are facing,  you would be able to give it to God daily and develop the routine of godly discipline!

 

Speak Truth Love