I have heard of it, but I never knew that I was addicted. I guess denial had something to do with it. My best friend can eat anything and still weigh 49 kgs. She weighed 63 kgs at full term pregnancy, get that! And me? I have weighed over 100 kgs for as longs as I can remember. I was 99 kgs last February and that was me at my smallest in a while. That’s how bad it has been. But God is faithful and will always help us out when we call to him.
At the beginning of this year, the Lord called me into a life of prayer and fasting. The prayer was okay but the fasting was punishment. I couldn’t even imagine it. But he gave me the grace and I began to fast the best I could, a meal a week. It sounds like little, but for a person that would eat every couple of hours it was a lot. Soon, I got better and better and have continued to progress well in that area. Now I’m fasting two days a week from sun up to sundown. I’m still trying to get to all water only for 24 hours and I believe I will.
But this is what fasting has done in the area of weight loss, it has broken the bondage of food addiction. I am no longer tied to food. Now I can actually wait until I am truly hungry before I eat. I used to almost panic without food in my bag or my drawer at work. I needed that comfort, and I used it for everything. When I was stressed I ate, when I was angry or anxious I ate. When I was sad or lonely, I ate. That was a lot of eating.
Now I am free. The Lord is who I run to when I am anxious, stressed, angry, lonely or sad. I have no need to eat all the time. And I can see it in the way the weight is coming off me. I am so blessed.
If you are struggling with a food addiction, call to God and start to fast. Even just one meal a week. He says he will teach you how to profit. That word is multi faceted. He will show you how to get the most out of your body so that you live a long and healthy life on the earth.
Friday, March 7, 2008
TAE-BO
I will vouch for it for as long as I live! It is fun, hard and addictive. I mean I’m running home to work out in the evening after my day’s work. I love my work out. I have Cardio which is 35 min long and rigorous. My weight did not change this week. I guess the Tae-Bo and the lifting have built some muscle which caused this, but I am not alarmed. I know next week will be awesome. And my clothes, they are just falling off of me. I will have to either have a tailor adjust them, or have get a new wardrobe. I’m going with the tailor for now because there is still so much to lose. And guess what?! Clothes that I have not won in over a year fit again. I have dug out all those old clothes that I really could not part with even though I couldn’t fit in them, and some of them are beginning to sag. Now that is a good problem to have. It’s amazing how losing 7 kgs and tightening your body affects your dress size. If you would like to get a Tae-Bo work out, there is a guy selling the DVD’s on Moi Avenue right by Sanford the chips place for a Sok! How about that?!!! Enjoy your work out.
A DIFFERENT SPIRIT
The Call Centre industry in Kenya is young and was already faced with its own difficulties before the political chaos that rocked our nation after the elections. The few of us who had been privileged to spy the land saw that it was a good land, and many begun opening up fledgling call centres in the hope of cashing in on the milk and honey. However, with the challenge of finding clients exacerbated by the post election violence I am beginning to hear whining and complaining among many. Some wishing they had invested in another business or a different venture. They have spied the land, and surely it flows with milk and honey, but the challenges that stand in the way of the promise seem too difficult to bear.
Numbers 13 & 14 is the same thing. The spies loved the land but the price to be paid to attain it was not considered equivalent to the reward. They said the people dwelling there were strong, the cities were fortified and large so taking them was going to be a challenge, and there were giants there! Now the instructions they had been given by Moses were to spy along with everything else these listed here:
Whether the land is rich or poor, good or bad
Whether the people are weak or strong, few or many
Whether the cities are camps or strongholds
The land was the promise, the people were the challenge and the cities where the obstacles. They went out in the hope that the Land would be good, the people weak and living in camps. Uuuuhhhhh… Not so!!! The greater the reward, the greater the challenges.
When God was asking them to go spy the land, he wanted them to focus on the goodness of it, the profitability of it. He wanted them to see the Milk and the Honey, the Sugar, spice and all things nice! But true to form, they saw the work that had to be done. The fortified cities and the giants and they immediately concluded “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” how terrible! And do you know why they saw themselves as grasshoppers in light of all the challenges? Because they had taken God out of the equation. Because had they acknowledged the help of their God, after giving that report they would have said what Caleb said “Let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it”
Kenyans in the Call Centre industry, believe in the Lord your God for he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you can think or imagine (Eph 3:20). Don’t look at your own ability, for surely you will see yourself as a grasshopper in light of all the challenges the industry is facing, but see yourself hidden in God. It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. Therefore let us go up at once and take possession of the global outsourcing industry for we are well able to overcome it!
Look at what Joshua and Caleb say in Ch 14 vs 7-8 “The land we passed through to spy is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey”
What are you seeing when you look into the outsourcing industry in Kenya? The good of the land or the challenges? And when you have taken stock of the challenges, do you stagger at the promise or do you consider your God well able to bring it to pass?
And the Lord had a testimony regarding Caleb son of Jephunneh “But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” Numbers 14:24 Because he had a different spirit, a spirit that saw the good of the land, took stock of the challenges and concluded that God was more than able to give him the land, he inherited the land.
And you know the rest of the story…the spies who saw only the challenges and did not take into account the power of their God, and spread that bad report to the rest of Israel died that very day. And the others, all who were 20 years of age and above died in the wilderness, having roamed that same dry, barren place for 40 years. Going around in circles all their lives because they “despised” the land (Numbers 14:31). Do not despise the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Do not stagger at the promise because of the challenges before you. Our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can think or imagine and because of His power and in His name we are well able to take the land and overcome it.
Let all the Joshua’s and Caleb’s in the Kenyan Outsourcing Industry shout it with me:
“I AM OF A DIFFERENT SPIRIT”
Numbers 13 & 14 is the same thing. The spies loved the land but the price to be paid to attain it was not considered equivalent to the reward. They said the people dwelling there were strong, the cities were fortified and large so taking them was going to be a challenge, and there were giants there! Now the instructions they had been given by Moses were to spy along with everything else these listed here:
Whether the land is rich or poor, good or bad
Whether the people are weak or strong, few or many
Whether the cities are camps or strongholds
The land was the promise, the people were the challenge and the cities where the obstacles. They went out in the hope that the Land would be good, the people weak and living in camps. Uuuuhhhhh… Not so!!! The greater the reward, the greater the challenges.
When God was asking them to go spy the land, he wanted them to focus on the goodness of it, the profitability of it. He wanted them to see the Milk and the Honey, the Sugar, spice and all things nice! But true to form, they saw the work that had to be done. The fortified cities and the giants and they immediately concluded “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” how terrible! And do you know why they saw themselves as grasshoppers in light of all the challenges? Because they had taken God out of the equation. Because had they acknowledged the help of their God, after giving that report they would have said what Caleb said “Let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it”
Kenyans in the Call Centre industry, believe in the Lord your God for he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you can think or imagine (Eph 3:20). Don’t look at your own ability, for surely you will see yourself as a grasshopper in light of all the challenges the industry is facing, but see yourself hidden in God. It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. Therefore let us go up at once and take possession of the global outsourcing industry for we are well able to overcome it!
Look at what Joshua and Caleb say in Ch 14 vs 7-8 “The land we passed through to spy is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey”
What are you seeing when you look into the outsourcing industry in Kenya? The good of the land or the challenges? And when you have taken stock of the challenges, do you stagger at the promise or do you consider your God well able to bring it to pass?
And the Lord had a testimony regarding Caleb son of Jephunneh “But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” Numbers 14:24 Because he had a different spirit, a spirit that saw the good of the land, took stock of the challenges and concluded that God was more than able to give him the land, he inherited the land.
And you know the rest of the story…the spies who saw only the challenges and did not take into account the power of their God, and spread that bad report to the rest of Israel died that very day. And the others, all who were 20 years of age and above died in the wilderness, having roamed that same dry, barren place for 40 years. Going around in circles all their lives because they “despised” the land (Numbers 14:31). Do not despise the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Do not stagger at the promise because of the challenges before you. Our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can think or imagine and because of His power and in His name we are well able to take the land and overcome it.
Let all the Joshua’s and Caleb’s in the Kenyan Outsourcing Industry shout it with me:
“I AM OF A DIFFERENT SPIRIT”
HIS PRESENCE
PS 42:1-2 is the only way to describe how I feel about his presence and his glory.
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
I want his presence. I need him to be so real to me that I carry on a conversation with him all day. That sin does not have a place in my life because He is so real, I can’t get myself to commit sin in his presence. Often I forget that he is there. That his eyes roam to and fro, that nothing is hidden from him. O’ that you were as real to me as I am to myself O’ God! That is the cry of my heart this morning. I want God. I want to know him. I want to be wrapped up in his presence, every inch of my life, every area permeated by his glory. “When shall I come and appear before God?”
Exodus 33-34 is my most challenging scripture right now. God was so real to Moses. He spoke to Him face to face as a man speaks to His friend. If I too have been called a friend of God by virtue of redemption, and God shows no partiality, why is my relationship with God not like this? I want more Lord. I want a deeper relationship with you. I want to speak to you as a man speaks to his friend.
God has said to me “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey” But I am saying with Moses “If your presence does not go with [me], do not bring [me] up from here”
Why was it so important that the Presence of God, his glory go with the Israelites? Check out the benefits:
His Favor will be evident (undeniable proof)
There will be a separation or a distinction between the others and them because of God’s favor over their lives
What does that mean? That the presence carries with it divine favor, divine protection, divine provision, divine healing, divine direction, divine peace and joy, divine abundance every single thing that is in God is in the Presence so you have the best. This meant that even in famine, Israel would continue to have plenty (Ps 37:19, Gen 26), that the supernatural is what operated in their lives always and not the natural. This is evident in their journey through the wilderness, they were supernaturally fed, clothed, their thirst was quenched and they had need of nothing that God did not provide for them.
With the presence of God active in your life, when the economy is in a slump, you will not be in a slump, when others are complaining they can’t get clients, clients will be flocking to your business. When everyone else is broke, every day will be pay day for you. God’s presence dictates the circumstances, not the other way round.
Moses was greedy for God as I’m I. When God told him he would go with Israel he said to Him “Please show me your glory” Ex 33:18. I want to see the glory of God. I want Isaiah 60 to come alive for me and to be a physical thing, a manifestation for me. I want the glory of God to shine in my life like the break of dawn. When the sun comes out and day finally breaks, the darkness is gone and you can see clearly. That is what I want. The light of the sun brings life to everything it touches. How much more the glory of the living God? Come Lord. Come in all your glory and majesty. Come touch my whole life. Every bit of it, every inch of me, Spirit, Soul and Body that I may live and not die. It is the entrance of his glory that paves a road in the wilderness that makes rivers in the desert. The glory of God turns every barren land fruitful and ushers you into the land of Promise. A land flowing with milk and honey.
And see how the Lord answers: “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you…” So when you cry “Show me your glory” His goodness passes before you and walks with you. Then Ps 23:6 is fulfilled in your life “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me…” All that pertains to his goodness, all good gifts are ushered into your life. How wonderful is our God?! And he proclaims his name before you. And what happens when he proclaims his name? “Every knee shall bow in heaven, on the earth and under the earth” and “Every tongue confess that He is Lord” So your circumstances must bow. Any opposing spirit must bow. Anything, thought, issue, enemy in your life must bow to his Name. How awesome is that?
And then he goes a step further, he says “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.” So while his favor is showered on you, and your enemies are vanquished before you, he puts you on a rock. A steady and stable place. An elevated place, a place of promotion. And then He gives you divine protection, covering you with his very own hand. You are hid in the “rock of ages” and covered there by his hand. Hallelujah!
With all this in place, who can but prosper? Who can but succeed? Who can but walk in their destiny?
O’ God of Israel. God of my Fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. May your presence come with me all through my journey on this earth and may you show me your glory. Do it for me I pray, for you are not a God who shows partiality. If you did it for Moses, you can do it for me. In Jesus name I ask it, Amen!
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
I want his presence. I need him to be so real to me that I carry on a conversation with him all day. That sin does not have a place in my life because He is so real, I can’t get myself to commit sin in his presence. Often I forget that he is there. That his eyes roam to and fro, that nothing is hidden from him. O’ that you were as real to me as I am to myself O’ God! That is the cry of my heart this morning. I want God. I want to know him. I want to be wrapped up in his presence, every inch of my life, every area permeated by his glory. “When shall I come and appear before God?”
Exodus 33-34 is my most challenging scripture right now. God was so real to Moses. He spoke to Him face to face as a man speaks to His friend. If I too have been called a friend of God by virtue of redemption, and God shows no partiality, why is my relationship with God not like this? I want more Lord. I want a deeper relationship with you. I want to speak to you as a man speaks to his friend.
God has said to me “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey” But I am saying with Moses “If your presence does not go with [me], do not bring [me] up from here”
Why was it so important that the Presence of God, his glory go with the Israelites? Check out the benefits:
His Favor will be evident (undeniable proof)
There will be a separation or a distinction between the others and them because of God’s favor over their lives
What does that mean? That the presence carries with it divine favor, divine protection, divine provision, divine healing, divine direction, divine peace and joy, divine abundance every single thing that is in God is in the Presence so you have the best. This meant that even in famine, Israel would continue to have plenty (Ps 37:19, Gen 26), that the supernatural is what operated in their lives always and not the natural. This is evident in their journey through the wilderness, they were supernaturally fed, clothed, their thirst was quenched and they had need of nothing that God did not provide for them.
With the presence of God active in your life, when the economy is in a slump, you will not be in a slump, when others are complaining they can’t get clients, clients will be flocking to your business. When everyone else is broke, every day will be pay day for you. God’s presence dictates the circumstances, not the other way round.
Moses was greedy for God as I’m I. When God told him he would go with Israel he said to Him “Please show me your glory” Ex 33:18. I want to see the glory of God. I want Isaiah 60 to come alive for me and to be a physical thing, a manifestation for me. I want the glory of God to shine in my life like the break of dawn. When the sun comes out and day finally breaks, the darkness is gone and you can see clearly. That is what I want. The light of the sun brings life to everything it touches. How much more the glory of the living God? Come Lord. Come in all your glory and majesty. Come touch my whole life. Every bit of it, every inch of me, Spirit, Soul and Body that I may live and not die. It is the entrance of his glory that paves a road in the wilderness that makes rivers in the desert. The glory of God turns every barren land fruitful and ushers you into the land of Promise. A land flowing with milk and honey.
And see how the Lord answers: “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you…” So when you cry “Show me your glory” His goodness passes before you and walks with you. Then Ps 23:6 is fulfilled in your life “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me…” All that pertains to his goodness, all good gifts are ushered into your life. How wonderful is our God?! And he proclaims his name before you. And what happens when he proclaims his name? “Every knee shall bow in heaven, on the earth and under the earth” and “Every tongue confess that He is Lord” So your circumstances must bow. Any opposing spirit must bow. Anything, thought, issue, enemy in your life must bow to his Name. How awesome is that?
And then he goes a step further, he says “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.” So while his favor is showered on you, and your enemies are vanquished before you, he puts you on a rock. A steady and stable place. An elevated place, a place of promotion. And then He gives you divine protection, covering you with his very own hand. You are hid in the “rock of ages” and covered there by his hand. Hallelujah!
With all this in place, who can but prosper? Who can but succeed? Who can but walk in their destiny?
O’ God of Israel. God of my Fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. May your presence come with me all through my journey on this earth and may you show me your glory. Do it for me I pray, for you are not a God who shows partiality. If you did it for Moses, you can do it for me. In Jesus name I ask it, Amen!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Weighty Matters
This is a belated skinny friday blog. Sorry!Welcome to the first official skinny Friday blog. At the beginning of this year the Lord spoke to me on the fact that my personal theme for this year is “supernatural.” When he said that, I did not think that included my health even though I have often confessed that I walk in divine health. However, my mentor says that health is also a factor of what you do. Do you eat right? Do you work out? Are you keeping your body fit for the master’s use?
I have been a heavy girl all my life and I bought into all the lies. You have large bones (which I do, but is my belly made of bones?), it’s genetic for you, you should just be happy the way you are… But how can you be happy when your weight issues eat into your self esteem, when going clothes shopping is a night mare because you either don’t find clothes in your size, and if you do they don’t look good on you, when you’re too embarrassed to go swimming with everyone else? How can you be happy when you are carrying disease and death in your body… diabetes, hypertension, fibroids (from hormonal imbalances brought on by obesity), arthritis and other diseases that are brought on or exacerbated by obesity.
Well, the Lord was quick to show me that the state of my body is of concern to him, and not only that, but that he is willing to come in, break the bondage of food addiction and guide me step by step into losing weight. The word of the Lord is sharper than any two edged sword, and when he speaks a word you can apply it into any area of your life. Is 48:17 says that he teaches us how to profit. He will teach you how to profit even in your health. How to ensure that your body functions in the perfection for which he created it. He will cause you to be strong, and toned and flexible. You will be able to jump and run and do all the silly things you wish you could.
I started this weight loss journey on January 28th and the Lord started by teaching me how to eat. He said “Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied.” I lost 6 lbs that first week, then 2 lbs the week after that and 3 lbs in the third week. 11 lbs in 3 weeks just by not overeating. I hit a plateau on week four and held steady. Last week was my fifth week in the journey, and I had two 20 min sessions of exercise and that jump started my weight loss again and I lost 3 lbs, and that brings me to a total of 14 lbs weight loss in 5 weeks. Isn’t God good? This has never happened before in my life. I am so blessed.
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