Good Morning Girls Devotional Week 8: Our Bodies Tuesday reading

I think this is a touchy subject for all of us. But this is a good reminder that we must treat our bodies well, as God intended.

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own body, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 


S: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own body, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 

O: If our body is a temple, then I am really in trouble! My temple is falling apart! I think this is something we are all guilty of. The chips, soda, unhealthy snack, junk food, fast foods. The list goes on and on. Our temples are in disrepair. 

We have good intentions. We all know we have to excersize more, eat better, and get enough sleep. Yet, we always have an excuse not to do these things. We don't have enough time, we don't have enough money. The list goes on and on. 

God tells us we need to treat our bodies better. He made us and He doesn't want to see us fall apart. We need to make a plan to treat ourselves better. We need to remember why we were created. We need to remember that when we take care of ourselves we are taking care of God's creation.

A: My husband and I are going on a diet. He needs to lose weight because of the swelling in his legs. I just need to lose weight because I have arthritis in my knees and back and all this extra weight isn't helping things any.

It's never easy when you go on a diet. But this is something we both need to do because we HAVE to. God's temple is falling down around our ears! Just like any building that is falling apart, it can be rebuilt and redone to any way we want. So, we'll set some goals and try our best to lose the weight and remember we are doing it for our health and to glorify God.

P: Lord, You have given us our bodies to glorify Your works. We are built in Your image. But sometimes we forget that. Help us to remember that we need to take care of our bodies that You gave us. Our bodies are a reflection of You. Help us to be strong while we renew our bodies and our souls. Fill us with Your love and peace instead of empty calories and empty food. Our food comes from Your word and Your love. Let us strive to be as You wanted us to be. Amen.

Good Morning Girls Devotional Week 8 Your Health

Well, after being so seriously behind, I'm going to buckle down and get this last week done. Especially since we'll be starting a new study tomorrow! 

READ: Psalm 139: 13-16

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.1

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

  My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

S: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

O: How many times have we looked in the mirror and not liked what we've seen? We see all our flaws and imperfections. We see all the things we are not. We see ourselves as we think others see us as. But that's not how God sees us.

Society tells us that we are to hide our flaws. You need to be thinner, younger looking, have the best clothes. You have to be the perfect wife and/or mother. Buy this, use that and you'll be perfect. We fall for it all the time. 

1 Peter 3-5 tells us " Don't try to make yourselves 
beautiful on the outside, with stylish hair or by wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes. Instead, make yourselves beautiful on the inside, in your hearts, with the enduring quality of a gentle, peaceful spirit. This type of beauty is very precious in God's eyes. For it was in this way that holy women who trusted in God used to make themselves beautiful..."

As I like to say, God don't make ugly! God has made us in His image. We are exactly the way we are supposed to be. Outward beauty will fade over time. But it is the beauty that is on the inside that will carry us over for all our natural lives. It is the beauty of faith, of love, of knowing that we are true children of God. 

A: I am just as guilty as the next person of not liking what I see in the mirror. I have such a poor self-image that most times I don't even want to look in the mirror.

But I need to remember that God made me this way for a reason. I am who I am. If people can't accept me the way I am, then I don't need those people in my life. 

It is our job to build people up. It is our job to trust in God. I need to really remember this. I should have it tattooed across my forehead!! lol I need to remember that I am fearfully and wonderfully made because God designed me! I am an original! I am a child of God!

P: Lord Jesus, we need to remember that Your Father created us in His image. That God our Father makes no mistakes. We need to stop listening to the people who are "of this world" and start listening to You. Help us to see all of what we are as perfect. Remind us that You love us regardless. We are the way we are for a reason. Help us to remember that. In Your Name we pray. Amen.

Good Morning Girls Week 3- Let’s Be Intentional

Week 3 Challenge: Let’s pray specifically this week for us to be more sensitive to the spirits working in our hearts, to the lessons he is trying to teach, the impressions he is making and the sin he is convicting us of.  
    
Week 3 Memory Verse:   

    
Week 3: This week I’m going to be intentionally focused on: I'm going to try and focus on the good things in life. Whenever I get stressed I will think of all the good things God has created upon this earth, including His Word.
 




Week 3: The Mind (YouTube Video)
 

Good Morning Girls, Intentionally Focused Week 3

From Tuesday, 2/4/14: Romans 12:1-2

S:  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

O:  I did a little reading up on this particular verse. I went to Bible.org for a good, solid explanation. Turns out, this one little paragraph has a lot to say! "This verse is one of the most important in the entire Bible and contains more key theological terms and truths for its size than perhaps any other verse of Scripture." Wow! Who knew.

So, let's see... Paul is telling the Romans that they are to present their bodies to God as an offering. This is where "the body is a temple" must come from. We are offering our entire selves to God. It is telling us what we should do. Time to put into action the things we have learned. 

Paul is also telling us not to conform to the ways of this world, but to the ways of God's kingdom. To really think about our actions. If we bend to God's way, then that is truly the right way. 

A: How to apply this to my life? First off, to take better care of myself both physically and mentally. To show God that I know how to take care of what He gave me. Secondly, to realize that I am important and to stop putting myself down all the time. God doesn't make mistakes, so why should I look at myself that way? Third, to always try to do the will of God. To do things as if I were doing them for Him.

P: Jesus, help me to be the person You designed me to be. Help me to look at myself the way You see me. Help me to see past all my faults and imperfections. I pray that I become the person You hoped and dreamed for me to be. Amen.

Good Morning Girls, Intentionally Focused Week 3

My dear friends, I am trying to play catch up with my bible studies. I am 3 weeks behind. So tonight I am going to make an effort to at least get a few days worth done. 

The reading from Week 3, Wednesday 2/5/14:

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

S: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.


O: In Paul's letter to the Philippians, he reminds them to focus on what's good in their life. He tells them to not think of the bad things. He says to share the good things they think about with each other. That is how we encourage one another.

A: This is definitely something I apply in my life. I know when I am troubled or overwrought, I try to focus on beautiful things. I'll Google things like flowers, gardens, tea sets, whatever I can think of to soothe my mind. And that's what Paul is reminding us to do. Focus on the beautiful, the peaceful, whatever is honest and true. Don't think of the bad.

P: Father, I pray that in times of trouble, in times of stress and strife, You will help me to focus on all the beauty in the world around me. To take notice of the small things. Help me to share these things with others so that I can be an encouragement to them. Amen.