This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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               Take Advantage Of His Grace

God is releasing a grace upon His children to get healthy this year.
This includes things like weight loss, better nutrition, reduction in
eating-related illnesses, general overall increased strength and energy
and better tuned (exercise-wise) bodies.

He isn't doing this as an instant healing, but by taking us through a
process of diet and exercise and submitting our eating and bodies and
workouts to His Lordship. He is willing to show us what eating plan He has
for each of us personally. And He is giving us an increased grace to be
able to stick to that plan successfully. He is also speaking to us about
what type of exercise He wants us to do and then be with us as we to it.
He is lending us additional strength and endurance (physically) as well as
extra determination and will power (mentally). He wants to be our source,
to strengthen and enable us and to help us get in to better shape.

Why? It is because our bodies are His temple, and He wants us to clean
up the temple and get it into good shape, so that He can fill it with His
glory. God has things ahead of us that He wants us to do, but we need to
be in better shape to be able to effectively do them with/for Him. So this
year, 2005, is a year of His grace on His body for us to get into better
physical shape. That means that as we are willing to obey Him in this, He
will help us do it. He will cause us to succeed as we become fully
committed to obeying Him in this.

Now, here is the catch. God did not promise it would be easy and trial-free.
Diet and exercise programs rarely are. He has promised that He will be with
us in it, that He will help us overcome the difficulties we encounter and
that He will give us victory in this area of our lives and walk.

Right now the whole western world is pretty much overweight and out of
shape. In the USA, the surgeon general put out a report that most Americans
are overweight and we need to do something about this as a nation.  And
other nations have released similar reports.  And God's people are just as
out of shape as everyone else.  There are some who are trim/fit/healthy among
both Christians and unbelievers. But many in both camps are out of shape.
And this is an area where God wants to begin to put a difference between
His people and the rest of the world. God wants to get His people into
shape so that the world can look and say: "God makes a difference in the
lives of His people in terms of getting and staying healthy."

God's plan for you personally is health and success in this area. But it is
not just about you -- you are part of a bigger picture of what God wants to
do.  Part of God's strategy right now is to prove to the world that He can
(and does) make a difference in the area of physical health, weight and diet
and nutrition and exercise. And you are a part of His plan. He wants you to
succeed for you, so that your joy might be full. But He also wants you to
succeed for Him, that He might bring glory to His name by what He does in
the lives of His people. He wants the unsaved to see that He makes a
difference in practical things, in problems that they are facing and cannot
solve on their own strength. He wants them to turn to Him for help in those
areas.  He desires to draw the lost to Himself.

And in order for God to accomplish His desire in this area, you need to
cooperate with Him. You need to get on board with His program. You need
to put your eating and your exercise and your overall health and fitness-
lifestyle under His lordship. You need to give Him control of those areas
of your life and you need to begin to obey the things He shows you to do.
As you commit to obey Him in this, He will release a grace on you to make
you successful in it.

He wants to use you as part of what He is doing to bring glory to His name.
He wants to make you successful in your individual weigh loss and fitness
and He wants to do this in the lives of each of His people.

Are you willing?