“The race is not for the weary nor for the weak, but for those that know that strength and power comes to those who seek! (Matthew 7:7)” ~Suzanne Cruz~
Faith to be fit, the title of todays post, has a dual dimensional meaning: spiritual & physical. 1Timothy 4:8 says that: “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” Finding the perfect balance between living a spiritual and physical life has been a challenge for me in the past. I tended to drift from one extreme to the other which made it difficult for me to live a loving, peaceful, joyful, & fulfilling life. Today, I can say that God has faithfully delivered on his promises, and I am a free woman living in harmony with the Spirit, completely in Love, faithfully hoping for a better tomorrow.
I’m excited to share that I’ll be starting a new personal website documenting my very own physical & spiritual transformation journey. Please feel free to visit my website which will be live soon… http://www.faithtobefit.com You can also like my personal page on facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/faithtobefit
Often we can trip up as believers in Christ when we walk by the flesh. We are called to a life of freedom in Christ which we all truly desire. This life of freedom in Christ is only possible when the flesh is crucified. Many of us, and I speak for myself in the past as well, walk around labelling ourselves as Christians, but are still living according to the desires and passions of the flesh. Does this mean that we are not loved? No, God loves us no matter what! Does this mean that our salvation is not secure? If one is truly saved, they will bear fruit worthy of the Spirit! Walking in step with the Spirit is the life with the Lord that all His children truly desire. How is this attainable? Some might say this teaching is too hard and fall away… they tried in their flesh but the flesh will fail. The Spirit is willing while the flesh is weak. So walking in the Spirit is not something we try to do it is attained by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT Himself.
In my personal walk, after professing myself as a Christian, and even after water baptism, I was still sinning because I was living a divided life partially by the flesh and at times obedient to the Spirit. In Scripture, God tells us to go and sin no more, which means be FREE. So therefore with God this is possible. We are also told that we should not sin because we are covered in His grace. “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” In truth this means to be holy which means free from sin. I used to ask God if it was possible to live the Gospel here on earth in this fallen world and His answer is Yes!
My personal journey may be very different from yours, but I can tell you that every experience that I’ve had walking in the Spirit has been completely in line with God’s Scripture. My spiritual baptism took place this year shortly after I was led by the Spirit to fast no food for 3 days. By spiritual baptism I mean true conversion. Having been crucified with Christ and living now by the Spirit, I am one with the Lord in love. My experience was not easy, in fact I ended up in a mental health hospital twice since my true conversion. I share this with you not to discourage you, but to encourage you that God is so good! I am completely free today and walking in step with the Spirit. Perfect according to perfection? NO. Holy according to the Spirit? YES.
Let us walk in the Spirit and not by the flesh. Let us pray!
God You are Holy, please God forgive us all our sins and make us new with You. In faith we receive your forgiveness and trust that You are faithful to complete the work that You begin in us this very moment. We ask that you equip us to walk in a manner worthy of Your Spirit never falling back into the flesh. For those who have walked and fallen please pick them up and forgive them and restore them to righteousness. Help us to love You dearly and love others as you will. May Your will be done and not ours ever! In Jesus name, Amen ❤
Recently I’ve learned that there is a difference between living a life filled with God’s blessings, and truly living a blessed life! A blessed life seeks to love the Lord beyond measure always. A blessed life seeks to love others with the love of God. A blessed life desires to willingly do the will of the Father. …To answer His call with Yes!
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding; to acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will direct our path.
I believe that our Heavenly Father calls all of His children to live the blessed life. Scripture attests to this truth that He came to give us life and life more abundantly. So while we sometimes stumble and fall in the pursuit of blessings, God still faithfully calls us to this blessed life that he has for us!
Let’s pray…
Father, Your desire as per your Word is that all your children respond to your call with a willing YES… Forgive us for responding in fear, thinking that we may not be ready or acceptable to you. Help us to know that today is the day of salvation and that we can totally trust in You to accomplish Your will. Help us to respond in faith and take action in obedience knowing that this is Your will for us. Help us to love you, and to love others with Your perfect love. Give us a heart that is willing to always say YES! Father, we love you! Thank You for the gift of this blessed life with You! Please order the footsteps of all your children and lead us to righteousness and everlasting life with You forever. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen ❤
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.” (Walt Disney Company) Can there really be beauty amidst suffering? According to the Walt Disney Company the answer is yes. I also believe this to be true for the Christian believer. Not only did Christ’s suffering lead to the most beautiful true love story of all time, but Scripture also attests to it: Romans 5:3-5 tells us to rejoice in our suffering, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” James 1:2 tells us, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” If this is so, then there can also be beauty (joy & hope) for the Christian that is suffering. The answer is YES.
While, it is a fact that as humans it’s in our nature to try and escape suffering at all costs to the point of denial, the truth is that suffering could serve as a true blessing! The greatest gift is Love and I’m learning that the truest blessing in life is to know Love personally. God is Love and to know God is all we need. While some blessings can come and go and others are lasting, the pursuit of these blessings is a sin. Sometimes we think it’s God’s job to pursue us because we are His, but what about the greatest commandment which is to love God. So if a little or a lot of suffering is what it takes to learn that to know & love our God is our greatest gift then I count it all as joy and I am not just thankful; I am in love J
Does this mean that I should seek suffering? The answer is NO. Because that would also be a pursuit of a blessing which is sin. While God does allow suffering in our lives and uses it for our greater good that doesn’t mean that we should invite suffering. Also, important to note is that when God does bring suffering, we should not fall victim to the suffering but instead trust that God’s Word and promises are true. He tells us that many are the afflictions of the righteous but He is faithful and will deliver us from them all! So what to do when suffering? The answer is PRAY and TRUST! He will see us through.
Are you suffering in silence? The answer should be NO, because we have a God who loves us beyond measure and is with us even in our worst. Knowing God is knowing His perfect Love and His perfect Love never fails and never runs out. He will never leave us or forsake us. He truly adores us and enjoys spending time with us. While God doesn’t need our love to survive, He does desire it. So let’s turn our suffering into joy… our mourning into dancing… and our sadness into gladness! Amen ❤
“The past is not just behind me as the world would say, but the past is now gone like dust blown away by the wind!”
I started off with that quote because it serves as inspiration and hope that while I may be enduring some suffering currently while healing from the past, I trust and believe in faith that God will finish what He has started in me.
As a believer in God who has surrendered my “all” to Jesus Christ, I am often surprised by what it truly means to be in a loving relationship with my Heavenly Father. His love is enduring, and so heart-warming – a love that I never thought possible to find in the midst of such a cruel and harsh world. I made a huge mess of my life many times over and God not only loves and accepts me, but rejoices over me with delight and gladness. I am closer to Him than ever and still mess up and I am learning that He doesn’t condemn me at all. I have never experienced such a love like this.
Blessed by the forgiveness I received in Jesus Christ, I am finally free from sin. While walking with God in the Way to eternal life I’ve learned that sometimes we can struggle with our thoughts and feelings concerning events that happened in the past especially if they were traumatic. Now I can share this message as someone who has been there before and knows what it’s like to have victory in this area. I’ve learned that because I used to condemn myself for past mistakes I wasn’t experiencing the peace of God. Once God showed me this truth, I understood that I needed to repent and stop living in regret.
On a personal note, I hated who I was and couldn’t possibly fathom how anyone, especially a Holy God could love me. And now as I walk this walk with Him, not only am I loving who He is, but I’m getting to know myself as well and surprisingly I like who He’s created me to be.
If you were moved in anyway by this blog post, I encourage you to read on and join me in this prayer:
Heavenly Daddy,
You are God and You are able. You know our individual needs as You have created each and every one of us unique. How awesome is that! Thank You Lord for Your Love which casts out every evil. As I come to you in faith I ask that you deliver me from evil and trust in You knowing that You provide everything I need to do Your will. I love You Lord and am thankful that I could confidently approach You with this request. In Jesus name I pray, Amen ❤
Have you ever reached a point in your life where you’ve hit the end of the road? The point where you literally have to choose to step out in faith and walk on water! Well I’ve hit it! And it’s scary at first but amazing and exhilarating to say the least. What’s so scary yet amazing is that this is the point where you completely give yourself over to God because it is only by His power alone that we can stand. It takes a lot of trust and courage to get to this point because Love is so awesome that we can feel afraid to approach Him. In our human brokenness it is easy to shy away from Love yet Love is our only way to life and freedom. We need Love in every way! Let me encourage you today… No matter what you may be facing currently in your life, you are not alone! You are loved and loved beyond measure! Don’t give up hope! Breakthroughs are on the way and closer than you think.
Let me pray for you:
Dear God, You are so faithful and loving. I come before your mercy seat and pray on behalf of the person reading this. Please forgive our sins and lead us into everlasting life. Lead us with You to walk on water and to live in complete freedom. Teach us to love you and love one another with all of our heart, soul, and mind. You are awesome and we love you! Please heal, deliver, and restore us. In Jesus name, Amen ❤
I usually like to start my blog posts with a scripture or quote… Today I decided to share on of my poems with you. I hope that this poem will inspire and encourage you if you can read and relate in any way. I will also include (as I usually do…lol) a youtube video that really touched me. Finally let me pray for you today…
Dear God,
In the name of Jesus I come to you on behalf of the person reading this today. I pray for wholeness of heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit. Save the lost Daddy and bring them home to you today. Please heal them of every illness and set them free to live the life you have willed for them to live. Bring them to a place of complete surrender where only you alone can be their God and cast down every idol in Your precious name. Thank you God for your faithfulness in answering our prayers. You are awesome and we are so blessed to be Yours. We love you ❤
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
How hard is it to actually do what the Scriptures tell us? Hard right? I believe that the reason it is so difficult and challenging is because we are TRYING in our own strength to do what we think we’re supposed to! “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6
Complete dependency on the Lord is what is required of us to do His will. We were created to be utterly dependent on Him from the moment creation began. This relationship is beyond mere human understanding: “lean not on your own understanding”… In order to restore the fellowship that God intends for us we need to truly come to a place of complete submission.
Trusting means allowing God to direct every fibre of your being: “And He shall direct your paths”… Sometimes our flesh can get in the way of truly following Christ the way we are meant to. Our flesh can deceive us and make us think that its impossible to follow Christ, and that His teaching is too hard to understand: “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” John 6:60… and many fell away. This is why we are instructed to “lean not on our own understanding” otherwise in our own human fleshly understanding it would be impossible for us to live an obedient life.
Relying upon ourselves only leads to failure. “Love never fails”… The greatest gift is Love and it is only through Love that we can be more than conquerors. Conquerors over sin!
We will never be perfect as long as we are in these fleshly sinful bodies. Perfectionism is a sin that causes us to be self-righteous, and self-righteousness will never earn us a place in God’s kingdom. We are called to be poor in spirit and pure in heart so that we may see God. How could we ever accomplish this is our own strength or through our own righteousness? It’s impossible! But only with God are all things possible! So it is only through His power, and Spirit that we can enter His Kingdom.
We spend so much time worrying about all the things that need to done in our daily lives that we forget to stop and wait and trust in the Lord. Maybe you’ve been hurt and you think that your capacity to trust has been broken, or your filled with doubt and insecurities, or you feel worthless and unwanted… If this is your story let God rewrite it and allow Him to lead you into the most beautiful relationship that your heart truly desires. There is absolutely no substitute for His love! Nobody will love you entirely and completely like God.
So much excitement & anticipation for the coming year. God is doing mighty things in the lives of his children. I believe that He is just anxious to pour out His blessings on those who are obedient and living in the will of God. I’m definitely excited and looking forward to the New Year and all that God will do. However while I may be excited and in anticipation of what’s to come, that wasn’t always the case. For most of my life I was in a state of hopelessness and I just couldn’t see any light, only tunnel. This post is meant to inspire hope in those who may have lost it or never had it to begin with. I wish I could share with you exactly where I was before my hope was restored, but that would take an entire book! What I can do is share Scripture with you that describes exactly where I was and how God delivered me from that place of desolation and hopelessness. I believe that He is waiting to do the same for anyone and everyone who is in need of His great deliverance. I encourage you to read this passage of Scripture and if you can relate to it, please know that you are not alone and that there is great deliverance for you in the name of Jesus!
Psalm 107
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, 3 And gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; They found no city to dwell in. 5 Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses. 7 And He led them forth by the right way, That they might go to a city for a dwelling place. 8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lordfor His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons— 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High, 12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help. 13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. 15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lordfor His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 16 For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Fools, because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. 21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lordfor His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, 24 They see the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep. 25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind, Which lifts up the waves of the sea. 26 They mount up to the heavens, They go down again to the depths; Their soul melts because of trouble. 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, And are at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses. 29 He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. 30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven. 31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lordfor His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, And praise Him in the company of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness, And the watersprings into dry ground; 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, For the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water, And dry land into watersprings. 36 There He makes the hungry dwell, That they may establish a city for a dwelling place, 37 And sow fields and plant vineyards, That they may yield a fruitful harvest. 38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; And He does not let their cattle decrease.
39 When they are diminished and brought low Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, 40 He pours contempt on princes, And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; 41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, And makes their families like a flock. 42 The righteous see it and rejoice, And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)
Are you afraid of your feelings? Afraid that you may drown in your overwhelming emotions? Do you bottle up your feelings because the thought of the pain that comes with feeling is too much to handle? I can relate!
I used to fall on either extreme of bottling up my feelings or drowning in them. I’m happy to say that even though I can be sensitive, I express my feelings in a much healthier way now. I’m no longer afraid of feeling because it may hurt. It’s actually quite relieving to experience the pain because in doing so I can be free to experience healing and move forward.
Maybe you’re wondering what changed for me… Well truthfully I began to feel safe when I entered into a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. I knew that I was no longer alone and that I didn’t have to be afraid anymore. My emotions may have felt bigger than me, but they definitely weren’t bigger than my God. He could handle them. I had to surrender everything over to Him especially my broken heart. The more I poured my heart and soul out to Him the more healing I experienced.
I guess you could say that if it wasn’t for my FAITH in God I’d most likely still be bottling up my feelings or exploding and drowning in a sea of emotions. I highlight the word faith because sometimes it literally feels like your feelings and emotions are at odds with your faith. It’s a battle that requires looking up, and despite what we’re feeling, holding onto our faith. The truth of God’s promises are so vital for when we are going through a battle of our feelings vs. our faith.
Sometimes in my efforts to be pious, I shy away from fully expressing to God what I’m really feeling as though it would be displeasing to Him. An example of this would be when I’m feeling lonely in my singlehood and my heart is longing to be with my future husband. At first I think that if I admit that I’m feeling sad and lonely that God would see that as me being dissatisfied in my relationship with Him, or as lack of faith on my part in that God wouldn’t provide for my desire. Fortunately, I realize the truth that He cares about every detail and that nothing is a surprise to Him. He knows my heart and He’s aware of my pain. The Bible says that He is close to the broken hearted. That is so comforting!
Though I’m an imperfect, sinful human being, He perfectly heals the brokenness of my heart and helps me to feel and express in a safe and healthy way. I’ve entrusted my heart to the one who created it. I encourage you to do the same.
If you’re reading this and you want to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour then with a sincere heart please pray the following prayer out loud since Romans 10:9 says that, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”:
Dear Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner in need of a Saviour. I believe that you are Lord and that God raised You from the dead. Please forgive me of all of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I receive Your gift of eternal life and I thank You for saving me. It is my desire to follow You all the days of my life and to do Your will. Please deliver me, heal and restore me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen ❤
“The race is not for the weary nor for the weak, but for those that know that strength and power comes to those who seek! (Matthew 7:7)” ~Suzanne Cruz~
hopetodreamagain 