"I Will Prosper and Be in Health As My Soul Prospers"
In thinking about "Our Confession" which we speak over ourselves at each DREAM meeting, and praying about what to write this morning, I find myself looking at other areas of my life. The second part of Our Confession is "I will prosper and be in health as my soul prospers." This is taken from 3 John 1:2 which says, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
Now, I know that God's view of "prosperity" is different from our view. I looked up the word "prosper." Dictionary.com defines prosper as... "to be successful and fortunate, especially in financial respects; thrive; flourish." We've all heard the "prosperity message" so I will not be getting into that, but I want to look at the last two words of the definition..."thrive" and "flourish."
I looked up "thrive", it means to be "fortunate or successful." I like that. I also looked up "flourish", it has several meanings, some of which excited me a little bit. Here are the meanings: "to be in a vigorous state. thrive. to be in it's or one's prime; to be at the height of fame, excellence and influence. to be successful; prosper. to grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant."
2 Peter 3:18 tells us we are to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." Accepting Christ is the beginning of our spiritual journey, not the end. When a person, especially one who has never been in church, accepts Christ, there must be training so they can "grow" in their faith. The thing that excites me is that Jesus said that He came to give us a "more abundant life." (John 10:10) One of the definitions for "abundant" is "richly supplied."
As we teach our kids in Super Church here at Abundant Grace, once you accept Christ, its time to grow. There are three way in which we grow. 1) Reading your Bible. 2) Praying. 3) By attending church. How else are we going to learn God's will for our lives, and His purpose and plans for us, if we're not in communication with Him, thus the Bible reading and prayer. We also learn from other Christians in a church setting. Our faith can be and should be strengthened by the testimony of others. Proverbs 27:17 tells us, "as iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Our Pastor is in prayer and study most of the week to bring us the message straight from God's heart, there is teaching that helps us understand the scriptures better. This is all a part of "growing in grace and knowledge."
There are so many avenues we could take at this point, but then this would turn into a book instead of a blog...lol.
So what is the "bottom line?" The bottom line is, God wants us to flourish, to grow luxuriantly, he has given us the tools for our souls to prosper. As our knowledge grows, so does our understanding. As our understanding grows, so does our wisdom. With wisdom comes the ability to make wise choices, about every area of our life. But it all comes from growing. I remember a slogan from when I was a child, "The more you know, the more you grow." It still rings true today.
What does that mean for our weight loss journey and our confession? Good question. The same "theology" can be applied to our weight loss as our spiritual life. Learn what you can about healthy living. Long term weight loss is not accomplished by a "diet program." Yes, you will have some success while you are following the "program" but what happens when you stop? You got it, the weight begins to creep back on. This is because your "understanding" about weight loss has not been fruitful. Many programs use pre-packaged food, which number one, does not teach portion control. So when you stop eating the packaged food, the weight comes back on because there is no understanding of the actual size of the portion.
Learn what the proper portion size is for the food you eat. Remember we are to "Eat to Live, not Live to Eat." If you do that, you are well on your way to a healthier you. Being healthy is a lifestyle. Being a Christian is a lifestyle. Once you became a Christian your "lifestyle" changed. To become healthy our eating "lifestyle" must change.
So from here on out our number one thing to change is the word "diet." When someone asks you how your "diet" is progressing, be sure to correct them and tell them you're not on a diet, but it is a lifestyle change to make you a more healthy person.
Say to yourself today... "I Will Prosper (be successful, grow luxuriantly) and Be in Health As My Soul Prospers."
Remember to DREAM!
