Boost Your Faith and Your Fitness in Seven Weeks

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Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John: 2

Have you ever wanted to step out in faith for a work you felt God was calling you to do yet felt that something was holding you back?

It can be frustrating trying to figure out what you’re missing. Over the years Mary and I have discovered a few things that it takes to be an effective worker for God’s kingdom.

Three Important Steps

Availability. God tells us in 2 Chronicles 16:9a “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” God is watching for people who are willing to be used so He can work through them. Mary and I realize the importance of watching for those opportunities that Jesus brings your way. That doesn’t mean you sign up for every opportunity, but for the ones God has prepared in advance for you to do. Knowing what those are takes …
Prayer. Prayer should be the foundation for everything we do, including any new works we are considering. We need to pray that God will reveal whether we should be involved and that we will know how to proceed. I like to pray that God will open the doors I should walk through and close the ones I should not. It also helps to be in good …
Physical health. As much as we can control it, we need to make wise choices concerning our fitness and health so that we aren’t limited when Jesus comes calling. Now that’s not to say He can’t use us if we have a chronic illness. What we’re thinking about here is protecting our physical health to the best of our ability by taking care of ourselves.

Seven-Week Online Bible Study/Fitness Challenge

We are excited to announce a 7-week online Bible study and fitness challenge called Faith & Fit that combines all of these things. Will this solve all your challenges? No, but it will jump-start you on the road to spiritual and physical health to help prepare you for what God has next in your life!

Here is what to expect: Every week we will follow a theme for that week, and you will receive two emails, one on Monday morning and one on Friday morning that contain the following:

• Two Everyday Faith challenges (a short video teaching and scripture reading and study questions) and
• Two Everyday Fit challenges (a physical challenge and a food challenge)

• Extra Faith and Extra Fit options for those who have more time and want to integrate a spiritual discipline and a target fitness video.

How It Works

When you receive Monday’s email, work on those challenges from Monday-Thursday. Early Friday morning you will receive the second email. Work on those challenges on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Every Wednesday evening we will have a live Community Call on Talk Shoe to discuss the previous week’s work.

We’d love to have you join us in this study; as a matter of fact, you can sign up right now. NOTE!! If you do not have a PayPal account you may still sign up by following these instructions:

1. Choose the option that says Have a PayPal account?

2. Ignore the email and PayPal password fields and hit the login button

3. After you hit the login button a new tab should pop up below that offers the option of paying with a credit or debit card or Bill Me Later.

In addition to the all the above, we’ll also include some recipes that Mary and I have created made with healthy ingredients that taste good, because we think that good health should be fun too. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the recipes to have as an occasional treat.
Tropical Sunrise Smoothie

I cup yogurt (Greek or regular), plain
2 oranges, seeds removed
1/2 lemon juiced
1 banana sliced into chunks
2 wedges cantaloupe sliced into chunks
Coconut water as needed (look for this in cartons in the Gatorade aisle)
Ice cubes to your liking

Juice the lemon first and pour it in the blender. Add all the other ingredients and process until smooth. Serves two. (If you are diabetic, this recipe may be too high in sugar for you.)

You’ll also have access to a private Facebook Faith & Fit page to post your workouts, share your successes and challenges, and share your prayer requests and encouragement.

What do you have to lose, except some bad habits? : ) Grab your Mom, sister, friends, or yourself and sign up today. We begin on Monday, September 8. Hope to see you there!

One-Week Workout! Book of James: Day 6

Welcome to Day Six of One-Week Workout! Give your self another pat on the back for making it to Day Six! Your diligence and perseverance will bring you many blessings. Jane and I continue to pray for you to grow stronger spiritually and physically. Exercise is good for the body and the spirit. Let’s get going!

Bible Study:

To do the Day Six Bible study, just click on the link!

One-Week Workout! Bible Study: Day Six

Workout Options:

Easy 2 Mile Walking Workout

Intermediate 3 Mile Walking Workout

Advanced 4 Mile Walking Workout

Extra Challenge with Coach Dan!

Do you want a little extra challenge? Join Coach Dan of Let’s Go Fitness for a quick workout!

One-Week Workout! Book of James: Day 2

Welcome to Day Two of One-Week Workout! Yesterday forty people visited One-Week Workout! Day One! Please pray for each other as we study together. If you’d like to interact on our private Faith & Fit Facebook page please leave you name in the Speak Your Mind section at the bottom of this page.

Gather your Bible, pen, and notebook. Remember, each day do the provided Bible study work and a workout on the post page, or an exercise routine of your own. As always please check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program. Jane and I are praying for you to grow stronger spiritually and physically. Let’s get going!

Bible Study:

To do Day Two Bible study, just click on the link!

One-Week Workout! Bible Study: Day Two

Workout Options:

Easy 2 Mile Walking Workout

Intermediate 3 Mile Walking Workout

Advanced 4 Mile Walking Workout

Extra Challenge with Coach Dan!

Do you want a little extra challenge? Join Coach Dan of Let’s Go Fitness for a quick workout!

Free One-Week Workout! by Mary Kane

One-Week Header

One-Week Workout! a free seven-day Bible study and fitness activities designed to challenge you spiritually and physically! Starting July 19th, log on to Only by Prayer , click on the One-Week Workout! post, do the provided Bible study work and a workout on the post page, or an exercise routine of your own. You are on your way to greater physical and spiritual health. If you missed the start date you may easily join in at any time!

Faith & Fit: Week 4, Lesson 2

W4, L2 jpeg

We are so glad you have joined us for Week 4, Lesson 2 Take Your Time of our journey to greater spiritual and physical health. Listed below is your Faith & Fit work for today. Please click on the links or the play buttons to access each resource. Remember to leave a comment about your experience at the Speak Your Mind section at the bottom of the page. In Christ, we can grow stronger. Let’s do it!

Everyday Faith Teaching Video:

Everyday Faith Bible Study

Please click on the link below to access Faith & Fit Scripture Reading!

Week 4, Lesson 2 Bible Study

Everyday Fit Physical Challenge:

Week 4, Lesson 2

This week we continue to focus on walking. You can choose to walk indoors or outdoors. Weather permitting, my preference is to be outdoors enjoying the fresh air and sunshine (get that Vitamin D!). We will also give you options to supplement with some other types of exercise in Extra Fit for those who would like to.
For those of you who prefer to walk indoors, you can use a treadmill, or I would recommend Leslie Sansone’s Walking DVDs. Her DVDs are available for purchase in stores like Target and Walmart, on her website, for live streaming on Walk TV , and some for free on her site when you sign up (free) for her Walk Social Club.

One fun way to track your walking is to use a pedometer and aim for a certain number of steps per day. The American Heart Association recommends 10,000 steps each day. We will work up to that. Ten thousand steps is approximately 5 miles, but that is based on an average stride being 2.5 feet. Your total may differ from that based on the length of your stride.
Pedometers can be found in just about any sports or discount store and range in price from about $10 to $125 for more elaborate ones with additional features. I use a Fitbit to track my steps each day. It also tracts flights of stairs climbed, calories burned, miles walked, hours slept, and the time. It also allows me to set a silent, vibrating alarm. It syncs with an website, which includes many more features.

Basic Walking Guidelines

Begin your walk with a warm up. This basically means start walking slowly for a few minutes, giving your body time to warm up. Save any stretching for the end of your walk, as you should not stretch cold muscles. If you have body parts that are very tense and need to be stretched before your main walk, do your warm-up first and then stretch them. You should also still follow your walk with a stretch at the end.

The Walking Site has some wonderful stretches for walkers, and here is a link to their stretching page.
As you are walking, walk tall, pull in your stomach and tighten your bottom.
When you have finished your exercise for the day, be sure to let the Faith and Fit group know by posting on our Facebook page. Great job!

Beginner Level Exercise:

For Lesson 2, we are going to set the goal of walking 1.5 miles or the rough equivalent of 3000 steps. If you wear a pedometer all day long, this is in addition to the total that is already showing on your pedometer. So, when it is time to log your walk, check your pedometer and note how many steps/miles you have already walked that day. Add 3000 steps or 1.5 miles to that total and begin walking. When you get to that total you may stop. If you are fairly fit and would rather choose the goal of two miles, then aim for 4000 steps on your pedometer or another 2 miles on the total.

Experienced Level: Today make it your goal to walk for 60 minutes. Walk at a pace you are comfortable with and that your are able to carry on a conversation. By the end of your walk you should be sweaty and tired but not exhausted. As always, check with your doctor before beginning any physical workout to be sure you are up for the challenge!

For an extra challenge try jogging today! If you have never jogged before set your goal to walk a half mile and then jog for a half mile. If you are an experienced jogger run your usual route and up it by a half mile! you can do it! Please join Coach Dan for Day Four Lower Body Focus!

Rainy Day? Too hot? No worries! click on the link below for a great indoor workout with Leslie Sansone!

Five Fast Miles!

Everyday Fit Food Challenge:

Take Your Time

Today we are going to further explore the importance of families regularly eating meals together. It’s so important for healthy relationships for families to interact with each other over shared meals. This website has some wonderful information on why it is important as well as lots of suggestions and resources on how to implement it with kids of all ages: The FamilyDinnerProject.Org. Be sure to check out this site.

I’d also like to share a quick, nutritious main meal recipe for those busy days when there just isn’t much time to fix a meal. I was inspired to try this from the precooked chickens that you can pick up at most grocery stores these days. This recipe couldn’t be simpler.

Slow-cooker Chicken

1 whole free-range chicken

Olive oil

herbs and spices (I like garlic, rosemary, and thyme)

sea salt

1/4 cup water

Remove the neck and gizzards from the inside of the chicken if they are stuffed inside. Place the chicken (breast side up) in the slow cooker. Rub 1 or 2 tbsp. of olive oil around the outside of the chicken and sprinkle with 1 tsp rosemary and 1 tsp thyme and sea salt to taste. Mince 1-2 cloves of garlic and rub that on the outside of the chicken. Pour the water around the edges of the cooker and cover. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. This makes a tender, juicy chicken.

This recipe is easy to customize. Instead of olive oil, use honey to coat the chicken and sprinkle with lemon pepper, garlic, and sea salt. Or try using just barbeque sauce for a tangy chicken. You can also add some whole red potatoes to the pot and they will cook right along with the chicken. Enjoy!

Extra Faith:

Need a little extra spiritual challenge added to your day? Take advantage of the following resources!

Today we are going to explore how to fast safely with a guide by CRU. Fasting is a discipline that has been used for thousands of years by Christians. The idea is to replace food with prayer; fasting is often used by people who need a spiritual or health breakthrough in their lives. If you have medical issues or are on medication, be sure to check with your doctor before attempting a fast. Keep in mind you can ease into fasting by trying the following fasts:

Fasting for just one meal a day
Fasting from desserts
Fasting from social media, TV, etc.

If you have any tips on fasting, please share below or on our Facebook page.

Extra Fit

Need an extra challenge? Get your abs in shape with Team Beachbody Coach and Founder of Team Let’s Go Fitness at Dan Vukmirovich. Dan’s videos are short, effective and productive! Let’s go!

Let us know how you’re doing in this challenge. Be sure to post your comments, thoughts, recipes, prayer requests, and fitness tips on our Facebook page!

Holy Week Devotions-Maundy Thursday: Sickness to Healing

“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Him, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.'” Matthew 8:16-17 (Original verse in Isaiah 53:4.)

For our fourth devotion of Holy Week, we are studying the following stanza of the True Lenten Discipline Poem:

FAST from thoughts of illness; FEAST on the healing power of God.

(Here is the full poem of True Lenten Discipline. Here are the devotions for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.)

What strikes me about this verse in Matthew is that every kind of infirmity is addressed by Jesus: spiritual, emotional, and physical diseases. We see just as many illnesses and problems in our times as were present in the Bible times–maybe even more. Jesus also wants us to be whole in mind, body, and spirit. That should always be our goal and desire too.

Physical Healing

I think many of us don’t have any doubts about our minds and spirits being whole, but when it comes to our bodies, we struggle with that because so many people are not healed of diseases. It’s difficult for us to fully understand why. But, I do feel that God wants us to pray for physical health and to control what we can in our lives so that we are healthy. The Bible tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and as such we need to care for our temple. This means watching what we eat, making sure we get enough rest, maintaining proper hygiene, exercising so that we are fit, living moral lives, and caring for ourselves if we get sick. Many physical problems can be avoided if we do these things–but not all of them.

I do believe that God wants us to seek healing for diseases like cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and the like. We are to pray continually for healing, and to use the resources of doctors, a healthy lifestyle, food supplements, and other treatments as God leads; we then leave the results up to Him. Whether we are healed to earth or healed to heaven, God loves us and desires the best for us.

Spiritual and Emotional Healing

We may think that physical healing is the most important type of healing, when in reality our spiritual state trumps everything else. Salvation–confessing our sins, accepting Jesus’ death on the cross in atonement for our sins, and giving Him control of our lives– is only the first step in our walk with God. If we just stop there, we will miss the richness of a life on earth lived in the power of the Holy Spirit to God’s glory. God wants us to grow, to be healed of any spiritual or emotional weaknesses and illnesses. Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He has come so that we can have an abundant, full life.

Much of our emotional and spiritual state hinges on the things that we allow ourselves to “take in.” Philippians 4:8 tells us that our focus needs to be on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy things. By doing this, we renew our minds (Romans 12:2). What we think and reflect on is what we become (Proverbs 23:7). Philippians 4:9 then goes on to tell us that whatever things we have learned or received or heard from Jesus, we are to “put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you,” (emphasis mine).

It’s also a good idea to be in the habit of protecting our spirits by praying through Ephesians 6:10-20. Jesus realized that His followers would have spiritual battles, and the Bible tells us how to protect ourselves by putting on the full armor of God. Several years ago, I read these verses aloud daily as I prayed for my family each morning. To my surprise, after a few months I found that I had memorized the entire section without even trying! So, if there’s a long section of scripture you want to memorize, get in the habit of reading it aloud every day.

Today, on this Maundy Thursday when Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His apostles, let’s put our focus and our prayers on the Great Physician and his ability to heal the things in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones that need to be healed.

Application: What in your life needs to experience the healing power of God? Are there any changes that you can make that will speed up your healing? What resources has God given you that you can take advantage of?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, We thank You that ALL things are under your feet, are subject to you. We ask for Your healing power to be unleashed for these specific things: _______________ (you fill in the blank). Lead us to the people, resources, and lifestyle changes that will help us. We thank you for your mighty power that is at work in each of us. Amen.

You may find these other resources helpful: Are Your Walls Up?; Praise the Lord!