Tag: spiritual - Only By Prayer

Are you ready for Week Two of Faith & Fit? Jane and I are praying that you will make life changes that will lead 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 Scripture Reading:

Please click on the Week 2, Lesson 1 Bible study link below!

Week 2, Lesson 1 Bible Study

Everyday Fit Physical Challenge:

Basic Walking Guidelines

Begin your walk with a warm up. This means to 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:

Today make it your goal to walk for 25 minutes. Walk at a pace that you are comfortable with and that you are still able to carry on a conversation. As always, check with your doctor before beginning any physical workout to be sure you are up for the challenge! For more information please read the following article on how to begin a walking program: Walking Program. Feel free to also substitute any of Leslie Sansone’s indoor walking videos as well. Week 1, Lesson 1 lists a free resource for this (Password: Deuteronomy8).

How are you doing with your walking/jogging? Are you feeling any stronger yet?

Need an indoor exercise routine? Here’s a Leslie Sansone 1-mile walking video!

Experienced Level: Today, make it your goal to walk or ride your bike for 45 minutes. Exercise at a pace you are comfortable with and are able to carry on a conversation. By the end of your walk/ride 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!

Rainy day? Don’t fret! Click on the link below for a challenging indoor work out with Leslie Sansone!

4 Fast Miles!

Everyday Fit Food Challenge:

Sans Sugar

Today we are looking at leaving refined sugar out of our diet. Studies are showing that sugar may be the springboard for inflammation and many of the chronic diseases that are plaguing our generation. Sugar is also a sneaky substance and is in many foods that you may not even realize. Become a food label reader. Realize that sugar has many other names. We are not expecting that you give up sugar for the rest of your life. The purpose of this challenge is to develop healthy habits and choices, not deny ourselves every one of our favorite foods. If you reduce the amount of sugar you eat, you will most likely improve your health.

Check out this resource for information on cutting out sugar.

Here’s a healthy sweet treat sans sugar:

Recipe for sugarless oatmeal cookies from Don Colbert

Extra Faith:

Today’s food challenge is Sans Sugar, but that doesn’t translate so well to spiritual goals, does it? God surely doesn’t want us to give up the sweetness in our personalities. As a matter of fact, God emphasizes that we have a gentle, quiet spirit or, as I’m fond of saying about a beloved friend of mine, “She has a sweet spirit, doesn’t she?”

Well, developing that gentle, quiet spirit can be a challenge to those of us who just aren’t that way naturally. I’ve found an article written by Erin Davis interviewing Nance Leigh DeMoss discussing this very topic: Do I Have a Gentle and Quiet Spirit?

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!

Please enjoy Day 2 of Dan’s Mind Body Spirit Challenge!

Don’t forget to post below or on our Facebook page any questions, workout information, recipes, prayer requests, and encouragement to others.

Blessings and congratulations on Week 2, Lesson 1!

**In the spirit of full disclosure, Only By Prayer is an affiliate for CBD, so if you purchase a resource from them through the link on our site, we will receive compensation from them. Rest assured, we only recommend resources we love and actually use ourselves.

Great job today! See you soon!

Do you ever wish you could do something BIG for the world? I mean something with lasting influence? You may feel as if what you do through your day doesn’t amount to much in the big scheme of things. You look at your friends or family or those in the Christian spotlight who seem to have exciting jobs and callings, while yours pales in comparison. Well, I’d like to suggest that perhaps the problem doesn’t lie with you or your calling.

The problem is how you see yourself.

You’re looking at yourself with your “worldly” eyes, rather than through your spiritual eyes as God sees you.

You see, the Bible tells us that God has given us all spiritual gifts that He wants us to use–not just during special times or events–but everyday (see Romans 12:3-8; 1Corinthians 12:8-10, 28; Ephesians 4:11). In the ordinary, in the boring, in the busy, in the slow, in the crazy times of our lives, He wants us to use these gifts. But how many of us are really doing that?

Recently, I’ve been challenged to rethink how I look at my days and my gifts.

I’m working through a Bible study called Acts: An Invitation to Courageous Living, written by two women at my church, Corinne Gunter and Julie Meiners. In Week 6, I was asked to think about those people that God has placed in my sphere of influence, and the authors included a diagram (like the one below) in the Bible study. They said to put myself in the place of the green dot in the middle of the circle and then add on the circle the names of people in my life that I may have some influence over.

As I did that, I realized that there were a lot of names on the circle, people of various ages and stages of life, some even of different cultures. Some live close to me, some live farther away.

I then sensed God asking me how I might be able to minister to or influence these people He has put in my life, using the gifts He has given me. For example, I realized I could encourage the first-time mother on my list with a home-baked meal (using the gift of hospitality) to help her after she came home from the hospital. Intercession is another gift of mine, so I could certainly pray for a young person I know who is wandering far from the Lord. Exhortation is another gift, so I could schedule to meet with a teen girl I know to be a sounding board as she struggles with some decisions in her life.

Corinne and Julie challenged me to look at my life and open my eyes to the people God has put there. What have I been missing? Who is God calling me to help, and what is He asking me to do?

I’d like to challenge you to do the same thing. Fill out your circle of influence. Ask God to show you who may be right under your nose that could benefit from some of your time and resources. What are you missing, maybe because you’re looking for the “big” thing?

Well, God does has something big for each of us to do, and often times He has us start right where we are. What’s He putting on your heart today?

Pray on!

Faith & Fit: Week 2, Lesson 1