Discussion Board

Happy September!

I hope everybody in our group has found us and is looking up!

Jubilee, in regard to your last post, I have needed this reminder many times: When His children pray in faith, there are only two possibilities in regard to prayer:

He will either grant our requests or give us something better. Sometimes we may never know how He is acting, how He is giving us something better...but He is! We must ask in faith and He will provide!!!

Dear Father, we are so grateful for Your abundant provisions in Christ! May we always pray with faith in You, trusting and knowing you will bless according to Your lavish love, wonderful wisdom, perfect power, great grace and marvelous mercy! Give us your strength. Bless each person reading this. I ask this in the wonderful and powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

"14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3, NIV)

Phil. 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.


Thank the Lord for giving me the strength to resist temptation at 2 different potlucks this past weekend. I'm not at the point where it's no longer a temptation to see all the cheesy casseroles, and sweet deserts spread across the tables, but it's huge progress that I can say "no, I'm not going to have those" and walk away. Thank you God!

May we all walk in strength this day through Christ.

Blessings,
Jubilee

Good Morning Friends,

First, my "strength" verses I would like to share with you all

Isaiah 40: 29, 31

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not be faint.

From Matthew Henry's commentary:
"To those who are sensible of their weakness, and ready to acknowledge they have no might, God does in a special manner increase strength; for when we are weak in ourselves, then are we strong in the Lord." "He will help the willing, will help those who, in a humble dependence upon him, help themselves, and will do well for those who do their best."

Heavenly Father, may we humbly acknowledge that we are weak and helpless without you and your strength. May we have your strength today to resist temptation, to be kind to those who are unkind, to love the unlovely, to be lights that shine in the darkness, and to be obedient to you today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Jubilee - I thought about what you posted in regards to prayer. What came to mind was IICor.12 where Paul prayed three times for the Lord to remove his thorn in the flesh. God did answer, but not as Paul would have thought. "My grace is sufficient for thee" was God's answer to Paul. So if Paul can pray three times for something and have God say No to his request, and answer the prayer in a different way - I take comfort in that. I agree with what pinkrose said. We know that God always has our best interests at heart and He always does what is best for us.

Also - that is wonderful that the Lord gave you the strength to resist the unhealthy foods at the potlucks! Thank you for sharing that VICTORY with us!!!

God Bless everyone, and may we all depend on His strength today.

Great post, Luv! Your comments for Jubilee are good for all of us to read--especially those in regard to Paul's prayers.

I am looking forward to reading many posts about God's strength.

I expect that all of you know Jesus Loves Me. This version has some verses I have never seen:

Jesus loves me! this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
they are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! loves me still,
'tho I'm very weak and ill,
that I might from sin be free,
bled and died upon the tree.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died
heaven's gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
let His little child come in.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He will stay
close beside me all the way.
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me when I'm good.
When I do the things I should.
Jesus loves me when I'm bad,
but it makes him oh so sad.

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

I think the writer(s) captured the idea of a child's (We are all children!) weakness being perfected by His strength!

Hi Friends,

Thanks pinkrose for those verses to Jesus loves me. There were two verses there I have never seen before. Such a precious song and one that we adults should sing more often!!

Here is my strength verse for this beautiful Thursday:

The LORD is my strength and song; and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. Ex. 15:2

Moses and the children of Israel sang this in a song of praise to God for His mighty deliverance from the Egyptians.
Here is what Matthew Henry says about this passage:
"Happy therefore the people whose God is the Lord; they need no more to make them happy. They have work to do, temptations to grapple with, and afflictions to bear, and are weak in themselves; but he strengthens them: his grace is thier strength."

Lord, please help us to realize that you are all that we need. Help us today to rest in and rely on your grace and strength as we face work, temptations, and difficulties. In Jesus name, AMEN.

God Bless Everyone and have a wonderful day!!!

Great post, Luv!

HELLO!!! If you are here and awake, please post something!!!

Questions: How do you you assess your spiritual growth? Have you grown? How do you know?

"18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." (2 Peter, NIV)

Hi, I'm back.Starting anew in am. I am glad this group is here, I forgot about Isaiah40:31. and Philipians.Ruth-Ann

Ps. 105:4
Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

Blessings to each of you as you seek His strength.
Jubilee

1 I love you, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18, NIV)

Dear Father, may we love you with all of our hearts, souls, strength and minds. May we rely on You, stand and go forward with Your strength today. I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Didn't do to bad so far this week...Joy of the Lord is my Strength.By feeding our bodies right..give us strength so we have more energy to serve the Lord,rest in His arms and recieve the Joy of the Lord......I hope this makes sence,I usually have issues in expressing myself.......RAS

Greetings Friends,

Hi Ruth-ann - it is so nice to have you back with us again!!!!
And what you said makes sense to me!

Here is a verse for you all to meditate on today in regards to His strength:

God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
II Samuel 22:33. This is another song of deliverance, this time by David when God delivered him out of the hand of Saul. Really, the whole chapter is just wonderful and I love how praise to God just flows out of David like a river. This could be a parallel passage to what you have pinkrose! Psalm 18 is just wonderful - love it.

I think that obedience to God and His Word does make my way perfect. He is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path! I have not thought about God being my power and how power is different than strength - any thoughts on this?

Blessings to all! Have a great day!!

Thanks for your good words of encouragement, Luv! I really like Jubilee's idea about focusing on strength.

Regarding the difference between strength and power, often it seems they can be used interchangeably but sometimes only one is appropriate. For example, we talk about our electric power and would not speak of electric strength. When we are referring to a living being (God or His creatures), maybe strength and power are the same. What do you think?

You may have noticed this in the Psalms of David: He frequently thanked and praised God for the deliverance/strength/help that God would provide in the future. That is trust.

So today I am reminded to thank God for providing the strength/help/blessings I need for yesterday, today and tomorrow!

In regard to powerful McDougalling, consider this: If the the Lord had the strength to fast for 40 days, He can give us the strength to follow an eating plan that involves no fasting and no real deprivation today!

"1 To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit. 2 Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place. 3 Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts. 4 Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back upon them what they deserve. 5 Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again. 6 Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. 8 The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. 9 Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever." (Psalm 28, NIV)

I definitely agree, pinkrose. What a strong group you all have here! I definitely need to be in prayer about my eating habits. Please lift me up before Christ. Thanks!

1 Peter 5:10
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Dear Christian McDougallers,

I haven't kept track, so I'm not sure if this verse is a duplication or not. There certainly are enough verses in scripture about strength to have a new one every day! 1 Peter 5:10 is my prayer today for each of us.

Good reminder, Pinkrose, about the Lord's 40 day fast and trials. He is MORE than able to give us the strength we need to eat well each day. Remember also, that the FIRST temptation He was given after that fast, involved eating. And the first temptation of man that led to the fall, involved eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I look forward to the point where this way of eating becomes easy for me. Actually, the eating isn't too hard. What's hard is NOT eating the wrong things that are so ubiquitous, and at least for now, SO tempting. It should not come as a surprise, I guess, that wrong foods are so tempting, when the lust of the flesh is such a source of weakness.

I am rejoicing that the Lord has blessed me with self-control lately and I am finally feeling like this is working for me again. I seem to have struggled and floundered (and suffered) so much to get going but sure it's a good feeling to start seeing real progress now. After my surgery in May, I had regained all my spring weight loss, but in the past 5 weeks, I've managed to take off 15 pounds, which for me is HUGE. I definitely have a l-o-n-g way to go, but I thank the Lord that I'm on my way. I also thank Him for the health problems that I've had this year that helped to scare and push me into getting serious. I don't know yet if this is helping my kidneys and calcium metabolism or not, but it's the best I know to do. I'm praying for the Lord to tell me Himself what HE wants me to eat.

Having said that, I've made it through 2 potlucks, a totally non-McD meal at someone's house where I wasn't about to offend the hostess by not eating, and now this weekend is my birthday. This could be my hardest few days yet since there will be several possible cheat meals to deal with. One friend really wants to go to lunch at a restaurant where she knows that I loved the crab-cakes. Part of me wants to just say, "oh it's your birthday. Go ahead, enjoy.", but I gain so easily, and I've worked/struggled so hard, I don't want to jeopardize what's been accomplished so far. Then my family wants to take me out this weekend rather than cooking a birthday meal at home, because one of my daughter is on-call all weekend and has to stay in the city where her hospital is located. So, that's the only way she could participate. For their sakes, I'll need to make that work too. I plan to look online to see if I can find a place that serves vegan options though I expect it'll still be high fat, sodium, sugar, etc. There will probably be other challenge meals as well, but you get the idea. I could easily gain back half my weight loss in a single weekend with even small compromises, so this will be hard.

So, all this to say, that there are daily challenges and without God's strength, I am one meal away from failing again. I would appreciate your prayers, as I'm sure everyone on this forum would. Let us pray diligently for one another to have victory in Jesus!

May the Lord bless each of you abundantly on this, the day that He has made.
Jubilee

Good Morning friends,

Pinkrose what a great post. Thank you for your thoughts on strength vs. power. I have been thinking about it more this morning. To me, strength is what we recieve from God and His word, and then power is something we give out or use to live our lives and to have positive influences on others. Does that sound plausible? I love your thoughts on regards to "powerful" McDougalling, and how God provides us the strength we need not only for today, but also for our tomorrows.

Hi Jubilee - thank you for sharing that scripture with us. It is so good, but then ALL of God's word is good. I am thrilled that God is blessing you with strength and self control. Praise the Lord for the progress that you are making and the good choices. You are doing great - and WOW, 15 pounds!!!!! Yipeeeee!!!

I will pray that you have a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY this weekend, and that God will help you to do the best you can. Remember that it's really being with family that's the important thing and hopefully the focus won't be so much on food.

Hi proverbs31 - I will pray that the Lord helps you in your journey and gives you strength moment by moment.

Here is my strength verse for today from Isaiah 12:2

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he is also become my salvation.