Cut Down to Size

“The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”—Ephesians 1:18-19

Do you know the exceeding greatness of His power?

Can you comprehend the working of His mighty power in your life?

You have the power to participate in your own transformation from the inside out. Notice I said, participate. It will not take place with you at the lead—your part is important—the first step is to step back. There are many transformations that can, and sometimes need to, take place. But the transformation I am writing about is the transformation that involves your spiritual-emotional-physical body, in that order.

Recently I was confined to running on my treadmill. If given the choice I will run outside but this particular day I had to run indoors. I decided to watch a video about obesity in America. Maybe it was my own way of pushing through my goal. Anyway, I watched how so many people were having gastric bypass surgery done. Probably 8 out of 10 surgeries ended with the patient gaining their weight back or dying. My heart broke! I know that a psychological evaluation is done before these surgeries but the video didn’t talk about any ongoing support. There are always emotional issues at the heart of obesity. Weight loss programs are missing the mark when it comes to the emotional/spiritual aspect. Yes, you can learn how to control your portions and you can be taught to count your points. But if you do not transform your spiritual and emotional life you will be on an endless loop of loss and gain.

How can you change your spiritual and emotional life?

Psalm 81: 10 says, “I am the Lord your God,”

Step 1: Is HE your LORD? Making God the LORD over your life means that you submit to His will and direction. This requires 100% obedience—partial obedience is still disobedience. Maybe there is a spirit of rebellion that makes you bristle at the thought of submitting to anyone—that might be your core issue. Isaiah 1:19 says that, “if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;” Another aspect to our rebellion against God can be that we have a rebellious nature toward the authority in our life. When we pass judgment on our earthly authority, we pass the same judgment on God without realizing it. Maybe it’s time you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any rebellion in your life.

Step 2: Get to know God—read and study the Bible. Many times we don’t feel safe surrendering our emotions to the God of Heaven because we don’t know Him. I’m not talking about being a child of God; I’m talking about knowing who God is. When you grasp the fact that God is crazy in love with you and that nothing you do can change that, well you might find it a little easier to ‘give up’ and become the person God designed you to be.

God put a calling on your life. Nothing you do will change that calling—He has a plan for you.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”—Jeremiah 29:11

It is your choice to participate in the calling. Your choice is to allow Him to work in every area of you, or to continue counting points and running on the loop.

Fill in the blanks with your name:

“The Lord your God is with you_______, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you________, he will quiet you__________with his love, he will rejoice over you____________with singing.” –Zephaniah 3:17

Believe that today! Don’t get caught up in thinking you are “good” or “bad” based on what or how much you eat. Food doesn’t cleanse your heart no matter how much fiber it has. When you are liberated from that thought pattern, you can allow God to cut you down to size by submitting yourself to Him. Submission means that food will be consumed in proper portion for the size He designed you to be. Your health will spring forth and joy will radiate from the deepest part of your being. Today is the day!

“The power to change is in the present moment—this very moment.”