God Can't Do a NEW Thing if You're Holding onto the Old You

It's is the beginning of the year, and I have a message for you! God can't do a new thing and you if you're holding on to the old you. I want you to think about the things God has been calling you to lay down. What is blocking your success? Let's dive into who God says you are and how to release who we once were for His glory!

I Have Decided

I want you to think about the things God has been calling you to lay down. What is blocking your success?

I was putting my Christmas tree away, and this song came on the radio, and I could hear God's saying, "I have decided." A decision means there's no finish line. So, let's think about this…I want you to think about your fitness goals through Jesus in a completely new and fresh way. Let's dedicate our fitness to God. 

When we say we've decided we're deciding to dedicate our fitness, our health, our wholeness to God, deciding to do this takes away the finish line. Like you know, you can't just stop and stop and start and start and stop and start and go all in and go all out. Regardless of what the scale says, in two weeks from now, two months from now, you're going to get up every morning and reconnect, rededicate your fitness to Christ with a simple phrase, I have decided.

I want you to learn Ephesians 2:10. Write it down if you don't know it. But the one thing I want you to do is say it in first person. "For I am God's masterpiece. He has created me anew in Christ Jesus, so I can do the things that he plans for me long ago."

I know in this world right now is hard sometimes to believe that there's a plan for you, that you could get healthy, that there's hope, but in there is so much hope in Jesus friend, I want you to push yourself off the couch and say no, I'm God's masterpiece. I have decided I am not living this way anymore. I am going to start living. 

It can be a simple as walking around the block once a day and getting in one verse in the Bible every day. If you start getting up every day and saying God, I've decided, and every morning you renew that commitment, God can do a new thing in you. But if you keep running back to the world's ways, he can't because he isn't in it. 

Key Things You Can Do in 2022

If you're holding on to the old you, God can not do the new. So I want you to go with me here because I know what it feels like to panic about your weight to swear, this is the time. But you're hyping yourself up in your emotional energy, not the Holy Spirit's power. We know that our willpower doesn't last right? Anybody who's been on a diet knows, willpower doesn't last. 

God did not create us to worship our bodies or seek answers apart from him. He made us for worship and relationships. So let's let that old way of doing fitness fade; it doesn't work. We know it doesn't work. How many times have we done it? You white-knuckle those diets and those workout plans.

God wants us to have a healthy relationship with food and enjoy the foods that he made for our bodies. You don't have to go to a gym if you hate going to the gym. What if you enjoy hiking? Go hiking, do the things you enjoy and you'll stick with it. The devil wants you so lost in confusion. What should I eat? How should I work out? That you end up doing nothing.

I opened my Bible, and I saw these scriptures, and I have to share them with you. The first one is Proverbs 1:19, and it says,

“So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain, it takes away the life of its owners.”

Whoa, did you catch that? If you're living for looks, you aren't going to get it. 

Proverbs 2:9, “Wisdom is a shield to those who walk uprightly.” God gives us wisdom. God's truth protects us. 

Invite God to Your Table

God wants to do a new thing, but he needs to have a seat at your table. Maybe the reason you can't get control over food is that Jesus doesn't have a seat at your table. I struggled with fitness for years because I didn't invite God to the gym or the table. And when I did, I was finally able to be consistent and satisfied with my results. Do I look perfect? No. But I am strong. He made me strong. And there's so much confidence and knowing that he is with me. I pray myself up before I work out. I bring scripture with me. And I feel God's presence with me when I work out.  When we don't invite God to our workouts or to have a seat at our table, this fitness thing is going to be worldly and it's not going to work. 

F.A.I.T.H. Goals

Now, if you have my book, 10 Steps to Your Faith-inspired Transformation, this is on page 69. Faith is an acronym. F stands for faith-filled. A is for accountable. I is for inspiring. T is for time-based and measurable. H is for healthy. 

So these faith goals are all based on Matthew 6:33.

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added."

I'm praying this year, people will want to know Jesus, because they see him doing the impossible in you, friend. Pray and ask God what His will is for you and your goals. You know, when we tell God I'm promising that I'm going to do this - you better watch out when you say that because God is going to hold us to that. That's why I'm saying let's put a stake in the ground and say I have decided, Amen!! 

So how will you stay accountable?? Join my F.I.T Sisters in Christ Facebook Group. Come on over. We'd love to support you.

Morning time with God is the best way to stay accountable. Every morning with God is like a rededication, get up and get back in the fight. It's so inspiring when you see yourself doing what you can only do in him. 

Special note...You're worth the work. Mama can't take care of everyone when she's fallen apart, right? If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of other people. You can't live in your gifts and callings. If you are exhausted and tired because you're not taking care of yourself. It is not selfish to take care of yourself. 

My heart's cry in prayer for you is that you just start doing this with Jesus, and you just asked him to repair your relationship, through him with food with your body with fitness, and to incorporate it in a manner that is a system in your life that is successful. And you look back a year from now and you're like, man, I set goals in faith with Jesus at the center of it all and my life has been changed. That is my prayer for you.