God's Presence: A Change From the Outside In?

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, 

in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Isaiah 32:18

I have danced up and down the scale few dozen times in my adult life. My problem wasn't information; it was transformation. I could lose weight but it just kept finding me. 

Last spring I had some fairly significant health issues and decided to surrender my battle with food to God's capable hands. His presence gave me the present of health. 

Today I'm honored to tell my story at the website of national fitness guru, Wendie Pett. Come join me there and discover how His presence is a prescription for good health.

Life Transforming Prayer - Lord Discipline Me

Today we are continuing our Tuesday series on life transforming prayer. Tuesday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. How about for you?

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No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:11

I had a health scare this spring. A big one. Months of intense abdominal pain and bleeding led to my decision to make my first visit to an internist. A panel of blood work showed my body in peak physical condition. Every single indicator was toward perfect health. Why then was I in excruciating pain?

I asked God for relief.


Then I asked God for wisdom.


I felt the tap on my heart to eliminate every food and beverage from my diet except those closest in form to how God created them. After several months of eating raw veggies, fruit, whole grains and fresh, lean meat and drinking only water and the occasional coffee every symptom disappeared. 


Amazingly I also dropped 20 pounds. 


For five years I'd been striving to return to my pre-pregnancy weight. I wanted fast results. Quick programs didn't lead to lasting results. 


As I disciplined my body, I noticed the other areas of my life improved as well - my moods, emotions, sleep patterns, marriage, parenting, friendships and even spiritual health all rallied.


I wonder about you. Have you signed up for another program to drop 10 pounds? Did you just fill a prescription for sleep aids or mood enhancers? These are wonderful tools but what if God intended those to supplement His plan and not the other way around. What if we chose prayer as our lead tool in our health?


Lord, discipline me...I need Your rest.


Lord, discipline me...I need Your energy.


Lord, discipline me...I need the righteousness and peace You promise to those You discipline.


Lord, discipline me because most of all I need You.


What area of health is your biggest battle - the bulge, the bed or the buff? Do you dare to pray...?
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Have these Tuesday prayers impacted your life? Did you know you can download the complete set at http://www.shannonmilholland.com/free-resources.html? Why not share these prayers with a friend? Or have your small group address one each week? Let's give away what we've been given.

Day 15 of Prayer Guide - Health for Your Body

Day Fifteen

Health for Your Body

1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace will Himself restore you and make you strong.

Damp coals hang from your arms. They slump your shoulders. Even walking seems difficult today. Its label is nervous energy but why would energy make you tired?

Frail one, come gather health for your body.

Today I Pray for You:

·         To drink from the Vine that sustains and strengthens

·         To take one step toward health today

Today You Pray:

Mighty God, I’m falling into Your place of grace today. This is far more than a health club. It is a sanctuary where my temple is restored by its’ Master Designer.

Your strength arrives as a stream of healing. It gently washes my strain to surface Your reservoir of life within. I am renewed.

Day 14 of Prayer Guide - Health for Your Mind

Day Fourteen

Health for Your Mind

Romans 8:6b To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (ESV)

Oh how you long for the fog to vanish. You reach for clarity and focus, but it eludes once more. This season has aged your mind like never before. Could altering the object of your thoughts, restore life to your mind?

Withered one, reach out your hand and clutch health for your mind.

Today I Pray for You:

·         To gather close to the warmth of God’s own heart, as your fog lifts.

·         To focus on God, so He can focus your mind.

Today You Pray:

Sustainer, the tension of my brain slides out as I am shrouded in Your presence. I park my mind on You and allow the particles of my confusion to slip away. Life and peace blanket my mind.

Gone is the tension and strain. No throbbing; no pain. As I fill my mind with the Your fullness, it is emptied of stress. My mind is clear.

Day 13 of Prayer Guide - Health for Your Soul

Day Thirteen

Health for Your Soul

Psalm 31:7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul. (ESV)

Lethargic. No better word describes your relationship with God right now. You feel neither isolated from nor close to God. Somewhere along this journey the energy drained like a gas tank run dry.

Tired one, come redeem health for your soul.

Today I Pray for You:

·         To experience the fullness of spiritual intimacy through God’s embrace

·         To open wide your heart to the One who nurtures your soul

Today You Pray:

God Who Heals, press my soul close to You. In Your arms, my scattered soul gathers to Your heart. The connection is real and intimate; almost unnerving.

Melt away my inhibition. I puddle at Your feet and feel the energy pool within. Excitement fills and flows everywhere You touch. I rejoice. You see my soul and it is transformed.

Prayer Guide Day 12 - Health for Your Heart

Day Twelve

Health for Your Heart

John 7:38 (Jesus Talking) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’

Is it possible to live with a rock in your chest? The heaviness umbrellas your heart and blocks the joy you once felt. This season should be celebratory, but your heart plays a mournful tune.

Suffering one, come gulp joy.

Today I Pray for You:

·         To drink deeply from the life-altering Well

·         That your joy would siphon from the Source of all strength and goodness

Today You Pray:

Living Water, my heart is cracked with thirst for You. I come to the Well dragging my stone of a heart. A trickle of Your river of grace is enough to swell the banks of my heart.

The walls of my chest revive with Your love. May Your joy flow through me and splash over all who walk this journey of preparation. I came empty; I leave filled with You.

Day 11 of Prayer Guide - Health

Day Eleven

Health

Proverbs 3:7a, 8 Do not be wise in your own eyes; This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

You have a cold you just can’t shake. A lingering headache rings the stress on your body. Health is something you’ve taken for granted. Now your emotional, mental and physical well-being hang over unknown water.

Ailing one, come restore your health.

Today I Pray for You:

·         To relax into the steady arms of the Healer.

·         To embrace health by pressing your ear to the heart of God.

Today You Pray:

The Great Physician, I invite You to examine me. Pass your healing hand over me. Recharge my cells. Reconnect my emotions.

For too long, I’ve relied on my own wisdom to keep my body in balance. Today, I lay on Your operating table of grace and receive from the One who made me and knows me. I open my mind, heart and spirit to Your tender treatment. I am revived.

Day 5 of Prayer Guide - Rest for Your Body

Day Five

Rest for Your Body

Proverbs 3:24b When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

How can one wake and feel as if the night vanished without the benefit of sleep?  You’re living on afternoon coffee, power naps and vitamins. A cold threatens. Your stomach feels unsettled.  Your joints and your brain ache. Exhausted one, come find rest for your body.

Today I Pray for You:

·         To have deep, uninterrupted sleep–sweet, reenergizing, restoring sleep

·         That God would guard your body and keep it running strong

Today You Pray:

Creator of my being, flow into every space. I breathe you in like a breath of heaven itself. You are my energy. You are my rest. 

I come to Your shelter, rest my head on Your lap and trust You to shield my body. I seek You with a longing heart. You know best how to care for me. Help me make wise choices in food, activity and sleep. Rest my body as I rest in You.