Tag: exercise

A Home for God

Jennifred Jones

I am a home for God. If you belong to Him then you are a home for God.

I believe God wants us to take care of ourselves and honor God with our bodies, not just with our words and saying we’re committed to him, but really, truly take care of our physical bodies.

Chances are He has been dealing with us about our eating patterns…if we’re eating good real food so our body can be nourished and function well…our exercise or lack of exercise to keep our energy up…the amount of sleep we get…keeping clean-not only us but our children as well.

The other day it really struck me how much of a treasure our bodies are and God gave us that treasure. A treasure is something we would guard and take good care of and be careful not to lose.

Not that many years ago, I was in the categories listed above…every single one. I was working at an office job, sitting at the desk eating snacks, donuts, working long hours, getting up early, not getting any real exercise and began to ache just about everywhere and felt horrible most of the time. I’d come home, crash and start over again the next day.

I remembered I didn’t used to feel this way and didn’t think I could blame it on old age, 50 is not old, so I began, painfully to walk and exercise a little every day. I began to try to eat better and not eat the donuts every time they were brought in. Gradually I began to feel better and lost over 8 bags of flour worth of weight! If you look at it that way it helps see your progress!

I think sometimes God’s people disregard their treasure and actually despise it, thinking it’s bad or corrupt or going to pass away anyway so why bother. They think their body is unimportant and only their spirit matters. Or they think, ‘God will take care of me, so I can eat whatever I want and do whatever I want.’ They end up destroying their body through carelessness, neglect and bad habits.

If you are in the above category, God wants to help you…help you change the way you see yourself so you can feel well, feel strong and be able to use your body to glorify Him. Take these areas to God and ask Him to change you. He is willing.

God wants to keep us strong and healthy so we can help others and not be a strain needlessly on them….(not talking about things beyond our control)…but there is a lot with in our control that too many do not take control of and they get sick and worn out and cannot function in their God-given capacity.

God wants to meet our needs so we can be able to help meet the needs of others, and if our body is not in good health because we haven’t taken good care of it, or we have no strength because we aren’t using it to keep it toned up, then like anything else that is not used, it tends to wither, lose strength and become useless.

Anything worth having takes effort-hard work….but you and your body are worth it!

“…Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.” Says 1 Corinthians 6:19 MSG

“ Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you.” I Corinthians 6:19 TLB

Remember too, there is no condemnation in Christ and God is for you- an ever present (now) help in time of need.

Start today…begin to restore your home for God. Tell Him about it.

First Things First

Jennifred Jones

Today when I woke up it was rainy and gloomy, but I woke up today. My Dad said, as his birthdays climbed into their 70’s and 80’s, that he was not afraid to add another birthday. It meant he was still alive and could enjoy his family; he could still do work and do things for other people.

So, sitting from the porch swing, what do we see that we are grateful for? Well, I have a bench and a porch and I can go outside. I can see the green grass…forget that it might need to be mowed and there are weeds in my gravel driveway… just enjoy the color and that it’s not negative 18 outside. I can see the neighbors, much older than I, out mowing their grass, I probably should be mowing it for them, but I know they like to do some form of exercise to stay agile. She had a lot of poison ivy growing up her tree and I haven’t had to fight with that at my place. (I did go over and spray hers so it is gone) I have a nice concrete porch and hers is wood and that means more maintenance. True mine has cracks in it, but that’s OK, it’s old but it’s not caving in.

Her sidewalk is all bunched up because the two huge maple trees between it and the street have pushed it out of shape, but those two trees completely shade my house most of the day, and the neighbor kids have so much fun ramping their bikes over her bumpy sidewalk. One brave skate boarder gave a shot at it too! I get to hear the kids laughing and playing all summer, and it reminds me of mine when they were small. I should make the kids some cookies. Sometimes the parents come with them. I’ve met many neighbors just being outside and saying, ‘Hi’ as they walk by. Yes, we have a good neighborhood. We’re getting to know each other and that brings stability to the community.