The quickest way to erode the trust in your marriage is to keep secrets from your wife. I never intended to cheat on my ex-wife. But secret conversations eventually evolved into frequent conversations; and frequent conversations led to detailed conversations about my life, my wife and our issues. It all led to the destruction of our trust and the eventual destruction of our marriage.

When you communicate with other women, are you potentially being foolish, or are you being a good husband? Allow me to share some advice I’ve had to learn the hard way about communicating with women other than my wife. Here are three don’ts and three do’s for communicating with women other than your wife.

First, Three Don’ts: :

1. Don’t ever complain to another woman about your wife or let another woman complain to you about her husband. Why? Because when you complain about your wife, you’re dishonoring her; and also, because your wife didn’t give you permission. If you want your wife to respect you, you must respect and protect her dignity. Never disrespect your wife by talking negatively about her to another woman. And don’t let another woman dishonor her husband by complaining to you.

2. Stay away from topics about sex, secrets and struggles. Why? Because it’s none of her business, and when you talk about these intimate topics with another woman, you’re discrediting your wife. Never break the trust and intimacy between you and your wife; don’t be cavalier in your conversations with other women.

3. Never meet with women in private settings (especially online). Keep it public so other eyes can see you. Temptation operates best in secrecy; so, keep your meetings in public view. I know that’s not always possible, but I’ll share some tips on how to do that below.

Now here are three do’s:

1. Always mention and talk about your wife favorably. Why? One it honors her (there’s that word again), and it also sets up healthy boundaries and fires off what I call “safety flares“ that let other women know you are taken.

2. If at all possible, invite your wife into the conversation. Especially if the woman you’re talking to is going through a crisis. Ask the woman if it would it be OK for your wife to join the conversation, or ask the woman to talk to your wife instead of you. That may not always be possible, but at least ask. Look at your wife as a reinforcement.

3. Tell your wife about your conversations with other women. I don’t care how small or trivial you think the conversation was. Why? Because this holds you accountable to your wife.

If conversing, chatting, counseling or comforting other women makes your wife feel uncomfortable, it should make you uncomfortable. Don’t call her crazy; instead, ask yourself why you’re more concerned about how the other woman feels than how your wife feels.

Honor your wife in everything you do—especially when it comes to talking to other women.{eoa}

For the original article, visit allprodad.com.

Do you have intense cravings for sugar you often have difficulty controlling? In this article, I’m going to cover seven spiritual and natural secrets for overcoming this addiction. But first, let me give you some background.

When you eat sugar, you raise two neurotransmitters in your brain: serotonin and beta-endorphin. Both these neurotransmitters influence your mood and give you a sense of calm, well-being, comfort and generally make you feel good. This is why many people crave sugar when they’re emotionally upset.

However, your blood sugar levels spike too high when you eat sugar, and your body has to release the hormone insulin to bring the blood sugar back into balance. If too much insulin is released, your blood sugar crashes, leaving you tired, irritable, moody and brain-fogged.

For many people, this sets off a daily cycle of blood sugar spikes and crashes as they consume more and more sugar to try to restore those initial feelings of calm and comfort—but it never lasts.

To break free of sugar addiction for good, you first need to address its spiritual and emotional aspects, then its physical aspects. Here are seven ways to do this:

1. Go back to the beginning. For many of us, our attachment to sugar goes back to childhood. In my own situation, I learned to associate sugar with comfort. My mother worked a lot as a single mom, and before she would leave me with the sitter, she always gave me candy money so I could walk to the convenience store around the corner to get a treat. I missed my mother, and I was lonely, but the only comfort I had as a child was the candy. Eating the candy made me feel better.

Unfortunately, that pattern continued as an adult. Whenever I felt emotionally stressed or upset, I craved candy and other sweets, never realizing I was coping the same way I did when I was 5. Take a moment to think about your own sugar-addiction history. When did sugar become a coping method for you? Chances are, it was during periods of stress or emotional distress.

2. Re-think your coping choices. The Bible says in 1 Cor. 13:11: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Remember, a child does not have many options when they experience emotional pain, but adults do. Have compassion on the child/person you used to be, but recognize your way of coping then does not fit you now.

3. Ask God for help. Attempting to deal with emotional pain with food, sugar, sex, drugs or other addiction is like trying to fill a hole that does not have a bottom. No matter what you put into that hole, it will never be enough. The only thing that is big enough to fill the hole is God. Strengthen your relationship with Him through prayer, praise, worship and Bible study. Ask Him to reveal and heal any sources of emotional pain you have and receive that healing by faith.

4. Add more whole foods to your life. Eat high fiber fruits like apples, pears and oranges to satisfy your sweet tooth without the sugar rush. Eating reasonable servings of sweet potatoes, brown rice and whole-grain pasta also helps keep your blood sugar stable and increases the body’s natural production of serotonin. Eat plenty of green leafy vegetables and other colorful vegetables to replenish B and C vitamins in your body. These vitamins help your body convert food into energy, but eating large amounts of sugar depletes them. Eating lean sources of protein like chicken, fish, turkey, beans and low-fat dairy products (in moderation) will also help to curb hunger and cravings.

5. Limit the sugar in your life. If you are sensitive to sugar, change your diet to limit your exposure to it. Otherwise it becomes a case of “the more you get, the more you want.” Learn to read labels. A good guideline is to replace any prepared food or drink that has more than 10 grams of sugar per serving with one that has less sugar. Sugar goes by many names besides the obvious ones (those with sugar or syrup in the name) such as dextrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, sucrose, maltodextrin, barley malt and molasses. If one of these names for sugar is one of the first three ingredients on the label, replace it with something else.

Also, limit your intake of fruit juice to less than one-half cup—fruit juice also raises your blood sugar quickly. Limit your intake of artificially sweetened drinks too, because they can keep your taste for sugar alive. Lastly, limit foods made with white flour and white rice, because the body breaks them down quickly and reacts to them in a similar way as to eating sugar.

6. Make your own feel-good chemicals. I mentioned earlier that eating sugar increases chemicals in your brain that make you feel good. There are other natural things you can do that have the same effect:

• Exercise. If sugar addiction is a problem for you, I recommend that you exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes most days of the week to make some endorphins. If you aren’t exercising at all now, start with 10 minutes a day and work up. But here’s a tip: When you’re exercising, grin—show your teeth. When you smile, you send an “all is well” signal to your brain, and it releases even more feel-good chemicals. Also, when you give a wide smile, your mouth is open slightly, which increases your oxygen intake when you exercise, making it easier to do. So smile when exercising. I dare you to put it to the test and see.
• Sunshine. Sunshine also increase the body’s production of endorphins, so get about 15-20 minutes of sunshine exposure a day if you can.
• Hugs. Hug others as much as you can. If you don’t have anybody to hug, then hug yourself. The more hugs, the better. If you’re married, have sex often. This releases feel-good chemicals as well.
• Laughter. Get a clean joke book or watch a comedy program and make yourself laugh several times a day.
• Uplifting music. In 1 Samuel 16, David used music to calm King Saul whenever a distressing spirit came upon him. In similar fashion, listen to music that emotionally moves and soothes you, like beautiful classical music or praise and worship music a few times a day.

7. Find your joy. The bottom line: You cannot have true peace or joy as long as an addiction controls you. Ask if food or sugar is one of the few sources of joy or pleasure you allow yourself. If that’s the case, you can bring your life into balance. Take the time to think of other things you can add that bring you pleasure so these activities are restored to a healthy place in your life. {eoa}

Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify of God’s healing power to end binge eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com. Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.

For the original article, visit takebackyourtemple.com.

I have a picture in my mind of a room. It’s well lit by windows, and it overlooks a river.

In the spring, you can open up the windows and hear the water gurgling over the rocks. There are bookshelves built into the walls of this room, all filled with my favorites. There are a couple of couches in there and a rug across the middle of the floor. Under the main window, the one that overlooks the river, there is a simple, well-built, wooden desk.

And there is a door. A big, heavy wooden door that can be closed when I go in there to do my most beautiful pontificating on virtual paper.

Now, that room doesn’t exist. Or at least it doesn’t exist for me. And I’m not sure that it should, for as much as I might like the idea of shutting out the world to think and to write, doing so on a regular basis might not form in me one of the most wonderful qualities we see in Jesus.

Jesus is beautifully, marvelously, gloriously interruptible. Take a single chapter of Scripture from the Gospels like Mark 5. Jesus and His followers travel across the Sea of Galilee to the region of the Gerasenes. No sooner do they get out of the boat than they are interrupted by a crazy, unkempt, dangerous, social outcast of a man who lived among the dead.

Jesus has mercy on the man and cast the demons out of him into a nearby herd of pigs, restoring this man to his right mind. Then He’s interrupted again by a crowd of people, begging Him to leave their region, so back in the boat they go.

Jesus and His disciples make their landing on the other side of the sea and are interrupted again by a large crowd of people, presumably seeking His teaching and His healing. But before He could begin to minister among them, He’s interrupted again by a synagogue ruler named Jairus who fell at His feet begging that He come with him and heal his daughter.

Jesus agrees and begins to follow the man, when He’s again interrupted by the crowd pressing in on Him, clawing and grabbing, all seeking something from Him. This interruption is interrupted by a single woman who crept up silently behind Jesus and touched the hem of His garment, and she is healed from an affliction that had lasted over a decade. Jesus pauses at this interruption to clarify what had happened, when He’s interrupted again by some from Jairus’ house, giving the terrible news that the little girl had died during all the interruptions.

It’s interruption after interruption after interruption. Interruptions by crowds, by outcasts, by diseases, by grief—always an interruption. And yet nowhere in this passage do we have any indication that Jesus was put off, annoyed or otherwise inconvenienced by any of these infringements on His personal schedule.

What a marvelous thing this is—to see the Son of God, the One who was steadily moving toward His death and then ascension to the throne of the universe, to be interrupted by the likes of these. What an astounding thought that this Savior of our souls is never too tired, too busy, too preoccupied, too driven, too overscheduled or too regimented to be interrupted.

Pause today and wonder, Christian. Let it not be that we should think that we can inconvenience Jesus with our cares and needs. But don’t only pause—embrace the same conviction that I do as a leader. Let this attribute of Jesus give us pause when we become so committed to our schedules that we neglect the interruptions that might lead us to the ongoing work of God. Let us follow the example of our Lord, for this God is gloriously interruptible. {eoa}

Michael Kelley is the director of discipleship at LifeWay, and author of Boring: Finding an Extraordinary God in an Ordinary Life.

For the original article, visit lifeway.com.

I work with couples and see firsthand in marriages the negative effects of technology and social media on basic communication skills.

Our fascination with screens cuts down on the face-to-face interaction needed in relationships. I see it in my kids and their friends. Their obsession with phones, social media, games and text messages is robbing kids today of basic communication skills necessary for relationships with others.

Even worse, I find myself lacking the ability and desire to listen. If I am losing these skills, it is inevitable that our kids will never have them.

What skills are our kids missing out on? Here are eight communication skills kids have lost or will lose if we don’t make some serious changes:

1. The ability to speak to others. Children grow up with a tendency toward quick burst communication and miss out on the opportunity to connect. In the process, they miss out on telling stories, living adventures and sharing hurts and challenges.

2. The ability to think and communicate on the fly. Most device-driven communication is filtered, thought-through and processed before delivered via text or email. Face-to-face communication, however, requires us to be spontaneous and think in the moment. A device-driven, text-centered culture leads our kids to edit and control their communication. In-person communication with others becomes awkward because we don’t know how to think and speak.

3. Communicating with and reading non-verbals. When we communicate primarily via text/email, we lose the ability to recognize and read non-verbal behaviors in others. As is often said, non-verbal communication speaks even louder than verbal communication.

4. The ability to be others-focused. When we spend so much time on our phones, we lose the ability to serve and focus on others. A friend of mine who teaches at a public high school notes that when he started teaching, kids in his classes would talk to each other in the hallways and in the classroom. Now when he walks into his classroom, everyone is on a phone and most kids aren’t talking to each other. In the process, we become much more focused on our own needs instead of the needs of others.

5. Communicating with authenticity. We can so easily hide behind the world of words and emojis. Face-to-face communication makes it much tougher to hide how we’re really doing and feeling.

6. Interacting face-to-face. Sometimes we just need to look someone in the eye, cry on someone’s shoulder, laugh with someone or get/give a reassuring hug or pat on the shoulder. The more we rely on written/texted communication, the more we miss out on physical touch, encouragement and affection from a friend.

7. The ability and desire to listen. Our kids don’t possess the ability to listen to adults or their friends at the same time they listen to music, shows or games on their devices. Not only do our kids lack the ability, but they lack the desire as well. Our kids choose to ignore or tune out others instead of engaging with them.

8. The ability to build an argument. When our kids are used to communicating in short bursts, they lose the ability to build a case or an argument. So much of life as an adult is centered around putting together cohesive thoughts that build upon each other. Our kids learned to communicate with emoji’s, Bitmoji’s and GIFs instead of words which hold them back from putting together deeper thoughts or arguments. {eoa}

For the original article, visit allprodad.com.

Annie Edwards carries a new sound. It’s the sound of power. It’s the sound of a warrior. It’s the sound of revival.

You might call Edwards and her band, New Sound Worship, a living prophetic declaration. They are releasing the new sound of victory and love over a generation. Psalm 98—”Oh, sing to the Lord a new song”—marks this up-and-coming prophetic band. Edwards’ ministry was birthed out of Impact Church, overseen by Ryan LeStrange in Bristol, Virginia.

Charisma caught up with Edwards to talk about the inspiration behind her music, the sound, her influencers and more in this exclusive interview. Her debut album, Limitless, is stirring the hearts of all who hear it.

Charisma: What inspires your music?

Edwards: I make time every day to just talk to Holy Spirit, and a ton of that time is devoted to just listening to what He’s saying. Sometimes my songs are written about moments, about instructions to His people for a service or for a group of meetings. 

There are times when He talks to me about the purpose of my voice in this movement, and He inspires songs that are declarations of atmospheric shift. Other times I’m just going about my day, singing the song of my heart to Him for that moment, and those songs of praise translate into songs that work really well for corporate settings. If I had to pin down my inspiration to one thing, it would hands down come from intimacy with Him. 

Charisma: How would you characterize your sound?

Edwards: My sound is that of power; when we lead worship, we are declaring the goodness of God and the authority He has given to us. My sound is a loud, bold cry of a warrior that I hope calls others to walk in the dominion they were granted by Christ. That doesn’t mean I abandon quiet moments when Holy Spirit is ministering in that way, but I know the sound God has called me to carry.

Charisma: What bands or singers have influenced you?

Edwards: Of course, Steffany Gretzinger, Misty Edwards and Amanda Cook. Those women are anointed vocalists and—more importantly—are sensitive to the direction of Holy Spirit. Their spontaneous worship moments are super-powerful and really inspire me as a lover of His presence.

Charisma: Why is music so vital to the next great move of God?

Edwards: Sound in general is important: the words we speak, the music we surround ourselves with and the sounds we produce as worshippers. Historically, music set the atmosphere for warriors before a battle; it was a soundtrack of faith for David the young shepherd and produced shock waves that were capable of destroying physical structures. I believe music has a way of amplifying our personal and corporate praises to affect our reality and shift it into alignment with God’s reality. 

Charisma: What is your favorite song on your new album, and why?

Edwards: My favorite song is “Faithful” because the lyrics floated around in my spirit forever; it was my anthem for a couple of years. I didn’t even really see it as a song until one day when I sat down and played the intro melody on my keyboard, and the words just flowed out. 

Charisma: What role should music play in revival?

Edwards: Music is critical to revival. In the Bible, we find that when we move on from this life, the entirety of eternity will be us worshiping around the throne. Since revival is, at its most basic form, heaven’s culture established here on earth, it makes sense that a revival culture would be centered around worship. Even though worship isn’t always expressed in song, I believe music is a critical element used in connecting our hearts with God’s.

Charisma: Why is worship so powerful in warfare?

Edwards: Worship is a lifestyle of focusing on the goodness of God. If we move our eyes off of our protector we begin to focus on things that are trivial, problems we make for ourselves or snares the enemy throws our way. It is imperative we make our home in the truth that God is our ever-present help and will guard us forever. Once that becomes a truth we own, no weapon formed against us will ever be able to prosper. {eoa}

The Lord is releasing the angels of abundant harvest. Charisma House is releasing Jennifer’s book with a profound prophetic word and teaching principles to cooperate with heaven in this season. Check it out at angelsprophecy.com.

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of awakeningtv.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer’s Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.

The Bible is designed by God to provide us a blueprint for living a healthy life. It’s like an owner’s manual for a piece of exercise equipment. We can make the best use of the equipment if we read the owner’s manual so we are aware of how to use all the special capabilities and how all the buttons and whistles work. When it breaks down, we can look in the manual to know how to repair it.

One secret to living an abundant life, according to Warren Wiersbe, is obeying God. As we live according to God’s principles, we will be in His presence more frequently, which empowers us to bear more fruit in our lives. If we desire to obey God, reading his Word is essential. The more we read and study the Bible, the more knowledgeable we can become about how to live our life according to His principles and commandments.

What the Bible Says

There is one chapter of the Bible that tells us the benefits of living according to His principles more than any other: Psalm 119. In this chapter’s 176 verses, words such as principles, decrees, commandments and laws are used 156 times as the author writes about how God blesses him as he lives according to His principles. Happiness, joy, a renewed life, hope, freedom, understanding, comfort, wisdom, peace and health are some of the blessings mentioned that the author received and that we can have if we live as God instructs us to live in the Bible.

Two verses in this chapter that apply to health are as follows: “I will never forget your commandments for you have used them to restore my joy and health” (v. 93 NLT). “As pressure and stress bear down on me I find joy in your commands” (v. 143 NLT).

James also capturesd the essence of the value of reading the Bible and obeying God’s principles when he wrote, “But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in his deeds” (Jas. 1:25).

What the Research Says

I have yet to find medical research that suggests explicitly that obedience to God’s Bible promotes good health. However, if you read Psalm 119, you will see that following His principles will bring many blessings likely to have an impact on health. When you experience joy, happiness and peace on a regular basis, you are more likely to live in better emotional and physical health. It just makes sense. And according to the Bible, when we follow the principles and commandments of God, we will experience these sorts of blessings.

What You Can Do

Grow deeper and deeper in love with God as you read the Bible and know Him better. A deeper love for Him will give you a greater desire to follow His commandments. Read Psalm 119 in a contemporary translation. If you don’t own a contemporary version, visit www.biblegateway.com and read the New Living Translation. Ask God to reveal to you the personal benefits He wants you to receive as you obey his principles. Be aware of how reading the Bible on a regular basis impacts on your day-to-day attitude and your emotional well-being. Recognize how this ongoing positive state of emotional health impacts your physical health.

The middle three letters of the word obedience are “die.” To be able to follow God’s commandments requires that we die to ourselves and live for God. This is not easy, because we are selfish in nature, and it’s a big risk to believe and trust that His ways are bigger and better for us than our ways.

But the Bible makes it clear. Over and over, it reminds us that when we disobey His principles, we are likely to suffer negative consequences in our life. When we follow God’s ways, we will have life—the kind of life Jesus mentions in John 10:10 when He tells us He came so that we might have life to the fullest. {eoa}

For the original article, visit faithandhealthconnection.org. {eoa}

There they both sit, night after night. A couple refusing to acknowledge their unhappy marriage as they go through the motions of necessity.

The kids have been put to bed, the toys somewhat put back in place, and they stare at the television as bedtime quickly creeps up. He looks her way and has a romantic intention, but it evaporates as fast as it came. “Too much work,” he thinks as he mentally resigns to self-satisfaction. As she weakly smiles his way, a million different thoughts race through her mind, including I‘m not desirable enough for him to want me anymore. Her heart believes the lie. They exchange an “I love you” with an insincere peck on dry lips and part ways until the next day. Apathy has laid waste to their marital joy.

So what’s the good news? If you’re feeling apathetic in your marriage, know this problem can most certainly be fixed. Your marriage can be rejuvenated, and the happiness you once felt together can be restored. I’ve been married nearly 20 years, and we have seen plenty of ups and downs. Our saving grace has been that we both come from broken homes and agree our marriage will not be one. So we fight for each other.

Are you willing to fight for your marriage and family? Here are five ways to do so:

1. Find the problem. Which bad habits has your marriage fallen into? Has it become sexless or close to it? What is your communication like? What are your thoughts about her? What do you think she feels about you? Pinpoint where your marriage has allowed apathy to grow.

2. Reconnect. Depending on the seriousness of your situation, professional couple’s therapy or pastoral assistance might be required. Tell each other how you really feel. Avoid overreacting or thin-skinned sensitivity. Do not embellish, place blame or engage in personal attacks. Just put how you both view the marriage on the table. That will establish the starting point for the solution to begin.

3. Take initiative. Arrange opportunities. Design the family schedule so it includes designated adult time. If that means dropping a kid’s sport here or a dance class there, so be it. Your kids want happy parents. Start dating each other again. Woo each other. Remember when you would have been mortified if she had a bad impression of you? Rediscover the man who made a sincere effort. It’s likely she’ll respond in kind.

4. Dream together. What is the ideal situation for your family? Build a dream together and establish the larger picture of where you both want to lead your family. My wife and I are laying the foundation we pray will last for generations, one of joy, stability, commitment, sacrifice and example to follow. This grand vision keeps us unified. What do you and your wife dream together?

5. Understand marriage is hard work. When we see one of those special couples celebrating 50 years of marriage we all bow in admiration. Can you imagine the fights and squabbles they had—the dreams that never materialized, and the unexpected ones that did? I like to think I will have a lasting marriage. But it won’t be because any of it came easy. {eoa}

For the original article, visit allprodad.com.

This morning during my Scripture meditation, a weird thought occurred to me regarding how to lose body fat. This is the Scripture on which I meditated:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). 

Although I usually focus on the first part (to reverence, honor and respect God), this time, the second part stood out. Then a new thought came: What if we could see excess body fat as our body’s attempt to give us wisdom and instruction?

Now, please stay with me.

I spent so many years despising my excess body fat. To me, she was like an unwanted house guest, one who had long overstayed her welcome.

But suppose you see excess body fat as wisdom and instruction to use, not something to hate? This powerful feedback usually means something is out of balance in your body.

Your current body is mostly a snapshot of the hundreds of small health choices you made daily in the past. Depending on the severity of the excess fat, that typically means you made a few or many errors in judgment. These errors have compounded over time to yield the excess fat you see today. This is useful information.

I’m going to ask you to do something radical. If you’ve been despising your excess body fat, stop right now and really look at it in the mirror. No more hiding. Touch it. Consider it well.

Then, I recommend that you embrace the wisdom and instruction your body has been trying to give you. Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over but expecting a different result.

Wisdom says if you want something different, you must do something different.

Here’s a sample prayer for this situation:

Lord, I praise you for my body! You designed it to make fat out of the food I eat as an energy source. My body is telling me now that I ate more than I needed in the past or ate too many foods that weren’t good for me, so it stored the excess. My body is working according to your wise design. Thank you!

But now, I am ready to heed the wisdom and instruction my body is giving me. Oh Lord, help me not to despise its wisdom and instruction. Help me to stop ignoring what my body is trying to teach me.

Your Word says in Proverbs 23:24, “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise child will have joy of him.” I want to do what is right according to your Word. Your Word says all I need to do is ask You for wisdom, and You will give it to me. So show me, Lord, the errors in judgment I have been making each day that are hurting my health. Give me the strength to make wiser choices that cause you to rejoice and my body to heal itself.

I think carefully about each daily choice that will impact my health. I want to walk wisely. Help me to make fruits and vegetables the cornerstone of my diet to heal, energize and nourish my body. Because my body is more than 60 percent water, I must drink the proper amounts so that my fat burning process will work properly. I need your help to minimize my exposure to food that would harm my body also. Show me how to redeem the time by investing some of that time into useful exercise.

Thank you, God, that you care for all my needs, both big and small. Thank you, God, for being near to me and that I may call upon you for any reason.

With this attitude of thankfulness, take a moment to write down any wisdom the Lord gives you regarding what you need to do to change your body for the better. Start with the smallest change, and as you gain consistency, you will have confidence to do more. Act on that wisdom now, while the motivation (reason to move) is strong.

Consider this timeless wisdom from the book of Proverbs: “”I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles covered its surface, and the stone wall was broken down.Then I saw, and considered it; I looked on it and received instruction: Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so your poverty will come like a stalker, and your need as an armed man” (Prov. 24:30-34).

As you act on godly wisdom daily, even in small steps to weight loss, time will start working for you rather than against you. And you will truly see how God works all things together for your good, including this situation. {eoa}

Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify of God’s healing power to end binge eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com. Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.

For the original article, visit takebackyourtemple.com.

We live in a day and age when current events prompt many to live in fear.

Some point to recent news articles correlating them as prophetic fulfillments from the book of Revelation. Some people decide to hoard and hide, depending on their end-times beliefs, and may neglect evangelism—disengaging from serving as a light to the world—while others may share doom and gloom.

But what is the reason for this fear? The book of Revelation, a triumphant and victorious message, actually offers more hope than anything else. When they fearfully focus on the events described within, many miss the central point of Revelation. The book is not necessarily about the end of the world but a renewed, eternal and perfect beginning, where heaven comes to earth (Matt. 6:9-13, Rev. 21:1-4).

The main point of Revelation is its main character—Jesus Christ. Chapter 1, verse 1a says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants things which must soon take place.” All apocalyptic prophetic literature in Scripture reveals Jesus as king.

The symbolism, word pictures and prophecies within it always return to Jesus.

With this in mind, when reading through this great book, a pattern becomes evident. After every event and prophecy, the topic returns to the glory of King Jesus. It emphasizes that Christ reigns, and He is the hope for a world that has lost its way. No matter what takes place, Jesus is in complete control. He is the key to the interpretation because He is the revelation.

Looking at the descriptions of the New Jerusalem, a map can be drawn. Jesus is the focus of all activity, and His throne is in the center. Everything and everyone in heaven circles around Him, including the 24 elders and the angels. The rainbow above Him is not arched over Him but circles around Him. The triumphant King is the focus of heaven, and He at the center of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 4:1-11).

As believers, we have a responsibility to preach the gospel to everyone, having dominion over earth. Second Peter 3 shows that the first earth was destroyed by water, yet Noah’s family began anew on what “perished.” The world that was flooded is reserved for a refining fire before becoming the “new earth.”

The new earth is our present world, which is purified and renewed. Second Peter 3:13 uses the koine Greek word καινός, kainos, which means “new, latest, anew.” This is the same Greek word John uses in Revelation, which means that the world is refined, refreshed and made like new. The stars and planets are destroyed and melted by His fire in preparation for the final judgment, but this world is refined like gold from out of the purifying fire and becomes what God intended it to be at creation, when heaven comes to earth. Now, that is worth looking forward to.

This correlates with the born-again experience where Paul said, “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). The same word, kainos, is used here in saying all things become new. And Revelation culminates with the hope-filled message of Jesus seated on His throne in the New Jerusalem.

Taking all of this into consideration, we should share the hope of His return with everyone, not wanting any to perish but for all to come to repentance. The glory and honor of the King who loves everyone and His gospel message are what the world needs to hear.

If we applied this to our lives, we would be enraptured in worship to Him, evangelizing the lost while looking forward to His glorious and victorious coming.{eoa}

Jared Laskey is founder and lead pastor at Destiny Open Bible Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia and is a Master of Divinity student at Regent University. He lives to see Jesus awaken this generation to the power of His Holy Spirit. You can follow him on twitter @jaredalaskey, or contact him through his website, firebornministries.org.

When Darlene Rose was 10, a missionary came to her church in Ames, Iowa, and gave an altar call to the teens and college-age students, begging them to give their lives to foreign missions. Darlene was sitting on the back row during the altar call and felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

However, when she looked around no one was there. Darlene focused her heart and attention once again on the fervent missionary who was imploring young people to give their lives to missionary service but this time could not ignore the voice that she heard audibly behind her, “Would you go anywhere for Me no matter what the cost?”

Darlene Rose, although only one decade old, walked bravely to the front and gave her life for service in the kingdom of God.

After marrying Russell Diebler, they landed in Batavia, Java, on Aug. 18, 1938, their first wedding anniversary. Within two months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Darlene and Russell were prisoners of war. 

Their captors took the Dieblers into the mountains, where all of the men in their group were viciously beaten. The Japanese then came to take the bruised and battered men to a different location. As Darlene’s young, injured husband was loaded into the back of the enemy’s truck, he said to her, “Remember one thing, dear. God said He would never leave us or forsake us.” Darlene never saw her husband on Earth again.

Darlene recalls as the vehicle pulled away from the weakened group of women and children, she experienced complete peace because she believed Romans 8:28 means exactly what it says it means.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Darlene knew, in the deepest caverns of her heart, that her mighty God would work even this tragedy together for His highest good. During the next few years of her imprisonment, Darlene and her fellow missionaries were forced to eat dogs and rats to stay alive. They were hidden in shacks on the side of a remote mountain and knew that without a miracle they would never be rescued.

One night, Darlene heard a noise and went out into the hallway of the ramshackled building. There she saw a man who had on a black sarong and was holding a machete in his hand. She recognized him immediately as one of the Bogus people who were pirates and savage murderers. Darlene was a petite woman in her early 20s, but was well-acquainted with the power and strength that comes from the Holy Spirit. She chased this daunting enemy out of her home and down the roadway.

On the mountain trail, this particular night, was an entire gang of Bogus men who had been marauding the captives’ homes and raping the women there. When these enemies of the people of God saw her, they ran in fear of their lives down the mountain trail. As Darlene walked gratefully back to her primitive home that night, she quoted the Scripture, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them” (Psalm 34:7).

Night after night, the Bogus pirates came back to the village, but they only stood outside the shack in which Darlene lived and never entered it again. 

Years later, when Darlene returned to New Guinea as a missionary after World War II, she met a young man who had been part of the Bogus gang during the war. This handsome young man was now a Christian and served the Jesus of the Gospels. When Darlene asked him why the Bogus pirates had never again attacked her home, but only stood outside and looked at it, he replied, “Because of all of those people in white who stood guard around your house night after night after night.”

Toward the end of World War II, Darlene Rose and her other missionary friends who were held in captivity began to hear the bombs drop night after night after night. Darlene and the other POWs would gather up lifeless bodies each morning and bury them on the side of the mountain. 

One night during an especially intense bombing of their camp, Darlene had thrown herself down into the safety of a deep ditch. All of the captives had elected a favorite spot they ran to each night during the shower of bombs and Darlene’s was this cavity in the earth that had grown increasingly familiar to her. However, this particular night, God spoke to Darlene shortly after she had nestled into her ditch and told her to go back in the house and retrieve a Bible that belonged to one of the other women.

As Darlene raced through the dark night, the bombs came closer and closer to the encampment. She had clearly heard God’s voice telling her to go inside their home and rescue the Bible and so she was determined to obey rather than stay in the safety of her ditch. After Darlene found the Bible and hurried back outside, the bombs began to subside and the raid came to an end.

Darlene helped others back into the barracks and the next morning, she saw a woman sleeping on the floor rather than on her bed. This woman told Darlene that she had tried to save her mattress during the storm of bombs the night before and had thrown it over the spot where Darlene always hid in the ditch. When the woman had gone back to get it, the mattress had been hit by a bomb. The voice of God, and the Word of God, had saved Darlene Rose’s life.

Darlene was only 26 when the war ended. The Allied soldiers came and rescued the missionary captives and Darlene left on the very last boat. As Darlene’s boat pulled away from the shore, she thought to herself, I will never come back here again. I am going home to America and I will stay there with my family. But as her ship pulled away from the war-torn shore, the natives whom she and her husband had led to the Lord stood on the shore singing, “God be with you till we meet again!”

In that instant, Darlene knew she would come back to this land of her captivity and of her sacred destiny.

After spending only a few years in America, Darlene spent 40 more years in the jungles of this nation. Darlene obeyed in faith the word God had spoken to her heart as a 10-year-old girl in Iowa. Darlene Rose lived a life of abundance and joy because she was a woman who heard the voice of God and obeyed. {eoa}

Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written five books, including No More Ordinary, Holy Estrogen!, The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart and Defiant Joy! Her most recent book, Refined: Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire, was released last August. Her teaching DVD, The Rooms of a Woman’s Heart, won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming. You can also listen to Carol’s “A Jolt of Joy” program daily on the Charisma Podcast Network. Connect with Carol or inquire about her speaking to your group at justjoyministries.com.