I have been a preacher of the Gospel for almost 30 years. I preach God’s Righteousness and his precepts.

I preach that men of God should preach the whole counsel of God’s word as Paul preached in Ac 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

I preach that we can be over comers and not live in bondage to the vices of this world. I preach that we can have victory over sins that so easily beset us.

I preach Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, that we can live the victorious abundant life that God has designed for us if we Renew our mind as we are told in Rom 12 and that if we think on the things listed for us in Phil 4:8.

I preach that we can be delivered from the old man, the carnal man if we walk in the Spirit and not in the lust of the Flesh.

I preach that men of God are to be godly examples to the flock as Paul admonished the young preacher boy Timothy by saying “be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

I preach that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are to look after the Temple and honor it as we would the Temple of God.

I preach that we are Stewards of what God has given us and that we will give an account to the God of heaven of our stewardship.

I certainly believe all these things. But I have failed to always live up to these principles. And I have been on a journey to fix an area of life that has been a struggle of the flesh for many years…. And that has been my weight.

For about 15-20 years now, I have been grossly overweight. I have had little discipline when it has come to pleasures of food.

Many of friends and family have shared their concern for my health and even some of my listeners and readers have tried to lovingly encourage me to look after my health better.

For that I am deeply thankful and was never offended. Rather, I was ashamed!

I felt trapped. I felt like an addict that could not stop. Although I had every loving encouragement from friends and family, I lacked motivation to really fix my problem.

I had tried diets before but had little success and like most people, I would quickly gain back what I lost and then add more pounds on. In fact, 85% of people who lose their weight, gain it back within the year.

I was resolved, content to remain heavy and as a defense mechanism, I would joke at my weight and laugh it off. I knew all the jokes and would tell them. All the time feeling hypocritical.

Fortunately, being overweight has not brought about a serious health problem. At least for what I know about. I am not on any medications; my blood pressure has never been higher than 130 over 90. I have been diagnosed as hypo-glyosimic but I have had this condition since college.

So what changed?

I guess it is a combination of things……

1. CONVICTION of not being the example that I ought to be.
2. MY FAMILY – now over 50 — gambling with my health.
3. MY MINISTRY – not to sound vain or puffed up. But I believe God has given me a very important job. A calling to be preach warning to North America to Repent or be judged.

This calling has cost me and my family greatly. We left the mission field, a ministry we greatly loved and desired to do to the end of our days.

I walked away from our support and medical insurance just at the time we needed it the most.

This message that God has given me and task is too important to fail and I need to be at my best in respect to God to fight the good fight.

Since January, I have been working on my weight and I have lost over 100 pounds. My wife has also been on this journey with me and she has lost 35 pounds.

I am not allowed to advertise the program on the radio so if you want to know about it, I have information now on our website at fortress of faith.org. I will say, this plan that we have been on was the easiest thing I have ever done. If I knew that it could be so easy, I would have done this a long time ago. I was not hungry, I did not have to count calories or points, I did not have to exercise. The nutrition plan got my body into fat burn and the pounds have been melting away.

I do want to share with you somethings that I have been learning along this journey.

1. HEALTHY BODY

I have discovered the benefits of having a healthier body.

When you are heavy, that is your normal. When you lose a lot of weight, you discover a NEW Normal.

My OLD Normal was filled with discomfort, limited mobility, weariness, sleepiness and lacked vitality.

I was not sleeping well. I would wake up soar. My concentration levels were not sharp. I often would fall asleep reading or get drowsy sitting in church. The lack of mobility and agility and stamina was common.

I could not function without an afternoon power nap for 10 or 15 minutes.

That WAS my normal. However, I did not notice it as it was my NORMAL.

However, after losing over 100 pounds I truly feel like a new man. My inner man is getting uncovered I guess. I would joke when I was overweight that I did have a six pack figure, it was just trapped inside the cooler. Well I don’t have six pack figure after all.

I did not know what I was missing. So please forgive me for being a little excited here but it is TRULY LIBERATING to have lost the weight. Liberating on many levels.

I have more vitality, more mobility, more comfort, more concentration. It has liberated me from feeling guilt, feeling like the hypocrite. It liberated me from the bondage of feeling that I will always be overweight.

1. Healthy Mind

This has been the part that was missing in other diets that I had tried. This program has helped me to understand that losing weight is not the only goal for a healthy body but it is also to adopt Healthy thinking.

I could see that a way a person thinks is vital in their success to achieve a Healthy Soul. But there was a disconnect / a short in wire, so to speak, about how thinking effects the health of the body.

I have had to “Repent” – Turn from one direction to another. Turn my thinking when it comes to food. Part of that thinking is not looking at food as food but as nutrition. Also developing healthy habits. It takes a change of mind. A change of thinking.

1. Healthy Soul

There is some debate by Theologians if man is a dichotomy or a Trichotomy. Meaning, is man Body and Soul? Or is man Body, Soul and Spirit? I am not going to attempt to argue one way or another but we have a trilogy of Mind, Body, and Soul. Man has a physical and a spiritual side. Genesis tells us that God breathed into man and he became a LIVING SOUL. We have something eternal that no other creature on Earth has.

Our body and mind are physical gifts from God to know and experience God and his creation. It is elementary to deduce that the healthier our mind is and the healthier our body it, the healthier our Soul, our Spiritual life CAN be.

A healthy mind and a healthy body cannot replace a healthy soul. But having a healthy mind can aid me to be sharper in my study, and my work for God.

Having a healthier Body, I have found is liberating. I can do more, endure more of the work God has called me to do.

Furthermore, having a healthier Mind and Body certainly removes the fog of guilt and that is an argument for a healthier Soul.

Now how about you? Are you where I was? Frustrated? Discouraged?

A thousand-mile journey begins with just one step.

Start with adopting a new healthy habit and then add a little more to that healthy habit.

Trade a bad habit for a new habit.

Start with your MIND — a healthy Habit. Stop a damaging habit and trade for a healthy habit.

• Stop Worrying and dwelling on a Negative
• Start dwelling on something cheerful or positive.
• Pr 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
• Stop listening to Gossip and find someone to Praise

Then for your Body – a healthy habit. Stop a bad habit and start a healthy habit.

• Drop a vice — Unhealthy food – or a drug – a drink.
• Take up a healthy habit – Do a push up – one a day. Start somewhere.
• Turn off the TV and hour earlier and go to bed – Sleep.

Then for your Soul – a healthy habit. Stop something or start something.

• What often feeds the soul is what comes into the eye-gate and the ear-gate.
• Stop listening to music that is anti-God and start listening to music that is uplifting God.
• Stop reading gossip on the internet and read your Bible etc.

If you are like me and you need support of a coach and program, find one that fits you.

Let’s get our Minds – Body & Soul Healthy to serve the Lord.