Imagine someone coming at you with a baseball bat, getting ready to hit you…what would you do?

Most people would fall back in fear and throw up their arms, waiting for the blows to rain down on them.

What if instead you were taught to move toward the attacker, attack his weak spot and take him out before he could harm you?

Two radically different scenarios emerge, in one you are seriously hurt..in the other it is the attacker who endures the pain.

Many people approach dieting and weight loss in fear.  They are always reacting and in pain as the temptations to binge and over eat continually beat them down.

We all have the same God given ability and power to attack the problem of being over weight.  Instead of getting beat down again and again, we can win at dieting and weight loss once and for all.

Let me give you another analogy.

Imagine you were going to do battle with an enemy who was equipped with modern weapons.  In your arsenal you have the latest in weaponry, massive fire power, enough to obliterate the enemy but instead you decide to go into battle with.. a pea shooter and then wonder why you lost big.

Using your abilities to focus on God is your massive fire power.

Try this little exercise:

When the enemy comes to do battle (you’re tempted to binge or over eat),  ”stand still” and say, “God you are my protector, take the enemy out now!”

See in your mind the enemy getting blown away.

Feels pretty good doesn’t it?  Doesn’t it make you feel empowered to let God fight the battle for you?

This is not rocket science, we all have a choice;  

1) Remain the devil’s doormat and continue to endure the pain of  binging and over eating. 

or

2) When the battle with temptation begins..allow God to take him out!

God bless,

Daniel Wychor

I was getting my car repaired today and went outside to make a call.  I was standing under a tree on the sidewalk when I noticed something interesting.

When the concrete for the sidewalk was freshly poured (about 10 years ago), a tiny leaf approximately an inch and a half long by half an inch wide had fallen on the concrete and left an impression.  I was amazed at the detail of the impression, along with the stem and complete outline I could even see the veins in the leaf that fell long ago.

While I was marveling at the impression, a nearly identical leaf from the same tree fell a few inches away.  Since the concrete is now hard, this little leaf made no mark whatsoever and blew away a few seconds later.

So what does this have to do with you and I?

When we operate out of our carnal mind we are like the soft concrete, any little thing can leave an impression on us.  In fact just like the soft concrete, there may be little events that happened years ago that have no bearing on our present lives, yet we still dwell on them as if they just happened.

It is when we are in this mode of thought that temptation can rear its ugly head and cause us to binge and over eat.  It can also stop any success one has had losing weight and pile the weight back on.

When we operate in the Spirit we are like the hard concrete.

Stuff will fall into our lives but it doesn’t affect us because we’ve learned to focus continually on our walk with God and cast the burden.  

Lasting weight loss becomes a foregone conclusion as temptation has no affect on the Spirit.

So the choice is simple:

1)  Operate out of the carnal mind, be like soft concrete and let every little thing make an impression, affect you and mess with your life and your weight…

OR

2)  Operate in the Spirit, be like hard concrete and let the stuff of life bounce off of you without leaving an impression, allowing you to become the person God intended.  

Many Christians spend most of their time operating in the carnal mind, hoping things will change when all they have to do to transform their lives is begin operating in the Spirit, WHICH IS ALREADY IN THEM!

When one learns to operate in the Spirit life takes on a whole new meaning.  It is then that one learns to live, REALLY LIVE and enjoy all the adventure, fun and mystery of life!

God bless,

Daniel Wychor

Suffering from holiday treat overload?  Are you full but still stuffing yourself?  Do you find your ability to resist temptation has gone out the window?

The following could help you get your holiday eating craziness under control.

First let me lay a little groundwork.

Remember in the Bible when the Isrealites gave offerings to God?

They were instructed to bring only the best to the temple;  the first fruits of the harvest and the best animals.

Guess what?  Your body is also a temple of God, the Spirit resides in you!

What if you thought of the food you eat as an offering to God that you are putting in his temple?

What if you practice present moment awareness, and before you eat, you think and say to yourself, “I am making an offering to God in his temple, I must bring only the best.”

Do you think junk food qualifies as “the best” you can bring?  If you thought and said this before you put anything in your mouth do you think you might start eating better and less?

Give it a try and you may be amazed at the results!

God bless, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:)

Daniel Wychor

What is the difference between just knowing God loves you or knowing AND feeling his love deep within you?

I believe it is the difference between living a life of fear or living a life of fearless faith.

In Matthew 8:26 (King James Version)  Jesus said,  ”Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith.”  Based on this quote there is a direct correlation between fear and faith.

Having little or no faith opens one up to living a life of fear, where as having a lot of faith can lead one to live a fearless life.

So how can one develop a lot of faith?

One must FEEL God’s love deeply within themselves.

If you don’t feel God’s love deeply, below is a simple exercise that can help get you started.

Disclaimer:)  Only do this exercise when it is safe to do so!

Do the following exercise not as if you are watching it but literally reliving it.  You are experiencing the feelings as if you are right there right now.

Close your eyes and imagine a time in your past when you felt totally loved by someone.  It can be a child, parent, friend, sibling, spouse, other relative etc.

Experience the event again and feel those feelings of deep unconditional love, just as they happened the first time.

As you are reliving it and are truly experiencing the deep love again, add Jesus to the event.  See him in detail, from the color and texture of his clothes to every detail of his hair, face, eyes, smile, hands etc.

Once you have Jesus with you, I want you to see whoever is giving you this unconditional love standing next to Jesus.

As you continue to feel the love from this person, see this person merge into Jesus so now it’s only you and Jesus.  The love you were feeling from the person is now coming from Jesus.

Look into Jesus eyes and feel that love pour over you, allow yourself to really soak it in.

If you do this exercise it can be life transforming.  Your life can begin to change in ways you never thought possible.

So what does all this have to do with weight loss?

If you are struggling with your weight, I believe you are living in fear of food.  You feel you don’t control it, it controls you.  I believe lasting weight loss is impossible until one is rid of this fear.

As you develop a stronger, more powerful faith it becomes easier to cast the burden.  You begin to realize that living in fear is crazy, you are trying to do all the work yourself (and failing) instead of letting God do the heavy lifting for you.

As you learn to not only feel God’s love deeply but to also be aware of his presence throughout your day, guess what?

You’ve hit the jackpot!

That is when a life of fearless faith really kicks in.

God bless,

Danny

The Bible is pretty specific on how to change anything in your life;  ask, believe,  receive.  Notice it doesn’t say ask, receive;  it says ask, believe, receive.

Receiving comes after believing, which means what you believe will determine what you receive.

If your beliefs are in line with what you are asking for, you are in good shape, if not you have a serious problem.

Let’s take the example of weight loss.

I know of many people who pray to God to help them lose weight.  I have also heard some of these same people say as you get older you are supposed to gain weight.

Do you see the problem here?  They believe they are suppose to gain weight as they get older, yet they are praying that God help them lose weight.  Is that crazy or what?

They base their belief on studies they’ve seen (probably done by over weight researchers trying to justify their own weight gain) that say because your metabolism slows you are suppose to gain weight as you age.

Yet you can walk down just about any street and see elderly people who are not over weight.

Your life is driven by your beliefs.  If you don’t like the road you are headed down, change your beliefs and you can change to a different road.

For every person who believes they can’t do something,  you can find another person who has already done it because they believed they could.

So ask, make sure your beliefs are in line with what you are asking for…and get ready to receive!

God bless,

Danny

God made you in his image, what if you started acting like it?

What if your eyes were God’s eyes?  What if you started looking at things like he does?

God doesn’t focus on our faults, he knows we are weak and need him.

God sees us for what we can become, what we could really be if we put to use the abilities he has given us.

How much more empowered would you feel each day if you started looking at life through God’s eyes?

What if instead of focusing on obstacles and letting your mortal doubts and fears take hold,  you instead saw clearly an  open path to your goals?

Stuff will happen but as you look through God’s eyes your perception changes.

Instead of letting things get to you, you shake them off as a minor inconvenience and stay focused on the goal.

Let me give you a little example.

Whenever I feel a little frustrated I like to step outside and look at a tree.  I think to myself, “God made the tree to grow, he didn’t make it to worry about how much sun or rain it gets, it just grows!”

If a drought comes along, the tree is designed not to give up and die, but to sink its roots deeper and deeper into the ground until it finds water.

I have a favorite old saying, “Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.”

So what does all this have to do with dieting and weight loss?

When you look through God’s eyes a calmness and focus comes over you.

The temptation to binge and over eat don’t affect you like it did in the past because the anxiousness is gone.  When you do eat a little more than you should, you recognize what happened for what it is (without getting upset) and move on, more focused than you were before.

I mentioned earlier that God sees us for what we  can become?  What if you started seeing yourself that way?  What if every time you look in a mirror, instead of seeing yourself as you are now,  you see yourself with your temple revealed?

Start the habit today of looking at life through God’s eyes and your life can transform in ways you never thought possible!

God bless,

Danny

We hear ministers and priests talk all the time about the importance of tithing, usually they are talking about money.

The thought of tithing signals to your mind that you have more than enough and it makes you feel good. Tithing something other than money can also give you that feeling.

I was watching Kenneth Copeland this morning and he talked about giving anything to get tithing started, even a button or shoelace.

What if you approached losing weight as tithing?

What if you decided to honor God and reveal the temple he has loaned you by tithing your excess fat to God?

Would you be less likely to binge and over eat if you were committed to tithing your excess fat? 

Could it make a difference when you are tempted to eat junk food?

Do you think God would be proud of the example you’d set for other Christians if you got them to also jump on the fat tithing bandwagon?

If you need to jump start your dieting and weight loss why not give it a try?

God bless,

Danny

Are you lusty, rusty, or dusty?

I was watching Pastor John Hagee on TV today and he was giving a sermon on the stages of marriage.  He referred to them as lusty, rusty, and dusty.

I realized as I was watching that those terms also apply to the physical body for many people.

The lusty stage is our youth when our temple is lean as God intended. Sadly many of today’s youth don’t get to experience this stage because of the poor eating habits my generation has given them.

The rusty stage is the mid 20′s, through the 30′s and 40′s.  This is when many begin to cover up their temple with fat and are trying desperately to return the lusty stage. They may succeed for short periods of time but because they haven’t dealt with the real cause of the weight gain the fat returns.

The dusty stage is the 50′s and beyond. This is the stage where many people have given up any hope of ever returning to the lusty stage.  They are literally dead to the idea of regaining the look of the temple of their youth. They have given up on the body in this life and from a physical stand point are dead man/woman walking.  I had one person at this stage say to me, “You are supposed to gain weight as you get older.”  Tell that to the people who have lived into their 90′s and 100′s who have basically stayed the same weight their entire lives.

God gives us all a choice. When we learn to focus on him instead of food before and while we are eating, our eyes are opened and we can return to the temple of our youth (depending on what your temple was like then, maybe even better:)

Do you believe you have a choice?  When I and many I have helped around the world realized we did everything changed.

It’s not where you start but where you finish. It is possible to go from dusty or rusty to lusty.

Simply believe, focus on God and use the abilities he has given you and you too can reveal the temple of your youth!

God bless,

Danny

What can you do to get your mind off of food?

“Keep my message in plain view at all times..” – Proverbs 4:21,  The Message

Now this doesn’t mean you have to leave Bibles laying all over your house.  What we are talking about here is symbols, something that will snap you out of the possiblility of going on a food binge.  Something that will turn your thoughts away from food and to God.

The wonders of the cross.  I have found hanging pictures, wearing necklaces, bracelelets, rings etc. of a cross can help to snap one out of the “binging mood.” 

To be truly effective,  practice in your mind the exact situation you run into when the binging mood strikes and turn your gaze to the cross.

It doesn’t take long to do it, just a few seconds.  If you set aside a few minutes each day to do this something amazing can start to happen.

You begin to automatically turn your focus to God when the thought of pigging out on food enters your mind.

And guess what, putting God into your body is calorie free!

The wonders of the cross…now that’s some tasty stuff!

God bless,

Danny

How do you reward success? 

Many of us were conditioned as children that if we did something, we would be rewarded with some type of candy, cookie, cake etc..  Our minds then began to link eating  junk food with being good.

If you struggle with dieting and weight loss, ending this link could be a key to ending those struggles.  Can you see how you can become frustrated as you have a treat and feel good about it (past conditioning), then feel bad when you are finished because you are sabotaging your chances of lasting weight loss?

To change, start by NEVER using food again as a reward.  Find something else you enjoy, (ex. buy a book, flowers, do something that makes you feel good etc.) 

If you have been using food as a reward with your children, STOP!  The frustration and pain you have been experiencing is likely to be the same for your kids when they get older too.  Sit down with them and have them help you come up with non food rewards that will motivate them. 

God bless,

Danny