Have you ever started doing well with a weight loss program, but then “something” happens to get you off track? You lose focus, get discouraged, and then quit? It happened to me too many times! And yet, I found out about a little-known trap that was killing my weight loss progress.
That trap is called “Impulse.” Impulse comes when you do what you think will make you feel good in the moment without considering long-term results. Picture the checkout area in the grocery store. Besides the cash register, what else is there? Candy and other snack items!
Grocery store marketers hope that you are going to look at those items and decide to buy one on impulse.
Most of the time, they are right. But you know what? If you shop once a week and buy a snack item to eat each time on impulse, you could gain 3 pounds of fat in 1 year. Multiply that habit over 5 years, and you’ve just gone up another clothing size!
Small choices DO matter. One little bite CAN hurt.
What is the solution? To avoid the impulse trap and loss of focus, then you use a new word: “Intention.” You live by intention, not by impulse. You plan for how you want your day to go, keeping in mind an eternal perspective. An eternal perspective will help you make wiser choices each day.
Let’s fast forward to the end of your life. As you look backward, what did you focus your life on? Jesus has some great direction to what our focus should be:
- “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work (John 4:34).'”
- “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him (John 6:27).”
Ah-ha! Jesus gives us another definition of food besides the obvious. He says that doing God’s will is food and that you should work for food that lasts to eternal life.
What is that food? Later on in that scripture, Jesus said that God’s work is believing in Him, whom God sent. So every time you affirm that you believe God’s Word is true (the Bible), you are feeding on Jesus, the Living Word.
But you don’t just feed on God’s word to fatten yourself; you use that food as energy to go out and feed others. In Mark 16:15, Jesus directed us: “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
That’s when you live through intention, not impulse.
Years ago, I asked myself a hard-core question: “Do you want your life to be about feeding your face? Or do you want it to be about doing God’s will and making a positive impact on other people’s lives?”
It was easier for me to lose weight when I stopped focusing on using food for escape and entertainment. Instead, I shifted my focus on getting strong with Supernatural food, feeding on God’s word and then feeding others with what God taught me.
My desire is to become a living testimony of the difference Jesus can make in one person’s life.
What about you? Are you caught in the impulse trap? If so, then you can get free through living by intention. Today, focus on doing the Father’s will and be determined to finish the work that He has called you to do.
Kimberly Taylor
takebackyourtemple.com
P.S. If you need a plan to release emotional weight permanently, then check out my Take Back Your Temple program. It comes with great bonuses that help you deal with common weight loss trouble spots:
You can review it out here:
https://www.takebackyourtemple.
There is no time like the present to become a good steward over the wonderful gift God has given you in your body and your health. So feel free to click the link so you can get started right now:
The Bible tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord. Everytime I run across some of my own comments I get encouraged ! Isn’t that funny? I see where I was and where I am headed. Living with intention, I like that. It’s having a focused life!
I’m encouraged by others comments too including yours Kim, thanks!
You are so right, Sherry! Sometimes I go back and re-read articles I wrote years ago and they encourage me too. God told me a couple of years ago “forgetfulness is the enemy of faith.” So by extension, remembering what God has done and taught you is the friend of faith. God bless you, Sister!
Kimberly, when I read the journey you’ve been on( from fat to fit) both spiritually and physically tears well up in my spirit. Living with intention, what a way of life! To help others along this road….just awesome. I’m making this my decision too. Feeding on Gods word, getting stronger and living a life worth living. My heart just spills over with love for someone who has yielded her life to be remade in the image of Christ . The sign posts you have planted along this road showing others the way out of a life of ” heaviness” ( which includes obesity, depression, low self worth and other negative lies of satan) will be rewarded one day. I have no doubt there are many lives that are being touched and changed, mine included. I’m thankful to the Lord for you and your ministry.