No more excuses!!

NO MORE EXCUSES!!!

Excuses…we all use them. The very first people Adam and Eve started it (like my excuse). It’s easier to give excuses than to hold ourselves accountable. But God already holds us accountable. “You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.” Psalm 69:5

We often use excuses on our journey to good health. We are “too busy” to exercise. We go out to eat for business and there was “nothing healthy” on the menu. We are “too tired” to do our Bible Study. Do excuses make us more successful if we stumble along the way? Do they really rid of us guilt or do they drag us down?
God wants us to place our worry in Hands. So tell God that you are worried that you are too busy to exercise…and God will give you the strength and time to get your body in motion. God designed your body to move. Tell God you are having trouble making healthy food choices and He will give you the knowledge and desire to make wiser decisions about what you eat. (Check out www.sparkpeople.com.) Come to God and let Him know that you are too tired to do the Bible Study and you can bet that He will give you more energy to spend time with Him. God wants to spend time with you daily. He wants to guide you on this journey.

Let’s start our lesson by reading Genesis 3:1-13.

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Imagine how much easier our journey to good health will be if we allow ourselves to hear God walking with us. Eve was tempted by Satan because she did not “hear” God. God had been clear with Adam and Eve. He told them specifically not to eat from the tree of life. He provided an abundance of trees for them to eat from. He warned them of the consequences but still Eve ate from the tree. She was tempted by Satan, ate the apple and surely died…How do you think Eve would have handled the situation had she “heard” God before she ate the apple? What ways can we open our ears to better “hear God?”

Let’s now talk about how this relates to our weight-loss journey…

1. God is clear with us on healthy choices and gives us free will to make them. *Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the tree of life but God gave them the opportunity to eat from this forbidden tree.
2. God provides us with an abundance of ways to be healthy; exercise, bible studies, foods…
3. He warns us of the consequences with bad decisions relating to our health.
4. We are tempted all the time by Satan.
5. We acknowledge Satan’s temptation and try to argue with it. *If we acknowledge Satan and try to argue with him, he normally wins. Let’s please God and come to Him first. He will certainly be kinder to us than Satan.
6. We hide from God when we make unwise choices. But …Psalm 139:1-12 sheds new light on hiding from God.

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

So God is with us every step of the way on this journey. He will find us when we are up at midnight sneaking a bowl of ice cream. He will find us when we are sitting on the couch and haven’t exercised all day. He will find us when we could be doing our Bible study and we have neglected it. We can try to use the Genesis 3:12 excuse but I’m pretty sure it won’t work.

Our lesson also talked about the first animal sacrifice. God made clothes out of animal skin to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. What could this symbolize? Hebrews 9:28 says,

28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

So Jesus was a sacrifice for our sins caused by temptation. Thanks be to God for His back-up plan. Adam and Eve were in a perfect world; a world without sin and they were tempted. Jesus came and saved us from that. Come to God with your sins.
1 John 1:9 says,

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Why do you think God wants us to confess our sins even though He sees everything? Accountability! Accountability: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility. This gives us an opportunity to better learn from our mistakes.

I challenge everyone to first “hear” God and then be accountable to your sins against Him. Keeping a prayer journal is a great way to communicate with God. Let’s also try to avoid the Genesis 3:12 excuse. Proverbs 24:10 says,

10 If you falter in times of trouble,
how small is your strength!

So put on that armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) and go out into the world! Luke 21:36 guides us.

36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

Let’s end in prayer with the words from Psalm 139:23-24.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Amen