Anxiety is not a place you want to stay. Too many of us when faced with challenges spend too much time figuring out what we are going to do instead of looking for what God is teaching us. One of the lessons He continues to teach is that He is our rock and refuge.  We clearly see this theme over and over again in the Psalms.  When the psalmist is being pursued on all sides and anxiety is creeping in, he turns to the LORD reminds himself of the truth of who God is and His mighty works.

The LORD brings peace where there is turmoil, strength where there is none, and life where there is death. May you turn to Him today.

Personal Reflection

What are you most prone to be anxious over?  Is it possible that God is asking you to trust Him with that?   God’s Word reminds us of the truth of His faithfulness, love, and mighty works.  If you’re not in His Word meditating daily, you are setting yourself up for anxiety and a crash of anxiety.  Get a reading plan from YouVersion.com or a paper copy somewhere.  Get a good study Bible, read, and meditate on it today!  Begin in the gospels (John, Mark, Matthew, or Luke and move on to Acts and Psalms and see how God overcomes adversity and anxiety.

Prayer Focus

Father, meet us in our deepest anxiety and remind us who you are.  For even the wind and waves obey you. Nothing is outside the realm of your control.  Where we have doubt, replace it with faith.  For we believe; help us with our unbelief.  Let our minds be fixed on you continually and may our lips be filled with praise.  In the Name of Jesus, Amen!

Learning requires discipline both from self and from a teacher.  Correction is also necessary so that we may see the right direction to go.

I remember one of my first classes in business offered by my workplace was on constructive criticism.  I thought I was pretty good at accepting criticism to improve until we started doing role plays. I found something rising in me that raised my temperature and tempted me to yell out, “I know how to do this better”

That temptation was linked to pride.  I do not know better than everyone else, nor do I know better than, God, who placed them in my life.  I learned that day that my pride is stronger than I had realized and it needed to be conquered and caged.  Pride, put simply, hinders every aspect of the learning process and can lead to stupidity.

Personal Reflection

How do you react when someone gives you correction? It could be a parent, boss, pastor or even a spouse alerting you to something. All of these could ultimately be from God. After all, He disciplines  who He loves.

Will you humbly choose the path of loving discipline and reproof or pridefully embrace stupidity?  The choice is yours.  Take note this is not a one time battle, pride is always trying to squeeze its way into your life and thought.  Be on the alert!

Prayer Focus

Amazing teacher in the heavens, humble our hearts today. Let our pride be conquered and our hearts be open to your discipline.  May your word and knowledge have its way in us; hat we may be transformed and confirmed in the image of Christ.  May your reproof result in righteousness and glory to you now and forevermore; in Jesus Name, Amen!

@brianfriedl

#prideleadstostupidity, #disciplineandreproofleadtolife

#truthtalk4life

The Wisdom’s of God is certainly different from worldly wisdom.  Godly wisdom is, “…first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” (‭‭James‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭NASB‬‬). Godly wisdom has a gentle strength and confidence that cannot be broken nor matched by the world. 

Wisdom tells us that we need not lash out at others when things get tough. Instead wisdom leads us to a place of gentleness and trust that is unwavering.  I love the phrase full of mercy and good fruits. Who doesn’t want to be like that?

Personal Reflection

Examine yourself to see whether you are making decisions according to God’s wisdom or man’s wisdom.  If it be man’s wisdom you are operating under confess, repent, and get back to seeking God’s wisdom.  If you are operating in Godly wisdom, praise him for his great faithfulness and gift!

Prayer Focus

LORD in heaven, please help us to be real with ourselves to see the true source of our wisdom. Let our hearts praise only you and not men.  May your wisdom dwell with your Word in our hearts forever. In the Name of Jesus, Amen!  

@brianfriedl

#matchlesswisdom #gentlewisdom #truthtalk4life

Hey Friends! Our family is continuing to takes steps in our health journey. That in and of itself can be a challenge Now multiply that difficulty by having a large family and it almost seems impossible. Sounds like my kind of challenge. Nothing is impossible with God! If we can do it any size family can!

Thanks to my daughter Keisa, we’re calling it Family Thrive and we’ll try to share updates as we go-the good, the bad and the ugly.

Today we hit some cross country trails near our home. No specific goals other than to get moving and have some fun and I’m glad to say we accomplished both…not without some complaining but we got it done!

FUN

Thanks for sticking it out with me all 5 days.  It was quite a challenge for me, especially with my wife’s good cooking and all the companion smells that were coming from the kitchen.

As far as the taste of the shakes and snacks, these are all foods that I like anyway like fruit, nuts, yogurt, etc. so I enjoyed everything.  I think the thing that I noticed the most was that I tend not to ever limit my portions.  If it’s something I like, I will generally eat all of it in one sitting.

I can usually get away with overeating because my metabolism is high and I only sleep about 4-6 hrs per night so there isn’t really a weight gain with all of the extra calorie burning that goes on. By the way I ended up losing 10 lbs during this cleanse.  Mostly in abdominal fat.

I would say the most important lesson I learned about myself during this cleanse is that I have not mastered my body when it comes to food.  While I usually eat healthy, I don’t pay too much attention when I eat at all, other than to devour and delight in its taste and aroma.

Paul cites in 1 Corinthians 6:12

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

While we have been freed by the fulfillment of the law in Christ, we should not leave open doors for gluttony to enter.  I have also observed in myself that this can be an open door to trigger other sins such as selfishness, lust, anger (non-righteous), and pride.

I notice even this morning a greater sense of wanting to be alert and careful of keeping God’s temple (my body) Holy for Him.  This goes beyond food!  I have an even greater admiration of Jesus’ 40 days of fasting!

May we seek to be mastered only by God Himself!

AFTER DAY 5

I feel victorious.  While I don’t feel a ton of physical changes, I feel that I have grown closer to God and have a better understand of the role that food plays in my life.  I have a genuine desire to be more aware of what I’m putting in my body.  I was kind of discouraged yesterday that I didn’t feel more physically.  It’s like anything else; when we are pursuing a worthy goal, we may get discouraged along the way.  When we stick it out to the end, we will see the fruit!

I definitely recommend this to anyone serious about total health.  For me this cleanse impacted my spiritual, physical, mental and emotional life.  I do feel healthier all around.

If you’re interested in getting more info on how to order, shoot me an email:

brian@brianfriedl.com

#cleanse, #victory, #health, #weightloss

I was reading in 1 Corinthians 9 this morning and came across this passage:

 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

The word discipline literally translates to “bruise”.  After reading this one question rang in my head.  How serious am I about my relationship with Christ?  Do I really make an effort to make my body my “slave”.  Am I really making no provision for my flesh as the Word calls me to?  Am I running in a way so that I may win?  Or, do I quickly give in and let my actions fall under “I am a sinner saved by grace”.  While the former is true, it doesn’t excuse me from giving everything I have to running the race.

This cleanse has been a challenge for me no doubt.  I have realized that food is one of my subtle comforters.  I must not let anything other than the Trinity be my comforter, lest I be disappointed and fall into sin.  We must realize the hope and strength we have in our God above all else.  Christ’s finished work at the cross is our ultimate source of comfort. May you find peace and hope in Him today as you make your body your slave to obey our Father in heaven.

AFTER DAY 4

Only one day to go.  I have to admit I was slightly disappointed when I read that I should be feeling the effects of the cleanse and an increase in energy yesterday.  In all reality the only thing I felt was hungry.  While the rest of my family was having Ham, gravy, and mashed potatoes, I was having 10oz of shakes, and a small portion of fruit.  It was really tempting to give in, but I was reminded of the above verse.  I’m doing this to help bring my body into submission.  I must discipline my body not to get whatever it wants but that it my serve my spirit who walks with Christ.

#cleanse, #discipline, #freedom, #victory

One of the things about cleansing is that it’s not always fun.  When God cleanses us, it can be an extremely painful process letting go of unhealthy patterns. We are so used to a quick-fix world that sometimes we run from any work or pain.

If we truly want to leave sin and have success during temptation, we must not bypass the first step outlined in James 4:7

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Cleansing requires submission.  You must be willing to let go of any other comforter other than the Holy Spirit.  We will always do what we believe will satisfy us.  It doesn’t matter if it’s food, drugs, work, or any other of the world’s comforters.  If we believe we need something more than than what God has provided, we are putting ourselves on the throne.

As someone who has struggled with addictions, this is becomes blatantly obvious and frustrating, until you realize the beautiful freedom and victory found in surrendering all to the one who has victory over every battle.  Submit today to your Lord and Savior and He will be your victory over any struggle you are facing.  Turn from your sin and let Him be your strength.

AFTER DAY 3

Day 3 was a little more difficult for some reason.  I was more hungry.  The day in general had more stress factors and it’s day 3 of gloomy rain showers.  I didn’t sleep well last night due to kids being up in the middle of the night and I developed a cough so my chest felt like it was on fire.  I subsided that with using R.C. Essential Oil, but still couldn’t seem to sleep.  This is a good test of submission for strength.  I always knew I depended a lot on food and have only done short fasts in the past.  This is opening my eyes even more to how much I value physical food.  One more area to submit I guess

Here’s a good illustration of submitting to God I found a while back – Enjoy!

 http://skitguys.com/videos/item/gods-chisel

#submit, #cleanse, #freedom, #victory

When we come to the end of life there are only two identities that matter…Are we an enemy of God or a child of God?   There is no fence riding.  It doesn’t matter at that point if you have brown eyes or blue, if you are a wife or a doctor.  It only matters whether you have chosen to fully trust in Jesus Christ as your savior or you have trusted in something else (self, money, etc.)  This identity is referred to and described in multiple places in scripture including Romans 8 and James 4 to name a couple.

As believers we are given the Holy Spirit which testifies with ours that we are sons and daughters of God.  Our identity matters so much so that God gave the Holy Spirit to remind us of it constantly.  Note he didn’t send anyone to remind us of our physical features or roles.  James reminds us that if we love the world instead, we are enemies of God.

This principle was shown to me when we adopted 9 kids at once. I ended up having to quit my job and help settle everything at home.  I looked forward to being free from work only later to feel such a grief and loss of who I was. My whole identity was wrapped up in what I did rather than my identity in Christ.  In some ways I still loved the world and my abilities.  It took a process of a year and a half to finally become secure in my identity as a child of God regardless of career, roles, or activities.  The first step to really knowing who you are is knowing your identity.

I would boldly say that until that you understand your identity, you are not able to fully understand your purpose..

Read Who Am I Part 2

1.) We were created in His image (Genesis 1:26-28).  When we read the creation account only man and woman are mentioned as created in the image of God.  This is a special designation followed up by a “Very Good” at the end of the sixth day.

2.) He desires to dwell with us (Genesis 1, Matthew 1:23, Matthew 28:18-20) These are but a few examples of how God desires to be with us.  Let us remember this is the God of the universe, perfect and holy and yet He desires to dwell with us His fallen creation.  Not only that but His Spirit lives in us.  You can’t get any closer than that!

3.) He gives us His best (Genesis 2:15-25, John 3:16)  He gave us a perfect place to dwell in the beginning and then established a perfect savior that we may be able to dwell in His perfection with Him forever.  Romans 5:8 and Ephesians 2 reminds us that this is not earned favor with God, but grace.  He has chosen to give us His best not by our works but by His own.  Philippians 2 reminds us of Christ’s obedience unto death and even death on a cross.

4.) He gives us a purpose (2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 2:8-10)  We have been made “new” for the purpose of investing the Gospel into peoples lives as ambassadors and reconcilers of Christ and walking in the good works he prepared for us.  He has entrusted us with the most important information on the planet!

Unfortunately these truths are either often not understood or forgotten.  We must remember that our usefulness is not based on our ability but based on the value we receive by being one of His children.

May you be blessed today knowing that you are valuable in the eyes of your Heavenly Father!