Quote from Forum Archives on September 13, 1998, 5:53 pm

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder in the Trenches,
Encouraging One Another as we "Fight the Good Fight"

TITLE: "How To Lose Unwanted Weight"

Dear Front-line Friend:

How are you this day? I trust you are well, and rejoicing in God's
abundant grace. He is good, indeed. "He is a great God, and greatly to
be praised!"

A GREAT DIET:

Why on earth would I want to use this letter to talk about weight loss?
Of all things . . . !

When you think about it, though, our stewardship and self control do
indeed include "bodies" as well as "soul" and "spirit". And our bodies
are identified as the "temple of the Holy Spirit".

On top of that, what people see concerning the way we treat our bodies
has a lot to do with how they receive the rest of our testimonies and
ministries through word and deed. If our bodies do not affirm our
message, it is likely they diminish it ---- or at least stand in it's
way.

Most importantly though, I share it because I believe the Lord is
prompting me to offer hope and encouragement to someone who has been
struggling with weight problems.

Secondly, I also share it because of the results I have recently enjoyed
since last May.

As background, my father and I were leading a Bible conference in Mason
City, Iowa in 1977. I was exhausted. My feet burned, I had sinus
headaches, and I found myself saying, "no thirty-nine year old man should
feel the way I feel."

A few weeks later I drove to my parents' home in Effingham, Illinois to
begin a Bible conference in Dad's church. Arriving around 4:00 p.m., I
gave my mother a hug, and told them to wake me up for supper because I
was going to bed in order to hopefully be able to preach that evening.

When I awoke, still with a severe headache, I found a little pile of
pills next to my plate. That was the beginning of what is now a
twenty-nine year immersion into nutritional supplement usage.

During those years, however, as a result of the normal metabolic changes
accompanying getting older (even though 60 is not really old!, not
nearly as old as it used to be), because of an increasingly more
sedentary life style, and as the result of some back injuries that
required highly restricted physical activity, I found my weight going up,
up, up, down, up, up, level off, up, down, up, up, . . . you get the
picture.

My many efforts to either control or reduce my weight were at best
temporarily successful, and often totally futile. As a 6'0" 143 pounder
at college graduation, I eventually increased that weight over the years
by over 100 pounds. All in all, I have probably lost at least 350 pounds
or more since I made my first effort to get back to my "norm" of 180
pounds ---- lose 10, gain 15, lose the same 10, gain another 15, etc.

In spite of knowing how embarrassing it was to me and to Jo Ann, how
disrespectful it was to God and His Word to stand before people (though
not "grossly" overweight) as God's representative yet obviously not
obeying His Word as pertaining to my own temple of the Holy Spirit and
taking care of it, and how distracting it was to others, I found myself
last year at my all-time high of 250 pounds.

Now some people are far heavier than that, and many others can carry such
weight gracefully ---- I could not. To most people I was not what you
would normally call obese. But, I Was short of breath, easily got red in
the face, and was becoming increasingly self conscious.

I had to stop wearing shirts with vertical stripes, begin wearing
trousers with pleats and jeans that were baggy, and wearing my ties
longer. I didn't like to take my suit coat off in public and show my
"love handles" ---- actually they were progressively looking more like
cargo straps.

I could make all the excuses ----" I'm getting older", "we travel so much
there is no time or opportunity for vigorous physical activity", "we have
no control over what people feed us in their homes", "menus are limited
in restaurants", and of course "my back problems keep me from adequate
physical activity", . . . (Cough! Gag!)

The fact of the matter is, I was undisciplined, and lacked self control
---- a malady apparently affecting many people, even some in places of
high political offices but demonstrated through different types of
appetites.

Carnality is carnality, no matter how it manifests itself. Slothfulness
is slothfulness whether it is demonstrated by procrastination of a
project or laziness toward good physical energy-burning exercise. Lack
of self control is the same, whether it is at the kitchen table piled
with food or whether it's in the private bathroom of the oval office.

Why am I writing this to you? I suppose, in a way, to be held
accountable for my progress ---- I'm now the lowest in weight I've been
in 20 years at 219 pounds, with only 19 more to go. (Besides, I haven't
bought a new suit in ten years, and I'm due one!)

A second reason, however, is to tell you I believe Jo Ann and I have
found the most effective, reasonable, and easy way to lose and control
weight we've ever found. And, if you'd like to know about it, we'll be
glad to e-mail you the menu itself. Just drop us a line ---- I really
mean that.

We have no product to sell or marketing strategy to push. We just feel
it's part of our stewardship of encouragement. After all, people need
encouragement in areas of health as well as in relational, emotional, and
spiritual, don't you think?

At any rate, we are thrilled with the plan and the outcome we have
personally seen.

Why? Because of . . .

1. It's Source: It was developed by a team of doctors and nutritionists
at a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama as a means of generating rapid
weight loss for obese people who were open heart surgery patients. To
me, that gave it a measure of credibility and safety.

We still fanatically ingest natural food supplements, and continue to
find it much cheaper than doctor bills. In the U.S., at least, I do not
believe it is possible to be physically healthy without some good
supplementation of natural vitamins. The nutrition just isn't in our
processed foods to begin with ---- you can't get protein from something
that has no protein in it.

2. It's Content: Amazingly, in addition to lots of green vegetables
(which I love dearly anyhow), it even includes eggs, any kind of meat
(including hot dogs!), fruit, and peanut butter ---- and ice cream!

Seriously, it has real balance. I know enough about nutrition to know
that there are usually damaging side effects to overly restricting or
totally eliminating certain foods or food groups. That is minimal and
reasonable with this plan.

3. It's Duration: Believe it or not, this "diet" lasts only ---- THREE
DAYS! What?! You read me correctly. Just about anybody can say, "Well
---- I can do That!"

Basically, you strictly follow the menus provided for three consecutive
days of your choice each week (we usually do Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday because it is more convenient and fits our life style better),
and then eat whatever you want ---- Moderately ---- the other four days.

And, of course, you should Always have some type of good muscle-toning
energy-building physical activity. Right now with me it's yard work,
carpentry on the house, and walking. Especially in the upper years, if
you don't do some type of physically challenging activity, you'll lose
muscle mass rather than fat.

4. It's Psychology: What I found was that my attitude about "endurance"
and "achievability" changed ---- while I had been unable (or
undisciplined enough) to stick with other efforts, this one was "bite
size" and achievable. It was a short-term regimen that fit into my "can
do" limitations.

The doctors not only developed a plan that is nutritionally sound, but
also mentally achievable and emotionally acceptable. After all, only a
"woose" would be unable to discipline himself for three short days!
Besides, you don't have to give up All your favorite foods ---- it even
includes cantaloupe and ice cream! ---- if you really want it.

It was reassuring to know I wasn't having to forever abandon and "give
up" some of my favorite foods ---- on off days we still eat pizza, pasta,
home made peach pie, cookies, butter and sour cream on our potatoes, etc.

5. It's Progress: The first day you are excited, and that motivates
you. The second day you decide that, since you made it through the first
day, you can do it the second. The third day you realize you're almost
at the end, so you persevere on, knowing day number four is just hours
away, and you can "eat normally" again, ---- in moderation, of course.

When day four comes, because you like the results you see both on the
scale and in the way you feel, and you don't want to lose too much
ground, you find yourself carefully monitoring and even adjusting what
you eat on that fourth day.

Day five is the same, as are six and seven.

By that time, you realize that, if you choose, you can develop a
pattern, eventually even a habit, and probably make a life-style change
in the way you eat from here on that will permanently change your health.

By the time day seven is ending and you're anticipating the next round,
you're excited that you're about to lose another three to six pounds in
the next three days.

The first week I was on the plan, I lost eight pounds (much of it water,
I suspect), the second week about six, the third about four. While our
travel and ministry schedule have not allowed us to follow the plan every
single week, we have not gained back any of our weight loss ---- even
during the three weeks last June in eastern Europe eating all that bread,
pasta, potatoes, Croatian ice cream, and French and German pastries, we
never gained back a single pound. We are now losing again ---- last week
I lost four pounds.

Just think, though ---- if you averaged two pounds a week (nutritionists
say two to three per week is about ideal), you could lose 20 by
Thanksgiving ---- and 30 by Christmas! Anybody interested in that?

Jo Ann is only two pounds away from her targeted goal ---- I'm nineteen
away. Of course, I started with much more to jettison than she did. (Do
you think I'd tell you if it was the other way around? Not on your life!
I learned the art of diplomacy from Abraham when he said, "I am an old
man, and my wife is well stricken in years".)

So, friend ---- if you need to lose some pounds as an expression of self
control, an action of good stewardship, and as an honor to the Lord Jesus
Christ, be encouraged! Unless there is a serious medical condition that
prohibits such a plan, you can do it, too!

A KEY ISSUE:

I really didn't think this matter would be the central thrust of my
letter to you today, but it has become so. I know this is of the Lord
because, of the fourteen other letter subjects I have already begun
writing on, None of them seemed timely or appropriate for today.

Then it hit me ---- "Bob, what is the difference between your struggle
with food and weight and President Clinton's struggle with sex and
lying?"

(Incidentally, if you are offended by my reference to our president, then
maybe you need to evaluate your allegiance to a man in contrast to your
allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. And, I have no disparaging thought
in my heart toward him ---- but I do have an enormous amount of sadness
and grief.)

My first response was typical ---- critique the question from human
reason: "Well, Lord ---- you know ---- adultery and lying are far worse
than eating too much or exercising too little!"

"Oh, ---- really? On what do you base that conclusion?"

"Well ---- it's logical, of course."

"Right! ---- 'logical'. ---- What about spiritual? What about
revelational? What about Biblical? Is your body the temple of the Holy
Spirit when it comes to adultery, but not when it pertains to gluttony?
---- or excessive body building? ---- or pornography? ---- or tobacco?
---- or alcohol? ---- or drugs? ---- or too much late night television?
---- or excessive sleep? ---- or extravagant, theatrical or suggestive
clothing? ---- or (perish the thought!) too much caffeine? ---- or . . .
."

Friend, I do understand that sexual sins genuinely Do stand in a category
all their own because of the special way God uses sex to illustrate His
intimacy with and love for us and to characterize Christ's relationship
to the church as bride and groom. In fact, every detail of sexual
encounter speaks amazing volumes concerning the Agape love relationship
God has with His people.

And, I also believe we have become far too lenient in our treatment of
sexual sins in our churches and in the lives of Christians, and have, in
so doing, not only demonstrated flagrant hypocrisy before the world, but
we have unbelievably tarnished both the intimacy of the spiritual
typology and the preciousness of the physical act of sex itself between
husband and wife.

If you want to understand why some people think sex is "dirty" and the
world sees it as "recreational sport", think about how we ourselves have
perhaps actually been the cause of such perverted thought toward such a
sacred gift by our lack of standard and consistency regarding how it is
to be used. And it takes more than just preaching it from the pulpit in
some fiery lambasting of a public figure. It also takes some consistency
and integrity in what we read, what we view, products we purchase, and so
forth.

However, at the same time, I believe there is also a principle of right
and wrong that is the same, no matter what the action of the flesh may be
---- adultery, lying, stealing, gossiping, eating ----

It is a matter of SELF CONTROL! ---- And many of us in the ministry DON'T
HAVE ANY!

May God forgive us! We have flagrantly harmed people and damaged them,
and even doomed them because of our lack of self control in the Body of
Christ, including those of us who are in varying positions of leadership.

The way we dress ---- the things we watch on television ---- the
magazines we secretly read ---- the videos and movies we blatantly watch,
regardless of their ratings and content ---- the way we eat ---- the
stories and jokes we embracingly listen to and often tell to others ----
the thoughts we harbor ----the way we neglect or ignore our spouses ----
the way we glance at attractive people of the opposite gender.

It All R-E-E-K-S of a lack of self control!

Notice that self control is part of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it
is listed in last position in order to call climactic attention to it.

Self Control, my dear friend, is No Small Thing!

And the people of the world spot it in a moment, particularly in the life
of a believer.

And, right or wrong, they use that hypocritical character flaw ---- or
SIN ---- as one of the primary reasons to reject the message of the
Gospel!

There is more discipline of the body and the mind in the average
unbeliever than there is in many Christians!

Jesus made it clear ---- "If you're going to follow me, it's going to
cost you, and cost you big. And one of the things you must have is Self
Control.

"Since you don't have a beggar's chance of developing it, I'll provide it
for you ---- through the ministry and fullness of the Holy Spirit."

It's time to shape up, Christian friend! ---- physically! ---- mentally!
---- ethically! ---- spiritually!

THE ROOT ISSUE:

The Key issue may be self control, but self control is not the Root
issue.

The Root issue is the Flesh and its drives, vs the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said it well; Take time to again read Romans
chapters six through eight.

"Whatever you yield to is your master, and you are its slave."

"The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so
that you can't do the things you know you should."

"I want to do what is right, but I can't. Whenever I try to do good, I
do wrong; when I try to avoid wrong, I do it anyhow."

He goes on to say in Romans 7, "Oh wretched man that I am! Who will set
me from the body of this death?!"

Then, in resounding answer to his own struggle, he shouts, "Thanks be to
God ---- through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

The Root Issue is simple ---- our true attitude toward the Lord Jesus
Christ, His Ministry, His Message, and His Mission for us.

How Important is it?

How Important is HE?

"ONCE AND FOR ALL'' ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS:

"Alright ---- so it's time to shape up. Just how do you propose we do
it?"

In assessing our walk with the Lord and how it plays itself out in real
life, there are some essential elements with which we must grapple daily.

Jesus' haunting question, "Do you love Me more than these?" continues to
push its head up into our eye-level consciousness where we cannot ignore
it.

These What?

These men? These securities? These things? These pleasures? These
fish?

We must settle it once and for all in our lives. More of us need some
"once and for all" encounters.

I have had a few. One stands out in my mind.

We had reached a "logger head" situation in a church I pastored where a
minority group of people in positions of leadership were in disagreement
over what I (and most of the other leaders) felt was a "cannot
compromise" issue.

One of the spokesmen for the minority asked the question, "If we go
ahead and decide to [make this particular change] what would you decide
to do? Would you resign?"

My answer shocked him and all others present.

"What you decide to do today has nothing to do with what my response
might be to that course of action, because I made that decision years
ago. It's not a matter of what you decide today; it's a matter of what I
decided then."

The minority didn't like my answer, primarily because it was built on
some absolutes and gave no room for liberal relativism.

The absence of absolutes again plagues our nation. (But what else is new?
God designed all of life to be lived by absolutes; whenever you do
otherwise, you suffer the consequences ---- as we are again facing
today).

In fact, it also plagues the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ ---- what we
profess to believe far outweighs what we practice in real application.
We would rather ignore the situation altogether, or, if impossible to do
that, compromise on something far below the standard.

One of my great concerns over the Clinton issue is whether or not
Congress will "lower the bar" by compromise, just as the Supreme Court
has done so often in the past forty years. There are two ways to get
over the bar in the pole vault. One is to strengthen the athlete, the
other is to lower the bar.

Unfortunately, many Christians have rewritten the little song: "I have
decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided
to follow Jesus; no turning back, no turning back ---- probably, but
maybe not always."

And, it challenges us with things such as . . .

1. Testimony ---- friend, regardless of how much you weigh, for example,
just how much does your testimony for Jesus Christ mean to you? How much
does what He thinks mean to you? How much does the spiritual welfare and
future of other people mean to you?

Does it matter enough to discipline yourself to lose the weight? ---- or
would you be satisfied to fill your mouth with all the excuses? Does the
name and reputation of the Lord Jesus Christ mean enough for you to
"bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ"? ---- or would
you rather allow your lustful mental images to run rampant?

We make choices such as these, quite frankly, based on the value we place
on our testimony as believers and the value we place on the Name and
Witness of our Lord.

2. Lordship ---- We are often like Peter. We profess Him to be Lord
(boss, master), but then we argue with Him. This is what you find in
Acts chapter 10. When Peter is faced with the imagery of the vision of
the big sheet filled with all kinds of food and was commanded to eat some
things that were not kosher, he blurted out a totally contradictory
three-word response.

"Not so, Lord!"

"Not so, ---- Lord?" "No!" ---- "Lord?"

Friend, that is an utter impossibility ---- to say "Not so!" and "Lord!"
in the same sentence!

If you say, "Not so!", He is not Lord. If you say, "Lord!" you cannot
say "Not so!" to Him.

I love what I believe F. B. Meyer (I am not certain as to authorship)
said about that passage: ---- "You cannot say 'Not So' and 'Lord' at the
same time. He is either Lord, or it is Not So, but it is never 'Not so,
Lord!'"

Now, Jesus is indeed Lord, whether we acknowledge His Lordship or not. A
police officer is a police officer even if we refuse to obey the law.

However, if we resist cleaning up our act pertaining to our weight, our
thought life, or speech, or any other area of Christian character and
conduct, then we are in actuality rebelling against the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. Even worse, we are rebelling directly against Jesus Christ, The
Lord.

Therefore, one of the elements that comes into play when we deal with
areas of godly living is the issue of Christ's Lordship on a practical
level in our lives.

3. Surrender to the Holy Spirit ---- When we confess Jesus to be Lord of
our lives, we position ourselves to benefit from the ministry of the Holy
Spirit with all His teaching, decision making, strength generating, and
fruit producing activities.

Since He came to do the will of the Father as manifested in Jesus, since
He has been assigned to instruct us in things of holiness (He IS the
"Holy" Spirit, you know), and since the fruit of the Holy Spirit has Self
Control as the "icing on the cake", we can assume that Surrender to Him
is mandatory, and that Self Control will be the logical and natural (or
Super-natural) manifestation demonstrated in our yielded lives.

If there is no manifestation, then we can only assume it is because we
are rejecting, resisting, or refusing in some way.

4. Self Control ---- The older I get, the more I see the element of
Self Control being so necessary in the life of the believer. The
temptations and the alternatives are far too great. There is way too
much delicious food out there. There are far too many tantalizing
temptations around us. There is far too much of the world offered
through the media in all its forms.

Frankly, my friend, what we face in this world is too big for us! The
Lust of the Flesh ---- the craving to Do something apart from God; The
Lust of the Eye ---- the craving to Have something apart from God; The
Pride of Life ---- the craving to Be something apart from God.

It's the very temptation Adam and Eve faced in the Garden of Eden; it's
the same Jesus faced in the temptations in the Wilderness; it's the same
John warned the early Christians about in I John chapter two.

Why should we think it would be any different for us in 1998?

I love what the great black preacher Manuel Scott once said about the
Devil. "He's been around longer than you have, he knows more than you
do, and he's stronger than you are! You gotta have some HELP!"

Self control is essential for successful victory in the Christian life,
and the Holy Spirit is essential for Self Control.

5. A Disciplined Life ---- Because both the World, the Flesh, and the
Devil all constantly war against the things of godliness, we must add to
our Decision concerning Christ's Lordship and the Holy Spirit's resources
a Discipline that maintains the position we have taken.

If I'm going to maintain my commitment to lose weight, I must take some
steps of discipline. I must stop looking at the dessert menu in the
restaurants. I must stop buying cookies at the grocery store for my
cookie jar. I must hide the cookie jar on the very top shelf, or, even
better, throw it in the trash.

If I'm going to resist the evil mental pictures, I must change some
channels and stop renting certain videos, I must spend time in God's Word
super imposing Godly images in the gallery of my mind.

If I'm going to be healthy and mentally sharp, I must develop a sleep and
exercise program that gives me the exercise I need and generates the
weariness I need to sleep well and properly.

Just as "He who has begun a good work in you will continue it until the
day of Christ", so you must "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry
out the desire of the flesh." My friend, it isn't the one who starts the
race who runs it; it is the one who finishes the race.

A disciplined life may begin with good intentions, but it will be
continued with determination and will be concluded with discipline.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

I'm having a ball losing weight! And, I'm liking what people who know me
are saying. I'm Really liking what Jo Ann is saying ---- and she gets a
smile on her face when I make comments about her. She's so wired right
now because she has dropped two dress sizes.

Now, guys, to a woman that is like our saying we knocked ten points off
our golf game or added forty pins to our bowling score.

Want to lose weight? ---- pounds off your body? ---- thoughts in your
mind? ---- memories from your past? ---- habits you can't conquer? ----
unhealthy relationships you can't correct?

Then ---- let's go for it!

Let's "lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles
us." Let's, as I said last week, "forgetting what lies behind and
reaching forward to what lies ahead, . . . press on toward the goal ----
for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ!" (Phil
3:13b-14).

'Let us therefore, as many as are mature, have this attitude; . . ."
(Phil 3:15a)

God bless you, my friend, as you run Your race ---- and lose Your
"Weight", whatever it is!

Look! The Goal is just ahead ---- and you're closing fast!

In Christ's Bond,

Bob Tolliver ---- Rom 1:11-12
Copyright September, 1998. All rights reserved

PRAY FOR US:
As God brings us to your mind, please lift us in prayer concerning the
financial requirements for our upcoming trip to Croatia and Bosnia. The
funding has been slow in coming in. We leave in less than two weeks.

Incidentally, I'm uncertain at the moment as to how accessible the
internet will be to us while there, but we'll do our best to not miss a
week. We will be in Crikvenica, Karlovac, and Sirac in Croatia, and also
in Sarajevo and Banja Luka in Bosnia.

Bob

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Hang in there! I'm with you!

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Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: [email protected]
Ph: 417-275-4854
Fax: 417-275-4855