Last week’s study of our Identity in Christ provided so much great material for our deck of truth cards. I hope you added some new cards to your deck and are reveling in the wonder of who GOD says you are! If you haven’t yet seen it, this Who I Am in Christ document is filled with wonderfully rich truth gleaned from the Scriptures!
The recording of our webinar where we wrapped up Lesson 3, Identity in Christ, can be found here. I will share the discussion questions for the webinar as soon as they are available. You will probably want Tina’s Power Point Slides in pdf format to have in front of you while you listen. 🙂
Now, we CELEBRATE that wonderful NEW thing that God is clearly doing! His grace is an ocean and we are ALL sinking! We are covered, saturated, and floating in an ocean of grace. So far removed from our sin, condemnation is something so foreign to our God’s way of relating to us, “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense” is free though it cost Jesus everything.
Here is this week’s video:
Video Questions:
1. How is Thin Within different from dieting relative to this subject of “Grace?”
2. God’s intent is that I would _p___________ the __g_________ to myself every day. What are ways you can do that?
3. How can you identity with 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10?
4. Some people are delivered and never experience a struggle with food and eating again. (I don’t know that I have ever met someone like this, but I am sure they exist.) What is the more likely type of healing that most of us will experience?
5. God’s grace is a pardon, provision, a constant _p_________, and the p____________ to say no to sin. (03:25)
6. Where does the sense of failure come from that I bring into Thin Within? (03:35)
7. God takes __f__________ and __r______________s it. (04:29)
8. What does grace give us? (04:55)
9. How is Observation and Correction a tool of grace?
10. (06:32-07:19) What are some strategies mentioned that you can employ when you struggle with obeying the Lord?
11. (07:50) What are two tools that I challenge you to dive into this week? How can you try to carve time out for this?
Renewing the Mind – Pressing On
Select one new way of renewing your mind this week. Will it be to journal through some of the questions in I Deserve a Donut? I have been at this imperfectly since 1999 and I still feel like I need to renew my mind at least once each day. Barb’s book is one of my favorite ways of doing this!
At our class’ private Facebook group page, some of the members have been posting pictures of their truth cards. They are absolutely wonderful! You could use some of the ideas there (or come up with your own) and add to your spiral bound deck of index cards. What do you do with the cards? Read through at least 5 of them each day…out loud.We can act differently, but we won’t sustain the behavior changes until we learn to think differently! Renewing our minds (Romans 12:2) is a great way of doing that.
If you need more ideas for renewing your mind, click on this search here at the Thin Within blog.
Trade Book Assignment – To Be Completed by February 3rd.
Here is Study Guide Week 4. I hope you are encouraged as you make your way through the material.
Workbook Assignment – To Be Completed by February 3rd.
1. Read, highlight, mark Lesson 4, Celebration of God’s Grace, Part One, on pages B48-B53 or listen to the audio file of Lesson 4 at Sound Cloud. Discuss it here in the comments section below this post or at our Class Facebook Group.
2. Complete the exercises for Lesson 4 on pages B54-B60. Next Monday before the webinar, respond to the Review questions on page B-61.
3. Continue to add to your “God List.” Can you add 10 things this week? What is your favorite attribute of God that you have added to your list so far?
4. Have a Praise Fest this week when you are tempted to break your boundaries. Share with us how doing so affected you.
5. Use the entries for Day 16 through Day 28 in the Temple Toolkit. Continue to ask the Lord if you should use the Thin Within Food Log, remaining sensitive to HIS leading about this. You can also consider a modified use of it by just recording your hunger numbers. Again, this is optional.
6. Memorize Jeremiah 29:11 this week. Personalize it and add it to your truth cards. “God has plans for me. God plans to prosper me and not to harm me. He plans to give me a hope and a good future.”
7. If you haven’t already, you probably soon will experience a shift in how emotionally sensitive you are. If so, know that this is perfectly normal. We aren’t numbing ourselves with food any more. Emotions we didn’t even know we felt will surface. Ask the Lord to help you process them in a manner that honors him and demonstrates respect for your body, His temple!
How About You?
How is the journey going? What questions do you have? Is there any way that you can offer just a bit more of your heart to the Lord in this?
Many people have shared in our class Facebook group that they are seeing evidence that God is doing a new thing. One way is through the Body Awareness (Mirror Mirror) Activity that we did last week on Day Three. Class participants shared that they had breakthroughs in how they feel about their bodies. If you haven’t yet done this activity, please don’t put it off. It IS hard, yes, but prayerfully invite God to help you through it. In fact, Lesson 2’s webinar, includes my walking us through it. I hope you find it helpful! The Hallidays have included it in nearly every book and workbook that Thin Within has created, so it is clear that they feel, after helping people since 1975…this is important!
This week we turn our attention to a very vital area for renewing our minds with truth. I hope you have your spiral deck of index cards and pen ready. (Some of our class members are using colored pens and artwork to create compelling — and fun! — cards.) We are going to look at our Identity in Christ. So often we get our sense of value, purpose, and identity from our performance at the various roles we have in life. We will see what God’s thoughts are on this subject this week. When we begin to think God’s thoughts after him about who we are most fundamentally, all kinds of things are possible!
Video Questions:
1. What will happen as we begin to think God’s thoughts after him (renew our minds with truth) about our identity?
2. From 02:29 to 03:28 I share a list of who you are in Christ. Which of these are most meaningful to you personally? Why? Do you believe that this is who you are? Why or why not? Make a truth card that tells you that you *are* that! This week, read your cards out loud. Here is the Who I Am in Christ list that I read from on the video.
3. Failure is something that you ______. It is not something that you ______.
4. Failure does not need to be an __________________. Failure can be the best _____________ that we’ve got going.
5. How can the tool of Observation and Correction help you turn failure into victory?
6. I speak about “falling off the horse” and “getting back on again.” What does that look like, practically speaking, on this Thin Within journey?
7. What makes you “worthy” of Heaven? How does this apply to our Thin Within journeys?
8. If you believed you were more than a conqueror, how might that affect how you live and the choices you would make?
9. What are you telling yourself about who you are? Are you telling yourself the truth?
10. Of the lies I mention at the end, which can you identify with the most?
Renewing the Mind – Pressing On
NOTE: Don’t be overwhelmed by the material in this part of the “assignment” each week. This section is here to give you ideas for renewing your mind. Maybe just pick ONE thing and try it out each week. Thinking differently about food, our bodies, our God, life is vital if we want changes that will last!
What are strategies you are currently using to renew your mind so that you believe the things we are studying? We don’t typically lack knowledge. We lack BELIEF! So speaking the truths from our lessons into our souls again and again will serve us well if we want to see our beliefs change. Remember, this progression?:
Beliefs –> Actions –> Patterns –> Fruit
If we don’t feel like there is fruit in our lives that concurs with our godly goals, then we want to back up. What patterns are in our lives? Back up a bit further to see what actions or choices are we making in the moment. Remembering that moment upon moment is what our lives (patterns) are based on, we see that choices are fueled by our beliefs. So, if we don’t like the fruit in our lives or are convicted that this isn’t honoring to God, we must go back to our beliefs and begin to work with our own minds, hearts, and souls to change what we believe. We can do this by telling ourselves the truth repeatedly. Here is a short list of ways to do that:
1. Music – Christian music does a great job of this. Secular music, not necessarily so much. “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” is not going to help you to live like “More than a Conqueror!” For ideas for a Renew Your Mind Play list visit this post or this set of posts.
2. Truth Cards – Make ’em, Read ’em, Recite ’em, Record ’em, LISTEN to ’em! Yes! You can use your computer (most laptops are equipped to make audio recordings) or your device to record yourself reading your truth cards. Then, you can listen to them with your earphones or your blue tooth. Even if you “aren’t in the mood” to read them, you can passively have them playing through your head throughout the day or while you vacuum, prepare a meal, go grocery shopping. It is a great way of having the truth saturate your thinking.
3. JOURNAL through a set of questions in Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut and Other Lies that Make You Eat or the I Deserve a Donut app. I do believe journaling these questions at least once makes all the difference in getting the material into your heart. After journaling a set, you can pull truths from them in statements to add to your truth cards. Then, in the future, when you know you are struggling with worry, insecurity, or annoyance (for instance) you will be more able to benefit from using the questions by thinking through them. Journaling won’t always be necessary, but I do suggest it at first. (I journal a set of her questions at least once a day even though I have been doing this a long time!)
4. Set your timer to check in with God and recite a truth that is meaningful to you from memory. Visit this page to see what I mean.
Trade Book Assignment – To Be Completed by January 27th
Here is Study Guide Week 3 of the yet-unpublished Thin Within Book Study Guide. I would love to get your feedback if you are using this material. Is it worth publishing? 🙂
Workbook Assignment – To Be Completed by January 27th
2. Complete the exercises for Lesson 3 on pages B40-B44. Use your discretion about the optional exercises on pages B45-B46. Next Monday before the webinar, respond to the Review questions on page B47.
**Note** Did you know that I post a question each day at our Workbook Study Facebook Group? Come on over and discuss what you are discovering there. Feel free to post what God is doing in your life, physically, spiritually, and emotionally, too. Our class is releasing weight and strongholds!
3. Continue to add to your “God List.” Can you add 10 things this week? Or more? I would love to hear what you are adding!
4. Have one Praise Fest this week (or more!) and share about it with us here.
5. Use the entries for Day 15 through Day 21 in the Temple Toolkit. This week, the Thin Within Food Log is added to the choices of tools for you to use if you like. This is optional. Many of us do not have the freedom to use the Thin Within food log at this time. That is perfectly ok. Ask the Lord if he would have you use it or not. Do what He says. If you do choose to use it, remember that it isn’t a weigh and measure sort of log. It is just for added accountability for your hunger numbers primarily. It can also be very helpful to write down how you felt while eating. I write really small when I use this tool since I generally eat more than four times each day. Don’t be limited by the lines! If you want a larger place to write, download this copy of the Thin Within Food_Log. Again, please do not feel like you have to use this tool. Some of us are so fresh out of dieting that to do this might throw us back into our old dieting ways. That is NOT what we want! If you have the Thin Within app, you can use the Food Log tool included in it, if you like. You can send it to your accountability partner, straight from the app!
6. Evaluate how it is going with eating at 0. Are you eating at 0 more often than not? Have you found 5? Many find it helpful at first to use the boundaries of “Hungry? or Not Hungry?” instead of 0 to 5 and all the in-between numbers. Do what works for you. Are you experiencing freedom with your selection of food choices or are you still categorizing foods into categories from your dieting days? (“Junk food,” “healthy food,”, etc.) Ask the Lord to help you experience freedom from your dieting past, if so–Renew Your Mind! 🙂 If you need convincing, list to 7 Reasons To Ditch Dieting Forever.
7. Interact here in the comments or at the Facebook group.
How About You?
How did the second week of our journey go for you? What is God impressing upon your heart? What questions do you have at this point? How can we best serve and encourage you?
What are you anticipating as you go forward into this week? God IS DOING a new thing!
Last year, I joined a weekly Bible study at a local church. On the first day, I sat in the lecture hall and waited excitedly to receive my study book and instructions. I was (not pleasantly) surprised that the very first thing to happen was not an introduction of the leaders. Instead, the words to a song appeared on the screen in the front of the room and everyone stood to sing….without accompaniment. “Oh, this is not good”, I thought. See, I love music and I love to sing – in private! I have been self conscious of my singing voice since I was a child. And I really thought that I would not like this aspect of the Bible study – at all. In addition to my lack of confidence in singing, I also was not a huge fan of praise music. I enjoyed the music during Sunday worship, but I would choose almost any other kind of music or talk radio while driving.
Well, within a month, God had changed my heart so much about music that it is now one of my favorite things about my time in the Bible study. I started downloading the songs I liked and I began to listen to praise music in the car. The Bible study leader’s favorite song that year was “The Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns. This song became my anthem as I participated in the Renewing of the Mind study with Heidi last March.
Per her recommendation, I created a Renewing of the Mind playlist on my phone/ipod that continues to grow. I have found that the melodies and words get stuck not only in my head, but in my heart as well. I listen to my list as I prepare meals, exercise, drive, and sometimes as I get ready for the day.
Is it strange to think of music as a way to renew our minds? Here’s how I see it. Much of Christian music is based on scripture. When I am listening to the words or singing along:
1) I am praying God’s Word to Him. We are told “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
2) My mind is hearing the Truth of God’s Word, learning about His character, and absorbing how He relates to His people.
3) The words of scripture, the Truth, are settling in my heart. I am marinating in and meditating on His Word. “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. “(Psalm 119:11)
4) I can use the Truths from music during a time of temptation. It is sometimes easier to call up the Truth in music than something I have memorized without music. Think about all of the things in school you learned set to a tune – the alphabet, continents song, my daughter learned about igneous rock set to the Addams family song! In temptation, I use many tools – Truth cards, the Bible, prayer, getting on my knees, TW scripture cards, and music.
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. “(2 Cor 10:1)
5) It is a form of worship. Think of singing songs about and to God as a “God List” set to music. Again, it reminds us of God’s character and His relationship with us.
How About You?
I’d love to see us share the songs that we enjoy and the ones that help us in our journey with the Lord.
Your favorites may include gospel, hymnals, Southern gospel, current praise, or even secular music that speaks to you of God. I’ll start. ☺
Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns,
I Have a Song, Christ in Me, really anything by Shannon Wexelberg
Whom Shall I Fear, Our God, The Name of Jesus by Chris Tomlin
True Things, Your Hands, All I Need (many others) by JJ Heller (folksy)
In Christ Alone feat Kristian Stanfill
Born Again by Third Day
Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone, You are Holy by Michael Smith
[Editor’s Note: Rebecca is one of the participants in our 2014 Thin Within Workbook Bible Study. When she posted these thoughts on Day 1, I couldn’t resist asking her if I could share it with you all. I hope you are encouraged as I am. Oh…and for the record, Rebecca’s precious hubby gave his consent for this to be shared with the world. lol!]
“For I know the PLANS I have for YOU,” says the Lord,
“PLANS to prosper you, not to harm you, PLANS for a HOPE and a future.”
Jeremiah 20:11
I emphasized plans and hope for a reason. I love my husband dearly, but the man stinks at planning…anything. I am always so disappointed when I ask for a date night and, after eighteen years of knowing each other and almost fourteen years of marriage, he still doesn’t take the clue to actually plan something. Instead it always ends up with the whole, ‘I don’t know, what do you want to do’ conversation.
But God spoke to me this morning that He, God, does have a PLAN! That makes me giddy! I mean, if my husband said to me, “Come on, we’re going out, I’ve got a plan” I would swoon. If there is a plan, that means there has been thought, preparation and consideration all for me.
God has been thinking about me, about you, about what we like, what He’s gifted us with and for, and even what we don’t like. And in those thoughts, He’s made PLANS for us! Good plans! Great plans! I want HIS PLANS!
God has shown up for our ‘date’ if you will, our journey for the next 12 weeks and said, “Let’s go, I’ve got a plan.” All we have to do is get in the car and allow Him to take us where He will. And what an awesome hope that brings! Hope is the confident expectation of good. God’s not going to take you bowling when you really love the outdoors and would rather be at the beach. He knows us intimately and we can trust Him. We can trust His plans. We can place all our hope in Him.
Rebecca Bryan and her husband live in Grand Rapids, MI where they homeschool their 3 children and she is a worship leader at her church. Rebecca is also a singer/songwriter who just released her debut album, Bound by Love.
How About You?
How does it encourage you to know that God has purposed, considered, been intentional about the plans he has for you? Will you choose to believe him for it today? What thoughts are here that you can turn into truths in your deck of truth cards … to renew your mind with?
Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Sometimes I feel like I’m a broken record when it comes to sharing how important I feel renewing our mind is when it comes to overcoming overeating, the diet mentality, releasing weight, having a “healthy” relationship with food, etc. But honestly, renewing my mind has made a huge difference! I tried to be a normal eater for many years, but it never stuck. I believe it was because I was working on changing the external so much that I was ignoring what was going on internally, mostly in my mind and emotions. When Heidi first introduced Barb Raveling’s Renewing of the Mind Weight Loss study in March of 2013, something finally clicked in me. I knew it would work because I have seen the same concepts applied to other areas of my life with success—all because of God’s Word transforming me from the inside out.
There are several ways I can spend time renewing my mind. I can: journal, read through the ‘I Deserve a Donut’ app (or book), read through my truth cards, or a mixture of those. I know that renewing my mind is a critical part of overcoming.
The other day, I started reading through Barb Raveling’s book Taste for Truth: A 30 day Weight Loss Bible Study. She talks about how back in the Old Testament days that people would run to strongholds to be safe from their enemy. David talks about going to God as his refuge and stronghold. But some turn to things that turn into strongholds in their lives, such as food.
About a week ago the enemy was questioning me about why I take the time to renew my mind (why do I even listen?). And to be honest, he is still assaulting me about it, but I’m seeing the truth in the matter more and more. Today, the Lord has been reminding me about how taking the time to renew my mind has been vital for me as I have walked through different things in my life.
For example, years ago, I struggled a lot with fear. It was the kind of fear that made me afraid to even step outside my door or open my kitchen blinds. We lived next to neighbors that made me uneasy. Nothing ever happened, but the enemy had me convinced that this fear was real in my life.
FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real
One night, I had the opportunity to go to a women’s Bible study, but because of this fear, I could not bring myself to walk the few feet from our door to our car. I was always tense, stressed, and had knots in my stomach. I felt paralyzed by this fear. It was bad! It was so hard for my mind to work through the lies that were holding me captive. This went on for many months.
Finally, the Lord was able to get my attention enough to encourage me to write out scriptures on notecards about His truth about fear and peace. I also printed scriptures in really big font and different colors on 8-1/2×11-inch paper and taped them up in different parts of my house, like on my kitchen cupboards for instance. The kitchen was one of those rooms that I felt afraid to be in because of the location near my neighbor’s house. It was the perfect place for me to stop, read those scriptures, and renew my mind. I read through the scripture cards each morning and whenever I needed them. I also asked for prayer from a group of believers I had grown to trust.
Over time, the Lord began to break down those strongholds of fear. I would wake up in the morning, and without even trying to remember, the scriptures I was reading throughout the day would come to my mind. The Lord spoke His truth to me and after a while I was free from that fear! Praise the Lord! I chose to take my eyes off the fear and see God’s word and promises. He freed me!
He’s been showing me that He can do the same with how I look at food, eating, my body, etc. He can tear down the stronghold just as he tore down the stronghold of fear in my life. The truth has always been there, but I have to do my part in being in the Word. He does the rest. And if it takes me filling a whole journal of conversations with the Lord about food, then so be it. The Lord knows I have filled other journals with other struggles—which I have overcome, all thanks to Him! Renewing our mind may feel like “work”, but if we don’t take the time to take those thoughts captive, we will continue to be slave to the wrong thoughts.
Earlier this year the enemy wanted me to believe that certain types of food would kill me and that if I ate them that I was tempting God. A scripture He showed me to refute that lie is 1 Timothy 4:4-5, which says, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.”
Another lie was that people would be disappointed in me if I truly ate all foods and wasn’t following some special diet. The Lord gave me 1 Corinthians 10:29: For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?
When my mind wasn’t at ease, the Lord gave me peace through 2 Timothy 1:7, which says, “For God did not give me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”
Recently, when the enemy has urged me to give up, the Lord gave me Hebrews 10:39: But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Those are just a few examples of how the Lord has exposed the lie and replaced it with His truth. These are scriptures in my truth cards that I read each day. The enemy wants me to be caught up in his lies, but the Lord wants me to be free in His truth. That’s why I take the time to renew my mind.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2
How about you?
I know we are about to embark on the Thin Within Workbook study (starting Monday, January 6, 2014), and I believe Heidi is going to incorporate ‘renewing our mind’ into the study. I just want to encourage you to make renewing your mind a part of your journey in overcoming. Surround yourself with whatever tools you deem necessary to help you. It will be different for each person. I look at having these tools as weapons in our arsenal to combat the lies of the enemy and to free us.
These tools can include:
Bible
Truth cards
‘I Deserve a Donut’ app and/or book by Barb Raveling
Taste for Truth by Barb Raveling
Thin Within by Judy Halliday
Thin Within workbooks
Personal journal
Praise music
Scripture cards
God list
List of thanksgiving
There are so many possibilities of what may be in your toolbox to help renew your mind. If you feel overwhelmed by having too many tools, ask the Lord to help you simplify. This shouldn’t feel overwhelming. We aren’t trading bondage for bondage. If you don’t have peace about something, don’t do it. The Lord wants to free you!
