Welcome to week 2 of the 100 Day Active Pursuit of Peace! You already have 7 days behind you - only 93 days to go! Really, though, it will go quickly so be sure to try and get every element of the Pursuit in place as soon as possible in order to get a solid rhythm to your life by the end of this Pursuit. I can tell you from experience that it doesn’t take long for these things to become a routine - and once they are a routine, they can slip into being a beautiful rhythm of time with God and a refreshing stewardship of the body he has given you.
Day #8 - Go ahead and read Matthew chapter 6 from start to finish. You can do it :)
We are beginning this week with the theme of Prayer and finishing it with Seeking God.
Before beginning your devotions today, take a moment to pray. Take that moment to focus on the Lord, envision the connection between you and him. Breathe while you pray and allow your heart to slow and muscles to soften. You're in the presence of the living God, who loves you deeply and wants you to allow yourself to be known more and more.
Did you know that you can eat and eat and eat and still be under-nourished? If the food you're choosing isn't nutrient dense, your body will say "ok great, thanks for that. I'll process it and keep asking for what I really need." Your body needs to process everything you put into it, but if it's not receiving vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, fat, and carbohydrates, you'll stay hungry. That's one reason we're still going to stick with eating a broth-based soup or salad every day. Getting those macro and micro-nutrients is easier than we think. We look for quick fix stuff - shakes or bars or whatever - to fill us up but sticking with the less-processed real deal food is ideal. You'll get better absorption of the good stuff and avoid all the filler things that our bodies still need to process.
I honestly wouldn't care if I had to eat the same thing every day. But you might crave variety, so here's a tip on how to keep it from getting boring in the salad department:
Put something in there that has FLAVOUR. Whether it's green or red onion, pickled things like banana peppers or pickled eggs or pickles, a balsamic vinegar based dressing, something fermented like kimchi or sauerkraut. Adding these things can be a great way to switch it up. Need more carbs? Toss on some chunks of baked squash or sweet potato. Salad just means a cold dish of a mixture of stuff, so put whatever you want in there, thank the Lord for his bounty, and dig in!
I'll meet you here tomorrow, friend.
Day #9 - read the whole chapter of James 5 in your Bible
Hello! If you're finding reading the whole chapter tedious, take a moment before reading, place your hand on the page where the chapter begins and pray. Pray a prayer of thankfulness to the Lord for his word, for the opportunity to live in a country where we can use the Bible freely without persecution. Really breathe in the peace of God before you begin.
How are your prayer walks going, friend? Have you found that when you go for your regular walks, that they sometimes turn into prayer walks? This is what I have found in my life! Same with when I hit the gym. I'm just grateful. And moving my body reminds me of that. Moving also puts my brain in motion, so I begin thinking of things to pray about. Then my heart follows and I end up speaking to the Lord. This is what it feels like to have a more natural connection with God. Not just praying at mealtimes and bedtime, as we tend to do with children. But more of a continuous line of communication between us and the Lord. See if you notice a shift, if not now but in the weeks ahead. See if your communication with God becomes more frequent, more natural, more open.
Blessings!
Day #10 - read all of 1 Thessalonians 5 in your Bible
Hello, friend! You know what I love about reading these chapters in full in my own Bible? I am rereading verses that I have highlighted and made notes on in the past. It is amazing to see how they strike me now. And how, even though those verses may not even be the ones highlighted for this day's devotion, they still stir up something in me. They remind me of a time in my life where I needed to hear that verse - whether it was for comfort or exhortation. Let's see what today's devotion is all about:
Have you thought and prayed about your fast? What it will be from and when you'll begin (if you haven't yet started)? It's time to get thinking. Giving something up that is easy to give up isn't a sacrifice, it's not going to draw us closer to God. If you are prone to distraction or are someone who constantly heads to her phone or computer when it's quiet, may I suggest a phone fast? Section out your day and find a time that you tend to gravitate to the phone for distraction. Maybe it's in the afternoon when you're done work, or maybe it's the evening right before bed. If you pray about this and feel that the Holy Spirit is nudging you in that direction, you might be resistant. The devil doesn't want us giving up our distractions. He wants to fill our eyes and ears with things of the world, including social media, online shopping and more. He wants us to fuel our anger and jealousy by watching other people's lives in technicolour - where their lives should be our lives and their stuff makes us want more stuff, and their family is better and their husband is more attentive and their furniture is new and their car doesn't have garbage on the floor and their kitchen is always clean and their dog never pees in the house.
Pray and ask the Lord what he wants for you in this 21 day fast (to begin when you decide, within these 100 days).
Praying for you daily.
Blessings and Grace, Protection and Peace
Day #11 - read all of Colossians 4 in your Bible
Bonjour! I pray daily for you, friend and I am praying that you will feel a transformation of the heart towards yourself, towards others around you, and towards God. What would that mean for you? Would it mean you finally see others? That you begin to care more deeply for them? That you find more of the peace of God in your life, your mind, and your body? Let's learn more about what God wants for us in this next verse:
When we pray, we can experience physical effects of prayer like lowered blood pressure, decreased heart rate, feelings of calm, and more. If you're interested to see the results from a large, but older, study - here is one that studied blood pressure, Bible reading and church attendance. You might find it interesting that attending church was associated with lower blood pressure, yet watching church online (well, on TV - this is an older study!) was associated with higher blood pressure. Here’s the study, if you’re interested: study
Talk soon!
Day #12 - read Romans 3 start to finish in your Bible
Hello, friend! If you're feeling like this is a heavy week - know that the Lord your God is FOR you, not against you. He has plans for you even for this day. If you already have things today that you feel need redeeming, his grace is sufficient and his mercies are new EVERY DAY. Phew, no shortage of mercies because don't we need them! Now that we're feeling better about this, let's read on about sin.
Here we are, 12 days into our 100 day Active Pursuit of Peace. It's time for a personal check-in with yourself.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I putting my best effort into the devotions and my prayer walks?
- Am I being intentional about getting a walk or a workout in every day (or am I reaching and saying "this counts" or "that counts")
- Am I really opening my heart to hear the Holy Spirit and what he is prompting me to do?
If you haven't yet been diligent about these things, or haven't yet been giving your best effort, it's not too late to start! We have 88 days remaining (that's still plenty of time to make huge changes in your brain, your heart, your body, and your relationships, both with God and those around you!). Colossians 2:23 says "do everything as if unto the Lord" - that includes this stuff!
Take care of your body, your thoughts, your heart.
Day #13 - Prepare your heart with prayer and read all of John 17 in your Bible
How well do you know your New Testament (ie. where the books are situated)? I can't tell you how many times I have zoomed through the song of the New Testament books to get to the book I want lol! I'm starting to know where most of them are, not having to get all the way through the song. When you were a kid, or just learning the books of the Bible, did you have a song that helped you along? This was the one I used (and it hasn't failed me yet!) : New Testament Song
When you're doing your workouts and walks, make sure that you're breathing. As we learn to breathe better, we will have more endurance, we will have less back pain, a pelvic floor that works better, and more. Breathing is a process that affects so much - so be intentional about it. Breathe DOWN. Have you done the breathing videos? No?? The link is here (Password ActivePursuitWorkouts) and I highly recommend doing it at least a couple of times this week if you haven't already done so. Then keep doing it until you really understand the breath. Then practice with slow music that can help you focus on the Lord and the healing he brings with this breath. If you want me to assess your breathing, shoot me an email and we'll set something up :) Contact
Praying for you, friend!
Day #14 - read all of Romans 7 in your Bible
When it comes to our bodies, we can have mixed feelings. We can have appreciation for what it does but not love how it looks. We can like how it looks but not like how it feels. We can long for days gone by where we felt differently about it. We can stand in awe of what it has accomplished. If you're struggling with your body and how you feel about it, move it more. Your brain will change. You will experience rushes of hormones that make you feel good. Do this often enough and you will want to do it more - not because it's changing your body necessarily (although it certainly can!), but because that's how we are designed - to get happiness from movement.
So if you've struggled to get the daily movement portion of this program done (or started), now is the time. Just do it to do it and the happy hormones will follow.
Blessings to you
Each day this week:
1. 2 walks (or 1 workout and 1 walk) per day, each one is minimum 10 mins in length. One is for discipline and enjoyment of movement and the other is for prayer
2. 1 meal is a broth-based soup or salad (it's not as hard as it sounds, feel free to add extras to that meal to make it satisfying)
3. 7 hours' minimum sleep (achieve this by getting to bed by 11pm)
4. 21 day fast (you decide when it starts and what it will be from, doesn't have to be food related)
Link for workout videos and breathing videos:
Password: ActivePursuitWorkouts