“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind:” Ephesians 4:23

Change is very difficult because we are creatures of habit. Motivation is needed in order to make significant health changes in your life. Here are some things you can do to motivate yourself for change:

1. Rely on God
The number one way for me to stay motivated is to rely on God. Remember John 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” There is no way I could have achieved my goal of losing over one hundred pounds without the help of the Lord. When I rely on Him, I am not alone. He is with me. Even though I knew for a long time that I needed to get healthy and needed to lose weight and exercise, my spirit was willing, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. One of the functions of the Holy Spirit is as a helper. I had to learn to pray specifically for the power of the Holy Spirit to fill my life and help me. I had to learn to walk in the Spirit–at the dinner table, in my recliner after dinner and at church functions where there was an over-abundance of food. I made a conscience decision to walk in the Spirit on those occasions. What went for the eating part also went for the exercise part. The Holy Spirit had to help me get moving. I literally had to “move” with the Holy Spirit.

2. Refine Your Attitude
One of the first things I had to do in achieving a healthy body was to refine my attitude. The Bible says, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). In other words, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude in life.” I had some unhealthy attitudes to work through before I could rise above my weight, and perhaps you do too. Do you reject your body? Some of us look at or bodies and say God you messed up when you made me. With regards to the body God gave you, the important thing to remember is he gave it to you. And no matter how much you try to change it through weight loss, surgery or exercise you are still stuck with the basic framework you got when you were born. The best thing you can do is learn to love your body, treat it well and realize that while it’s not perfect, it’s the temple of God. The key is balance. We are to love and care for our body, but not make it an idol that consumes our thinking and our time. Remember, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14).




3. Read the Bible Every Day
I can’t emphasize enough that the Bible is the recorded Word of God given to us. It is the “living word” that brings health and vitality to our inward life. It’s the way we renew our minds. It’s the way we get to know the Author and His Son. It provides the encouragement to put off our former lifestyle and take up a new one. Feed your mind healthy thoughts just as you feed your body healthy food. In addition to reading the Bible, meditate on it. Remember Psalm 1:2 which says, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.” Think about what you are reading, chew on it. Extract the meaning. Apply what you read) to your own life and make decisions based on what you learned.

4. Read Health –Related Books or Materials Every Day
There are thousands of book and magazines on health, diet and exercise. I’m a busy guy and don’t have time to read lots of stuff. But every day I try to read some kind of health-related materials to feed my mind. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Today there is no excuse for anyone to have lack of knowledge about anything, much less about health issues. We are in the middle of the greatest explosion of knowledge the world has ever seen. Of course you have to be careful about what kind of information you are accessing and using. Some information is dangerous and useless. Rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you to the best sources of information.

What should you do with these four spiritual motivators for change? Start putting them into practice. No more tomorrow diets. No more Monday diets. Stop making excuses. Start today to become a better you.