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Intro:
HI, This is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. I’m wondering if you have ever decided to try fasting a meal, for or a day, or a week. Did you notice anything changing in your life? If you read Isaiah 58, you will notice a list of benefits of fasting. If you never have fasted at all, it might be worth a try! If you’re a regular “faster”, good for you! Fasting is a great way to have a “clean slate.” A phrase that I thought about for this week is cleansing the palate. If you’ve ever eaten at a really fancy restaurant, very often between courses they bring you a tiny scoop of frozen sorbet to cleanse the tongue from the previous tastes. How often do we just go from one thing to the next without sitting down, taking a cleansing breath before going forward to the next thing on our list. Let’s change that this week! Here is your encouraging word for today.

One thing I have noticed in my life is that when I do take a moment to “cleanse the palate”, the very next person I need to talk to gives me a call. Or the person who has something that I need sees me in the store, and has it in their car. God just has a way of making things easier for us if we let him. It amazes me how often I am just about to pick up the phone to take care of things that are pressing, and that person calls me. It just shows me what a kind God we serve……He really is there to help us, even with little things.

2 Cor 7:1 tells us since we have so many promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates the body or spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. There is “stuff” that tries to contaminate us everyday. It could be bitterness, unresolved issues from our past, negative attitudes around us (or in us), or any other thing you can think of. We just can’t let anything past our heart. We are told in Proverbs to guard our heart, because out of it flow the issues of life. We are told to guard our lips….we can’t let just anything pass over them. We are to guard our ears and eyes. We need to watch what we hear, and what we see. To remain undefiled, we can’t let our senses be defiled. We need to cleanse our palate from the things we are negative or detrimental, and move ahead with a clean slate. Turn it off, walk away from the unbecoming conversation, or keep your mouth, eyes or ears closed. We need to deal with the next “issue” with a clean heart. That simple cleansing moment can make all the difference. Holiness can then be perfected in us. We can stay undefiled by the world, pure of heart, mind, and spirit.

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Have you ever heard anyone say, don’t set your expectations too high, because you’ll be disappointed? I’ve heard that said before and that statement makes me sad. I love making big goals, and having high aspirations. I want to aim high and go for excellence in life. You’ve probably also heard it said, if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time. I think we as Christians need to set a high standard in the world. Not only should we have integrity, character and good manners, I think we should be a cut above at our jobs, in industry, and in the marketplace. We have the God of the universe living within us, and we sometimes settle for so much less than God’s best for us. One statement I hate hearing is….”it’s good enough”, or “it’ll do.” To me those statements mean we’re not going to do any more than we absolutely have to do. We want to just get by. Our standards should be much better than that! I also hate to hear anyone justify their actions by saying, “Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t I?” Our standard becomes what others are doing, not what God’s Word tells us to do, or God’s standard of excellence and righteousness. I want to encourage you to have high aspirations…dream big, believe big, achieve big, for our Great Big GOD.

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I hope your summer is going great and you are having a really great time, enjoying the outdoors, and getting stronger physically everyday. Good fitness starts right now. The good habits you establish now give you a better chance of including fitness in the rest of your life, for your entire life. So you don’t have to be a kid to enjoying you being outdoors, playing, shooting hoops, kicking a soccer ball, running around, playing football, playing baseball or volleyball. Take some time to move today! Why not take time to get outside everyday and do something that makes you more fit! Why not GO FOR THE GOLD in your life. Learn how to strive for excellence and persevere to fulfill your dreams of greatness, so that you can be and do all that God has for you. Here’s a poem I wrote for VBS a few years ago, whether you are a kid or a kid at heart!
GOING FOR GOLD
We are running our race
With the goal in our sight
We’re mighty Young Champs
Serving God, day and night
We are aiming real high
We are making a goal
With our eye on the prize
We are GOING FOR GOLD!
I hope that you know God’s dreams for you are Olympic size (that means really big)! He has a good plan for your life, to give you a future and a hope. Are you preparing for greatness? It is important not only to be strong on the outside, but to be even stronger inside, knowing that God’s power is working in you! Make it your goal, to GO FOR GOLD!

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How committed are you to finishing your race strong? When we determine to do whatever it takes, we will accomplish what we set out to do. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. After a sermon series called Frame of Mind that my husband preached on fighting the good fight of faith with the right frame of mind, I wrote this poem. FRAME OF MIND
In the great fight of life, we more than overcome
With our eyes on the Savior, we will fight until we’ve won
Whatever comes against us, we know Someone is within
To make this fight a good fight, to be a fight we win
In the great race of life, we’re commited to the end
With our eye on the finish, we won’t break and we won’t bend
In this great life of faith, we’ll be faithful, strong and sure
We’ll keep our eyes on Jesus and we’ll live a life that’s pure
We’ll be keepers of the faith, we’ll guard what’s true, what’s right
We’ll represent God well, living upright, day and night
We have this frame of mind, that also was in Christ
He willing laid down, both his will and his Life
He’s received His prize, now we stand, and fight, and run
Looking unto Jesus, we’ll complete what we’ve begun!

Be encouraged today to run the race, fight the good fight of faith and finish strong!

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This week we’ve been talking about being spiritually and physically fit. As Christians, we need to prepare and compete like an athlete. You might be thinking that you are not an athelete, so this doesn’t apply to you. Guess what I Tim 4:7 say? You are to exercise yourself to godliness! Athletes exercise, so you are a spiritual athlete! It’s time to get fit! We can strive for mastery over our bodies, by putting them under, and we can be winners in life! It is time to flex your spiritual muscles, and become stronger when adversity comes your way. Refuse to be a complainer. Refuse to be a whiner. Fast negativity of all kinds! Remove words from your vocabulary that bring you to a negative place. Fill up on good stuff so that there is no room for bad stuff. Choose to build and lift. Any words that destroy, steal or damage do not allow to come from your lips. Soldiers exercise hard, and are in training. I’ve never been to boot camp, but talk about being stretched….it is all about finding the tough ones who will endure hardship like a good soldier. When things get hard, it is time to flex your spiritual muscles and use your faith to see circumstances change. Say this with me, All things are possible, God’s grace is sufficient for me, I am well able, It will be worth it, God will supply all of my needs, God will never leave me, I am more than a conqueror. I am becoming physically fit, and spiritually fit to win in life!

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One of the cutest things I’ve ever seen is a little tiny girl, under 1 year of age, with her physical eye on a ball. Her daddy said, “Sweetheart, put your eye on the ball,” and she did just that. Can we take the Word of God that literally? God does want us to keep our eye focused on Him. We are to keep Him in our sights all the time. We have this tendency to get distracted by the things of this world, and the cares of this world, but we are to have a single eye. We are to be single minded. Let’s stay in focus. I got glasses as a 13 year old, and was just amazed that you could see leaves on trees, and that details of things far away could be clearly in focus. Before I knew any better, I thought everyone saw like my eyes were used to seeing. But get the lens you need in front of your eye, and whala….you see things in a very different light. What can be blurring your focus? Is there something that is distracting you, or making it hard for you to see clearly? Are there perceptions or belief systems that shade or skew your view? Are there confusing points of view that are trying to pry you from the truth that you know? Let’s keep our eye clearly focused, and then let’s keep our eye on the prize. We don’t want to miss out on a reward because we never made it to the finish line. Let’s make it to the finish line, without distractions, keeping our eye on the ball.

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You’ve probably heard the statement, that there is no “I” in team. The very word “team” means that there is more than one person working together. There is great power in teamwork. Once we’re born again, we have joined a great team, the family of God, and it is very cool that we have great benefits for our lifetime because we are on a God’s team. We’ll be talking this week about being spiritually and physically fit. Both are very important because we are on a team, and just like a runner in a relay medley, we don’t want to be the one teammate that holds everyone back, that tires out, or drops the baton. It’s no fun being the weakest link. We desire to be strong. God wants us to be spiritually fit because we have a race to run, and he wants us to obtain the prize at the finish line. We want to be physically fit, because we want to live productively until we make it to the finish line! So let’s be fit for life. How do we do that? There are so many different opinions, and each expert gives different advice. I know one thing that simplifies everything. Eat food that God made as close to how God made them….fruits, vegetables, grains, meat that is as close to nature as possible. The best advice I’ve ever heard is to move more, and eat less. If we consume less calories than we burn, do the math, the weight will come off. I know there can be extenuating circumstances, but let’s get fit, spiritually and physically. Then let’s stay, fit for life! It’s possible and I know we can do it!

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Intro:
Welcome to your dailyeword, this is Dorette Schaal. As summer time keeps rolling along, I thought it would be good to focus on getting in shape! Don’t tune me out, I know it sounds like work, but if we want to be strong and fit, we need to get in shape. If we want to run the race well for God, we need to be in shape spiritually.

I can hear you breathing a sigh of relief. Whew! You’re thinking, spiritually in shape – I can do that! We definitely need to be strong from the inside out. But, I do think both are important. We need to be in shape spiritually. We should know what we believe, why we believe it, and be people who put our faith into action and are doers of the Word. At the same time, we do need to be in shape physically, because if we want to fulfill our purpose on this earth, we need to be healthy enough to keep on ticking. So here is your encouraging word for today.

Monday
I know most of you would probably be appalled if your pastor stood up in the pulpit with a cigarette in his mouth, puffing away. What is surprising is that we don’t even give it a second thought if he would be 100 pounds overweight and standing in the pulpit. We think smoking is way worse for us. What is interesting is that in 2008, the largest percentage of deaths in America changed from being a result of smoking, to being a result of overweight. YIKES!!!! That is amazing. There are more diseases that are a result of overeating than any other indicator. We as a population are just way too fat and I hate to say the word…..lazy. Lest you think I am casting stones, I know the pain of being overweight. It is easy to go to food for comfort, or to ease stress, or even to cover up for pain. Because of our busy lifestyles, we often choose convenience food over healthy food. We should be choosing health over convenience. I’ve done it, and I’m sure you have too. My own issue mainly relates to loving to cook, and the elbow bend that lets the fork go to the mouth! We’re working on it with hopefully with some success—-hallelujah!

Back to what we’re talking about….if we want to run the race, and make it to the finish line, not only do we have to be faithful to God in our spiritual life, we need to be faithful to God in our physical life. Let’s set aside those weights that so easily beset us, and run the race, and make it to the finish line, healthy and strong. We can get to heaven sick, but we don’t have too. Let’s be healthy to our dying day. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to get sick when you get older. Let’s be old (experienced!) and healthy, making the most of every day, so that we can live long on the earth and fulfill our personal assignment here doing what God has purposed for us to accomplish.

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Hi everyone, we are finishing up talking about making love a way of life. I hope that some of the things you have learned, you are putting into practice. If we want to be loving people, and have great relationships throughout our lifetime, we have to learn that if we really love people, we will serve them. I know that is backward from what the world will tell you. You hear statements like these all the time, look out for number 1, you only get what you want when you grab for it, and don’t give, hoard all you can get. God’s principles are directly opposite. He says the way to be great is to be a servant, let others go first, and give because God is your provider. So the forward way to live is to look for ways to pay love forward. It can start in your house. Be a person who makes the choice to be a loving person. To make love a way of life, we will incorporate the 7 characteristics of a loving person into our life. We can be kind, patient, forgiving, courteous, humble, generous and honest. These traits aren’t just feelings or good intentions. We make a choice to love, and we can make a choice to develop these habits in our life. At every opportunity, we can decide, am I being kind, am I being patient, am I being a forgiver, am I courteous, am I demonstrating humility, am I being generous, and am I honest? Everyday, we will have the opportunity to make the right choice. We can respond unkindly, or we can choose kindness. We can be stingy, or we can choose to be generous, we can stretch or color the truth, or we can be 100% honest. We make the choice. So I want to encourage you. Let’s make the Love Project as life long adventure. Every day for the rest of your life, you can make choices that put love as your motivation and priority. We can love as a way of life….It can be a habit that you won’t ever break. Go ahead, spread some love around!

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On our last days of the love project, I want to thank you for participating with us. I have loved hearing testimony’s about how God is working in the lives of those who have participated. It has been exciting seeing the Love Project groups get excited about serving our community as a demonstration of what we have been learning. I would love hearing from you, if The Love Project has impacted your life. When we look at the big picture, living life on the earth as a believer isn’t all about our convenience or our comfort. It definitely isn’t all about just looking out for number one. It is all about living for God and letting the love He has placed in our hearts flow through us to others. It is all about loving people enough to serve them, to help them, to bless them, and to encourage them. Making love a way of life isn’t just about acting right, it is about believing right – that we are fully loved by an amazing God – and that when He loved, giving was a natural result. We should do the same. We love, so we give. Do we really want to be like Jesus? Do we want people to see Jesus in us? Do we want the world to know we are Christians? We can say yes to all of those questions if we choose to make love a way of life. When we choose the 7 characterisitics of a loving person, we will be different on the inside and it will change our actions on the outside. In review, these traits are not feelings or just good intentions. They are habits that we can practice when we decide to become authentically loving people. They are doable, and the result is satisfaction in relationships. So as you practice kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity, and honesty, realize that nothing is has more potential for changing the world for good than loving actions that flow through people who value relationship. So thank you for joining our Love Project, and making love a way of life, in your home, in your church, in your workplace, in your community and our world. Do you remember the song…what the world needs now is love sweet love? All the world really needs is God’s love, poured out through his people! I encourage you to let His love flow through you….let’s continue the love project for a lifetime!

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