77: A New Body: Evidence of Things not Seen
If your future self - the one who has already hit her goal weight, overcome an illness, has loads of energy or accomplished your most pressing goal - could tell you two things to STOP doing right now, what would those be?
I bet something immediately comes to your mind and you should pay attention to that.
The first two things that popped into my head were: stop wasting so much time on social media and stop drinking so much vino. That is what the better me, the spiritual me, the me who has already accomplished the goal... would tell me to do for better time management and a more vibrant body - which is what I want.
In this week’s podcast we’re working under the Word of Hebrews 11:1 which encourages us to have faith in “evidence of things not seen.” Too many of us rely on old evidence or past proof when it comes to our goals. We focus on what we haven’t done or not done well, instead of what is possible, what we CAN do with the power of God. Who can give you better advice about yourself than the YOU who has already accomplished results with the power of the Holy Spirit?
If you have found yourself stuck in the same yo-yo, self-sabotage cycle, then you will love the perspective of this week’s podcast.
EPISODE 77: A New Body: Evidence of Things not Seen
SHOW NOTES
(0:00) Intro
Welcome back to the club!
Today is a spirit, mind, body episode based on Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
One of the biggest obstacles when it comes to changing our bodies, to renewing and transforming them into something different, is that we don’t see the evidence of it ahead of time.
We WANT a lower weight, we hope for a healing from a illness, we yearn for the energy to show up differently in the world - but we have no evidence that it is happening.
The thing about hoping for something new is that there IS no evidence of it because we haven’t done it yet or we haven’t done it in a way that’s lasting.
Human nature is to search for evidence for proof. Our brains want assurance and confirmation that the thing we want, the goal we’re going to work toward is a sure-fire win before we spend a lot of time and energy on it.
It’s one reason old habits are hard to break.
When we DON’T have evidence in front of us:
When the scale isn’t moving, or the skin condition isn’t going away, or joints still ache - our brains look to past data for evidence as a way to be efficient and protect you.
Our brains dig up “evidence” - against us - based on the current circumstance or what’s happened in the past.
Self-sabotage
(4:25) Failing ahead of time:
How often do you talk yourself out of something before you even get started?
How much does that hold us from all we are meant to be in this world? Do you know how much my brain was trying to talk me out of calling myself The Christian Nutritionist and putting out videos of myself each week in my robe with no makeup on?
My brain was working hard to protect me against judgement, embarrassment, dealing with hard things like figuring out technology and math, because there’s plenty of evidence of that not being my strong suit.
There was NO evidence that this was going to work out for me, I’d never done anything like this before.
I WANTED to fail ahead of time and just be like - yeah, this feels kind of insurmountable, I think I’ll play it safe by not playing at all. I wanted to say NO to myself and maybe I would have, but I couldn’t say NO to God.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
(7:14) Self-Sabotage:
If you do get past failing ahead of time, then you have to deal with self-sabotage.
If you derail from your healthy food plan or miss a workout, your brain will throw up its hands and say, “See, this is what always happens, you do good for a week and then you fall off the wagon and ruin everything. Why do you even bother?”
And you listen to your brain and say, yep screw it and you eat and drink all the things, and provide more “evidence” that you can’t stick to the plan.
It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You continue to make evidence against yourself.
The enemy loves nothing more than keeping evidence of failure on the forefront of your mind and squashing your hopes for success.
(9:01) Spirit, Mind, Body Challenge:
#1. You can start by leaning in HARD to Hebrews 11:1.
Plaster it on your brain and all over your house if necessary. Write it on a post-it and stick on your mirror, your fridge, your desk drawer. Program it into your phone so it pops up in your reminders at your weakest time of the day.
#2. And then, you have to let the Holy Spirit rule your brain with faith and focus on the things you cannot yet see.
Evidence of your past is enemy territory - evidence of your future is God’s territory.
It may be our human nature to want physical evidence, but as Christians we have the power to tap into spiritual evidence.
It is faith y’all. It’s focusing on evidence of things not yet seen.
(11:15) Stepping into Faith:
What if the woman with the bleeding issue in the Bible had given up?
She suffered for 12 years with her health problem. She’d seemingly tried everything, doctors were of no help, the evidence was not good.
But she’d heard about Jesus, heard about the people He had healed and she had hope. But she didn’t leave it at hope…she stepped out in faith.
The definition of faith in the dictionary is complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is an action— acting even when you don’t see it.
When we don’t have physical evidence we have to go to spiritual evidence.
In Matthew 7 it says - "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
(13:33) Already Done Energy:
Already Done Energy is showing up as if your hope, your goal, your desire is a done deal, already accomplished. It’s walking in evidence of the future instead of the past.
How would you act right now if you believed God had your back and with all of your heart believed He wants the best for your body and your health and your life?
How would you act if you had already achieved your new health and body goal?
Who is the person that you would be in that new body? How would you show up differently in life?
I learned some interesting questions to ask and exercises to do when it comes to this idea of Already Done energy and providing evidence from your Future Self.
First, you have to contrast the person you are now to the person you want to be. What is the gap? What is your already- done self, your future self, doing differently that you don’t do now? What is her attitude? What time does she get up and go to bed? What does she eat? How often does she drink? Does she cook or drive-through? Does she strength train? Does she scroll through FB in the morning or read a quick Bible verse or devotional?
Ask yourself: What is she doing different that I don’t do?
Here’s a good question: What would your future self tell you to stop doing? The future self who has already achieved what you want.
There’s probably something that immediately comes to your mind and you should pay attention to that.
Who can give you better advice about yourself than the YOU who has already accomplished with the power of the Holy Spirit?
On the flip side of that: What would your future self tell you to start doing?
How would I show up if everything I needed and wanted to be my best self was already done?
Asking ourselves these questions is the coolest exercise because it jiggles up our brain to work in a different way. It’s pulling evidence from the you who has already accomplished it, it’s creating evidence from the future instead of the past. I know this is so meta, but it’s the powerful way God made our brains to work and it’s a way that we don’t tap into often enough.
(20:10) Making Evidence for Yourself:
We are both physical and spiritual beings. The problem is that we focus so much on seeing who we are in the physical instead of seeing who we are in the spiritual.
Make evidence FOR yourself by leaning into His word and acting in faith that in His name and to His glory, you are already everything He created you to be.
One last verse for you to take with you today that comes from Luke 1:45 which says, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! “
(21:08) Outro & Disclaimer
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!