For the devil's temptations to work, he cannot remind you that you are God's beloved.

Do you think that you are highly favored and beloved by God?  I can absolutely guarantee that you cannot make yourself beloved.  We are made accepted by the glory of the Lord's unmerited favor.  The word "accepted" found our scripture today is the the Greek word charitoo.  Now, the root word for charitoo is charis (which our daughter is named - Karis), which means "grace."  So charitoo simply means "highly graced" or "highly favored."  In other words, you are highly favored in the Beloved!

"the Beloved" referred to in our scripture today refers to Jesus.  If you read on, it says in the next verse that "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."  Why did the Bible just not say we are highly favored in Jesus, why did the Holy Spirit choose to specifically say that we are highly favored in the beloved?

As soon as Jesus was baptized and arose out of the water he heard a voice from heaven proclaim, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  God spoke these words publicly for you to know that you are "accepted in the Beloved" and that He is well pleased with you today.  With Jesus in the Jordan river you see the spirit ascending on Him and in that instance you get the perfect picture of the triune God - God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  See yourself sandwiched right smack in the midst of Jesus, God's beloved. 

When God looks at you, He doesn't see you in your failures and shortcomings.  He sees you in Jesus' perfection and loveliness!  Because you are in Christ, God says to you, "(insert your name here), are My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.  Jesus is well-pleasing to God because He kept the law perfectly.  You and I are well-pleasing to God because we are accepted and highly favored in the Beloved, who took all our sins and fulfilled the law on our behalf!

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  The devil came to Jesus and said, "If You are the Son of God....".  There is one thing very important missing here.  When Jesus came out of the water, God said, "You are My beloved Son."  If you notice closely God uses the word beloved but Satan omits it, why?  In order for Satan's temptation to work he cannot remind you that you are God's beloved.  The moment you are reminded of your identity as God's beloved in Christ, he will not be able to succeed!  It is no wonder that the devil wants to rob believers of their sense of being God's beloved.  So don't fall for the devil's trick.  Remind yourself over and over and in times of temptation that you are God's beloved.  It is your single biggest weapon against the enemy.

What about fitness?
Satan is all around and in fitness.  He can use fitness as a tool to show you how inadequate you are, how worthless you are and how quickly you fail.  When people fail in their fitness goals the natural reaction is to get down on themselves and if he succeeds he has you.  It is what leads people to weight problems, self esteem issues and the feeling of failure.

However....

When you take the steps above and keep telling yourself that you are God's beloved, failure, worthlessness and shame have no room.  Yes fitness is hard and yes getting in shape can be a challenge but a challenge that you can face and win.  If satan can make you feel like a failure and that the challenge is too large then he has you, however the real battle is knowing you are God's beloved.  When you know this you will win the war that is waged all around our health, fitness and self worth.  Accept and live a life of knowing you are God's beloved and I absolutely guarantee you will never ever fail at fitness or anything you do.

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.   --   Ephesians 1:5-6

For the devil's temptations to work, he cannot remind you that you are God's beloved.

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