Q&A with Koloff - #6

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This is the Truth Network. Nikita Koloff here. Questions and answers. Q&A with Koloff, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to questions and answers with Nikita Koloff.

It's great to have you with us. An interesting discussion today with Jerry Manuel. I hope I'm saying that last name correctly. Jerry emailed me and was very transparent. He just said he really struggles with his weight. He considers himself to be an obese man and over 300 pounds at 5'10", so I'm just kind of picturing that. Of course, Jerry's reaching out for help, right? So, Jerry, you had some of your questions.

Where in Scripture can you kind of focus on as far as praying through for strength and wisdom to lose the weight and to be healthy and it's even being strengthened in your spirit. Lex Luger and I do a camp every—well, we do it usually in the spring and fall. Our next one will be in April. ManCamp.info. ManCamp.info. Part of the focus is to help men be healthy physically, but also healthy spiritually, emotionally, mentally. Just be that whole man living a whole life and wholly available unto the Lord.

This is not uncommon. Over the years, I've spent, gosh, I don't know how many years, 40-something years, taking care of my own health and then helping a lot of people with their health as well. Jerry's 53 years old. Old school fan of myself and Uncle Michael.

Myself and Uncle Ivan as a teenager right up to my retirement. I'll just say, Jerry, thank you for being such a loyal, long-standing, old school wrestling fan. I really appreciate that. Again, you were very transparent, Jerry. You said up until recently you were in a backslidden state. You said until not long ago, which I believe is critical. I mean, we can do things in the natural and take care of our physical bodies, whether it's diets or eating healthy and eating right and exercising and doing all those sorts of things, but it's like we discussed at the camp in depth, actually, why it's important to be spiritually healthy as well as mentally and emotionally healthy because they're all interconnected. They all kind of tie together. We want to focus on all three aspects.

Now, specifically, you're asking about your physical health. Certainly, there's a number of different scriptures that we could gravitate to. I mean, 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, recognizing and acknowledging that our bodies are a temple that houses the Holy Spirit. And it goes on to even say that we're bought at a price.

Well, that price was the blood of Jesus, right, that He purchased for us on Calvary when He sacrificed Himself, gave up His life only to be resurrected three days later, now living at the right hand of the Father. We can have that personal relationship with Him, which is the foundation. That's got to be the foundation, is that having that spiritual connection, that relationship with Jesus and demanding Jesus and developing our spiritual life, that then, in turn, as we grow in our spirit man and we develop our prayer life, we learn and grow in wisdom. I mean, Proverbs is chock full of wisdom, even has a lot of scriptures specifically related to physical health in the book of Proverbs. I mean, there's just so much, so much great wisdom in the book of Proverbs. If you've never read it, I would encourage you to consider start reading through the book of Proverbs.

And that's easy. Just take a day and whatever day it is, if today is the 15th of the month, then read chapter 15 in Proverbs. And if it's the 30th day of the month, read chapter 30 and just consistently do that and fill yourself with God's wisdom, that then, in turn, can give you the strength you need. And as you develop a prayer life to overcome, whether it's the challenges of obesity with your weight or any other challenge that you might face.

Now, I know you said, Jerry, you've tried diets and some exercises and had, it looks like some limited success, but you said mostly failures. Well, understand too, just like our spiritual life is a journey, so is our physical life. That's a journey as well. And my own experience, I've had highs and lows. I've made progress and I've had setbacks. And that's just a part of life. And there's nothing wrong with failing.

Failure can teach us some really, really great lessons. Now I've used the word diet and you did in your email a few times, or I've used it a few times. You said in your email, mentioned the word, you've tried diets.

I'm not a big believer in diets. And what I mean by that is, do they work? Yeah, I would say they work, but only on a temporary basis.

I would not say they work long-term. I like to say, nobody's going to eat out of cardboard boxes their whole life or only drink shakes every day for their whole life. I mean, at some point we want to eat like real food, right? And so even when, like if you were to attend a man camp or you come, we do a one-day conference called, I do called Man Up Conference, and I bring it to local church communities. And I challenge guys, when it comes to their physical health, to consider where they're at, do an evaluation, consider where they want to be. And then here's some things that you can begin to implement. And consistency, consistency is one of those things, being consistent and eating smaller portions and more balanced meals between proteins and carbs, and being able to frequency, having more smaller meals more frequently throughout the day to help speed up your metabolism, to help burn body fat. You know, these are some really simple things. Like an old mentor friend of mine once said, Jim Rohn, they're easy to do.

They're easy not to do. But there are things that you can implement, you know, portion control, smaller portions, more frequently throughout the day, balance between good proteins and carbs. I like to say eating lean, clean, and green.

So just tweaking and changing up your eating habits can be a step in the right direction. And understanding why, why, why. I really challenge people in general, but especially men, and I ask a question, why do you want to be healthy?

Why? Because I can teach you all the hows. I mean, I could write up a diet for you. I can show you all the good proteins and carbs and even healthy fats and even how to have a guilt-free day, or I call it a treat meal to reward yourself for eating lean, clean, and green. And I have written all that out for men and for people, written out exercise programs. And I can show you all of that, even teach you all of that. But at the foundation, at the very foundation, you need to know why.

You need to settle in on that. Why do I want to be healthy? And there's a variety of reasons, right, that you might come up with if you begin to take a pen and paper and begin to write down why you want to be healthy, and then have that in front of you on a consistent basis as a reminder. So in those days that it gets hard that you want to cave in to five snicker bars or something, that you remind yourself why it is you want to be healthy.

And then it's much easier, honestly, to implement the how-tos. And certainly again, spiritually, this ties in and applies, asking God for the strength to be disciplined enough to want to lose the weight. And the wisdom side of it is just the gaining of understanding and knowledge. And so for anyone listening out there, if you struggle with any guys out there, struggle with, whether it's with weight, or you struggle spiritually, or you struggle mentally, emotionally, I'm going to encourage you to consider, just consider, seriously consider, attending Man Camp, mancamp.info.

We've had so many men that have attended over the years, and that the camp has really helped them, in some cases physically, in some cases spiritually, in some cases mentally and emotionally. And it's just a resource for you if you want to really get serious about this, get yourself healthy. And really just, I would conclude by saying, just honor God. Scripture says, you were bought at a price.

Your body is no longer yours. It was bought at a price. It's the temple of God. It houses the Holy Spirit. And it's not even yours anymore. So just view it as though if you were, let's say, renting a condominium and you don't own it, there's a landlord. You're just the tenant. Now you have to view your journey with Jesus as though the Holy Spirit now lives in you, the body God's given you. You're now just the tenant.

He's the landlord. And wouldn't you want to honor Him by taking care of that temple, of that body? Sure you would.

I hope that you would. So, Jerry, I'm glad to hear that you're back on that narrow path and off the backslid path and back onto that straight and narrow path, and continue to grow in your love for Jesus, continue to grow in your walk, hide the Word of God in your heart, continue to develop your prayer life. If you're not plugged into a good Bible study, man, get connected to a good Bible study, because they can be encouraging and help hold you accountable.

Once you put it out there that, hey, I want to lose 30 pounds, I want to lose 50 pounds, I want to lose 100 pounds. And those guys can help keep you accountable. I do appreciate that you have been encouraged by my tweets on Twitter and the podcast, It's Time to Man Up. I know you said those were tools that God is using to really touch your heart, to really want you to get on this path of being healthy.

And I would just say in spirit, soul, and body. Jerry, reach out to me. We can certainly talk some more and be more than happy to continue with this discussion. Thank you for being just a long-standing fan and continuing to follow me on social media and on the podcast. And hopefully, maybe I'll see you in Man Camp one day, or I come to your community, bring Man Up Conference to your community and to your church. So God bless you, Jerry. Thanks for the questions and for reaching out and seeking help.