You and I are spiritual beings who temporarily live in physical and very limiting bodies. Although we are spiritual, because of our current condition, we are constantly pulled back to the here and now and the biggest physical issue we have. For me, that was always weight gain and weight loss.
That might be at the forefront of your mind as well. God placed us in physical bodies and told us we are to take care of them to make them temples to house His Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
How Do We Manage the Problem?
The issue comes, then, when we end up trying hard to manage only our physical part with physical tool like every diet, program, weight loss pill or shake out there. We may lose weight doing this, but without understanding the core spiritual issues we may be violating, we will fail.
We try to manage our lusts, our cravings, our addictions, our desires, our need to be seen and heard and accepted and loved. We do that physically by always trying harder, striving, indulging, placating, achieving, reaching. When we do this, we end up simply spinning our wheels.
Let’s take a different approach. Since we are spiritual beings, let’s start there. Nothing happens in the physical unless it is first settled in our spirits and souls. If we want to lose weight, which is a very physical issue, we have to settle some very spiritual issues. We can’t just know them. We have to live them out.
- God Is God
God is God. Your appetite is not, nor ever should be, your guiding life force. Your stomach should never be in charge because you are, at your core, spiritual, not physical (Phil. 3:19).
- God Isn’t Mad at You
God is not mad at you. He is madly in love with you. The Scriptures shout of how madly in love with us God is. If we don’t believe this, we will stop when we are not perfect, which is basically all the time! (Jer. 31:3; 1 John 3:1, 4:16).
- God Knows Your Weakness
God is all-knowing. So the fact that you have areas of weakness has not escaped Him. He put in a fail-safe method for you to succeed. It’s His grace-strength. When we accept and admit we don’t have a clue how to manage these physical issues and ask for His help, boom! He’s right there, (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
- God Does Not Condemn Our Failures
Failure is simply another way we learn what not to do. God applauds our efforts to follow Him, even if we fail. God doesn’t condemn you. So don’t wallow in condemnation. Living there will thwart any forward movement (Rom. 8:1).
- God’s Got Us
God’s boundaries and plans are always for our good and not our disaster. There may be some hard truths we have to face, and going through struggle may be the only way we can learn them. God’s still got us, but only He knows the path from where we are to where we need to be. Trust Him (Jer. 29:11).
- God’s No Means No
When God says no, He means no. Why? Because indulging in indulging will not get you where you need to be. He’s not being mean. He’s being loving. He’s a good Father. He keeps us within safe boundaries. When we tray outside of them, it will take a longer to get back to where we need to be. Even then, He will get us there (Rom. 8:28).
- Our Yes Opens His Door of Power
When we say yes to God, we open the door to access power beyond our wildest imaginations. It is power to move mountains! It is power to raise our nearly dead physical bodies to life! It is power to help us lose weight and keep it off! (Eph. 3:20).
Application
These seven keys are not concepts to memorize. These are concepts to incorporate into your life. Ask yourself these tough questions. Be honest with yourself.
- Can you say no to your cravings and temptations when you know God is telling you not to eat that?
- Do you cave in every time you fail on any diet?
- Do you run to God when you are weak or do you try to struggle through it on your own thinking, “I got myself into this, I have to get myself out of it?”
- Do you run from God when you are not perfect because you think you can’t face Him?
- When the going gets tough, do you blame God and scream and cry or do you ask for His grace-strength and go forward with what He reveals to you?
- Do you accept God’s limits and when He tells you no? Do you listen and obey?
- Do you willingly follow what God is telling you to do even when saying yes to God may mean saying no to something you really desire?
Spiritual weight loss is a crazy good concept. For those of us who love Jesus, it is the only lasting way to live healthy.
I want to remind you at every turn that applying God’s truth to every part of you is the only way to freedom from the bondage of food addiction or any stronghold.
Stay tuned for more to come on the subject of spiritual weight loss. What are your questions? {eoa}
Teresa Shields Parker is the author of five books and two study guides including her latest, Sweet Journey to Transformation: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Live Healthy, and her No. 1 best-seller, Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds. She is also a blogger, coach and speaker at TeresaShieldsParker.com.
This blog originally appeared at teresashieldsparker.com.
For more on spiritual weight loss, listen to the podcast included with this article.
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