“But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning” (Rom. 14:23, NLT).
This seems pretty clear to me. Whether you are fat or skinny, there always seems to be a problem. I don’t know if I have ever met anyone, including me, who has been totally happy with the way they look. I was on the roller-coaster ride for years with the struggle of my weight. I would watch someone stuff their face and get angry they were skinny, when it seemed that if I looked at food, it went directly to my hips. God spoke to me one day: “She is clogging her arteries.” That made me feel a little better; she was not getting by with anything.
Food is an issue. Because we make it an issue. I had to face facts one day when I saw five words that literally changed my way of thinking: “The devil wants you fat!” This hit me right in the heart. I began to weep; I had seen the destruction in lives by the devil. I had been in ministry 20 years, I knew the Word of God, but just like you, I could skirt around those convicting Scriptures.
Until that day.
I had to face the truth. These words brought me to a place of repentance. All change starts with repentance; you have to be willing to take responsibility for your weak areas of life. The devil didn’t make you do it. You chose to take a bite.
At this point, I made a decision that God was first place in my life regarding food and my body. I was tired of going around that mountain again and again.
Where do you start? God spoke to me, “Build new memories!” My memories were of the girl who had to wear “special” sizes, arch support shoes and was always the last one to be chosen on the team. I was a grown woman, a wife and a mother, but I still suffered from past rejections and the fear of being rejected.
When I came face to face with my strongholds and began to take responsibility for listening to the lies of the enemy and how I never wanted to face the pain in this area of my life, God began a healing process in me. It started on the inside and worked itself to the outside, taking 90 pounds with it.
Yes, faith was involved. I had faith in God that He would never leave me or forsake me and that nothing could separate me from His love. My faith said His grace would give me the power to overcome my “food” issues that had been formed by not taking care of my body, the temple of the Holy Spirit!
I had this treasure in an earthen vessel, and I had ignored the warning signs of not getting enough sleep and eating to stop the craving, not to nourish my body. I was not enjoying life. I was dragging one foot in front of the other doing good works but not walking in faith in caring for the treasure given to me.
Yes, it takes faith in God to break the addiction in our life that so easily ensnares us. It is time for the church to wake up! A 2001 Pulpit and Pew study of 2,500 clergy found that 76% were overweight or obese compared to 61% of the general population at the time of the study. We know obesity is a major threat of disease, and the cost of health care is growing rapidly and largely because of obesity.
We expect God to heal our broken body, but refuse to give up our “treats.” Ezekiel 16:49b lists Sodom’s sins as “pride, gluttony, and laziness.”
We are flooded with information about this problem. We are educated people, so why does this problem continue to increase in the church world? “What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20, MEV).
Information from the world shows us the need for change, but only the power of God, the one who created us, can bring transformation to our mind and body! {eoa}
Joyce Tilney is author and founder of Women of God Ministries. Her book, Why Diets Don’t Work—Food Is Not the Problem, shares her testimony of a life-changing word from the Lord. All her books are available on Amazon. Visit her ministry on Facebook: facebook.com/WhyDiets/ and facebook.com/WomenofGodMinistries/.
