“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” Romans 12:2 (NKJV).
Romans 12:2 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I began truly meditating on it when I became a part of Thin Within as the workbooks have quite a bit of teaching on this process. Mind transformation is a total necessity if we are going to walk in victory concerning any area of our lives. Victory for me not only applies to my issues with food, but it also applies to other areas of my life.
Struggling with major insecurity for many years, I knew that as a minister, I could not go on in defeat and expect to help others to victory. I began to apply the mind transformation scripture to my insecurity which, by the way, contributed to much of my emotional eating.
One of the first steps in mind transformation is recognizing lies from the enemy of our souls. We can fall for his lies and not even realize that we are wearing a cloak of deceit. For example, I believed the lie that I was not good enough to work in my church, witness to people, or have successful relationships with people. The source of much of my insecurity was wounds I had suffered from relationships with men before I met my husband, people in the church who had lied about me, and friendships that had seemed to dissolve rather quickly. What was wrong with me? Why could I not maintain relationships?
I had to recognize the lie Satan had put into my mind that I was not good enough. Of course, I am far from being the perfect person, but if I am a child of God, I am made worthy through the blood of Jesus. Recognizing this truth took time because the lie was engraved in my mind for such a long period of time.
Once I recognized this lie, I could begin tearing it down through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing EVERY THOUGHT (emphasis mine) into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NKJV).
I had what I needed to tear down these lies, not in myself but through the Holy Spirit. I had to participate in my mind transformation. I say this because we often want God to just pour victory on us without our participation. He must have our cooperation in the process, or we will just as easily return to bondage.
Now that the lies were torn down, I did not need to stop at that point. My mind was now empty and something had to replace those thoughts or the lies would return with a vengeance. Luke 11:24-26 is proof of the need to fill the empty places. Jesus spoke of an unclean spirit leaving a man and returning to find the house empty so the unclean spirit brought more with him causing the man to be worse off than before.
I believe this is where we often miss the mark in mind transformation. We begin to recognize the lies and tear them down, but we fail to replace the thoughts with God’s thoughts concerning the situation. 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us that we have the mind of Christ so we can think his thoughts toward our situations. Philippians 4:8 describe the thoughts we should dwell upon.
Let me give you an example of the process. When I felt I was unworthy of ministry and relationships, I had to recognize the lie. Many lies will have some degree of truth which makes deception come into play. Without Christ, I am not a good person or a good friend, but with Christ, I can do all things. I have made a major step in the process, but I am not finished. I must realize that although I might have been at fault in previous relationships, those people had issues of their own so I could not be blamed for all of the failure.
Now that I had recognized a bit more truth, I needed to replace the lies. When replacing lies with truth, you must have scripture that applies to your situation. Some scriptures that I used in my battle were 2 Corinthians 5:21 concerning being the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. I read Ephesians 1 and 2 aloud concerning my spiritual blessings in Christ. I read Proverbs 18:24 claiming that I was able to show myself friendly. Philippians 4:13 about being able to do all things through Christ works in many situations. Aside from these, I found scriptures on the love of God. Recognizing His love made me able to have healthy relationships and a godly ministry.
The process was not easy but had I not participated in my mind transformation journey, I would not be able to tell you about it. You have to participate and cooperate with God in your own mind transformation. He is more than willing to be your strength, but He will not force His will on you. Your willingness to work through tearing down the lies and replacing them with truth is a must.
What about you? How can you cooperate with God in your mind transformation? What lies need to be torn down? What truths need to replace these lies with truth?
The more I get into the Word of God through the Thin Within classes, the more I want to whet my appetite for every spiritual blessing that is found in Christ. Barb Raveling’s bible study, Taste for Truth, is another one of her inspiring writings that have kept me motivated to stay within my boundaries.
At our church service this past weekend, I ministered on Psalm 16 emphasizing the boundary lines that God gives us. According to Psalm 16:6, the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. Often, I do not see these boundaries as pleasant, but when I look at the boundaries through spiritual eyes, I see the hand of God bringing nothing but good for my life.
Even though I lead studies, I still struggle with the temptation to eat outside of my boundaries. Daily mind renewing is a must for me. In the Preface of Taste for Truth, Barb Raveling discusses strongholds. I no longer want food to be my stronghold because it is a very unreliable one. I desire for God and His precious word to be my stronghold. When that happens, the stronghold of overeating comes tumbling down.
Barb Raveling discusses her struggle with gaining and losing weight, and her struggle sounds very much like my own. She discusses the amount of time change can take. No one wants to be told that releasing weight and overcoming food strongholds takes time, but when you think about it, it’s encouraging, especially when you’ve wanted progress to be quick like I have. Knowing that a certain amount of time is involved is actually comforting because the process has never been rapid for me. Thank God for His timing and His ways!
I believe that Taste for Truth will give us more than a taste of the living water and bread of life which brings true satisfaction and brings food into its proper perspective. I am ready for that “taste”! I am ready for my spiritual cup to be filled until it overflows with the truth of God’s word.
What about you? Are you ready for a taste of the truth of God’s word? If so, join me in this journey?
An invitation: I invite you and anyone you know to join me beginning July 28 to indulge in a Taste for Truth. The study will last for six weeks with the weekends off, and it will end on September 8. Facebook is required as I will be conducting the study in a secret/private Facebook group. Send me a friend request on Facebook (Allison Browning Mitchell) and join me in this amazing study that is sure to change your appetite.
Allison and her husband, Lanny, live in Hanover, West Virginia. They have two children, Aaron and Amber, and they are the pastors of The Haven of Rest, a church in their community. Allison is a recent graduate of Bluefield State College and loves teaching, writing, and reading.
“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” Galatians 5:7-9
Do you ever feel like you are going along on this Thin Within journey at a good pace, and then all of a sudden you get stuck or something gets in your way? I know this has happened to me plenty of times. Sometimes we have to stop and allow God to dig up what needs to be dug up so we can continue on once again, or He needs to remove the roadblock.
There have been a lot of things that have stalled me on this journey. Mostly, it’s been lies I have believed or habits that I’ve had for numerous years. For me, it’s been the lies that I shouldn’t be eating a certain food group, or that a well-known diet is the only thing that will help me so I better go back to dieting, being fixated on food research, etc.
Currently, we are turning our carport into a garage. My husband and a friend have been working hard this week getting the prep-work done for the foundation before the concrete is poured. They were working along at a good pace and they had one last corner to finish, when they realized there was some roots underneath the ground. After several hours of digging around, what they found ended up being a tree trunk and it’s roots! They had dug about 4 feet down, and then our neighbor came over with a chain saw and finished the job. We had no idea there was a tree trunk under the ground!
What if they would have started at that corner first? Would they have felt defeated? I know I may have felt that way. I would have been imagining roots everywhere!
We can go along at a steady pace in our Thin Within journey, and then BAM, we hit something hard. And then we have to focus on digging around and working on hacking at something until that thing is removed. We cannot just leave it there because it will make for a faulty foundation later on. We can no longer pretend it’s not there. We have to deal with it. And we may have to ask a friend for some help.
Just like my husband and his friend, I have had to hack away at things that were giving me a faulty foundation–or that could perhaps do foundational damage later on. It’s a lot of work to dig and dig, but our muscles get strengthened and we come away a bit stronger than before. And for days after my muscles will remind me that I worked them out, but later on I won’t even remember. And the best thing is that later on my foundation won’t sink because I took care of what needed to be taken care of.
When they first found the roots and realized it was a tree trunk, I remembered thinking, “So what! Just work around it!” But when my husband explained that it wouldn’t be good to have that tree trunk rot someday and then have the corner of our foundation cracking or sinking because of it. Oh! And that’s when the Lord began to pour into me what I am sharing with you today: we don’t want a sinking foundation!
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Matthew 7:24-27
I am guessing that you, like me, don’t want your foundation crumbling. The best foundation to build on (and really the only foundation) should be the Rock of Christ Jesus! Christ is our Corner Stone! Everything should be built off of that corner. If there’s anything else in place of the Rock, then everything is going to come sliding off and crumbling down just like the man who built his house on the sand. Sand shifts. The Rock stands forever. The Rock is Truth! In relating to Thin Within, “sand” could be the lies we have believed, diet mentalities, placing our security in false securities, etc. That tree trunk represented those things to me. It’s all the lies that will rot in my mind over time. So I have had to dig around the root system (the lies) and had to have some friends (accountability) help me as well. As we dug, we exposed more rotten lies!
We can look at these “tree trunks” and give up, or we can put on our gloves and pick up our shovels and dig! We can take the time to renew our mind and allow the Lord to dissolve every lie (sand) and replace with truth (the Rock), or we can leave the trunk there to rot and cause future problems. And if it’s too much for you to handle on your own, ask a friend (accountability partner) for help. Sometimes we need twice the strength to help us overcome.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
How about you?
Are you stuck? Do you need some help digging out the lies? Do you have an accountability partner? If not, Heidi has some great information about it here. Are you willing to renew your mind so God can replace those lies with truth? Would you like some help in starting? I would love to hear from you!
In Thin Within we get to enjoy whatever food we want when we are hungry–“0.” We stop eating when we reach a “5”–when the body has had “just enough” food…it isn’t full, but is satisfied. Usually, it will take about the same volume of food as the size of a loosely held fist (depending on the type of food eaten).
Sometimes, participants lament “I can’t find 5!” This typically refers to having eaten more than they needed and realizing it only too late. With Thin Within, this need not spell disaster. Simply wait for hunger before eating the next time. No more waiting for another Monday. 🙂
There is one primary reason why “Finding 5” may be difficult.
A distant relative lands on your doorstep, beaming with delight that he has decided to stay with you for a few nights. Oh, joy! We always liked Uncle Joe. Until…shucks…he has, unfortunately, taken up the habit of smoking a cigar–one in the morning and one in the evening–eachday. Content to do so out on your wonderful deck beneath the trees, the distinct odor of cigars is, nevertheless, carried upon his person when he re-enters the house. The scent hangs in each room–the living room, bathroom, guest bedroom. And now, Uncle Joe has lost his special butane torch lighter (the kind that any good self-respecting stogie soldier uses) and solicits the help of the family to find it. Hmm….how eager are we to join the search when doing so means something we aren’t particularly eager to experience–in this case, more pungent aroma wafting through the house?
The desire to find what is lost will determine the zeal of the search! How easy is it to find something that you aren’t really that interested in finding? If finding something means an end to what you find pleasant, why would you *want* to find it?
Cathy Maher, who is teaching one of our Thin Within Workbook Classes, pointed this out in her video recently. It is a REALLY good point!
We are SO eager to “find 0″…that point where we get to eat. YIPPEE!!!! We have little difficulty finding “0”–in fact, many of us “find” it before it really appears, if we are honest…calling every gurgle of digestion a hunger pang!
But if we don’t really want to “find” 5–that place of physical satisfaction where we have eaten enough food and it is time to stop eating–then we will have difficulty! It is because we don’t really want to find it…we aren’t looking that hard, just as with Uncle Joe’s lighter.
It will serve us well if we evaluate if what we REALLY want is to “find” 5 or if we would much prefer to continue eating instead. Are we really looking?
If this rings true for you, I want to encourage you to renew your mind with some of these truths:
My body is remarkably efficient. It doesn’t take much food to satisfy and as I stop at “just enough,” my body will become leaner and healthier.
God’s 0 to 5 boundaries provide a pleasant place for me to enjoy freedom in my eating.
It is best to live by design rather than by desire.
The portion allotted for me will be completely satisfying, physically. I may need to lean extra hard on the Lord to experience soul-satisfaction, though.
I can call on the Lord to give me the “want to” to find 5.
The Lord will grant me a willing spirit to sustain me (Psalm 51:12b)
How About You?
Do you look for 5 like you might look for Uncle Joe’s lost cigar lighter? Will you begin to pray today and renew your mind about the joy of eating within the godly boundaries of 0 and 5?
This video is a bit different than the others…or at least I hope it is! Are you ready to hear me fuss, moan, groan, whine and wail about my day? Well…in it I confess about a situation that I was caught in right as I was trying to prepare to make the video about “Counting the Cost!” In fact, I had to stop recording, delete, talk to God about it all and start again! God wanted ME to count the cost! So I did and I share other thoughts with you about counting the cost as we launch into our study this week.
Video Questions:
1.) (02:26 – 03:12) I challenge you to settle the issue of if God is calling you to 0 to 5 eating or not. Have you done so? What have you concluded? If you have a conviction that 0 to 5 eating is a godly boundary that God wants you to have, have you written it down, dated and signed it? (It is likely to be important later!)
2.) Why do you suppose I put such a premium on getting that issue (see #1 above) settled?
In the video, I refer to Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut and Other Lies that Make You Eatbook. The question set I refer to for much of the rest of the video is “I’ll Start Tomorrow Eating.” Basically, this is eating that is motivated today by the “promise” we tell ourselves that we will “get serious” about our boundaries tomorrow.
3.) Have you been waiting for a good or easy time to start following your boundaries? Are you waiting until you are “in the mood?” Evaluate this attitude. What are boundaries for? Think about this… (It is sorta a trick question.)
4.) Give some thought to the question poised at 05:12…”What sacrifices will you have to make to uphold your boundaries?” Consider this thoroughly…at any time you are tempted to eat outside of 0 and 5 you can consider this.
5.) If you put off following your boundaries (0 to 5) or “skip a day”…will you still have to make those sacrifices? Will procrastination make a difference in how “fun” or “easy” following your boundaries will be?
6.) What blessings will you experience if you follow your boundaries today?
7.) If you don’t follow hunger/satisfied eating boundaries, what will you do instead? If you don’t stick with this…or don’t return to this approach if you have been wandering far afield, what will you do instead? Are you ok with that?
8.) What do you want to experience 6 months from now? What will it take to get there?
9.) Will it be worth it?
10.) Personalize Philippians 3:7-9. What do these verses mean to you?
Renewing the Mind – Pressing On
1. List 10 truths that God wants you to speak to your soul. For ideas about what to include, consider:
What is true about you?
What is true about God?
What is true about “failure?”
2. Speak the truths from #1 above to your soul…out loud! 🙂 (Yes, I mean it!)
3. Record yourself speaking them to your soul and then add them to your music player (iPod, iPhone, or mp3 player). Play it for yourself when you don’t feel like reviewing your truths.
Trade Book Assignment – To Be Completed by February 17th.
Please don’t try to do both the book and the workbook at the same time! 🙂 Here is Study Guide Week 6. Please feel free to discuss the material here or in the private Facebook group.
Workbook Assignment – To Be Completed by February 17th.
1. Read, highlight, mark Lesson 6, Counting the Cost, on pages C16-C20 or listen to the audio file of Lesson 6 at Sound Cloud. Discuss it here in the comments section below this post or at our Class Facebook Group.
2. This week, the Hunger Graph is introduced. This is an OPTIONAL tool. You can use those provided in the Temple Tool Kit if you feel so led. You can also find the Hunger Graph tool in the Thin Within iTunes app for your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Please do not feel like you have to use this tool. Just ask God if he would have you do so and follow His lead. 🙂
3. Complete the exercises for Lesson 6 on pages C22-C28. Next Monday before the webinar, respond to the Review questions on page C29.
4. Have you begun to notice how different foods affect you? Take some time to share here what insight you have had so far. In Thin Within, we call those foods that are yummy and that sustain us with *no* negative consequences “Whole Body Pleasers.” Which foods are “Whole Body Pleasers” for you? Foods that we like the taste of but that don’t sustain us very well and, in fact, may cause confusing hunger/satisfied signals are referred to as “Taste Bud Teasers.” Which foods are “Taste Bud Teasers” for you?
5. What have you added to your God List? Won’t you share with us here? (That means writing in the comments. lol!) Have you had a Praise Fest when you have been tempted? How has that helped redirect you away from food?
6. Use the entries for Day 36 through Day 42 in the Temple Tool Kit. Again, please don’t use any part of the Tool Kit that you aren’t confident God intends for you to use.
7. Memorize 1 Peter 4:1-2 this week. Personalize it and add it to your truth cards. How have you been called to suffer. In what ways might accepting the suffering that God calls you to enable you to overcome temptation to eat outside of your godly boundaries?
How About You?
So, what do you think? I know I came down pretty hard in the video. I just want to encourage you to really think through the decisions you make. Especially the decision not to press on. I believe that if you are here, it is no accident. There is a reason you have come this far and are reading this paragraph or have watched the video. I believe you know in your heart of hearts that the cost is worth it.
The recording of our webinar wrapping up last week’s lesson, Lesson 5 on Restoration, can be found here.
I will share the discussion questions for the webinar as soon as they are available.
Recently I gained an important piece of understanding as to why I over eat at times. In our ThinWithin studies, we read about idols and sacrifices. I looked up some of the words in the verses and boy did I get an eye opener.
2 Chronicles 14 talks about the altar that was in the portico of the temple. The portico was a covered entryway outside the temple in front of the steps. Before one could go inside the temple, one would have to pass through the portico (where we get the word porch) and give a sacrifice upon the altar. It would either be to The Lord or to an idol. Those were, and still are, the only two choices.
The altar was always conspicuous and prominent, for all to see. It was a central place of celebration where others were privy to see one’s sacrifice. In fact, some even boasted for all to see the great sacrifice they made. Perhaps their idol was pride.
The portico is not the temple. It’s not where the Lord resides. It’s the gateway to the Lord, who is in the temple. He chose to save us and reside in our bodies and make his dwelling place within us. He knew how magnificent it would be. He chose to live in a manner that we might have intimate communion with Him at all times.
The altar is the place of sacrifice and celebration that stands erect to guard the entrance of our lives. The scriptures continue by instructing us to repair this altar. It is in disarray. How do we repair it? We start by mourning for our sin. We have worshipped idols in place of the true God. We turn from that practice and honestly admit our wrongs, asking for Gods help. This isn’t a one time event, but rather a daily occurance.
We begin to determine what it is that we have sacrificed so we can over eat? Was it our health, energy, body image, confidence, peace, joy, fellowship, intimacy, growth, trust or …
Here are my idols, Lord; comfort and fear, ease and shame, condemnation fear of rejection. All these I have bowed to and sacrificed to. Forgive me and cleanse me. I want to bow only to You and bring a worthy sacrifice to You, which is my own body.
It reads on to say that the next step is to tear down the idols, with courage. How does that work? How do we tear down comfort? We stop trusting in our own ways to find comfort. We stop looking to those ways to help us. We refuse to go back to our old ways and we turn to God. We bow only to Him from now on. When we falter, we begin again, returning to the altar to presesnt our body as a living sacrifice to God.
When we desire to go into our inner life, that secret place where God dwells with us, first we go into the portico and we make a sacrifice of our own ways, our own strength, our fears, shame and condemnation. We lay all of self on the altar. We celebrate and rejoice for all his mighty deeds and transformation. THEN we enter into the depths of our life in Christ. THEN we receive all God has for us. THEN He communes with us. Because all the idol worship and barriers have been torn down. Worship in spirit and truth has been rebuilt in its place. THEN we overcome. THEN we are changed by grace.
Each of us must go through our own portico to build an altar. It’s the way God made for us.
Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.”
Perhaps you don’t have the same idols I once did. Perhaps you bring your sacrifice of food to some inner pain, or unfilled dreams, depression, impatience, pride, rejection, hopelessness.. . I suppose the list is endless. Sacrificing food to our idols keeps us in bondage because we aren’t able to reach the Lord. He’s waiting for us just inside the Temple.
We are all learning so much from ThinWithin about communing with God and being transformed. He is available to each of us. But it is imperative that we tear down the idols and enter the secret place in the temple to begin our rebuilding journey with God. He has a perfect plan.
How about you?
Can you identify with any of the idols Cathy mentioned? If yes, did that surprise you? Are you ready and willing to present your body as a sacrifice to God? Have you been able to get beyond the front porch of your own life? Do you have a sincere desire to experience real victory from your disordered eating?
Cathy lives in Lakemoor, IL, a suburb of Chicago, IL. She and her husband, Joe are empty nesters, not counting the three cats they adopted. They have a total of six children and nine grandchildren. She enjoys prayer walks and great fellowship. Reading and writing are still her favorite subjects.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” Romans 12:2 (NKJV).
I believe this is where we often miss the mark in mind transformation. We begin to recognize the lies and tear them down, but we fail to replace the thoughts with God’s thoughts concerning the situation. 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us that we have the mind of Christ so we can think his thoughts toward our situations. Philippians 4:8 describe the thoughts we should dwell upon.
