This lesson in The Lord’s Table workbook is absolutely awesome! Rather than butchering it, I will just quote little snippets and let you order the workbook and enjoy it for yourself! 🙂
For God’s people, praise of God leads the way to victory in battle…As God’s people earnestly sought Him for help in the battle, God made the promise that He would fight on their behalf, that the battle would be His, and that all they needed to do was stand still and see the salvation He would provide for them….It was those who led in praise and worship of God who led the army to victory. From this, we learn that true praise of God leads us to victory also. Oh, you who are beset by temptation, who know of the weakness of your flesh, who struggle intensely in the battle, please know that God will provide help and victory in your battle as you learn to praise Him. Praise leads the way to victory. (TLT, p. 188)
When we feel like praising the least, is when we need to praise the most. I have seen this powerful truth in my own life. There is power in praising the Lord. The power isn’t MINE, it is HIS. He shows up when His people praise!
They were praising God for the victory they did not yet see. In addition to praising Him for His character, Who He is, etc., it is very good to praise Him for victory in the battle before we see any evidence of it. We can do this because our victory has already been won on the cross, and we are assured of it! We can praise Him even before the work is finished, because we know our faithful God and Redeemer will finish the work He has started in us. So let’s get in the habit of praising God for future victories. (TLT, p. 189)
Do you ever feel like you have an endless arsenal of diet remedies and routines available at your ready disposal…that you should, by now be able to make mince-meat out of any temptation that comes your way, that extra weight should be fleeing the scene just to get out of harm’s way, since you are so adequately educated, prepared, and well-armed?
Sometimes, all our remedies and quick fixes actually add to our troubles, rather than serve to solve our problems. The guy in this picture has a pretty impressive gun belt, but he is also carrying a lot of bulk. 🙂 Maybe what he considers as “ammo” is actually hindering his progress…like “extra weight” that holds him back from being his best! From negotiating through life to his optimum ability!
I know that is how it was for me for years. A professional dieter, training to be a personal trainer and aerobics instructor, going to go to work for one popular weight-loss program…and then suddenly I was stopped dead in my tracks…the very “tools” that I thought were helping me to “beat” the “enemy” were actually tripping me up. The more I dieted, the more my heart could “justifiably” fixate on food…the very thing from which I was trying to break free!
So here is the TRUE magic bullet (I know everyone says that, but this I KNOW from experience!)…if you want to be free from overeating and extra weight, rather than head off on another diet that will encourage you to obsess about food and your body (the very things you want to be free from worrying about!) what if you and I were to foster a deeper focus on the LORD! Choose a different focus.
It keeps coming back to that. What do I long for, delight in, desire more than anything? If it is food, I will keep having a massive struggle on my hands. If I fixate on having a thin body, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, even that won’t help me to find my natural, God-given size.
What DO you desire more than anything?
Psalm 34: 4 says Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
How is this related to the desire to have a thin body for the rest of our lives and not to struggle with overeating?
It is important to understand that we became overweight by delighting ourselves in food. We have run to food when stressed, bored, sad, or just because we delighted in the taste of it. And as we turned to food, we began to delight in it more and more. (TLT, p. 184)
It keeps coming back to what I will allow to be my focus. If I choose to train my mind and heart to focus on the Lord, His glory, His awesomeness, if I take time to be still and know that He is God, memorize His Word, pray and praise Him, if I make gratitude a practice of my life, giving thanks even when I may not be thank-FULL–there WILL be a transformation that will occur! My delight will be in him and not in food! As my delight shifts to the LORD, I won’t overeat and my weight WILL dwindle. But it is all because my heart has learned to focus on what REALLY matters–HIM and HIS glory!
As we feed on and delight in Him we are given the desires of our hearts. (TLT, p. 184)
So there you have it…the real magic-bullet for overeating and weight loss. If we train ourselves to delight in the Lord instead of food, some changes WILL happen! The “enemies” will be vanquished! We won’t overeat and we will release the weight…the desires of our hearts will change, but in the meantime we will see some of the changes that we have longed for.
It bears repeating…this may sound “simple” and it is…but it isn’t easy. I would never assert otherwise! But it is well worth it to press on to pursue it! Application: What can you do/think/be/say today to foster a greater delight in the Lord?
Note: My journey through The Lord’s Table workbook is coming to an end. Though it is a 60-day workbook, the last two days’ material is mostly review and evaluation for the benefit of TLT staff. So tomorrow, Day 58, will likely be the last I share from TLT. I have already launched the next leg of my journey, making my way through Get Thin Stay Thin, by Arthur and Judy Halliday. (This book was formerly released as Thin Again and Silent Hunger.) I hope you will continue to join me as I head into the valley of the shadow of death. (Yikes!) I am so thankful that the Lord journeys with me. I hope you will as well!
If there were a way to summarize the most vital truth that I have seen in The Lord’s Table and all that I have learned on this rather long, cumbersome (at times) journey I have been on through Thin Within, Thin Again (now known as Get Thin Stay Thin) and the rest…for the past 10 years or so…I would say it was definitely in today’s TLT workbook lesson.
The key…again and again…I have found true in my life…from one weary wanderer to another…it is Worship.
What do you sigh for? What do you long for? What do you focus on? What do *I* sigh for, long for, focus on?
Is it “0?” “I can’t wait to be hungry so I can have _____. Oh when will I be hungry???” Reminds me of Psalm 63: 1 which reads:
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
I think many times, I have the heart that this depicts for worship, but it is directed not at the Lord, but at “godly” hunger…NOT. Look at what I mean:
O hunger, you are my god…
earnestly I seek you.
I can’t wait to find you.
To BE hungry so I can EAT!
My soul thirsts for you…
my taste buds long to be hungry…
just so I can eat what I want…
and call it “godliness.”
God forgive me for this. The godly boundaries of eating between hunger and satisfaction were never designed to be worshiped to that I could lust for that instead of the Lord! If you are like me and can relate to my warped psalm, let us all repent! He alone will satisfy us!
So, what AM I focusing my attention on? Am I focusing on being “ripped off?” All I am giving up? My misery? How I can’t have my way? How I am “suffering for the Lord?”
All of this is a misaligned focus. It just is a ruse of the enemy to get me to focus on ME, MY way, MY will…and as long as I give in to this…it is so self-indulgent, really…I will always feel like this journey isn’t going anywhere, but is like a perpetual treadmill out in the desert of life.
The key to moving forward in life, to growing in the Lord, to a vibrant, “successful,” victorious experience of the ABUNDANT life…to finding your freedom inside and out…to landing at and staying at and being at peace at our “natural God-given size,” is…WORSHIP THE LORD GOD!
This is true. Honest. 🙂 I know it to the depths of my heart.
Mike Cleveland summarizes it beautifully in this lesson:
True worship is made up of at least four different elements: FOCUS – True worship requires that we focus on the object of our worship. BOW – This is a position of respect and humility. OFFER – God desires that we offer ourselves in worship ENJOY – Our supreme delight should be in the enjoyment of God (TLT, p. 181)
We worship whatever it is that has our focus, our hearts, our submission…that which we enjoy.
Food has had this place in my life for far too long! So now (again? still?) I earnestly pursue a love relationship with the Lord for all I am worth as I want food or hunger to no longer have my focus, my adoration, my offering, my enjoyment. Yes, I can enjoy food…but as a gift from the Lord of the Universe! Life isn’t about food! It is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14 about verse 17 I think it is. LOL!).
Though we will never hear this from the world, becoming free from overeating is a matter of learning how to enjoy the Lord. Freedom comes from learning how to drink Him in, how to quench our thirst in Him, how to feast our souls on Him. It is impossible to enjoy sin and enjoy the Lord at the same time, and those who are learning to nourish their souls and quench their thirst in Jesus are done with overeating. (TLT, p. 182)
I press on now. I see more than ever…worship is the “magic bullet” that will cure our overeating and overweight. Worship of the One True Lord and King. He is most worthy.
If the next time I am putting a fork (or fist) to my mouth with food ready to go in I would stop and prayerfully ask first:
Does the Lord have my focus in this moment? Or does this food?
In this moment, before whom/what am I bowing? Is it the cheese enchilada? Or is it the Lord Almighty?
Does taking this bite reflect a life that is offered to the Lord in humble sacrifice? Am I eating to be nourished? Or is there another factor at work motivating me? How can I, in this moment be a living sacrifice, offering the parts of my body to God as instruments of righteousness?
Does taking this bite reflect one who enjoys GOD as the supreme delight in life?
I can’t help but think that these questions, honestly answered will revolutionize my life even further.
God wants my worship. He has given me so many gifts and I so often make them the focus of my life. So often I BOW before his gifts, giving them say over my life. I offer myself to the gifts the Lord has given to me. I enjoy the gifts, failing to praise the Giver of every GOOD and perfect gift.
Lord, in this day, I seek to worship ONLY you. Make it so, dear Lord.
“I released all my weight by eating whatever I wanted.”
HUH? What????
“You mean you only like to eat ‘healthy foods,’ then, right?” often comes the disbelieving reply.
“I have never met a vegetable I like unless it was in my husband’s fresh salsa!” is my honest answer! I do not like fruits and vegetables as a general rule. The last time I had “fresh fruit” it was in a modest slice of apple pie at Christmas! 😉 (Slathered with whipped cream…)
I love ice cream, pizza, Mexican food, McDonald’s french fries (true confessions).
See, it isn’t about the food. It never is. It is about my heart. Thus, the struggle I have had recently. I know better than to make it be about the food. The Lord won’t let me get away with that. As soon as I make it be about the food or about my weight, I have the Holy Spirit in my face saying, “Excuse me, Child…this food is to be received with Thanksgiving. Do not call ‘evil’ what I have called good and declared clean!”
Today’s lesson in The Lord’s Table Workbook revisits a previous teaching that all food is totally acceptable (unless a person is under a personal physician’s orders to the contrary). Any food in moderation is OK.
That said, I like what Thin Within teaches in this regard and feel it takes this a step further. As we mature in our relationships with the Lord we begin to see our “freedom” as freedom from *having* to eat a certain something, to being free *not* to *have* to have it. We discover that it doesn’t hold us under its spell–or that is the hope, anyhow! Our “freedom” is FROM the chains of favorite foods that previously seemed to mesmerize us!
At that point, we begin to learn to exercise discernment. While all foods ARE permissible, not all are beneficial and I don’t want to be mastered by anything. So I begin to take note of how my body feels when I eat certain foods. Thin Within encourages personally rating foods into categories of “pleasers,” “teasers,” “whole body pleasers,” “total rejects.” The goal is to select as often as possible “whole body pleasers” which are typically foods that not only delight the “palate” or taste buds, but also that make the body feel pretty good. There is no extreme blood sugar crash afterwards, for instance. Likewise, there isn’t this sense of “I better eat this, since it is good for me…bleah” with this approach.
The upshot is, all foods, when eaten with a heart giving honor to the Lord with thanksgiving, are LEGAL! Does it sound too good to be true? I have released all my weight that way. The last physical I had my doctor gave me a glowing report, so I don’t seem to be on death’s door because McDonald’s french fries are a part of my life.
Verses for you to prayerfully consider:
1 Timothy 4:1-5 Romans 14:16-18 Mark 7:18-23
The Christian only changes as he or she focuses intently on Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), and not on food or any other distraction. The major problem with most diets is that they draw attention to food, either to deny certain foods or to focus on the content of the food (such as counting points, calories, fat grams, carbohydrates, etc…), all of which places our focus on food. (TLT, p. 178)
To the one who has an adulterous affair with food, these diets are good and acceptable because they allow us to think about food all day long. But to the one who wants to have a pure heart and a single mind, thinking of food all day long is not acceptable for we recognize that this can be idolatry.(TLT, p. 178)
So let us not be people who focus on food, or deny certain foods. Let’s lose the popular mindset of “healthy foods” and “junk foods” for Scripture does not at all label food like this….Let us be people who eat whatever we want with rejoicing and thanksgiving, worshiping God in our hearts, remembering to be moderate in the amount that we eat. This is what honors the Lord and provides spiritual and physical health. (TLT, p. 180)
Some might wonder…how can I eat whatever I want in a “moderate” amount? What does that even mean? Do I weigh it? Measure it?
If we trust the Lord that he has made our bodies reliable and begin to listen to them give us cues for our eating, we will eat just the right amount. Physical hunger and physical satisfaction are very distinct. Sometimes it takes a while to learn these signals, but if we ask the Lord for his help and guidance and honestly want to learn (and not deceive ourselves with “I am just sure I am hungry for this 15th Oreo!”), he will show us what physical hunger and satisfaction feels like for us.
How about you? Are you ready to try (or to try again)?
Try this…wait until you are hungry…until you know without a doubt you are hungry…before your next meal (or snack). Hunger is a sensation (not a sound) that happens just below your sternum (chest bone). It is where the ribs join…much higher than most people think. The stomach pouch is like a rubbery balloon and will feel very hollow, maybe ache a bit when it is empty. Don’t wait for a growl or assume that a growl means hunger! Growling may mean you are digesting food that is already in there! If you get a headache, feel dizzy or weak, you have waited too long. (By all means, make sure you don’t do this if your doctor wouldn’t approve.)
Some people take a LONG time to get hungry. It depends on your last meal and how much extra weight you carry on your frame. Busy yourself with other things instead of focusing on “Am I hungry NOW? How about NOW?…ok…NOW?” LOL! That isn’t freedom! Please know that there are a lot of other things that draw a person to eat *other* than physical hunger, so you may *think* you are hungry because there is a heart hunger that gravitates toward food. Take this to the Lord and let him be your satisfaction as you prayerfully wait for your body to need fuel.
Then, once you are hungry, select whatever food you desire. Anything goes…but it won’t take much for you to be satisfied! So be prepared to stop sooner than usual! If you eat slowly and allow yourself to prayerfully praise and thank God for the wonderful tastes of the foods you have selected, you probably won’t need much before you are physically satisfied. That’s OK, because you can have whatever wonderful food it was you enjoyed again later! It will still be available for all the rest of the times in this life when you get hungry!
Give it a try and see what you think if you haven’t ever done this…and then post a comment here about what you discover! Feel free to ask questions. I will be more than happy to try to respond!
One of the most wonderful experiences for me happens when I have the privilege of riding my very special horse (they are all special, but that is beside the point! LOL!), Harley, through the hills, down the trail along the river. Harley seems to love it and the peaceful nature of the river is definitely restorative to me. Being there with my horse, letting him have a drink, maybe even getting off and letting him have a bite to eat of the most wonderful, sweet green grass imaginable (he so rarely SEES green grass at home!)…it just does something for me to the depths of my heart. I think partly because I know he loves it so much, too.
In fact, when I am there, I can easily be reminded of Psalm 23, which is the focus of this lesson in The Lord’s Table workbook.
Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
As I look around at the beauty, I am reminded that all the hills and valleys, rivers, trees, and the sky…He created it all. It is so amazingly beautiful…and it barely touches on his own beauty and glory! I can hardly fathom it!
As much as the river ride seems to restore my soul…it is a pittance compared to what being with the Lord, taking in HIS presence, provision, power, and living for His purposes does.
When I keep my focus on HIM and take it off of this world, I am amazed at just how much “life works.” When I allow myself to be swept up in all the other things…then I become beaten down and tired.
When I walk with the Lord, these things happen:
I am not in want (vs 1)
There is rest and quiet (vs 2)
My soul is truly restored (vs 3)
He guides me in the way I should go that will honor Him (vs 3)
He will take me through the valley of the shadow of death–there are things to process there with HIM at my side. (vs 4)
He will ease my fear (vs 4)
He will comfort me (vs 4)
He provides me with abundance–a soul feast–that is available to me no matter what else is going on…even when I seem surrounded by enemies. (vs 5)
He honors me (this is amazing to me!) (vs 5)
Goodness and love are my companions (vs 6)
All day, every day, starting NOW and on into eternity, I am with HIM (vs 6)
This is so much better than just a good ride on my pony with pretty scenery!
What David is saying here is that the relationship he has with the Lord provides him with rest and refreshment as he lies down in green pastures and drinks from quiet waters. There is a peacefulness and tranquility that comes into the heart and life of one who follows the Lord. He is not in want and her rests in Christ and drinks from Christ. (TLT, p. 175)
What does it mean for my soul to be restored? Mike Cleveland, the author of The Lord’s Table, describes it this way:
…simply being right with God through the work of Christ, and knowing that all is well with my soul. My sins are paid for, my past is dead and gone, my relationship with God is vibrant and my future is secure. My soul is restored from being “in want” to being content and this is evidenced in many ways, one of which is that there is no more need to overeat. (TLT, p. 176)
In Jesus Christ we find all our needs met; our souls aer restored, our hearts are satisfied, and we experience rest, refreshment and fulfillment. I hope that you are finding this life in Jesus and that you’re enjoying Jesus as the Table prepared for you by the Lord. (TLT, p. 177)
