Eating as Worship
My accountability partner sent me the link for a great devotion. I have to share it with you. It is short! Click here.
Day 52 TLT Take Every Thought Captive
Rather than give a detailed summary of what is in the TLT workbook today, I am going to flesh it out.
Three things in this lesson:
1.) Take captive every thought and let Christ be the judge of whether or not the thought should be allowed entrance into the mind and heart. If Christ says no, reject the thought…but this must be done to see if CHRIST wants the thought in there. I can either take the thought captive or be taken captive by the thought. The passage is 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
2.) It isn’t enough to just reject negative thoughts. We must also embrace thoughts that are godly. This principle is found in Philippians 4:8. Do my thoughts (or what I am reading, watching, etc…) pass the “Philippians 4:8 Test?” The idea being I will only dwell on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and praiseworthy. When it comes to rejecting negative thoughts, we have to also have something positive to think about…God’s Word provides that.
3.) Philippians 4:9 takes it a step further. Whatever we know to do, we are to DO it. This connects with the previous lessons.
This three step process will enable us to not be taken captive by lustful or greedy thoughts about food when we aren’t hungry. Or to allow ourselves be beaten up by the enemy when he accuses us.
And this is what I want to hash out here today…
This is very hard for me. Only a week ago (it feels like forever…) I obeyed what I felt the Lord wanted me to do and put the scale away “forever.” But this came at the tail end of a fasting of sweets which was in response to my reaction to having given up diet soda drinking (which I drank verrrry excessively).
But rather than throwing other “must dos” at myself in response to removing aspartame from my life, I should have *processed* what was going on in me when I removed the diet coke. That would have been a grace-filled thing to do.
While the caffeine withdrawals likely took only a few short days to weather through, the psychological and spiritual withdrawals from diet soda were much more severe and intense. I found myself gravitating toward sweet foods again.
So I fasted sweet foods. While I fasted sweets for about 10 days, I was at such peace…but when I allowed them in my life again, I found that a “dieting mentality” had crept back into my mind and heart. Subtly, my thinking had shifted from “all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial…I will not be mastered by anything…” to THESE ARE NOT permissible! THIS IS NAUGHTY! I am BAD! Followed by desperately rebelling against that rigidity…
At the same time, I knew there was one more stronghold in my life…that of depending on the bathroom scale. So I decided to remove it from my life. Do you see the desperation? I was throwing band-aids everywhere. Likely what I needed to do was *process* the removal of a significant thing from my life…diet soda. I missed that.
All of this was taking on a lot emotionally at one time. (This sounds so whiny and ridiculous to me…) I am not sure all of this at the same time was from the Lord. Certainly, I think he would have wanted me to process what was going on in my reaction as I came off of nutrasweet. I deflected really doing that. Instead I treated symptoms…fasted sugar. Adding more angst and emotional baggage, perhaps, to things that needed to be brought before the throne of God.
Ok, so where does that leave me today?
Today I pulled out the scale. (The voice says “Another failure…”) It reflected what I knew to be true. My eating is off kilter. I didn’t need the scale to tell me that, but I began to feel like NOT having a man-made number to attach to it at this stage of my journey was to be in denial.
I share this with such struggle…the accusations of the enemy have come to fruition. He laughs with glee. The scale actually says SIX POUNDS up. I need to confess this here…by way of keeping a lid on pride and by way of accountability. Given my accountability reports to my accountability partner, there must also have been a LOT of deception going on too!
This is where today’s lesson really comes home, though.
My response to this man-made arbitrary number (and the rest that goes with it) is deep sadness. Truthfully, it isn’t the number alone that makes me sad. It is the truth that my greed and DECEPTION has put me in the place that it shows up so quickly on the scale.
The thoughts that are now bombarding me for entrance into my life are all the same voices that the enemy has thrown at me for a couple of years now… “See? You ARE a fraud!” “You may think you have everyone fooled, but WE know the truth! The scale is finally proving it!” “You *are* a glutton! You ARE forever going to be a fat person trying to pretend she is someone else!” “Admit it! Give it up! You are a fake!”
These are the thoughts that are demanding entrance this morning.
The bottom line is this…the TRUTHS in my life are:
1.) I have been eating more than my body needs to be sustained
2.) Most of my eating outside of my godly boundaries has been sweet foods
3.) My physical body is beginning to carry the excess energy (By the way…before I got on the scale I knew this from the way my jeans were fitting…just a bit more snug…I didn’t really need the number to tell me anything!)
These are the TRUTHS.
In addition the following are truths as well:
4.) God is still God.
5.) I am still the Lord’s
6.) He is STILL doing a NEW thing in me right now!
7.) That which He has begun he WILL complete — His Word promises!
Going back to the steps outlined in today’s lesson in The Lord’s Table, then, step one is to surrender my thoughts to obedience to Christ. In this case, I must recognize that all the things that the enemy is whispering in my ear…they are LIES. So I will take captive each thought and bring it to God. He says “No…REJECT IT.” I will reject the enemy’s lies.
Step 2 then is to submit my thoughts to the Philippians 4:8 test. What is TRUE is vital here…so the list above is what I will rehearse in my mind today. Especially items 4-7 and related thoughts.
However, the truth is also that I have work to do relative to this whole nutrasweet dependency. Just because it is out of my life doesn’t mean I don’t have issues to deal with. It reminds me of addiction…often when you take the substance that is being abused out of a person’s life, they maintain the same behaviors, but with a different substance. Thus, the true issues aren’t dealt with.
God wants to deal with the underlying issues that motivate me to grab a hold of whatever it may be. He wants me to grab a hold of him no matter what! The only “substance” that I am to lean on is HIM.
Then thirdly, if I follow the lesson in TLT, I will DO what I know is best and right. For me, this has to include some ways of fighting negative thoughts today. So here is my battle plan:
1.) Gratitude blog today…I will write in it later today, but practice gratitude throughout the day
2.) I will get out my spiral cards and keep them with me today…bible verses are on them. I will work on memorizing a new one and review old ones I have memorized. I will pray the scriptures on them
3.) I will continue to pray every 60 minutes to reconnect with God (Soul Revolution the 60-60 experiment)
4.) I will keep praise music playing
5.) I will spend some time prayer journaling today…
I do plan on attacking the deeper issues as soon as TLT study is completed. My accountability partner and I will be going through the Hallidays’ Get Thin Stay Thin book together. (This book used to be called Thin Again and before that it was called Silent Hunger. It is a challenging book that looks at the underlying causes of our overeating (and other things)…it is what I need right now, even though I went through it some years ago…).
If I have a thought of “You weigh _____! You are a FRAUD!” I will combat that with, “I am more than a conqueror in Christ. God IS doing a new thing in me! I perceive it! I will fix my eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of my faith…” and so on.
So…how about you? Do you have a battle of the mind going on today too? What can you do to apply these three things:
1.) Take captive thoughts to obedience to Christ?
2.) Submit your thinking, your doing, reading, watching to the Philippians 4:8 test?
3.) DO something that will be a response to what you KNOW? (Phil 4:9)?
Join me, ok? I am praying for you and for me…
Day 48 TLT – Sweet!
When I gave up aspartame–the artificial flavoring that makes diet sodas taste so good–it was as if I had taken the lid off of Pandora’s Box…out came reality! I discovered that I had never dealt with an “issue” of mine…even through the year of steady weight release and the subsequent year of maintaining my new weight. I had a “thing” –a BIG THING– for sweets!
By the time I finally obeyed the Lord in this, I could guzzle down a 12-pack of diet cherry Pepsi easily in a day. And come up for air only to look around for more!
So, when I finally responded to God asking me to release this to him, I found myself rebounding back toward sweet foods…and realized that I had to do something…and fast!…or I would gain weight in a hurry! Not only that, but I could see that this was an area of BIG bondage for me! I was in captivity!
This, in a nutshell is where the idea to fast sweets for a short season came from.
In retrospect,this had a good affect…but also there has been a detriment. I am trying to figure it out now. While I was fasting sweets for about 10 days, I was at peace. I didn’t feel deprived or ripped off. It was wonderful. Of course, I knew the fast would end and I would then, I assumed, be “normal.” HA!
After the fast ended, I went bonkers. Nuts. Insane. Inhaling sweet foods like there was no tomorrow.
Ok…I have to get a hold of myself again. Lord? What do you want? Moderation in all things, right?
Yet this struggle has continued. A little stress entered my life yesterday and I found myself going nuclear in the kitchen finding all manner of holiday treats to toss in my mouth (not to mention that Michaela has been baking up a storm! EEEK! Someone SAVE ME!).
I know that nothing is wrong with sweet foods. I know that all things are permissible, but for me, there is a problem.
Thing is, yesterday, I found myself back into a dieting mentality mode that I hadn’t experienced in a LONG time. I was thinking of sweet foods as “bad” again…and given how I am prone to be a rebel…that was all I needed to want them all the more.
I know this isn’t what God wants. As my accountability partner said, I seemed to be at peace so much during the 10 days I didn’t have any sweet foods. I would like to be at peace with moderation of all things in my life. I would like to not have to make things “taboo” in order to manage them.
I have been debating about whether to fast sweet foods again or not…and to extend that fast longer…or not…and I must admit…after what I have seen as a shift in my thinking over the past few days, I fear doing that! I know the Lord will lead me…but this is ridiculous! When I first began walking this path faithfully in November of 2006, I didn’t feel this way about sweet foods. I could handle them in moderation. It was not a big deal. So what has happened? Well, eliminating diet sodas has! And presto! I am in kindergarten again!
The lesson in The Lord’s Table workbook this morning reminded me that food and drink are designed by God to point to Christ. Colossians 2:13-17 is the text used.
When I think about this…it is profound. My fixation, my desire, my longing for sweet foods…if I consider the sweet foods as only a shadow and Christ the reality, then all that I look to cookies, candy, ice cream (gosh, this is embarassing…you would think I could grow up!) to do for me…Christ is the reality. Those foods are merely shadows.
So when the stress hit me yesterday, I was feasting on shadows…trying somehow to quell the tide of fear and anxiety. Yet the fear and anxiety and stress remained…well, of course! I was feasting on the shadow. Scriptures SAY that JESUS is the reality. Had I turned to HIM with such eagerness, HE would have whispered “Peace be still” to the storm and totally satisfied my heart which was in an uproar.
If I longed for CHRIST as I long for sweet foods, if I ran to HIM as I have been running to sweet foods…I would experience the reality satisfying my yearning, rather than the shadow only making my longing so much greater.
If food and drink are shadows of Christ, why be consumed with the shadow? Why not enjoy the reality that they respresent? (TLT, p. 154)
Day 35 TLT – Perseverance
Just some quotes from this morning’s lesson:
First of all, let me challenge the common definition of “progress.” If we were on a diet, or a weight loss plan or rogram, then “progress” would be defined as losing weight. After all, that is the purpose of the diet, and without weight loss we have made no progress. But we are not on a mere diet; we are making healthy changes in our whole lifestyle (spiritual and physical) so, progress should be defined as purposely enjoying the Lord, eating in a disciplined manner every day, making sure we get a moderate amount of exercise and remaining accountable for these life habits. (TLT, p. 111)
If you count progress as developing a lifestyle that honors the Lord, and now persist in your newly developed lifestyle [of 1.) Delighting the Soul 2.) Disciplining the Body 3.) Developing accountability — mentioned previously], you will lose the weight and you will keep it off. Learn to focus on habits and lifestyle, not on rapid weight loss and temporary progress. (TLT, p.112)
His strength is made perfect in our weakness, and we can do all things through Him including persevere. Will you? (TLT, p. 113)
Day 31 of TLT – Back To Basics
This lesson reviews some vital aspects of The Lord’s Table program. I won’t rehash the way the lesson is written here, but will share the three fundamental principles that TLT says are needed to experience freedom from overeating. If you have read my entries on TLT, this will be clear already. Reviewing serves to clarify, however. I wholeheartedly agree with these principles:
1.) Delight your Soul.
So often I have turned to food to be my delight. I am praying and actively seeking the Lord as my soul’s greatest delight. Honestly, participating in the Soul Revolution’s 60-60 experiment is dovetailing beautifully with this. I have set the timer on my watch for every 30 minutes. When it goes off, I reconnect with God, affirm His Lordship, stop sinning (if I am mid-stride into something that might dishonor him), pray for His will in the moment and in the moments to come…Practically, it helps me to really delight in the Lord. Feasting on the Word daily, memorizing it so that it comes to mind readily, journaling what He is teaching me…these are all ways that I can delight my soul in Him so that I am not so tempted to fixate on counterfeits (like food).
2.) Discipline Your Body
The hard truth is, I have to say NO to some things that my flesh wants. If I want a beautiful chair and can rationalize that it would be a great “quiet time chair” for me to snuggle up with my bible in the early mornings, I can’t just pull my truck up to the store and walk out with it. I have to say no to my flesh. If I am in a hurry and signal light after signal light has turned red, I can’t just go speeding on through. I have to say no to my flesh. Likewise, when my mind turns to food or I start to grab for something when I am not hungry, I have to say no to my flesh. Simply, there is no way to break free without saying no! This is a hard truth. I can honestly say, though, that the more I practice denying my flesh, the easier it gets. Each moment offers opportunity to make a choice. I can say NO to my flesh in this moment…capture it for the Lord and His will and His ways. When I do that, this one moment of denying myself is followed by dozens of moments rejoicing that He enabled me to be obedient and disciplined!
3.) Develop Daily Accountability
This is vital, I believe. I wrote about how to select an accountability partner just about a year ago. No matter where you are on this journey, I think this is vital. Two *are* stronger than one. There is just no way around it. Accountability is a biblical principle for all aspects of our lives. With an accountability partner, not only do we report in and receive loving encouragement, rebuke or praise, but we also are *prayed* for. We need this! If you want to break free from overeating or any habitual sin, you will want DAILY accountability!
A person could probably go through the appearances of having these three things in place in their life, but if the heart change is missing, it will all be for nothing.
Mike Cleveland says: The first step to victory is to seek the Lord for a heart change. We need to pray, “Lord, please remove my love for food, and replace it with a love for You. Help me to use food for it’s designed purpose, as that which sustains and nourishes the body. Please give me a new heart, according to Your promise in Ezekiel 36:26.” (TLT, p. 98)
NEW!
Join us at the Thin Within Academy where you can sign up for our online courses as they become available.