Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
~ Philippians 4:6-7
This Week’s Video:
Video Questions:
1. God wants me ____________ more than he wants me ________________.
2. Can you stop the video and pray about your desire to release weight, or to defeat your anorexic tendencies, or your bulimia or…? How about stopping and doing so now and waiting just a bit in his presence. If you feel led, share with the community here at the blog what you dared to ask the Lord for.
3. What is the one “rule” that I mention? What part does prayer play for you in this journey? Is there room for growth? How so? Is there a way you can be intentional about it?
4. Have you been keeping a God List? If this is new to you, have a look here for what a God List is and how to create one. It can be transformative!
5. Have you used your God List to do a Praise Fest? Here is a series of posts about the Praise Fest and also links to Sound Files that are examples of what a praise fest might look like. When I exalt God, I am not likely to exalt myself! Give it a try! Share with us what happens.
6. Can you think of a time when it might help you in your journey if you were to have a Praise Fest?
7. How can Praise and Gratitude profoundly affect our journey? “Instead of proclaiming myself as ________ over my life, I proclaim Him __________ over my life” (04:24). Why does this matter?
8. Praise is _______________________________________________. (05:30)
9. Gratitude is _____________________________________________. (05:35)
10. When I struggle with obedience, there are three questions I can ask (05:58). What are they?
11. How do these three things relate to Prayer?
12. What difference can any of this make to you?
Renewing the Mind
This week, ask the Lord in prayer to make you aware of any lies that you still believe. Invite him to show you HIS “Big T Truth” that can replace any lies or, even, “little t truths” that you are giving too much sway in your life. Create new truth cards from what He shows you.
Pick One (book or workbook):
Trade Book
We have completed the assignments for the Thin Within trade book. It was a ten-week study for those using the book. However, now would be a great time to go back through the study guide pages and the book itself and complete any exercises or questions you haven’t yet completed. Use this week and next as a chance to catch up. 🙂
Workbook Assignment
1. Read, highlight, mark 🙂 Lesson 11, Prayer, on pages D34 – D38 or listen to the “audio book” version of it at Sound Cloud. Discuss it here in the comments section below this post or at our Class Facebook Group.
2. Complete the exercises for Lesson 11 on pages D40 – D46. Next Monday before the webinar, respond to the Review questions on page D47 or even better–do so at our Facebook discussion group!
3. Use the entries for Day 71 through Day 77 in the Temple Tool Kit. What have you learned through your use of any of the tools in the Temple Tool Kit?
5. Memorize Psalm 139:23-24. Personalize it and add it to your truth cards.
We have a new class starting up on the heels of this one. On March 31st (the same day as our last webinar for this class), Karon Ruiz is launching into a study of workbook #2 in the series. Visit our class page for more information.
________
NOTE: The Webinar wrapping up Lesson 10 on Forgiveness is here.
Is overeating really sin? Is that one extra bite rebellion against the Lord?
I really struggled with those questions. It was one of the things in the Thin Within material that I had a hard time grasping. To be honest, over the years, when I would get to about Day 7 in the Thin Within book, I wouldn’t be able to push through any further. I really didn’t think I needed God’s forgiveness or grace when I took that one extra bite or overate. I would think, “Come on! It’s just food! It’s just one extra bite! What’s the big deal? Doesn’t God have other things to be concerned about? Why does this have to be so spiritual?”
And then my eyes were opened.
I had been praying about this and asking the Lord what His truth was about it in my life. Then one evening, I really wanted to make popcorn to eat during a movie my husband and I were going to watch. I knew I wasn’t hungry for the popcorn, but I just kept on thinking about it. Finally, I decided I was going to make popcorn. As I poured the freshly popped popcorn into a big wooden bowl, I heard the Holy Spirit gently ask me if I would not eat the popcorn since I wasn’t hungry. And like an annoying fly buzzing around, I flicked that request off. How could I resist now? Oh, the delicious scent of hot-buttered popcorn! And then, as I scooped some popcorn into my smaller bowl, the Holy Spirit asked me again if I would refrain from eating the popcorn. Flick! No thank you, I’m going to EAT this popcorn, thank you very much! So I sat down, began the movie, and about 2/3 of the way through my bowl of popcorn the Holy Spirit asked again, gently, if I would stop eating since I wasn’t hungry. Obediently, I put the bowl down and didn’t take one more bite.
He was so gentle. I was so rebellious. I lusted after that popcorn. I hardened my heart against the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I was like that Israelite demanding my way as I puttered around in the wilderness; just give me the leeks and onions! I didn’t want God’s manna or His provision. I wanted MY way in MY time! In essence, I wanted to go back to that slavery. Instead of deliverance and freedom, I wanted the easy way out.
Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Hebrews 4:7b
I don’t want to harden my heart. I want to love the Lord with all of my heart, mind and soul. I don’t want to hold anything back. I have to die to myself, to my fleshly, selfish desires in order to live for Him.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Romans 13:14
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Matthew 22:37
And it was at that moment I realized that I am not honoring the Lord when I take that extra bite knowing I don’t need it or when I overeat. I was placing food over Him.
This has been a hard truth to swallow. I would rather not digest it. I want to be in denial, but I clearly saw my rebellion that day when I hardened my heart. I chose to fall into temptation—to sin. Temptations will come, but I had a choice to make. I chose to follow my flesh instead of following after the Spirit. God provided a way out of the temptation, but I chose to take the other path.
When we are hungry, we eat. Food is fuel for our body. So what happens when we consistently go outside of God’s bounds of eating outside of hunger? We gain weight, we feel stuffed, we don’t like the way we look or feel, etc.
Why would we need food outside of hunger? What are we truly “hungry” for when we want to eat when we aren’t physically hungry?
I could replace that “hunger” with food, alcohol, sex, drugs, or any other substance or addiction, but it will never fulfill what I’m truly hungry for. As Heidi says, only God can fill that God-size hole that needs Him in our heart.
Maybe you are reading this and you might think that this doesn’t make sense for you. Maybe you feel that it’s legalistic to say one extra bite is sin. I would encourage you to ask the Lord about this in your own life. Ask Him to show you the truth about this for you. Maybe you aren’t at that place in your journey where it’s clear. Maybe the Lord is working on other areas right now.
Another thing I do is I check the motivation of my heart. Something I think about often is something that is asked in the book Intuitive Eating: would I deny a bride and groom their bites of wedding cake after the cake cutting if they weren’t truly hungry? It’s not their motive to indulge. There have been times after a meal at a friend’s house where I’m not really hungry anymore, but I will eat a little serving of dessert. I will check in with the Lord and there are times where He says that it’s ok, that my heart is in the right place. But I really think this is something personal between you and the Lord. This isn’t an excuse to eat whenever you feel like it. It’s not to justify eating another bite when you know God is saying it’s time to stop. You will know because the Holy Spirit will show you.
God is bringing me to a place of wanting to honor Him more and more with eating. I want to glorify Him in all that I do. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to follow after the flesh. I don’t want to lust after food. I don’t want to harden my heart. I want to follow the Spirit and grow closer to Him.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-12
If we do choose to purposely overeat, we can ask the Lord to forgive us.
“The surest way to return to the path of God’s provision is by repentance. As we observe, we identify the truth about our behavior and agree with God that a correction is in order. We then confess the truth we observe, and identify the faulty thinking and fleshly behaviors. He further places with us a desire to make the godly correction. This is repentance, and it results in returning to the path of God’s provision where we are filled with peace, joy, and rest” (Thin Within page 248-249).
And knowing that God has forgiven us as we repent, we can continue on our journey of honoring Him. There’s no need to beat ourselves up with the club of condemnation. You don’t have to eat with the attitude of, “Well, I messed up, I guess I will just eat whatever I want, whenever I want the rest of the day.” This isn’t a diet we’ve gotten off track with or have eaten up all of our daily calories, points, fat grams, carbohydrates, etc. This is observing that we’ve overeaten, repenting, and then continuing on the path of God’s provision. And then you just wait until you are hungry again to eat. I find this so refreshing!
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1
There are times I find myself being tempted to eat when I’m not hungry. I’m learning to ask God for help during those times. And He is always willing. We can call upon Him!
I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. Psalm 18:1-2
How about you?
Where do you find your thoughts when you think about overeating or one extra bite as sin? I want to encourage you to ask the Lord what this looks like for you. Are you eating because you are trying to fulfill a hunger only God can fill? Do you find yourself lusting after food and eating with a rebellious attitude? Ask the Lord to show you: He will! And He won’t just stop there, He will show you how you can turn your eyes from lust to fixing your eyes upon Jesus!
There are so many exciting changes ahead relative to God is Doing a New Thing and the Thin Within ministries! I am so excited to roll out each one by one. But let me just tease you a bit with that for now and get to the point of this post!
We may just be beginning the 2013 holiday season, but it isn’t too early to think ahead to January and that time when so many of us want to start fresh (though, truly we can start fresh EACH day—we don’t need to wait!).
In January 2014, I will be leading an online Thin Within group studying the Thin Within workbook material. The first orientation meeting will be Monday, January 6th. The class will wrap up Monday, April 7th, 2014. Posts will be accessible here at the blog for discussion, but we will also have a “live” online meeting each week on Mondays, from 4:30-5:30pm Pacific Time. The web url will be made available each week to those who sign up and who provide their email addresses to me for that purpose.
Here are some details about the Rebuilding God’s Temple Workbook Kit #1. If you have done this workbook before, you can still join the weekly chats January 6 – April 7 and work through *any* of the Thin Within workbooks as they are all designed so that they all have the same lesson topics each week.
The first kit is the most comprehensive and comes with three pieces:
Workbook #1
The Temple Toolkit
The Memory Challenge Cards (click on the image to see a large version and some images you can click again to see it magnified further):
The contents of Kit #1
First, the workbook itself, is a spiral bound volume that has material for 12 weeks of study. To download a sample of the material, visit this link. The download is an Adobe Reader (.pdf) file of Week One – “Hope.” After you download it, print it and take a week to try it out! 🙂
Each week’s unit consists of the following:
Lesson material – This is dense written material that you will read to glean the concepts that we are teaching or reviewing during the week. I usually recommend about an hour spent with this, highlighting, asterisking, and looking up the verses in my own bible. I may even write comments in the margin or, if I am leading a group, questions to be sure to ask participants.
Each of the reading portions of the lesson are divided into these segments:
Introduction – A brief overview of the week’s focus
Spiritual Information – The relationship this material has to the Scriptures
Physiological Information – The “mechanics” — what you can actually doto make additional changes in your eating to honor the Lord
Integration – How it all works together
Exercises – Don’t worry! These aren’t calisthenics! LOL! They are basically guided daily quiet times. 🙂 Each week includes “exercises” for each day of the week. Days six and seven are optional and a bit “lighter.” Days one through five include the following sections:
Going Deeper – This relates some aspect of the lesson you have read to your life
Bible Study – This shows how Scripture illustrates or illuminates the principles taught in the lesson
Knowing God By Heart – One of the best parts, this is a study of the attributes of God. We have found that the way a participant views God impacts how she will view food, herself, her body, as well as her willingness (or not) to surrender this aspect of her life to the Lord for His purposes.
Getting Practical – These are suggestions for putting some of the mechanics of the program into practice
Memory Challenge – Hiding God’s Word in our hearts will enable us to be reminded of our commitment to him when we are weak! Memorizing scripture is extremely helpful for renewing our mind and changing our thinking!
Review of the Week – This provides a space where you can summarize what God has shown you or questions and thoughts you have had. This section is especially helpful when you meet with others in a group setting. 🙂
In addition to these resources in the workbook, there is an extensive Introduction at the beginning and Appendices in the back, providing a great deal of material that will support you on your journey.
But wait! There’s more! 🙂 (Couldn’t resist saying that!) Not only do you get the Workbook, but when you purchase the first kit, you also get the Temple Toolkit. This is a resource that offers a place for you to log your own journey throughout each day during the full twelve weeks. As you progress through the material, the pages change to match what you have learned in the workbook. Let me show you what I mean.
The first image below shows Days 25-28. Click on the image to see a larger version and then click again to see FULL size what these pages look like in the temple toolkit:
Days 25, 26, 27, 28 in the Temple Toolkit
As you progress through the workbook and new material is introduced, the Temple Toolkit changes, too:
Days 49, 50, 51, and 52 in Temple Toolkit
Again, click on the image above and then click again on the bigger image to see it full size. You will see new tools have been added.
Of course all of the tools are optionalas you go through the 12-week workbook. If you have come out of a background of excessive charting and graphing, you may only want to use the journaling pages. Or, as time goes on, you may experience freedom with one tool and not another. The Lord will lead each of us individually. Some have freedom to use all the tools, charts and graphs. Some have the freedom not to.
By the time you are closer to the end of the first twelve weeks, you will have been introduced to all of the tools. Note how the material in the toolkit has evolved:
Days 77, 78, 79 and 80 in Temple Toolkit
Again, “Wait! There’s more!” 🙂 When you order the first kit, you get not only the Workbook, the Temple Toolkit that changes as you go through the material, but you also get the Memory Challenge and Temptation Buster Cards:
Memory Challenge and Temptation Buster Cards
Again, click on the image above and the larger image, to get a full size view of what these include. You cut them up and can carry them with you so that Thin Within isn’t just a bible study that you begin in the morning and leave behind the rest of the day. These resources are very supportive in helping you to keep the principles that God is leading you to embrace and apply with you throughout the day.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word
but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and,
after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
~ James 1:22-24
We don’t want to just accumulate head knowledge, but then leave it behind for the rest of the day! We want to ACT on what we learn in our times of study and in God’s Word!
$40 includes three months of workbook material and exercises, as well as the Temple Toolkit and a set of Scripture Memory Cards, one verse for each week. There is no additional cost to participate in the class at this time.
Did you knowthat there are 3 additional workbooks, each covering 12 weeks? The material is designed so that people who have gone through workbook #1 before, can do workbook #2 or #3 or #4, even while most in the group use workbook #1. Each of the workbooks are presented in 12 weekly themes that parallel each other. These are the themes for all four of the workbooks:
Hope
My Body–God’s Temple
Identity in Christ
Celebration of God’s Grace, Part One
Restoration
Counting the Cost
The Fight of Faith
Celebration of God’s Grace, Part Two
Building Godly Boundaries
Forgiveness
Prayer
Celebration of God’s Grace, Part Three
When the group is on week five, everyone will be studying, reviewing, learning about the theme of Restoration. This helps prevent the material from becoming stale! It is a great system that allows people of all experience levels to enjoy a group together, studying and reviewing together.
Workbooks #2, 3 and 4 cost about $25 each.
To order materials, call Thin Within 1-877-729-8932 (9:00am-5:00pm Eastern) or visit this link at Amazon.
To sign up for the class starting in January 2014, visit this link and fill out the form. This email list will only be for the class information.
The group I will be leading starting January 6, 2014 is an “open” group. You can join the chat at any time. There will be more details to come—but if you want to get the information sent directly to you, please sign up to be on the class email list. Hope you can join us!
How About You?
Do you need and want support? Now is your chance. I will probably not be leading another class through the workbook in 2014. Sign up today and purchase your materials! 🙂
Want to lead a group? If you want to live dangerously :-), you can lead a Thin Within group. The best way to do this is to plan to use the material here at the blog and the videos will be created along the way. Plan to join us for the discussions here, the videos, and the class sessions on Monday. Then, following the Monday classes, you can meet with your own group of people live and in person to lead them through the material using the resources provided to you by your own participation in the online class! By the time class time rolls around for us online each Monday, you will have all the material under your belt and be ready to teach it yourself! I would love to know if this interests you! 🙂
I started this journey 178 days ago, when I picked up Judy Halliday’s Thin Within book. Little did I know that it would change my life.
I began my walk with Christ at age 13, but until now I never understood Grace. You see, even though I trusted Christ by faith, I’ve been living under the law for the last 44 years—a hard life, full of rules and self-judgment. I struggled to please God, serve people and live the life of a good Christian. Others looked up to me, but I always felt like the biggest fraud in the universe, because what I knew in my head didn’t always make it to my heart. I listened to the sermons, tried all the formulas and attended all the retreats, but nothing worked. The harder I tried, the more I failed. I was dry like the desert, and the spiritual highs I experienced never really lasted very long.
LBG – April 2013
So I stuffed the emptiness with food, and food, and more food. The bigger I got, the emptier I felt. I was at an all-time high in weight and an all-time low in spirit. My health was shaky and my fattest clothes no longer fit. For a person driven to succeed, I was totally disgusted with my failure. The last time I had lost weight, it was with Weight Watchers. I knew I had to do something, but every time the taskmaster inside me told me to go back there, every fiber of my being rebelled against the very thought.
God had other plans for me. My “why, oh why, God?” cries were answered when I picked up the Thin Within book. A new diet, I thought. And if I put all my effort into it, in my typical type-A-over-achiever, I-can-do-anything-I-set-my-mind-to way, I would lose the weight again. I’d done it before…never mind that I always gained it all back, and then some more.
I realized very quickly that God was going to do a new thing. Reading the book turned into a very meaningful quiet time. I looked up every verse and highlighted it in my Bible, even if it was quoted in the text. I journaled my thoughts (more like rants, at times), and my prayers, and whatever I heard God say to me in return. His Words started saturating my conscious being until they would totally overtake me. Invariably, each day, a word or a thought would come through loud and clear. Then I would search You Tube for a song related to the daily teaching, and finish my time with God in worship.
It took me 69 days to get through the book. Along the way, God started stripping away my crutches and I started to rely on Him. He shone His light into my darkness and filled me with His joy. He told me that this journey was not a diet; in fact, it had nothing to do with weight. It was a full-fledged restoration project, from the inside out! I surrendered completely to this new thing. I gave Him permission to go into the deep wounds, the ugly places, and do whatever He had to do to make me a suitable place for His Spirit to dwell. The closer I drew to Him the easier it became to tell the difference between physical and spiritual hunger. I was learning to satisfy both!
LBG October 25, 2013
Verses like Ephesians 1:7-NLT came alive for me: He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased my freedom with the blood of His Son. He drilled into me that I am not my own, that I’ve been bought with a price, and that I must honor Him with my body (I Corinthians 6:19-20). That I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. That the life I now live in my body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). That His strength is made perfect in my weakness (II Corinthians 12:9). And most importantly, that I must make sure that I stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery (Galatians 5:1-NLT). I learned that all this can be accomplished by His power, on the Path of His Provision. Most importantly, I learned that my weight problem did not stem from what I was eating, but from what was eating me. I must say that by God’s Grace, this has been the easiest most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life!
I have a ways to go yet, but He is taking me there step by step. He is helping me to set aside every weight which so easily snares me (Hebrews 12:1). I must have released about 500 pounds so far…35 of which have been body fat. The rest are burdens that I’ve carried most of my life—emotional wounds, misconceptions, condemnation, legalism, false teachings, lies of the enemy, unforgiveness, and plenty of unhealthy belief systems. And God is replacing all that with freedom, joy, hope, confidence, and a glimpse into His plan for me. He showed me that I am His miraculous creation, and that He loves me, truly loves me, just the way I am…and I believe Him.
In the last six months, I’ve walked an incredible journey of self-discovery and God discovery. I met my God, the real God…the Lover of my soul. And He performed open heart surgery on me. When I surrendered to Him, helpless to help myself, He replaced my heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and proceeded to fill my empty places with His Spirit (Ezekiel 11:19). He has given me hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). For me, these are no longer concepts; they are the truths that I cling to as I learn to walk in this new-found Grace.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.
– Colossians 1: 13-14
Imagine a daring rescue under way. Yet, somehow, the one in captivity fights to be freed from the hero’s valiant attempts to save her. Resistant, she scrambles to break free from the champion’s grasp, clambering to return to the familiarity of the dungeon. Amazingly, she prefers the familiar darkness to the vast unknown. Even the most noble, brave and daring knight in shining armor requires the cooperation of the damsel in distress he tries to free.
Similarly, though the gloom of captivity had consumed the Israelites for 400 years under the oppression of the Egyptians, like a gallant warrior, God swept in to save his people. He did this with mighty miracles and a great show of power. Even so, the children of Israel wasted little time before complaining that the rescue was unwelcome.
Had they rested in the Lord’s embrace and trusted His leadership, the march to the land of Promise would have taken only eleven days. They chafed at His leadership, however, so it took forty years.
You may be tired of “wandering” around in your desert wilderness as well. All the diets, programs, prescriptions, and procedures over the years have felt like exercises in futility. What many of us have failed to realize is that the solution to which we have turned again and again is actually perpetuating the very thing we hoped to remedy. When we diet and restrict our foods we tend to fixate on the food that much more, thereby further chaining our hearts in bondage to food, eating, and a preoccupation with our bodies! This explains why diets don’t work permanently. It is like Israel going around in circles out in the desert.
The Lord offered the Israelites the amazing guidance of the pillars of cloud and fire, yet they refused to see the compassion, kindness, mercy and grace of His leading. Had they followed his leading, their wilderness wanderings would have ended much sooner.
Similarly, our King of Kings offers us an even more amazing provision today, inviting us to house the presence and power of His Holy Spirit within us so that we might reach our land of promise and realize all that He intends for us. If we would follow the leading, our wilderness wanderings would end, too.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple
and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
– 1 Corinthians 3:16
The Lord’s goal isn’t for us to be thin.
It is for us to be HIS.
When people start Thin Within, there is often a “honeymoon” phase. All seems so wonderful! But as time goes on, as God peels our hearts away from that which has actually bound us, we may long for the soothing familiarity of the very coping mechanisms that have been killing us. The sooner we cooperate with his rescue from the darkness of our obsessions, the sooner we can experience the joy and the freedom He offers us in the Kingdom of Light.
With the Israelites, God wasn’t after meaningless rituals, monotonous routines, and mechanical responses. He wanted adoration and obedience motivated by hearts of love devoted to Him.
In many ways God’s people said, “Thanks a lot for rescuing us, but we preferred oppression. At least we knew what we had back there in Egypt! The whippings weren’t so bad. Better than walking around in the desert!”
Certainly, from where we sit, this seems absurd. Yet so often we act as if the rescue our God intends for us requires too much of us. We, like ancient Israel, want the quick fix, the magic wand, the instant deliverance.
In fact, transformation requires perhaps the most challenging thing of all—that we are open to change, the willingness to let go of what has been—to press onward. Change is incredibly frightening for us. Even if that change promises new life.
How About You?
Do you feel like you are fighting his rescue his way? How so?
Are you willing to rest in his rescue now? If not, what is keeping you from trusting?
How are you like the ancient Israelites?
Take a moment and journal a prayer (or just say one) telling God about your intention to be willing to let go of the familiar, to welcome the new thing he wants to do in your life. 🙂
