by Deanna Burris | Nov 25, 2015 | Blog
At church this morning, the teaching was on Love and Galatians 5:22-26, and because of the way that God is working in my own heart and mind, I took some time to meditate on these scriptures as they relate to my journey in Hunger Within. I gave myself an assignment: How do I live out the Fruit of the Spirit? The assignment wasn’t easy, but here is what I came up with.
The first Fruit of the Spirit is Love. In and of myself, I am very lacking in the fruit of love. In my flesh, I tend more towards frustration and criticism. I don’t like this about myself and it hurts to even admit this, but this is me when I am not renewing my mind and immersing myself in God’s Word. Can you relate? These feelings can draw me into destructive eating. But, because of the Holy Spirit leading me to let go of my self-absorbed focus concerning my body, my weight, my food issues, I am choosing to love more. It is easier to ask God to love others through me because I am not looking down at myself, but up to the LORD and around at others. I am seeing this fruit being manifested in my life.
The second Fruit of the Spirit is Joy. Most people who know me say that I am outgoing and fun to be around. That is the façade that I show to the outside world. But have I been joy-filled? Not always. I have leaned more towards joy in my life because I have always loved the scripture that says, “The joy of the LORD is my strength.” Unfortunately, this is me when I am by myself! That kind of joy could be better defined as happiness. When you add my family, my friends, my church family, my co-workers, my acquaintances, joy is not usually what I feel in my heart. Why? Because, in my flesh, I get aggravated and frustrated. It isn’t the true joy that comes from walking closely with the Lord that isn’t dependent on what is going on around me. It is only when I allow the Holy Spirit to work in every area of my life that I can truly feel and experience joy in all circumstances.
The third Fruit of the Spirit is Peace. I love peace. I used to love singing, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” Sadly, I can show a peaceable exterior, but underneath it all, there is often chaos. It is so easy to get caught up in the drama of life; especially with my family! How can I exhibit peace in my life when so much chaos is always going on around me? Only by pausing and asking God to grant me peace in the storm of life. Could I ever stop and pray if I am caught up in the drama of others around me and also living with the internal drama of body and food focus? No, I couldn’t. Working through the issues that have caused me to be discontented in the first place and by going to God with thanksgiving and prayer, I can experience the peace of God that surpasses every thought and will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
The fourth Fruit of the Spirit is Patience. This is a hard one for me! I am fond of saying that patience is not a muscle I was born with and have also been known for blaming my mother for teaching me impatience by her modeling of this behavior. It isn’t her fault though. Have you heard people say, “Don’t pray for patience or you will be put in situations where you have to learn patience?” I used to say that too. I’ve decided I want to pray for patience, for through trials, God’s Word promises that when I count it all joy when I fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of my faith produces patience, and then I let patience have its perfect work, that I may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. I want that in my life.
The fifth Fruit of the Spirit is Kindness. Let me come clean about how I have been kind in the past. I am always kind to a person’s face, but in my past, I have often turned around and talked badly about that person if there was anything about them that rubbed me the wrong way. God has changed my heart towards others through my almost constant prayer to let me see others through His eyes. He has answered this prayer and has given me a spirit of discernment to see what others are going through. Kindness is being friendly, generous and considerate. Teaching in Hunger Within has grown my kindness muscle as God works through my life to help others.
The sixth Fruit of the Spirit is faith. We know from God’s Word that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I personally met the Lord Jesus Christ at church camp when I was 9 years old and my faith has been growing ever since. There have been trials and struggles that I never would have made it through without Him. He has proven to me that His hand has been on my life even when I was backsliding. His presence never left me. I not only hoped for a Savior, I had faith that I met the unseen Savior in person. Dear reader, if you have not personally met Jesus, please let me share my faith with you!
The seventh Fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness. I didn’t quite understand this word till I realized that one of its opposites is pride. God is diligently working in my life to break my pride. He has shown me how I want to do things in my own strength, and to be gentle in spirit, I need to place my strength under the control of God. I am finding that in order for me to be gentle with others, I have to give up my right to be right which drives others away from me. I want to allow the Jesus in me to draw others, so I pray to be gentle and let my Shepherd lead me.
Finally, the eighth Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control. This is interesting, because in myself, I really don’t have any self-control. I find self-control by turning my whole life and heart over to God and allow Him to move in me. He gives me the desire to follow His leading in my 0 to 5 eating boundaries. He gives me the desire to follow as He leads me into having boundaries around relationships. He gives me self-control when I feel myself getting frustrated and critical. It is His strength that keeps me from acting out those feelings by either hurting another with unkind words or myself by eating outside of my boundaries.
I am not living the Fruit of the Spirit perfectly, for I won’t be perfect till I meet the Lord Jesus face to face. What I am enjoying is the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart as I do see more and more evidences of the Fruit in my life.
What about you? Are you willing to do this assignment along with me? I would love to hear how you are “Living in the Fruit of the Spirit!”
by Becky Young | Sep 15, 2015 | Inspiration, Renew Mind
My sister got married a few years ago at a beautiful log home in the mountains of Colorado. The morning of the big day, we had all the bridesmaids over for breakfast while we had our hair and makeup done. We had a huge spread- croissants, danishes, muffins, coffee cake, mimosas, fruit, cheese, coffee and of course, donuts. The spread took over the entire kitchen counter, it was huge!
I walked over to it with another bridesmaid who is a naturally thin woman. We both grabbed plates and began looking over the mountain of food in front of us. I reached for danishes, fruit and a plethora of other goodies. Then I glanced over at the other bridesmaid. She had grabbed a couple of pieces of cheese and put them on her plate and was walking away. “That’s all you want to have?!?” I asked, utterly bewildered. She shrugged, smiled and said “Yeah! It’s all I need right now!“
She ate what her body needed at the time. Her want and need aligned perfectly. The concept of wanting more than that was completely foreign to her. Her need was her want.
For so many of us, our wants go far beyond our bodily needs.
Our wants rise up in us and take over, hence the meals we eat from 0-8 or 2-6. Our wants are fueled by unhealthy, unaddressed and sinful emotions, attitude and thought patterns. My want is a greedy, gluttonous, prideful, entitled, rebellious little creature. It’s a monster, really. A WantMonster.
WantMonsters take over meals, crash through our Thin Within boundaries without a second thought and keep us wrapped up in bondage. They wreak havoc on good intentions. They are often the reason we just can’t seem to stick with Thin Within. They blaze through dinner at 90mph and leave us dumbfounded at the end of the day, wondering what in the heck happened to maintaining 0-5 boundaries.
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to tame the WantMonster. How exactly should we go about subduing such a wild creature that seems so unpredictable at times? I’m glad you asked. Let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about this, shall we?
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.“-Romans 8:5
“He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.“-Luke 11:2-4
“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.“-Ephesians 4:21-23
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”- Galations 5:16
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.“-Galations 5:24-25
“Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”-Matthew 26:41
I’m noticing a bit of a theme here. When we pray and are Spirit lead, we have God’s help out of the sinful nature that holds us back. We can’t expect to tame the WantMonster on our own. No amount of effort on our parts is going to get us anywhere. But, when we pray and are filled with the Holy Spirit’s power, we have the power to overcome the flesh.
What does this look like practically? For me personally, this often looks like praying each morning against the things that I know will try and feed the WantMonster. I pray against pride. I pray against entitlement. I pray against temptation (Jesus taught us how to do this!). I pray against distraction, excuses I might tell myself to eat beyond a 5, complacency and rebellion. I have a list a mile long of things I pray about and against. I also ask for a fresh renewal of the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life that day. I ask for the Spirit’s power to help me stay obedient to my godly boundaries.
This is a non-negotiable for me, I do it every day. And on those days where I don’t…well, wouldn’t you know…the WantMonster rises up and stampedes throughout almost every meal. It’s a correlation too strong to ignore. Without continued prayer about all this, the WantMonster grows. But, as I am faithful to pray about it and surrender my fleshly wants, God is faithful to help me. As I continue to seek Him, pray against my fleshly desires and ask for the Spirit’s leading…I notice more and more that my wants and my bodily needs align perfectly. I am not throwing a temper tantrum because it took so little food to satisfy me. I am not pouting because I can’t have a second helping at dinner. I am thankful, humble and grateful to eat what my body needs, not what my flesh cries out for. It’s a beautiful thing to tame the WantMonster!
How about you? Have you felt a WantMonster rising up in you? Do you often find your wants and your bodily needs don’t line up? Take some time to list out the emotions, attitudes and thought patterns that feed your WantMonster. Do an experiment and pray daily about these things. My guess is that God will show you a way to tame your wants in favor of obedience to your godly boundaries and bodily needs.
by Deanna Burris | Sep 2, 2015 | Blog
One of the first things I came in contact with when I was looking for a different way to control my yo-yo weight, my constant focus on my current diet, the next diet or going off my diet because I really just wanted to eat the way I wanted to in the amounts I wanted to, is these verses found in Romans 12:1-2. I’ve read through my Bible a few times, and have read the book of Romans many times with special focusing on certain verses, so I can say I have read this verse more times than I can remember. It is even written in many of my journals and I have written a scripture prayer around it. It’s easy to remember and throw out when pointing out someone else’s sin or for pointing out how we as Christ followers should not be like those around us who aren’t. It’s like a good friend where sometimes familiarity breeds contempt.
When I started letting go of my constant focus on food and food issues, and really started surrendering to what God’s Word was saying to me, I came up short by these verses. You see, there is power in the Word of God. There are promises that are full of truth and change for us when we actually do what God’s Word says. I was playing on the outskirts of this new program and community I had found, having a day or two of 0 to 5 eating, then a day where I ate all day long, then a day where I may eat only one meal from being stuffed from the day before. I believe I had traded my dieting by following my favorite food plan for a “new” dieting method…0 to 5 eating. What I found was that it wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t figure out why. I was reading the book. I was making truth cards. I was journaling. What was wrong??
The truth was I was still conforming to this world. I sought out TW/HW to lose weight. I saw where others had lost weight quickly and boy was I on board. The missing part was that I was not spending the time and energy I needed to in having my mind transformed. Through my familiarity with these verses, I can honestly say I didn’t quite believe them. I don’t think for one moment that I am alone in the boat of crying out to God many times over my lifetime for help and healing from weight issues and the compulsion that I had about food. I am sure that many of you, just like me, has seen God work in HUGE ways over BIG issues that have come against us. But, what about this weight thing? Isn’t it my fault that I have walked in the shoes of being overweight? Since it is my sin of gluttony that landed me here, then shouldn’t I be able to get myself out?? In my heart of hearts, do I really believe that God really cares about what or how much I put into my mouth? Or, the question that I am sure hurts our Loving Almighty Father so much when we utter it: Does God love me enough to cure me from my addiction to disordered eating? Do I really believe deep down in my soul that God can and will transform my mind in this area? Do I really believe that I will change?
The answer is YES!! I didn’t believe it at first, but now I assuredly say that yes, God is still in the business of changing hearts and minds! Because that is the transformation that God is making in me. And I know that God can and will transform you too. Can I be blunt? I see a generation of people who call themselves Christians who are happily conforming to this world. I see many Christians getting caught up in fear and “what ifs” without remembering that we love and praise and serve an All Knowing, All Seeing, Ever Present, All Powerful Sovereign God. He has always been in the business of taking people who have been broken and crushed by the world and it’s ways, and creating from them something beautiful. There are so many pithy phrases we use to say this…like, God uses cracked pots. What I am seeing though is that in many ways, we are happy being a cracked pot and really don’t believe there is anything else better for us. In essence, we don’t really believe that God will take the cracked pot that we are and use His mighty super glue to heal all those fractures.
What I am saying here is as much for me as for anyone else. My heart breaks though when I see a group of believers that still get so caught up in legalism. What I mean is that even with the God given bodily boundaries of eating 0 to 5, there has to be more, like counting calories within 0 to 5, or counting carbs (we know this is a good medical practice with certain health issues, so continue with following your doctor’s orders) within 0 to 5, or checking after each small bite if that was the one that put me at a 5 and not at a 5.25. Believe me, I feel the draw, but each time I do, God transforms my mind around it. The other thing that breaks my heart is the easy way in which we fall off and say that’s okay. It is like saying God isn’t really working. Where is the cry to Him to change our hearts once and for all?? Our God is the Great Physician and He does and can completely heal us from the compulsion of disordered eating. It takes belief. Sold out belief that the God we know is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and as He was in the business of miracle making in the Bible, He can and will be in the business of miracle making in my life and yours.
Do you believe that? Will you believe that? This is the transforming message of the HW material. I know that God is using it to transform me. Will you join me in the journey?
by Deanna Burris | Aug 19, 2015 | Blog
I am so grateful to be a member of TW/HW. I know without a doubt that my Loving Father led me to this community of healing and change. God led me to the place I needed to be when I fully cried out to Him in despair. It isn’t that what I have read and studied since arriving here is something completely new or different from what I have read or studied through other Biblical weight loss programs. I wasn’t new to setting boundaries around my eating (although those boundaries were never clear and were apt to change with the wind), or going to God through His Word and in prayer in times of stress and temptation (although I didn’t have a firm foundation in this practice). What God did introduce me to when landing in TW/HW is women and men who have changed lives. Women and men who have accepted the pleasant boundary of eating within the hunger scale of 0 to 5, and who through letting go of all the legalism of trying to control their weight on their own have met the only true Healer. I saw something that I wanted. I wanted their freedom from the compulsion. That was my cry to God, that I couldn’t do this weight and eating thing on my own anymore. I was beaten and He heard my cry and brought me here.
It is in the groups of TW/HW that I found the truth of Hebrews 12:1 as it pertains to my sin of obsession with diets, body image and weight control. It says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” That great cloud of witnesses is the gals and guys that have used TW/HW in their lives and have been set free. Some have lost a lot of weight, some a little. Some still struggle with the pull back into what the world tells us we need to do. But the tools are there and through using them they have found freedom from the obsession; the freedom from striving and working and striving some more. What a beautiful thing that freedom is when it invades your life!! It has invaded mine!!
I have to admit that I was afraid at first. After all, if I could eat only when I am really hungry and stop when comfortably satisfied, I wouldn’t need this plan at all!! In fact, when I started in my first HW study, I didn’t “get real” till half way through. I was still trying to control things and it wasn’t till I realized that my body wasn’t reflecting what was coming out of my mouth, that I came to the place of surrender. I had to come face to face with the fact that God’s way of changing me wasn’t my way of speedy weight loss and the kudos of my friends and family on how great I looked. Jesus was asking me the same question that He asked the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-9), “Do you want to get well?” That’s a tough question because I had run to food for all kinds of emotions for so many long years that I was afraid of letting that comfort go. The food was always there in good times and bad. But, it wasn’t my friend. It was just a thing I ran to instead of God. So I let go. I quit eating all day long. I imperfectly started eating 0 to 5. My mind cleared from the food fog. God took me deeper into His Word because I wanted more of Him in my life. I no longer weigh myself to see how “good” or “bad” I am. I am releasing weight at a slow pace that I am content with (God is breaking my pride through this). My clothes are loose and I am fitting into a smaller size. Some days I think I want to know what the scale would say about my progress, but only for a moment. Then I remember the sweet feeling of peace that comes from placing all that old thinking into my past. It is no longer a part of my current life and with God’s strength and help will not be a part of my future. In letting go of my legalistic past Psalm 63:1-8 has become the prayer and praise of my heart.
Psalm 63:1-8 1 You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Are you crying out to God right now for relief from the compulsions that rise up around your own body image and weight loss/gain history? If you are reading this, then I am sure you are searching. You have come to the right place, because TW/HW works. It works when you can say with all your heart and mind, “Yes, Jesus!! I want to get well!!” You don’t have to work and strive. You don’t have to create a plan or “decide” what you want your boundaries to be. They are there already, tried and true, in 0 to 5 eating. Back in January, 2015, I wrote on the first page of a new journal, Jesus says in John 8:31-32 that I am His disciple IF I abide in His Word. THEN I will know the truth and that truth shall make me free. My job: Abide in His Word. HIS job: Teach me His truth and He will set me free. In order to really abide in His Word, I had to surrender: My plan, what I thought I wanted, what I knew was blocking me from Him. Are you ready to surrender?
by Deanna Burris | Aug 5, 2015 | Blog
Have you ever felt unloved? Have you ever felt unworthy to be loved? Have you ever gone above and beyond anything anyone has done for you in order to win that love? I have. People have hurt me, offended me, and even made me feel unloved or unlovable. People may not like me at all. But, that’s okay with me now, because I have come face to face with the Lover of my soul.
The day I woke up to truth was like many others. Nothing set it apart in what I needed to get done that day. There wasn’t a load of chores to do. I didn’t have a day at work that was any different than the one before. I just felt different in my soul. The thoughts in my mind were, “I feel weak and unhealthy. Watching my weight and food used to be easy, but it isn’t anymore. I don’t know my purpose with an empty nest. I don’t have any family to take care of daily. I feel alone. I know God is working but I need prayer. Where do I go next?”
I cried to the One and Only True Helper and Healer, because I had nowhere else to go with all those rumbling emotions. I was finally at the end of myself. My Prayer was:
“Abba Father, oh how I want to feel Your love.
I want to not only know and believe in my head that You love me
and that You find me a joy and that You delight in me.
I want my head knowledge to move into my heart.
I want to feel it – really feel it, so that I no longer dialogue with the devil
when he works to make me feel undeserving and unworthy,
unloved and unlovable.
I know that Christ’s blood covers me.
I know that I believe in Him and have confessed Him with my mouth.
I know You have adopted me into Your family.
I know my sins have been forgiven.
Now, I need to feel His righteousness that covers me.
Abba Father, speak to my heart through Your Word as I deeply dig
into who I am in Christ and walk this pathway You have given me.
Allow Your Word, that is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword
to penetrate my soul and spirit with Your truth.
Allow Your Word to judge
the thoughts and actions of my heart.
Unveil everything dark and dingy, Father,
because nothing is hidden from Your sight.
May my heart be uncovered and laid bare before You,
my loving Abba Father,
so that my life be transformed into the image
of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
through the power of the Holy Spirit,
so that my life be a pleasing fragrance to You,
and all those whom I meet.
I want those I am in contact with to smell Jesus on me.
I want to be, through this life You have given to me,
A member of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.”
(find this powerful word here: http://www.gospeltruth.net/unashamed.htm)
In the Name above all names, I pray, Amen
Did He answer my prayer? You bet He did!! He led me deeper into His Word and truly opened my eyes, my mind and my heart to receive the truth of His great love for me. I am not new to Bible Study. I might even say I am an old hat at it and that is not necessarily a bad thing, for I have a good basis of “knowledge”. Where He is walking me now goes so much further than a basis of “knowledge” though! He has taken the scriptures that I have been reading my whole life and opened them up to me as a precious gift.
Ephesians 1:4-6 says: For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves.
He opened my eyes to the fact that this scripture is about so much more than being accepted. This scripture says that in Christ, I am: chosen, holy, blameless, loved (MY FATHER LOVES ME), predestined, adopted, blessed, by His glorious grace which He has freely given!!
In Colossians 3:12 it says: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
So, I am chosen by God, holy, dearly loved. And through the Holy Spirit’s power I can be: compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient.
This whole life giving process of listening to God, walking closer with my Savior and being transformed by the Holy Spirit is something that has come about in many ways due to finding TW/HW. Remember me mentioning how weak and unhealthy I felt? 
Through imperfect obedience to 0-5 eating, I am being freed from the idol of food, which kept me from experiencing God’s grace. I know He led me here, to this ministry, in order to finally break down one of my huge strongholds! I no longer feel weak and unhealthy…I feel free and alive! He gave my life purpose in this season of my life, by giving me the opportunity to minister to others who have felt the same things I used to. One of the most beautiful gifts that has happened through this walk with you all in TW/HW is that without my bondage to food and body image, I can now freely feel the love of those around me. I forgive those hurts and offenses and God opened my eyes to knowing that if I “feel” unloved, it is because of my heart, not the heart of others. God has proven Himself to me. All He asked was for me to be obedient to Him.
How about you? Are you struggling with feeling hurt? Are you feeling unloved and unlovable? Are you ready to let those feelings go and run with me into the arms of the ONE who loves us better than anyone else can? I went through a few months in TW/HW without having any victory. The problem was me. I hadn’t surrendered to letting go of my idol of food for God’s simple and precious way of pleasant 0-5 boundaries. Will you surrender today?
At church this morning, the teaching was on Love and Galatians 5:22-26, and because of the way that God is working in my own heart and mind, I took some time to meditate on these scriptures as they relate to my journey in Hunger Within. I gave myself an assignment: How do I live out the Fruit of the Spirit? The assignment wasn’t easy, but here is what I came up with.
