By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N
Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around the Globe”
November 1, 2016
Doing Everything to The Glory of God
1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God.
This will speak loudly to those who have eating
addictions, however, as always, it can be applied very succinctly across the
lines to any form of addiction. What is God asking us to do in the verse above?
It is very obvious that whatever we are doing, He wants us to do it in such a
way as to bring Him glory. This then raises a question. Does succumbing to the
desires of my flesh bring Him glory? Absolutely not.
We have talked about the roots of addiction being
fear. Today we talk about how to glorify God with the things we eat, along with
anything else we do. You see, the Lord fully expects us to do every single
activity in our lives with a spirit of excellence. We should not offer up a
sloppy, imperfect sacrifice to Him. He will not accept it.
What addiction is, just as plain as the nose on
our faces is a person giving in to the desires of the flesh. We have to remember
that as born again Christians, while our spirit man was regenerated and made
new, the soul of a man and the flesh (the body) did not get born again. It is
up to every Christian to fill their minds with the word of God so they can know
what to do in every area of life. God has made it clear in His word that we are
to honor Him with our bodies…
1 Corinthians 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Our heavenly Father sent His precious Son Jesus to buy us back from the
dominion of satan. Until we were born again, we were under his authority.
However, that does not mean that every single thing we did was done because “the
devil made us do it.” That is a lie from the pit. It is a cop out. Born again
or not, people have a free will. When unrenewed in our spirit man, we will give
ourselves over to the sinful suggestions that the devil brings our way. He
enters through our thought life.
Ultimately, the choice always remains our own on
whether we will give in to his temptation or not. No one, not God or the devil
or another person can force us to do something that we do not want to do. The
choice is up to us. Many Christians with eating addictions (and others of
course) will make the excuse that they have a demon spirit making them overeat.
They will ask people to pray for them to cast out the demon, and then go right
on gorging themselves with food.
This is just a person’s way of looking for an
easy way out, rather than doing the work themselves. If I had not changed the
way I was eating, as much as the Lord was prompting me to make some changes, I
would still be almost 100 pounds overweight and climbing. My eating was out of
control because I was out of control. I was not walking in the fruit of the
Holy Spirit inside of me. I listened more to my flesh than the Holy Spirit of
God. As a result, I was dying a slow and miserable death.
If we really want to behave like the Christians
we are, we have to make a conscience effort – an act of our will to lay the
fork down and start picking up the gym shoes and a healthy eating plan. When we
start to do this, the Lord will give us the strength to do it. Here is what the
Bible says about those given to eating too much…
Proverbs 23:2
And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man
given to appetite.
Friends, this is serious business to the Lord. He is not mincing words.
He has said this because He wants us to take this very seriously. Addiction is
a choice. Whether you ate rice krispies this morning for breakfast or oatmeal
was your choice. God did not force you to eat one or the other. The bottom line
is that we choose every day what we will eat or drink, what we will wear, etc.
We are never forced to do these things. We have the freedom to choose. Every
day that we continue in the sin of addiction, it is a choice. We can stop it
with our choices at any time. How do I know? Because I did it.
What helped me? The word of God and His Holy Spirit. Focusing on Him, wanting
to please Him and knowing that my life was no longer my own to do as I please
was all a conscience choice and effort on my part. As I stepped into honoring
God with my food and drink, I received His power to do what I could not do on
my own – hallelujah! If we are seeking to honor our Savior with everything we
put into our bodies, He is more than pleased to step in with His power that is
made perfect in our weaknesses. Here is what the Bible says…
Isaiah 40:29
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
I have actually been using this verse quite a bit lately. I have
discovered how well it works, because as we all know, God’s word works when we
work it. I use it when I have no energy and still need to put out some efforts.
I use it when I am tired or sleepy and need to stay alert. He gives strength to
us in ways we can’t possibly understand when are seeking to honor Him in
everything we do.
Here’s some examples to further demonstrate my experiences. I really
like the Perrier bubbly water. I know that carbonation is bad for our bodies.
The Lord broke me from drinking soda years ago. However, in place of that in
recent years I began to drink the Perrier because it has no sugar in it. The
Lord has asked me to leave it alone for the most part because it is not good
fuel for the body. So, I have stopped ordering it when we eat out at
restaurants.
As I have become more obedient with my eating and
drinking, the Lord has stepped it up a notch of late. He has also asked me to
eliminate drinking coffee on a regular basis. I had gone without coffee for
years in my life, and then started drinking it again. I do not drink it in any
great volume, but have enjoyed it with some coconut milk in it. But He
indicated it is best not to have it on a regular basis. Once is a while is OK. So,
I stopped buying it for the house.
By now I have stopped eating sugar unless it is
in the form of stevia already added to a food like my protein powder. I am not
to add it to my food because it is so sweet that it can cause people who have
struggled with sugar addiction to continue to crave sweet things. I have given
up all soda and carbonated beverages. Now the coffee has to go. In addition to
this, the Lord has asked me to stop eating salt. When one looks at these
requests, a person could say, “Man, that’s strict! What can you have???”
The answer to that is peace. Yes, I get a lot of
peace. Another answer to that is that I can have all the healthy food that God
planted in the earth, wrapped in its own goodness and full of nutrients that
have been specifically designed to fuel the human body. What God established
for nutrition in the earth has never changed. What did change was what became
available through the devil’s wicked schemes. Things like soda, sugary desserts
en mass, packaged food that has been so processed that one cannot even tell
that it is real food, because it isn’t.
This corruption of what was created by the Lord
to fuel our bodies is killing people in record numbers – including Christians. Too
many who go to church consider the food thing as if it were a legal drug. This should
not be so. It certainly isn’t the case in the Lord’s eyes. Jesus had self-control
in full operation at all times. In whatever He did, He wanted to do the will of
His Father. He honored God by eating right, or sometimes not even eating at
all. Remember what He said here…
John 4:34
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and
to finish his work.
Our Lord and Savior was more concerned about
pleasing and honoring the Father than what He put into His mouth. The same must
be true of us. Eating too much is not acceptable. Neither is drinking too much,
or doing anything else in excess. And when we come to alcohol and cigarettes,
any of that is not necessary for the born again Christian at all. The choice is
all ours my friend. I have lost almost 90 pounds as of this writing since I weighed
in at my highest weight of 215 pounds. I give all the glory to God for giving
me the strength. Conversely, He is pleased with me too because I made the
conscience decision to honor Him in what I eat and drink. I did my part, and He
faithfully came in and did His – the biggest part. Oh, He is so good.
The bottom line question is this: Do you want to
do everything unto the Lord by honoring Him and bringing Him glory? If you said
yes, you are off to a great start. Now it is time to put your faith in God, and
work His word in faith because He is the power behind His word. He will bring
it to pass when we do what it says. He always watches over His word to perform
it in our lives. Work the word – it works when we work it.
1 Corinthians 10:33
Even as I
please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they
may be saved.
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