Dear Lord Jesus,
I recognize and accept that the battle is spiritual and I am in a war. I am a warrior, a spiritual sniper, and a kingdom fighter. Thank You for the armor You have provided!
I put on the belt of truth and use it to expose all the lies of the enemy. I commit to Your truth as the guiding force in my life and I will speak it all day long – not my feelings, knowledge, gut instincts, or past experiences – but Your Truth! Your truth holds me steady, strong, upright, protected and energized.
Read MoreI’ve started creating TikToks as visual representations of what and who Jesus is. I haven’t yet figured out how to embed them to work correctly here. Until I do, Click HERE to see!
This is for YOU!!
Embedding the video is not working, Click HERE to see the TikTok I created as a picture story for what it feels like to be loved by Jesus!
Be blessed!!
Last week, I wrote a post where I explained how God wanted me to get rid of my own list of “ways to eat and live healthily” and trade it for His list of “Seek God’s face & Rest in Him.” You can read it HERE if you’d like.
I’m holding onto that truth but at the same time, my brain is really messed up when it comes to food. I am constantly having to fight food thoughts – Should I eat that? Is it ok? I’m failing if I eat that. I ate too much today. I didn’t drink enough water today. I am constantly plagued with these thoughts. Constantly. So I keep giving it to God. I’m working hard to capture the thoughts as they come, give them to Jesus, and remind myself to rest in Him.
It’s a bit exhausting but I know that one day I won’t have to capture every single thought about food because I will be trusting and resting in God and it won’t be the issue that it is currently.
God isn’t leaving me to my own devices though. He prompted me to start reading in Romans and what an amazing book it is! And how amazing is it that the bible is the LIVING word of God and God can use it to reach us in the exact space we are at? Someone else could read Romans and God would use different verses to reach them on different topics, yet for me, for me, He brings out the verses about… food. Yes, food!
Not just food, but also about how living up to our own lists and expectations is the opposite of what God wants from us! Romans is full of messages about how it’s not what we bring to God, but what He gives to us! Continuously God says to stop trying to live up to a list of rules – do this, don’t do that. Instead, embrace God! Trust Him! Rest in Him! It’s He, Jesus, who does the hard lifting!
So I know you’re wondering, Ok, but what does God say about food?
A little background, in Romans chapter 14, Paul (the writer) is speaking to Christians about not trying to impose their rules on other Christians. God’s journey is different for all of us and what is right for one person may not be another person’s journey. It’s not our job to decide what is right for anyone else. We are to listen to God and do as He tells us to do and to not then try to impose those same things on others.
Some believers were bickering over what food was acceptable to God and what was unholy. And Paul is telling them to stop. That’s not what God is worried about.
When I read the verses, although I do understand the context, I cannot help but hear God speaking to me through these verses. Instead of other believers telling me I’m wrong in what I eat – it’s my own mind, my own flesh, lies from the enemy trying to beat me down based on what I eat. But hear what God has to say:
15-16 If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!
17-18 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ.
Romans 14:15-18
I don’t think God can be any clearer!
It’s not a matter of what I eat, for goodness sake! God sets my life right, puts it together, completes it with joy… and my job is to serve Christ.
End of Story.
My job is to seek God’s face, rest in Him, serve Him. I do not have to live in bondage to thoughts about food! And how about this:
But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
Romans 6:17-18
Freedom from food thoughts! Freedom from feeling guilt and shame! Offer myself to the ways of God – and freedom never quits! Yes! Thank you, Jesus!
And this verse from Romans!!
22-23 But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Romans 6:22-23
A whole, healed, put-together life right now with more and more life on the way… by listening to what God tells me to do!
Thank you, Jesus, for being an intimate part of our lives. You know our struggles and you bring light to those areas. You see where we are floundering and you bring truth to the lies. Thank you for being so involved. For being so loving. For giving us tools to fight what we need to get rid of. Let us continue to bring our struggles, cares, worries, shame, and confusion to You, Jesus. Help us to capture every thought and turn it to You and base our thoughts on Your words and Your truth. You are a good, good God. Thank you! In Jesus name, Amen.
(To be clear, and as a side note, I don’t believe these verses give us the right to indulge in gluttony, binge eating, and overall disregard for the care of our body – God does say we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we should not be in bondage to thoughts that hold us captive and that bring guilt and shame. Shame is not from God! Bondage is not from God. Freedom is!)
May you be so blessed today and able to see and notice the blessings!
I woke up today with a migraine and feeling defeated. Where is my healing? Am I missing something? Am I not doing something I should be doing? Doing something I shouldn’t be doing? Is God waiting on me for something? (I ask these questions… again.)
I prayed in and out of sleep fighting the migraine. When I got up, (still with the migraine) I sat down and opened my bible. I’m now reading in Romans and God is taking me on a journey this morning! I started in chapter three this morning.
Read MoreHave you ever read Psalms? I love the Psalms! I’m currently reading through the book again and something really jumped out at me today. It’s so cool! But first…
I’m a roller coaster. Really… I go up, way up, and down, way down. For days I will praise Jesus and feel so close to Him, in awe of everything He is doing… and then, I can spend the next few days questioning things, doubting, bringing my doubts to Him and sharing on here even where I’m struggling and what I’m having trouble with.
Read MoreYesterday I went to sun splash and as I was laying on the float, totally relaxed, bobbing on the gentle waters of the lazy river with the sun soaking into my skin, I heard God whisper this is what rest feels like. When you start to get worried and tense up, hand the worries to me and remember what you feel like at this moment. Glorious blissful rest!
May you find and capture your own moment of blissful rest. May you return to that restful state whenever the worries of life get too difficult. Hand them off to Jesus, close your eyes, and go back to rest. Know that Jesus can give us rest like nothing else on Earth can. He can do the heavy lifting if we let him and we can just rest.
Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders— he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
Psalms 55:22 MSG
Happy Saturday, friends!
I have a running list of what I think I need to do to be good enough. To be healthy.
To deserve health.
To live the way God wants me to live.
Read More