Food: It's a Love Hate Relationship

So the other day I was talking with a good friend about some of the things I have been learning during the Daniel Fast.  One of the things I am learning is about how I use food.    Michael and I tend to eat pretty healthy but as I reflect upon my own habits I began to realize how often I do look to food, whether it be a slice of pizza or a piece of chocolate to give me some sense of joy or happiness. 

I had kind of a stressful day today and I found myself really wanting a piece of chocolate.  Not because I was hungry, but because I wanted something to make me feel better.  I shared this with Michael and I remember praying and thinking to myself, I don’t need it; that’s a lie.  Yes, it is a lie; food will let us down every time. 

I do not think I am alone on this.  How often do we find ourselves having a bad day, and to give ourselves a short spike of satisfaction or to relax we eat something?  Think about it for a moment.  Food has been one of those things in my life that has been what I’d call a love hate relationship.  I love it and I hate it all at the same time.  Food is a good thing, ice cream is delicious but when we start going to it to be filled emotionally, it then becomes a vice, a sin, a tool of deception.  Once again, I don’t think I’m alone on this either, especially as women, food seems to be a bit of a vice for us, does it not? 

But on my Daniel Fast I not been able to have ice cream or make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (which I love you mind you!).  I never realized just how often I did go to little snacks to offer me something.  In depriving myself of these things I have learned a couple of things.  One is that I surprisingly don’t really miss them.  Which leads to the second thing I’ve learned; I now see how food has become this thing I used to give me something.  You know what though; it has let me down a lot and it always will.  It will never completely satisfy me and even if it does it won’t last.   

The words of Jesus tell us in Matt. 6:35

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

This is a promise my friends, a promise that will not fail nor will it disappoint.  So the next time you  have a bad day at work, an argument with your spouse, or a rough day with your kids, take a step back before you reach for food.  Ask God for grace and for His Love to nourish whatever emotion you may be feeling.  Food doesn’t have to rule over us anymore.  We can choose life and wholeness in Christ.  

Choose Life

So this is day 5 of the Daniel Fast and day 30 of my fast from Television.  My conclusion:  Fasting is a good thing.  I never realized how easy it is to get caught in these traps of the mundane, ordinary, and pointless.  I haven’t watched television for 30 days, and the interesting thing is is that I really haven’t missed it.  Maybe once for a short time, but I’ve come to realize it is such a waste of time and God has so much more for me.  I don’t have a lot of time and I want my time to count.  There’s so much more God has for me during the day then sitting down and watching an episode of Matlock or Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Yep, there’s more for me and for you.  Far more. 

The passage I have been meditating on is Deut. 30:11-20 and I especially want to highlight v. 15-16:

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Moses gave this charge to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30, they were said to be “the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses.” (Deut. 29:1a).  At this period in Israel’s history they had been wandering in the desert due to their rebellion when they chose not to believe God could bring them into the land He promised.  Their wandering period was coming to a close; they were preparing themselves to enter into the Promised Land.  Moses reminds them, that like their forefathers, they have a choice to make.  They have seen the consequences that rebellion brings first hand and now they must make the choice for themselves. 

Will they choose life or death?  Moses gives them some very basic instructions on how to choose life, at least it sounds simple.  Ready? 

1.       Love God

2.      Walk in His ways

3.      Keep his commands

That’s it!  It sounds pretty simple, but when it comes to life and all of its complexities, and temptations it can be a bit challenging at times.  Moses actually repeats this again in v. 20 but adds a new twist “hold fast to Him.”  I like it.  We are called to Love God and hold fast to Him, why?  Because so often our allegiances go to other things, to worthless, pointless, mundane things.  Idols.  You know what I’m talking about.  Things that consume your time, things that you feel you have to have in order to be happy.  Things you put before God.  Trust me friends, we all have them; I’ve got a few myself.  It can even be as simple as TV or Facebook.

We are also told to walk in His ways and keep His commands.  Kind of goes with the first point doesn’t it?  The more I walk with Jesus, the more I realize a few things.  One, is that we have an Enemy, he’s called a Liar, a Murderer (John 8:44), an Accuser (Rev. 12:10), our Adversary, a Roaring Lion (1 Pet. 5:8-9), but most commonly known as Satan (Matt. 4:10), and the Devil (Rev. 12:9).  Yep, and he lives up to every one of his names.  So in light of this, the next thing I realize is, there are two paths we can choose in life, the path of the Roaring Lion or the path of the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6).  Which path would you rather follow?     

I know who I want to follow, Jesus Christ, THE Prince of Peace.  Friends, we can walk in peace; we can walk in victory, and in true unadulterated fullness in Christ.  It’s a daily choice.  May God grant us focus and courage to choose life, that the temptations of this life would not entangle us and lead us on a path to destruction.  Seems pretty serious?  Well, it is.  I want to get this point across.  We have an Enemy, and there are ways in our life that we bow to Satan and we do not realize it.  Ask God to show you the ways you’ve bowed to Satan’s lies in your life so we can walk away from them and start walking with Jesus on the path to life.  The Devil has taken far too much of our wholeness in Christ and it’s time to take a stand and claim it back in Jesus’ Name!  

The Daniel Fast: 21 Days to the Heart of God

Today our church has begun a new adventure; the adventure of the Daniel Fast.  It’s a 21 day partial fast.  I like to call it a 21 day journey to the heart of God!

You might be asking yourself, what is the Daniel Fast?  Great question! 

In Daniel 1:12 we read “Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.” (KJV) 

Then in Daniel 10:2-3 we read, “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.  I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.”

Ok, it’s Bible lesson time!  I like the KJV translation of Daniel 1:12 because it uses the word pulse (in other translations you will see the word vegetables).  Now, the Hebrew for pulse is zerason {zay-raw-ohn'}; from zara something sown.  Susan Gregory says in her book, The Daniel Fast: Feed your soul, strengthen your spirit, and renew your body, “Pulse was food that originated from the seed, including legumes and fruit.”[i]  Various commentators also agree on this point. For example, Matthew Henry’s Commentary says concerning the meaning, “during that time let us have nothing but pulse to eat, nothing but herbs and fruits, or parched peas or lentils, and nothing but water to drink…”[ii]

So basically this means, we can eat vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans and different types of grains (brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and whole wheat chapatti, etc.) Now concerning Daniel 10:3 “choice food” the Hebrew word here is lechem {lekh'-em}: bread, food.  So from this we denote that Daniel didn’t eat any bread.  Matthew Henry also notes “During the days of Daniel’s mourning he ate no pleasant bread…”[iii]  Nor did he eat meat or drink wine, so on the Daniel Fast the only beverage is water.    

For 21 days we restrict ourselves to a strict vegan diet.  No dairy, no sugars, no bread, no animal products but instead we eat whole foods, no chemicals, no man made stuff; with the hope that in our fast we would draw closer to the heart of the Father. 

Sure we restrict ourselves in what we eat, but we do it with great hope and expectation for God to move.  Yes, it’s going to be difficult at times.  I love cheese, I love bread, and I love myself a nice tall cool glass of ice tea, but I love Jesus and you more.  I want you to know Him and His Love.  

So as I enter into this fast this is my prayer.  Lord Jesus may my one and only focus be on You, not food, but You, on getting to know You more and on being a vessel of your Love to this world.  I’ve asked the Lord for some type of a focus in this fast, and I keep getting drawn back to Deut. 30:11-20 and the idea of choosing life over death, knowing that God and His Word is very near to me.  So this will be the passage I will be meditating on over these next 21 days.   

Fasting is a very powerful tool in a spiritual arsenal against the Devil and his foes.  In fasting we empty ourselves so we may be filled to the fullness of God in Christ. We need this, I know I do.  We get so consumed with ourselves that we leave no room for the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  Being emptied is a beautiful thing friend, because what we get in return is pure hope, peace, joy, and freedom like our hearts have never known.      

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[i] Gregory, Susan.  The Daniel Fast: feed your soul, strengthen your spirit, and renew your body. (Carol Stream:  Tyndale House Publishers, 2010), 17.

[ii] Bible Study Tools.  http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/daniel/1.html?p=4.

[iii] Bible Study Tools.  http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/daniel/10.html.

 

Asking for Help

So, I love Beth Moore.   I was reading her book, Get out of that Pit, and in her book she talked about how we have to ask God to take our “want to.”  Intrigued?  I hope so! 

How often have you said, Lord, I want to follow You, I want to be more loving, I want to obey You more, I want to love my neighbor, I want to believe in Your promises for me, I want to__________.  I personally want to do a lot of things; I want to choose the path to life and not death.  Yes, I "want to," but I find it to be so difficult at times, don’t you?  So for the past few months I have been asking God to take my “want to!”  The beauty of it all is that He does because that’s who God is.  He is a God of grace and mercy; He is a God of restoration and redemption.  If we’d offer Him our “want to” He would take them and bring something glorious out of them. 

Listen, I know you want too! J Ask Him for help, and He will.  We cannot overcome our imperfections on our own; we need the grace of God.  Newsflash:  We don’t have it all together or all figured out.  The knowledge of this last statement for me has been such a freeing experience.  I used to be a pretty prideful gal, still am, but I praise God for the ways He has open my eyes to my sin because in coming to the place where I can say, I don’t have it all right, I do things wrong and I need help is truly a glorious place of freedom!  When we act like we have it all together, and we do not need help we limit the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  But when we cry out for mercy He is right there to help.  “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 

Want to live in more victory and know the love, peace, and joy of the Lord in greater abundance?  Then start being real about the sin you have in your life.  This was and is my journey friends.  It was not until I became real about my sin that God really started to free me from some destructive thought patterns and strongholds in my life.  Maybe you’re not broken over your sin, but you want to be; I know how you feel!  I’m still asking God to break me over certain areas of sin, but you know what, I have confidence that He is and He will continue to do so.  In fact, I believe He longs to do this for His children because this is where true freedom lies.  It’s nothing to fear, it’s pure and utter freedom! 

Lenten Reflections on Prayer

“To pray is to change.  Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.  If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives.”

 Richard J. Foster The Celebration of the Disciplines

We have just entered the Lenten Season, a season of prayer, fasting, and reflection as we prepare for the Resurrection of our Lord.  As we discern and seek God’s face for the direction of this church and our own personal lives, prayer is a must.  God will speak, but we must offer Him the space to speak. 

I love the quote above from Foster; I think sometimes we forget or don’t even realize this simple yet powerful truth concerning prayer.  Instead of prayer being an avenue to change our hearts, we make it a plea for God to change.  We pray, “God do this and do that, change this and change that.”  When it doesn’t happen we become indignant or discouraged.  Could it be God is waiting for us to ask Him to change us and not our circumstances, but our attitudes and perspective?  Jesus understood this concept.  When His disciples asked Him how to pray He responds in Matt. 6:10 “…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” 

Yes, God wants us to ask Him for things, but ultimately He desires for our hearts to be in-line with His.  He really is in the business of changing people.  As we enter this Lenten season may our prayers be for God to change us and prepare us for the calling He has at First Baptist; so when He does lead us we will be ready and follow, not begrudgingly, but in faith. 

May God protect us from everything but His glory.  Amen.  (I stole that line from Beth Moore:))