Sunday, June 9, 2013

Made To Crave, Week 5 - Beneficial

Bible Verse for the Week – Philippians 4:8 – Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. 

Comment Winner – TWO comment winners from last week.  I liked the prize so much I got two of them.  Our winners are Lydia & Carol V.  Thanks for commenting!  You both get a crystal “candy dish” filled with personalized scripture verses.  Promise you won’t dump out the verses and put candy in the dishes!  This is to remind you when you want something permissible but not beneficial, try the Word of God instead. Your gift will be in the admin office at the church waiting for you. 

Don’t forget to comment each week (below or by email).  Each time you comment your name goes into the drawing for the weekly prize.  Again, if you can’t post on the blog, just email me your comment.

Our video session this week is 26 minutes long.  Another goodie by Lysa TerKeurst. Be sure to follow along with the participants guide to get great notes along the way.  Please click below to watch.



If it doesn’t work you can go directly to You Tube –

Assignment for Week 5 - Read Chapters 13-16.  You have all week to complete this assignment, do it at your own pace. 

Additional assignment - Go through all the Personal Reflections Questions at the end of each chapter.  Also, complete the Participant Guide for Session #5. 

Here are some extras from this week’s video & book. 

Video/Participant’s Guide

Before you eat anything, ask yourself:  This is permissible, but is it beneficial?

This is not a physical journey or a diet, it’s a spiritual journey that will have great physical benefits. 

This week we get to sprint through a lot of scriptures.  I think this is fabulous.  This is what it’s all about ladies.  This would be nothing without the word of God.  I want us to dive deeper into these scriptures.  If you click on them below it will take you to the verse in biblegateway.  Don’t stop there.  Look each of them up in your Bible.  Highlight them.  Put notes in your Bible.  Put them on index cards.  Really dig into the Word this week.  Next week’s comment winner will get a little “Bible Marking Kit” to help mark up your bible so you can find the scriptures that really speak to you easily.  Let’s get ready to dive in…

Genesis 3:6 – Satan used food for a prop for the downfall of mankind.  Coincidence?  I think not.  God cares about food and I think He knew we would have struggles.  Look at the first sin, it involves FOOD!

Psalm 78:12-18 – God did so many miracles for the Israelites, he divided the sea, guided them by cloud and fire.  But…they sinned against Him.  They demanded the FOOD they craved.  They forgot the miracles because they were consumed by FOOD. 

Ephesians 5:25-33 – Husbands love your wives (definitely a scripture that us ladies like, God knows we will like and read this one over and over, which is why he tucked in something just for us).  Feed and care for our body as Christ did for the church.  God is telling us to care for our body as Christ did for the church.  Hmmm…would Christ trash the church with junk similar to the junk we might feed our body???  Don’t think so…

Philippians 3:18-19 – Their god is their stomach…their mind on earthly things.  Don’t make your god your stomach.  Don’t keep your mind on earthly things.  We need the mindset that this is a spiritual commitment, not a diet.  Remember how much God cares!

Revelation 2:17 – To him who overcomes (that’s us ladies, overcomers!), DAILY dependence on God.  Our lesson here is our DAILY dependence on God.  Every day!  Our lesson is the manna, the perfect nourishment, which teaches us portion control.  God will give us just enough if we depend on Him daily.  Offer each day to him, pray each day for him to give us just enough and let us learn what is just enough.

Psalm 73:26 – God is the strength of my heart and my PORTION forever. 

Lamentations 3:22-24 – His compassions never fail

Matthew 6:9-12 – Give us today our DAILY bread.  Even Jesus had to ask for his daily portion.

Deuteronomy 8:3 – does not live by bread alone but on the every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Don’t live by bread alone, hmmm, not all about food, it’s about the word of God.  I’m getting this, are you?

Lysa challenges us to identify ourselves with a new name.  To stop giving ourselves a negative identity.  I’m going to trade the identity “failure” and replace with the name “victorious”. I am a victorious woman!  How about you, what is your new identity? 

Book

Chapter 13– Overindulgence
I like how Lysa points out that we as Christians my wag our fingers and say “no, no, no” to alcohol or drugs or clothing that shows a little too much skin, but then we walk into a church dinner and stuff ourselves sick with fried, covered-and-smothered, grossly caloric delights that buckle our paper plates and cause our stomach to cry for antacids.  Been there.  Remember our “Break The Fast” dinners.  I would leave there so sick…

Overindulgence is overindulgence.  Too much of any good thing is too much.  Overstuffing ourselves with food or drinking until we get drunk or getting wrapped up in the affections of an adulterous relationship are all desperate attempts to silence the cries of a hungry soul.  If we fail to understand how to fill our souls with spiritual nourishment, we will be triggered to numb our longings with temporary physical pleasures. 

Eating in excess is a sin.  The Bible calls it gluttony, which is defined in the dictionary as “excess in drinking or eating.”  The Bible is clear on this, see Proverbs 23:20-21 or Proverbs 28:7.

Portion control, ugh, this is what I need.  When I love something I’m eating, I want more.  Seconds, thirds, yum!  What do they say in medical terms, your brain takes 20 minutes to know that your stomach is full?  That’s why I have seconds and thirds before that 20 minutes is up!  OK, all joking aside, this is NOT the way to do it!

I don’t want to spend the next forty years of my life learning the lesson of daily dependence on God. Whatever the situation, I keep asking God to be my daily portion – of companionship, provision, patience – over and over.  And yes, that means asking for our daily portion of self-control and willpower too. 

Chapter 14 – Emotional Emptiness
Emptiness has a way of demanding to be filled.  If you can’t figure out a way to fill what your heart is lacking, the stomach is more than willing to offer a few suggestions. 

Almost everyone has hurts from their past.  And everyone has the choice to either let those past hurts continue to haunt and damage them or allow forgiveness to pave the way for us to be more compassionate toward others. 

It’s easy to park our mind in bad spots.  To dwell and rehash and wish things were different.  But to think on hard things keep us in hard spots and only serves to deepen our feelings of emotional emptiness.  We need to remember our verse of the week, Whatever is true…think about these things (Philippians 4:8). 

We must identify our places of emotional emptiness and admit how futile it is to try to fill those places with food. 

Chapter 15 – The Demon in the Chips Poster
“If no one sees you, then the calories don’t count” – this my friends has been a huge struggle for me.  I would keep junk food in a secret junk cabinet and “sneak” it when no one looked.  Just this past week I found myself, after months of not doing it, going to look to the junk cabinet.  I decided to tape Lysa’s “go-to scriptures” on the inside of the cabinet to remind me to shut the door.  So far, so good.  Thanks to my accountability partner for praying for me on this one (Carly, you rock!). 

We also spoke last week at our weekly meeting that if you are tempted sometimes you just have to flee.  You may have to remove yourself from the vicinity of the temptation.  I’ve found myself walking away from the refrigerator and going outside with a bottle of water.  I’ll drink my water, breathe and pray.  When I’m ready I can walk back in the kitchen. 

Remember – this isn’t just a battle in the physical and mental realm.  This battle is spiritual as well.  Satan WANTS us to sneak things in secret.  Things hidden in secret give Satan an open door. 

Ephesians 6:10-11 – “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”

Don’t get stuck in the danger zone of hunger or deprivation.  We spoke about this before.  Have you bag of healthy snacks.  If you pack snacks and lunch for the kids, pack it for you too.  You are just as important as them!  Just so you know, they are watching you.  If you are giving them healthy snacks but not feeding yourself those healthy snacks, they are going to want what you have, don’t you think?

Sometimes you have to stop thinking about what you shouldn’t have and park your mind on thoughts of being thankful for what you can have. 

I like her personal reflection question one – “Congratulations!  You’ve been chosen to participate in the latest reality TV show.  How much would your eating change if you knew that dozens of tiny hidden cameras were strategically place throughout your home, car, and workplace, recording everything you ate and broadcasting it live on a local cable channel?”  I’d say I’d stop trying to go into that secret junk cabinet, that is for sure!

Chapter 16 – Why Diets Don’t Work
Do you guys ever watch infomercials?  Especially the ones that promise you to lose weight without exercising or dieting.  Yeah, been there, tried those, they don’t work.  There are no quick fixes.  Unfortunately we get tired of sacrificing and our self-effort wears thin.  That’s why we have to be on this journey toward spiritual growth and not be on a diet. 

I’m the same as Lysa on this one - Diets don’t work for me.  I seem to be able to sacrifice for a season and then I get tired of sacrificing.  I hit my goal weight and then slowly slip back into old habits.  The weight creeps back on and I feel like a failure.  Like I said, diets don’t work for me.  So, I’m not on a diet.  I’m on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness. 

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 – God will not allow the temptation to be more than we can stand.  Remember this ladies!  God is not going to allow you any temptation that you can’t handle!

Flee from idolatry.  Expecting anything outside the will of God to satisfy us is idolatry.  Idolatry, in the case of food, means the consumption of ill-sized portions and unhealthy choices because we feel like we deserve it or need it to feel better.  We aren’t to flee food.  We need food.  But we are to flee the control food can have over our lives.  If we flee from the pattern of idolizing food and stop depending on food to make us feel emotionally better, we will be able to more clearly see the way out God promises to provide when we are tempted. 

The Holy Spirit empowers us to make lasting change.  And Jesus lovingly guides and guards us as we walk with Him, moment by moment, choice by choice, day by day.  That’s a plan with a promise no infomercial can ever offer.

Can you be with me ladies and NOT be on a diet but be on a spiritual journey that has lasting physical benefits?

Group Get Together – This week's Bible Study will be on Thursday, June 13th at 6:30pm at Sal's House.  Please let me know if you can make it and if you require childcare.  

Last week’s get together was really great.  Thank you again to the ladies that came, shared and were open and honest with us all.  We got accountability partners and shared some ideas on how to flee the temptation.  I’m praying for you all specifically in your prayer requests!

Closing Prayer – God I thank you for this time to grow to know you better.  As we change our way of thinking to know that this isn’t a diet but a journey to learning more about you and the plans you have for us.  Fill us with you when we are feeling the emptiness.  Help us not to overindulge on things that are permissible but not beneficial.  Teach us your ways, oh Lord.  Be with my girlfriends this week as we embark on your learning together.  Amen.

If you missed other posts find them here:

Fill yourselves with beneficial things my friends,
Shila

2 comments:

  1. every week i'm hit with something else profound, I'm grateful that portion control hit me this week. God needs to be my first & main portion and with food - beneficial (I like that!) and smaller portions.. good stuff!

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  2. It's really something to think about - don't make your god your stomach. I guess if we are constantly thinking of satisfying our stomachs with what we are going to fill it with next then that is exactly what we are doing, making our stomachs our god. Kind of scary if you ask me. I'd rather have my mind on how can I satisfy God and please and honor him with my life, including my food choices.

    This week has a lot of "food" for thought. It's been a rough week but this weeks class has really helped me refocus.

    Thank you

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