The ultimate love that will never pass away, the love that is “better than wine”, “sweeter than honey”, is the love of our heavenly Bridegroom. Growing in intimacy with Him satisfies our soul hunger and helps us to be women of moderation toward the good gifts God gives – including food.
I pray that you will all grow closer to Him this week.
Cinny
Happy Monday, my sisters. As you know, Cinny, Retta, NurseT, and I went to Atlanta for some fun, fellowship, food, and frolicking. While we had a good time, did not deprive ourselves of treats (food, shopping, laughter, tears, coffee, chocolate), I feel that we were truly successful in making moderate (not austere, but moderate) choices. Cinny and I were reflecting on past weekend trips and our tendencies to over-indulge. In comparison to those trips, we have come a long long way.
I hope all of you are enjoying success in this slow but steady process. Let’s forget all our past mistakes, failures, weaknesses and celebrate our journey together toward our common goal, which is not the weight loss, but the abundant life He wants for us.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
–Philipians 3:13-14
What does “feasting” mean?
“Feasting” is more than just reading the Bible; it is a term to express the nourishing of our souls in Jesus Christ. It means that we are sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word and believing it, for the purpose of implementing the truths into our lives. It means we are receiving spiritual nourishment and we are delighting our souls in His grace and truth. This may be done in reading our Bibles, hearing God’s Word preached, interacting with others in the Scriptures, and studying through this course, [our study] etc.
May we all do better at our feasting!
Love, LoLo
from SCF Day 12:
One of the problems among Christians today is that very few are willing to say that the act of overeating is sin. It is socially acceptable to overeat and so most would rather say that overeating is a “weakness,” or a dietary problem that may be corrected by changing foods, a glandular problem, or that we simply “have a big appetite”…etc.
Overeating is a sin for the following reasons:
• Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). God is not glorified when I evidence a lack of self control in my eating habits.
• My body is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:17, 6:19). The temple of God is not to be destroyed or defiled. Overeating or other sinful eating habits defiles the temple and if continued in can lead to its early destruction.
• Sinning leads to slavery (John 8:34). Overeating, like any sin, becomes addictive and may be extremely hard to overcome.
• Jesus told us to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23) and Paul told us to crucify the desires of the flesh (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). To overeat is to gratify the cravings of the flesh, rather than to crucify them. This is sin. However, we are not at all saying that it is sin to eat when hungry. What we are talking about here, gluttony, is the habit of overeating and indulging our flesh, not the necessary requirement to receive daily nourishment for our bodies when we feel hungry. Food is not evil. Eating is not a sin.
• There are many passages of Scripture which speak of the sin of “gluttony” and instruct us to avoid the path of the glutton (Proverbs 23:20-21) and to “put a knife to our throat” if we are given to gluttony (Proverbs 23:2). (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines gluttony as “excess eating.”)
Your daily food for thought,
LoLo
From Day 10’s lesson:
Finding pleasure in Christ is what The Lord’s Table course is really all about. You see, many diet groups feel successful if one of their members stands up and testifies, “I have lost 30 pounds in 60 days, have gone from a size 14 to a size 8, and now everybody notices the new me.” This is not success at all. Where is the mention of the heart finding repentance and forgiveness, the soul feasting on Christ, and the joy over a life that now lives to honor the Lord, rather than to gratify the flesh? This feasting and rejoicing and honoring the Lord all come from repentance. Any change apart from this will lead to pride and will-worship. “I did it, I lost weight, I overcame, I, I, I.”
No, our purpose is not to exalt the will of man or woman. Our purpose is to honor the Lord, to magnify His grace, and to show the power of God in our lives. Repentance is the only way to truly be free from the power of temptation and sin, to honor the Lord with a disciplined life, and to savor the preciousness of Jesus Christ.
Hiya!! Well, my day started off terrrrific!! I met Retta24him & NurseTee at Retta’s house to go walk. Yes it was hard, very hard to get my but outta bed on such a cold, brrrr morning, but I did it as I had told them I would.
I pulled up to the house and the lights were on. (good sign) There was Retta sitting on the puter. I just got my coat off and there came Tee. We all three wrapped up went outside and we were off.
I led since I had many days of pacing hubby when he was in training for the AT. This morning I heard the same little grumbling in the back of me “How far are we gonna walk?” “We aren’t walking up THAT hill are we?” (you know who you are) , but that got quiet and turned to laughter once we warmed up.
I’m proud to say we walked one mile in the seventh hour of the morn!! Then later we walked another 1/4 mile to Calculator’s parents house – JoJo went w/us. SO 1.25 miles for us!! WooHoo! See … it wasn’t that bad. Now if we can get outta bed in the morning and do it again will be the big test. TeeHee!
Oh yeah — we also did our book study this morning. E joined us, too. Have ya’ll read John chapter one yet? My, My how God talked to us in that one ….. and the memory verse for today. Blew me away for sure.
Okay sisters……. I pray God be with you the rest of the week to see you through. Call me if you have any struggles and I’ll do the same.
BTW – Friday be at my house for a Beauty Shop party and to meet our out of town guest. Who needs color? Call me. See ya.
Cinny
Yesterday was liquids day. Did just fine through the day – got sick of V8 juice though. Dinner was very welcome for both Davey and I – perhaps cardboard would have tasted good to us by that time. Wonder how “fast” day is going to be. All that said, the food plan is working for us. Now for the exercise . . .
Day 1 I spent working around the house, taking down Christmas decor. Although its not technically exercise, it was activity, which for me on a Monday nite is a big thing. Day 2 I decided to remove my dance/aerobic DVD from its shrinkwrap and give it a try. I didn’t make it to 10 minutes before I shut the thing off and found something else to do. The thing was supposed to be for beginners, but she moves so fast from one move to another, I cannot keep up. Same problem I’ve always had with aerobics!!!! I need to find something else . . .
So, if any of you out there like to dance and/or do aerobics, this DVD is free to a good home. Please, get it out of my sight!
Love to all, LoLo
I was lying in bed this morning praying for God to make a path for me today, that it be in His glory in everything I do . I suddenly realized that I have never, NEVER, NEVER asked Him to help with my weight loss. Well duh?? I ask Him for everything else – guidance, healing,etc. But I have never asked Him to guide me through loosing weight. Did I not think He would not help me? Was I too shameful to ask? STOOOPID!!!
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.
Psalm 5:3
Soul Hunger
Here we have reached the “heart” of the matter. We do not habitually wish to overeat because of some genetic predisposition, boredom, to be social, or because the food tastes so good. One of the main reasons we desire to overeat is because, internally, we feel empty; we lack heart-satisfaction and we are attempting to nourish our souls by feeding our bodies.
So where do we find internal fullness, satisfaction for the heart, and nourishment for our souls? We need more than “chicken soup for the soul,” we need real, lasting and settled satisfaction and fullness.
Powered by WordPress.com
