The Truth that Sets The Food Addict Free – Purity 1432
Purity 1432 08/21/2024 Purity 1432 Audio Podcast
Purity 1432 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of green grass before the ruins of a man-made stronghold castle under pleasant blue skies comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this view of a presently unknown European, English, or Irish Castle on social media back on August 22nd, 2023. If this vacation snapshot from last year is yours give us a heads up and we will update the blog to name the place and give you the photo credit you so richly deserve.
Well, it is Wednesday again and I am sharing today’s photo of a manmade stronghold to encourage my friends to fight the good fight of an overcomer and to be bold and courageous in taking on your pesky hurts, habits, and hang ups with God’s help and if you are local to the capital district of the upstate NY, I invite you to walk besides me and others on the road to recovery, and the path of Christian discipleship, at the Celebrate Freedom Support Group at Starpoint Church tonight.
It was just over a year ago that I decided to take on my food addiction in earnest by making myself accountable to my food plan and pursuing the lofty physical goal of obtaining a BMI weight that would no longer classify me as obese. I am happy to say that after a year I have managed to achieve and maintain that goal but I am motivated to recommit myself to diligently pursue the better physical health that lies on the other side of 200 lbs. – a goal that I had achieved briefly earlier this year but that has slipped through my grasp as I have relented and compromised food plan sanity over and over again, with various rationalizations, since late January.
To know what is right and not to do it is a sin, according to James 4:17, so you could say I have been of being stuck in a sin-confess, sin confess cycle over the last 7 months as I have watched my weight yo-yo up and down as I would “try hard” and then “give myself a break” by “rewarding myself” with “occasional “cheat days” and “celebratory food binges”. That last statement has so many air quotes in it because it is positively packed with lies, half-truths, and compromise that I found it difficult to say.
To know better, and to not to better – to know what’s right mentally and to do differently physically – this lies at the heart of some of Dr. Neil Anderson’s teaching in his book, Victory Over The Darkness, where he writes –
“Understanding your identity in Christ is essential for living the Christian life. People cannot consistently behave in ways that are inconsistent with the way they perceive themselves. You don’t change yourself by your perception. You change your perception of yourself by believing the truth.
If you perceive yourself wrongly, you will live wrongly because what you are believing is not true.
If you think you are a no-good bum, you will probably live like a no-good bum. If, however, you see yourself as a child of God who is spiritually alive in Christ, you will begin to live accordingly. Next to a knowledge of God, a knowledge of who you are is by far the most important truth you can possess.
The major strategy of Satan is to distort the character of God and the truth of who we are. He can’t change God and he can’t do anything to change our identity and position in Christ. If, however, he can get us to believe a lie, we will live as though our identity in Christ isn’t true.[1]
In the case of the Christian “food addict”, if you think of yourself as a “food addict” you will behave as a food addict. You will think that you are a “no good bum” when it comes to being able to control what you eat, and you will act like a “no good bum” food-wise.
You will believe the lie that “cheat days are okay”. I “don’t want to lose weight”. I am “fat and happy”. I NEED my “fattening comfort food of choice.” I have no “self-control”. THEY make me eat. THEY Sabotage ME. etc. etc.
While all of these excuses can seem true – they are all based on the lie that you are powerless to do what’s right – you are not free in Christ, when in fact – the moment you put your faith in Christ – you have been set free. For Jesus said.
John 8:31-32 (NKJV)
31 … “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
AND
John 8:34-36 (NKJV)
34 … “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Jesus indicates that if we abide in the truth of what He says about us, His word, we will know the truth and we will be free. But if we commit sin, we become slaves to sin – “doing the wrong thing” – in food terms this is forsaking the wisdom of good nutrition for junk food and ignoring proper portion sizes – we know what is right but don’t do it – we “miss the mark”, we sin. But Jesus indicates that abiding in His truth will help us to say, “no to sin” and to be free indeed.
Abiding in God’s truth and living according to it, could be called “walking in the Spirit” and Galatians 5:22-23 describes what fruit grows when we live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit
Galatians 5:22-25 (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
If we live according to our faith, we rely on God’s strength to cultivate the fruit of the spirit as we make the daily decision to crucify the flesh and its passions by believing the truth of the new life we have in Christ.
If we don’t waver in how we see ourselves as God’s children, who have been set free, and stay in God’s presence through spiritual disciplines and abiding in His ways, we can experience the fruit of patience and self-control that we need to maintain our victory and freedom.
While the last 7 months don’t point to great progress for my health goals, they are a testimony of diligence as I haven’t given up my faith or my fight to do what’s right as a steward to my body and now it is time to keep on believing and relying on God’s strength and guidance to get me to believe in my heart of hearts what I know in my head.
Hard things are easier with Christ and so I am again declaring that I am not giving in to the flesh and will seek God’s renewing of my mind to make a way where there doesn’t seem to be a way and to cause the impossible to continue to happen in my life.
God has set me free from so much already and I believe that He will continue to help me as long as I keep walking and talking with Him.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on the Forgiveness of Sins (God’s Forgiveness).
Luke 7:47-50 (NKJV)
47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Today’s verses fall under the tenth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on the Forgiveness of Sins (God’s Forgiveness).
11. Jesus forgave the penitent woman.
Today’s verses are a reminder of the grace of God and the goodness of Jesus to free us from our sins when we bow down to worship Him as Lord.
This scene in the gospels is scandalous! This woman – a known sinner – should have stayed away from anyone holy but something in her caused her to recognize that Jesus was worthy of worship and adoration, and she scandalously bowed down and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair! She is so overcome in the presence of Jesus she can’t even speak – she just seeks to serve Jesus in the small way she can because He is worthy. She doesn’t even ask for forgiveness! She just worships Him as God and because she puts her faith in Him, He blesses her with forgiveness.
In a moment, she is forgiven and made new – because she worshipped Jesus. So let’s remember that we too were “no good sinners” and it is only because God revealed the truth of our sin and our need for a Savior that we have been saved and let’s always remember to worship Jesus for He is alone worthy.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
MORNING READING: 1 TIMOTHY 1
“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me.”
– 1 Timothy 1:12
What a source of encouragement Paul found in this verse! Though before he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, now he is a faithful apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God.
The enabling power and grace of the Lord is one of the most precious gifts of God to the minister of the Gospel. For unless we are enabled by the Lord, preaching, teaching, or personal soul-winning is hopeless.
When the Lord Jesus called His disciples, He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you [enable you to] become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).
This enabling grace, which abounded exceedingly toward Paul, consists of faith on one hand and love on the other. These two represent life and power.
Anoint me, O Lord, with Your enabling grace
that I may share Your Word with others.[2]
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Neil T. Anderson, Victory over the Darkness, ed. Virginia Woodard, Second Edition. (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2000), 47.
[2] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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