Heart Change Defeats the Sin of Overeating & the Importance of Praise – Purity 1727
Purity 1727 08/04/2025 Purity 1727 Audio Podcast
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of purple flowers and a blue heron stalking its way through a muddy stream looking for an aquatic lunch comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene during my visit to “The 5 Combines” Canalway Trail portion of the Glens Falls Feeder Canal Trail in Hudson Falls, NY on Saturday.
Well, it’s Monday and as I prepare to stalk my way through another week of work and ministry, I am praising the Lord this morning for the wonderful weekend I enjoyed and for the spiritual revival that seems to be taking place in my life.
I was blessed to be in my wife’s presence over the weekend and we spent Saturday enjoying the simple beauty of the Canalway Trail in Hudson Falls, where I appreciated the Monet like beauty of the Canal waterway and saw the most turtles I had ever seen in the wild in my life. After our short walk, we headed north and visited my TammyLyn’s parents at the Spacious Skies Campground in the Adirondak Park where the Lord blessed me with a miraculously empty pool swim session.
But perhaps the most – miraculous thing of the past weekend is that the Lord helped me to maintain my food plan and I am down to 218 lbs. this Monday morning and am looking forward to more progress toward accomplishing my ideal weight! It has been a tough year and a half of yo-yoing since hitting my lowest weight ever (198.4 lbs.) in January of 2024 and the last 8 months of struggling with the transition to vegetarianism had me at a loss of how to move forward but now I am ready praise the Lord – not just for the little bit of weight loss that I have experienced in the last few weeks but – because I believe that God has revealed to me the truth of my situation in a way that has me made me to understand, experientially, the root cause of my problem.
It’s no surprise for anyone who struggles with their weight and “comfort eating” – but my root problem is that I overeat. I eat too much. That’s it.
I think I was concerned about what I ate and I tried to figure out what foods to avoid (which is very important actually) and I sought to understand the patterns and reasons of why I overeat (again very important) but I think on a soul level there was a part of me that didn’t really believe it. Like I understood intellectually that I overate and ate the wrong things for the wrong reasons but in my heart – me – or perhaps more accurately the “sin of overeating” in me – didn’t really believe that what I was doing was wrong. Because eating gave me pleasure, me & or my sin – had me convinced that overeating was “good”.
God’s love has poured into my life lately and I now understand that eating too much isn’t good and letting “the sin of overeating” operate in my life isn’t loving myself. I have been patient and kind with myself to fully absorb this simple truth at a heart level and now I have come to understand that this “sin of overeating” is not me and that not only don’t have to let “it’s program run” in my life anymore but I have seen that God has already given me my victory and freedom and I just have to stay there through the choices I make each day and to slowly accomplish my health goals! So, I am psyched, and I am praising the Lord for His love and patience with me.
Speaking of praising the Lord, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion touches on that topic today and I am sharing it on the blog today because I know the power of praise and want to encourage us all to praise the Lord at all times. Dr. Charles Stanely writes:
“Praise: Important but Not Always Easy
Rejoicing in times of trial keeps us focused on the Lord and His good purpose.
Matthew 5:10-12
God’s commands sometimes defy human logic. In today’s passage, for example, He said we’re to rejoice in persecution. That doesn’t make sense until we realize the effect of praise: It keeps us focused on Him and the good things He can bring out of hardship.
The apostle Paul faced greater abuse and suffering than most of us ever will. He was beaten, put on trial, and imprisoned, yet he looked beyond those difficulties to what the Lord was accomplishing through his life.
If we believe God is in control and keeps His promises, then we must trust in the principle of Romans 5:3-5. This passage assures us that our hardships have a purpose. Specifically, they develop our endurance, strengthen our character, and solidify our hope. We’re able to rejoice because we are maturing believers whom God can use for His purposes.
The Lord will bring good from our times of adversity, just as He did for Paul. We all experience times of doubt, but if we allow it to linger, we will struggle to praise what God is doing in and through our life. And if we can’t rejoice, we are in danger of giving up before the Lord’s good work can be completed.
Rejoicing keeps us focused on Him and His purpose so we may see our trial through to the end and receive our reward.“ – Charles Stanley
Amen. I can’t emphasize the importance of praise and rejoicing in the Lord enough.
Thanks be to God that the Lord directed me to a church that practices enthusiastic worship because it was at those church services that I was able to experience a fully embodied faith and deep love for the Lord, in community.
The example of other men and women praising the Lord showed me that what I experienced at my salvation – the joy and the tears – was nothing to be ashamed of. God had touched my heart and moved me to surrender my life to Jesus and those worship service at my old church showed me that it was not only okay to express my love and joy for the Lord openly but it proved to me that the infilling of the Holy Spirit and the deepening of my relationship with God was assured by my praise.
Praise is a spiritual weapon that causes the enemy to flee and a discipline that builds us in our spirit. It also deepens our love for the Lord and helps us to persevere during trials with hope and joy that transcends the negative circumstances of our situation.
So be bold and courageous and praise the Lord. Get past the fear of what other people may think and let your Heavenly Father know that you know Him, have experienced His love, and are forever grateful for His grace.
Praising the Lord opens a doorway to a deeper relationship God. I encourage you to walk through it and to allow the Lord to seize your heart and direct your path.
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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. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
Ephesians 5:1-10 (ESV) 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Today’s verses are the second of five passages of scripture that fall under the twelfth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
12. The apostle Paul gives us specific instructions on what must be done.
Today’s Bible verses are filled with those “simple truths” of the Christian disciples’ life that can so easily be dismissed by our flesh.
If you are not obeying the instructions in this passage of scripture, you need to examine your heart and ask why. And then you need to go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him for help to change your heart and turn from your sinful or fleshly ways.
Live in the Spirit by walking in the Spirit and don’t take lightly these instructions for living as a Christian. When we believe and obey from hearts, the transformed Christian life is there waiting for us to rejoice in it. So, walk by faith and experience the difference that God can make in you and through you.
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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 “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 226
… on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. – Luke 17:30
The destruction of Jerusalem would be an event in which the “Son of Man” would be “revealed” as such. The One denominated the “Son of Man,” in Daniel 7:13, would destroy the metallic image in the days of Rome, and would receive the kingdom upon His ascension in clouds as He came before the Ancient of Days. The day in which this would take place would be “His day,” par excellence (v. 24). Man had his day; now Jesus would have His. All of these things happened just as Daniel had predicted and as his words were echoed by Jesus Himself. The Roman “vultures” (armies) finally put an end to the temple and city (the dead “corpse” of Judaism). Many would long for the more peaceful days during which the Son of Man preached throughout Palestine; but that was not to be (v. 22). This event, as He said, was intimately connected with His rejection (v. 25), and with the generation that rejected Him. This passage does not speak of the second coming. It shows us that though He is longsuffering, God does bring judgment in His time.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 234.
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