A Healthy Appetite

By Rosemary Flaaten –

As my age has increased, so has my waistline. You may understand this. Extra weight creeps on and before we know it, we’re 10, 20, 50 pounds overweight. Despite many different methodologies and programs, there is no secret formula for losing weight. If we want to lose that extra fat, the number of calories that we expend must be more than the amount we take in. Recent studies show that the type of food from which those calories come from are less significant than the simple volume we eat.

And that’s where appetite comes in. My desire to put more food into my mouth than what my body needs is my problem. I don’t just eat because I’m hungry; I eat to experience satisfaction. Rather than listening to my God-given hunger reflex, I respond to my desire for love, approval, comfort, and strength by opening my mouth and eating. My hunger is not for food, it is for fulfilment. In my attempt to satisfy this need, I have made food an idol in my life.

God spoke these words about His people’s incessant idolatry: “They’ll realize how devastated I was by their betrayals, by their voracious lust for gratifying themselves in their idolatries.” (Ezekiel 6:9 TM)

This verse hits me between the eyes on the topic of self-indulgence. I set out to satisfy my deepest longings of my heart, but instead of turning to God, who has promised everything I need, including all the food my body requires, I seek to gratify myself. I stuff my face with food that quickly shows up on my hips and in doing so, my heart remains impoverished and gaunt.

I realize we cannot stop eating. We require physical food. But when we allow God to fill us with Himself, then our deepest needs will be met with the Living Water and Bread of Life. Instead of eating for reasons other than physical hunger, we will feast on the riches of the Holy Spirit. Food will take its rightful second place and become a means of sustenance rather than indulgence. That’s when we’ll have a healthy appetite.

PRAYER: O Father, show me where I have replaced my first love of You with a desire for food.

“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’” (John 6:35 NIV).

Passing Over

By Heather Allen –

Spring is coming. Trees are already budding as we experience an unseasonably warm winter. Passover is approaching and with it my anticipation of celebrating God’s divine protection. A few years ago my family was invited to celebrate our first Passover Seder. The experience was rich as we recalled how Moses and Aaron were called to be spokesman, plagues came on a stubborn ruler, and then thousands of years later Christ became the Passover lamb.

After the Seder, I began studying the Passover and other feasts in scripture. A beautiful painting took form as I traced God’s preservation of His people throughout history.

Several Passover truths stood out as I studied. Under King Josiah & Hezekiah, Israel celebrated the Passover, renewing their covenant to follow God’s law and repenting for their sin. While under Persian rule the Jewish people were handed a death sentence also known as Haman’s edict. This edict would have come as they prepared for Passover. And just as God spared His people in Egypt, he again spared them in Persia. Both times they were integrated into another culture. As deliverance came, perhaps the realization that they were a separate people followed. There was a covenant in place. And then Christ’s death fell on Passover, His last breath coming as the Passover lamb would have been slaughtered – A man should have taken much longer to die, but Christ gave up His spirit at that exact hour.

There is a pattern I am noticing the more I study the Jewish feasts, a divine calendar. These dates were not merely historical dates with significance for the Jewish people; they are significant today. I believe we will continue to see prophecy linked with these dates. God still distinguishes between His own and those who are not. This is a covenant relationship. Do I believe we may see God pass over us again on Passover? Perhaps. Blood on our doorposts will not separate us. Rather Christ’s shed blood covers our sin.

An identity shift should take place as we embrace the reality that we are His people. We belong to the God who called forth water from a rock. He will be enough for us in any circumstance. He is a covenant God, faithful to all generations.

“Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until His wrath has passed by. See the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins” (Isaiah 26:20-21 NIV).

(The cross reference on this is the first Passover is Exodus 12:23)

Kairos Moments

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Sometimes, you come across a moment so powerful, so potentially life-changing, you have no choice but to let it simmer; taking time to replay it in your mind, letting it sink in to absorb as much as the memory as possible.

It is as if you are aware of some sort of predestination to be at that place, at that precise time, with that particular group of people. Moments such as these are known as “Kairos” moments, defined as the “right time” for something to happen. These moments make it clear that we are a part of something much bigger than ourselves. We are following a path carved out before us, and our role is to simply follow it.

And I am grateful, further strengthened by the fact that what happens with each day of my life beyond my control. All I can do is believe and reach higher; taking advantage of the opportunities God sends my way, rather than lamenting those opportunities that he does not.

This is the way God intended it to be. He wants us to let Him do the work while we rest in the “shadow of His wings.” He wants us to think bigger, take more chances, and be bold enough to go further than we ever dreamed possible.

He is never surprised by our predicaments, overwhelmed by our circumstances, nor worried about our future. He is the God of “what if?” and “why not?” With God, there are no impossibilities. No accidents. Nothing is out of reach.

Understanding that God is in control in our lives is the key to finding peace and rest. Follow His path, embracing each opportunity with trust and dependence on Him, and you might just experience something so powerful, you have no choice but to sit and let it simmer: the ‘Kairos’ moments of the abundant life that He promised.

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for caring more about our future than even we do. Thank You for doing what is best for us eternally, even when we can’t see past our present circumstances. Make our paths straight before us, and give us the strength to follow. Reveal Your power in ways only we can understand. And teach us to enjoy your ‘Kairos’ moments.

“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time, each will receive their praise from God” (I Corinthians 4:5 NIV).

Squeezed!

By Robin J. Steinweg –

I cannot see ahead nor behind me. SUVs block the view from the windows of my little Ford Focus. I’m focused, all right; I have no choice. Inches to my left are construction posts. To the right, an eighteen-inch drop-off leers at me with jagged, concrete teeth. There were no orange safety barrels to bar my fall if I waver.

My grip on the steering wheel drains the pink from my knuckles. I’m squeezed between a disastrous drop and posts lined up like sentries waiting to whack scratches into my car if I get too close. And if I bump one, will I overreact and careen into the abyss on the opposite side? I’m forced to sit tight (literally) and follow the car in front of me. I hope it’s trustworthy to stay on the road!

I like wide, safe boundaries and a clear view when I travel. Not only on my roads, but through life. Yet there are times when, like pothole-ridden highways, my life needs redirecting and repaired. God shows me signs that I am once again under construction. I feel squeezed into a narrow space, no view ahead or behind, disaster on either side.

Road crews don’t want casualties. Neither does God. I can follow Him and trust that He hems me in, behind and before. He’ll guide me straight and true. I can relax my vise-grip.

PRAYER: Lord, You know the beginning from the end. You have a clear view. When I’m in that tight place, help me to trust You because You’re trustworthy.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8 NKJV).

Present Your Body

Laurette Willis –

“I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1 NKJV).

While exercise was not a priority in Biblical times, Paul instructs us to “present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Each of us is advised to take care of our body since it is the “temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Here’s a sobering question: do you think we’ll be required to give an accounting to the Lord for the stewardship of our bodies and how well we’ve taken care of them?

That’s a frightening thought for most of us! “You are not your own,” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19. “For you were bought at a price” (the shed blood of Jesus Christ).

Could that mean your body is not yours, but the Lord’s? How well are we, as stewards, caring for the Lord’s property?

The good news is that since your body belongs to the Lord, He has a vested interest in helping you care for it. Your body is not only the temple of His Holy Spirit, it’s what you need to be able to walk around on this earth and spread the good news that Jesus is Lord!

The more fit and healthy you are, the greater the probability is that you will be around longer to carry out His will for your life.

The enemy wants you to fail at your task, to fail horribly and go to heaven before your time. He doesn’t really care that you’re going to heaven–he just doesn’t want you to take anyone else with you!

If your body is out-of-shape and lacking energy, it’s difficult to do all the Lord is calling you to do. But you and the Lord working together can change that!

“What?!” you ask. “The Lord needs my help? But He’s omnipotent, all-powerful and in control!” Well, yes–and no. He is all-powerful, but He will not wrestle the cake fork out of your hand or pick up the strings like a grand marionette master and animate your body to take a brisk walk. We are the ones who have to exercise our will to exercise our body and “choose life.”

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV).

Everyday choices are set before us that add to our lives or take from them. Select just one thing you can do today that you know would be life-engendering to your body (drink more water, eat a cup of raw vegetables in a salad, exercise your God-given body for 20-30 minutes, bless your life and loved ones by speaking God’s promises over yourself and your family—out loud!).

Present your body to God today (including what you do, hear, see and say) as an act of worship. Since you cannot “out-give” God, you will discover He will bless, beautify and strengthen everything you present to Him.

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