How sin affects your weight.

Wouldn’t you love to know how to stop cheating on your diet and to find a way to easily step into compliance to your meal plan?

I’m going to show you how the bible speaks to me and how I am coached in the spirit to be stronger with my food stories. If you read until the end, I’ll give you the 10 steps you may need right now, to activate your faith more profoundly as your step out of your excess weight.

My weight loss journey was made EASY as soon as I decided to step into my faith and invite God to the process. No person ever told me that the Bible offered weight loss insights. But, God did. Now, I’m NOT a fan of people misusing scripture to serve their agenda. But in this case, God used me to serve His. He brought me to the end of myself, made me so frustrated with my weight, so I could see how He was my only option. And He really was and is, daily. Today, He’s impressing it upon my heart to go out on another limb. To read His word, and to apply it to weight loss. I always get nervous when this happens because I begin to worry about what PEOPLE will say. But then, that still small voice whispers, “You’re not doing it for those people. You’re doing it for her.” That ‘her’ might be you. You are likely reading this now, and you’re a version of who I used to be. So, I’m speaking right to you today. I’m sharing with you what God whispered to me as I read His word this morning. Here we go…sweaty palms and all…as I type.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 TELLS us that our "body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us and was given to us by God. That we do not belong to ourselves because God bought us with a HIGH price. And so, we’re to honor GOD with our bodies." This scripture is referenced a lot by people on their weight loss journey. But it’s my opinion that it isn’t truly unlocked until we connect it fully to its' true meaning. The lesson that’s being taught here is about sexual sin. 1 Corinthians 6:18 tells us to “RUN from sexual sin! And that no other sin so clearly affects the body as this sin. For sexual immorality is a sin against our own body”. So here we are, being taught that Sexual sin is a sin against our own body. As I thought about this, and really ruminated on how we sin against our body, I felt it impressed upon me that there are OTHER ways we sin against our bodies. According to the Bible, in James 4:17, Sin is when you know what you should do, and you don’t do it; that’s sin to you. So, if there is no other sin that so clearly affects the body as sexual sin, and it’s a sin against the body; how then, are our food choices NOT a sin against our bodies? Here are the parallels I drew from these scriptures: in the following ways, sexual immorality is JUST like the lusts of the flesh that we have about our foods. The following bullets pertain to sexual sin, yet with each point, the lesson applies to us as dieters, struggling to lose the weight. It applies to us as we try to WILL our way through a diet, void of God, which can have a lasting impact on how we show up in life, with our spouses, children, friends and even as a joy filled Christian.

· Our choices always hurt others in the long run…even in weight loss. (Think about that.)

· It hurts God in that it shows we are following our own desires instead of following the lead of the Holy Spirit…even in weight loss. (Do you seek HIS power to say NO to that donut or your own power?)

· It brings disease to our bodies…even in weight loss. (I was on the path to Type II diabetes before God intervened!)

· It deeply affects our personality, which responds in anguish when we hurt ourselves physically & spiritually…even in weight loss. (Have you ever NOT gone to an event because you were embarrassed about your weight? Or because nothing fit? Have your choices in life been altered by your perception of how you look and/or feel?)

So, what is meant by, “Our bodies belong to God”? For me, it used to mean that I could do whatever I wanted so I ate and drank whatever I wanted. It was my ticket to complete and total FREEDOM. I didn’t know that it meant enslavement to my own desires. As a Christian, The Holy Spirit lives WITHIN US. Therefore, we no longer OWN our bodies. We are God’s! We are tenants, living life with a landlord. Because our bodies really belong to God and we are called to live without violating his standards of living.

I encourage you to take control of your life by taking BACK control of your weight. Here are 10 ways to take control of your weight problem, as a Christian. (This won't have POWER if you skipped to the bottom to read the 10 suggestions without reading the blog. Trust me.)

1. See yourself as a tenant who DOESN'T have total freedom to eat whatever you want.

2. Re-read James 4:17 and pray to be shown how this applies to your temptation & sabotage while following a diet or meal plan.

3. Ask yourself; "Isn't WHO I'm becoming more important than just a # on the scale?"

4. Consciously & intentionally activate your faith & pick up God’s power on your weight loss journey.

5. Surrender this worldly belief of “willpower and motivation”.

6. Pick a meal plan, learn it inside and out, identify how to make great foods that you enjoy.

7. Walk with God through the process of releasing your food stories.

8. See your weight loss success more about stepping into obedience practices, than counting calories and weighing-in practices.

9. Expect weight loss to be hard in the physical, so seek leadership in the Spirit!

10. Seek Him daily for strength, perseverance and guidance. He’s there. Waiting for you to JUST ask for help…even in weight loss!