When Will We Finally Listen?

I Corinthians 6:19,20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

God is a merciful God and does/will heal instantaneously, but other times, He will guide you to the KNOWLEDGE needed on how to take care of the body. Also God will heal but He wants you to also know how to keep that healing and not continue to do what you were doing that caused your sickness or pain in the first place. 

What changes has GOD been talking to YOU about making that you haven't done, YET you continue to murmur and complain about your situation or your health issue?

When will we listen?! Why do we allow FOOD or any other situation to have such control over us, that we're not willing to let go of it even when it could be a matter of life and death?! My situation was food, overeating, obesity, all leading to health issues.

We who have the Spirit of God in us have the greatest source of power ever to help us to be Overcomers! Why are we not using that power!?!?!

In churches today, we hear so much of how alcohol, drug use, sex outside of marriage, etc are all sinful and bad for us, YET we never hear it preached much about how we abuse our body, the temple of the Holy Ghost, by overeating, or putting acidic foods into the body. I personally think we need a ministry in the church specifically for this because our health problems are keeping us from being able to fulfill the ministry God has called us into.

I Thessalonians 5:23 says, Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

We hear a lot in church about we are renewed in spirit (new heart) and renewing of our mind (soul) but we barely hear about our body supposed to be preserved blameless too.  We need to take care of our body, the temple of the Holy Ghost.  If we aren't, our "sin" is very noticeable.

I remember when God opened up my eyes to my own personal situation. I was reading through Hebrews 12: 1-11 and He began talking to me and I could see just how disobedient I had been and was now serving the consequences of my sin. God's desire for our life is to live an abundant life and it gets very hard for us to do that when we are weak and sick in body. He wants us to be fruitful and if we are not, He will try His best to help get us there. You've heard the saying, “I just love you to death!” Well with God...He loves us to LIFE! He knows the causes of why our life is not bearing fruit and will go to extremes to get us to where we need to be to live that abundant life for Him! But even then, it's up to us to be obedient when He speaks.

I can look back now and see just how much God had tried to help me by speaking to me through His Word and Spirit. But food had such a hold on me. I am an emotional eater and I was running to food for comfort instead of running to God. God made us all to crave Him but I was giving in to the craving of the flesh (food) instead of the spirit (God).

In Hebrews 12:5-6 it makes mention of three degrees in which God works to get us to Abundant Life! Rebuke, Chasten and Scourging. These degrees of intervention in which God works is not necessarily joyful but can be painful, but he knows exactly what each of us needs to discipline us.

Hebrews 12:12 No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Proverbs 3:11.12 tells us not to despise the chastening of the Lord and not to detest His correction because He does this because He loves us! He disciplines us for our good – out of LOVE. He loves us to LIFE!

A REBUKE from the Lord is like a verbal warning for some poor choices in our life, or some hurtful wounds we are carrying around that is the cause of wrongful behavior or attitudes, etc. His rebuke is to spare us from further pain. His rebukes can come in different ways such as a prick of the conscience, a timely word from another person, a Scripture, preaching of His Word or conviction by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us how quick and powerful God's Word is, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

*Instead of listening to that rebuke, I would use food to medicate my pain.

If we harden our heart and close our ears to God's rebuke, we force our Father to intensify the correction.

TO CHASTEN or discipline happens when our loving Father steps in to lift us away from our own destructive and unfruitful pursuits. (Deut. 8:5)

With chastening, we find ourselves nagged by the subtle feeling of defeat, disappointment and frustration. This crushing cycle of powerlessness that is hated continues. What used to bring us joy, now doesn't. Pressures increase at work, at home or in our health and finances, unfulfilled at church, critical to friends and “on the outs” with God. If we have any of these symptoms, the answer is not to go to church more, read our Bible more or any of that. We need to look for ongoing sin or something that seems to be cutting us off from God's best for your life, like anger, bitterness, unforgivness, overeating, etc. If we don't respond, love will compel your Father to take more drastic measures. What is the source of our pain that is causing our pressures in life or our discontentment we feel, or that cycle of defeat?

*I knew that food was not the answer, but it was a habit now that I couldn't break and it made me feel good (for awhile).  I knew deep inside that it was not going to help me. It was only hurting me. I knew exactly how I would feel afterwards. But at that point and time, food was more important to me and I didn't care about anything else. I needed that "food fix".

TO SCOURGE is to whip or to inflict punishment. Everyone hates pain, but it sure gets our attention, doesn't it? I like what C.S. Lewis says: “God whispers through pleasure but shouts through pain.” Sometimes our Father has to shout! Sometimes our sins bring judgment to us. As Paul said in I Corinthians 11:30 “This is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died”. We will suffer dire consequences for our wrong doings and attitudes we carry that are not fruitful for God.

As I said before, I now am able to see how all of these interventions were used on me when it came to my eating. I was rebuked and warned of my eating habits. I believe God even led me to knowledge of how to eat, and when I didn't listen, or tried but failed, then chastisement came and my life became full of frustration and more defeat, depression, not happy with self and when I did not heed to His Word, the scourging came. My “sin” brought judgment, consequences like painful health issues.

What stops good people from cleaning up their act?!  Many are held captive for years from misguided beliefs, and habits. I don't know about you, but I don't want to wander around anymore on a fruitless path unable to enter into the abundant life God has for me!!

*I reached a place of hopelessness and my heart was becoming sick, literally, which God showed me through His Word in Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." He told me that I had lost all hope of getting better. I had tried everything but always ended up in defeat. I was angry with God because He wouldn't just heal me. But would it have done any good for God to heal me and I just continue to do what caused my health problems to begin with? What was the source, the reason I was running to food and not God? 

God's concern is the condition of our heart. He wants to heal the deep seed of pain that was planted deep inside us that is the main cause of our destructive condition. SO....When I finally surrendered it all to God, He is healing the wounds deep within. He restored by hope and led me to Genesis Pure products and again reminded me of all the knowledge that He led me to and once I began to follow what I know, and began giving the body what it needed, my body is beginning to heal itself. I am starting to eat right, I am losing weight and I am getting my health and life back. 

Maybe your issue today is not eating, not being overweight. Maybe it is something else God's been talking to you about and you haven't been very obedient to His voice.  Are you now able to see the progression of the degrees of intervention that God has been taking in your life, trying to get your attention, trying to "love you to life!"?

PLEASE begin heeding to the rebuke or early warnings from the Lord, to keep yourself from having to endure symptoms of defeat and the consequences of disobedience that brings judgment leading to painful health issues and an unfruitful life. Be determined to live the abundant life promised by God by being obedient to His voice and instruction. He loves you and so do I. 

 Connie J. Schmoll