Galatians 5:1
King James Version
5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage.
There is something powerful going on right now.
We shall address it, through the SPIRIT of GOD Who guides me.
Three days ago, we wrote an article on "AREAS of vulnerability".
"FOOD" happened to be the first subject we expounded on.
There were seven other "areas".
But strangely SPIRIT led me to food as top of the list.
Very, very strange indeed.
That's why I need to explore it here.
Certainly, the world is beholden to food.
In terms of greed, gluttony, pride, plenty, and vanity.
We mentioned in that post:
"Many are fixated, and preoccupied, with food."
In another article, we wrote:
"We gorge on food, and skimp on GOD.
We have become a world of gluttons."
-- "On FOOD fixation"
My dear pastor friend happened to read "AREAS of vulnerability".
Yesterday, he gave his observations:
"Satan used food as tool for first temptation."
"He also used food to tempt Jesus in the desert."
I was overjoyed with his astute observations.
So I said, perhaps I'll add those to that article.
But a new article seemed more appropriate.
For I needed to look deeper into it myself.
Guided by my friend's observations, I searched Scripture.
And found these --
Satan used food to tempt Eve:
Genesis 3:1-13
King James Version
3 Now the serpent was more subtil
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said,
Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her;
and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked;
and they sewed fig leaves together,
and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam,
and said unto him,
Where art thou?
10 And he said,
I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said,
Who told thee that thou wast naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree,
whereof I commanded thee
that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said,
The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman,
What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me,
and I did eat.
Satan tried to tempt our LORD JESUS with food:
Matthew 4:1-4
King James Version
4 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit
into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights,
he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him,
he said,
If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said,
It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.
Of course, Satan was stumped.
He doesn't always have an answer for everything.
Only JESUS can end ALL debate.
And that's what always makes me smile.
Knowing the POWER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
If Satan tried tempting the LORD, what makes us think we're not putty in Satan's hand?
That we'd be easy prey.
We're but humans.
Subject to the frailties of flesh, and appetite.
Armed with the wrong notions about food, and survival.
From the looks of it, Satan has succeeded in tempting us.
Astoundingly, through a simple concept as food.
Mountains, and mountains, of food.
Look at all the food-based businesses the world has.
And corollary industries that go with it.
Health-related issues arise from all that gluttony.
And yet a large part of the world goes hungry.
Can you see how diabolical it all is?
Literally, and figuratively, a feeding-frenzy upon humans.
Feeding on the lusts and desires of our flesh.
Feeding on our ignorance of his wiles.
As he destroys our bodies, he destroys our souls.
With no one the wiser, unless you're born again.
Note, too, how many industries cater to the whims of the rich.
But the poor are forgotten, and remain marginalized.
They are tolerated, but not loved.
They are not VIPs at the table.
If remembered, it's mostly for tax-exemption purposes.
Or for some propaganda for a so-called cause.
And always, for the benefit of the rich.
The day the poor are loved, and fed graciously and generously, is the day CHRIST lives in us.
The day no one starves in any part of the world, is the day we truly love each other.
The day we go beyond this lust for food, is the day we understand this verse:
John 6:35
King James Version
35 And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life:
he that cometh to me shall never hunger;
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Let us refuse to be addicted to food.
1 Corinthians 6:12
King James Version
12 All things are lawful unto me,
but all things are not expedient:
all things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought under
the power of any.
Instead, let all we do, be for GOD's GLORY alone.
1 Corinthians 10:31
King James Version
31 Whether therefore ye eat,
or drink,
or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God.
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