In Haggai 1:8, God commands the Israelites to "go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build My house (which means 'temple') so that I may take PLEASURE in it AND be HONORED." The commandment given to the Israelites in terms of the Old Testament temple, which was a building where God manifested His presence among His people, is the same for us regarding the New Testament temple of the Holy Spirit, which is your body.  In other words, we are commanded to eat for God's glory, exercise for His glory, and otherwise take care of His holy temple in order to PLEASE and HONOR God not to attract a spouse or look good in a bikini.
 
The Holy Spirit dwells in, meaning He lives inside of you, when you accept Christ as your Savior.  You become His home!  "Or do you not know that YOUR BODY is the TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit WHO IS IN YOU, whom you have received from God?  For you were bought at a price (the blood of the Lamb); therefore, HONOR (or glorify) GOD WITH YOUR BODY and in your spirit which are God's."   Furthermore, Jesus said he who loves Me obeys My commands (John 14:21).  In 1 Corinthians 6:20, we are specifically commanded to honor God with our bodies.  Likewise, we're further commanded in 1 Corinthians 10:31 to eat and drink for the glory of God.
 
This command was actually first given in the Garden of Eden when God told Adam and Eve to abstain from eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but to partake from every other tree in the Garden.  He made no exceptions when they disobeyed His command.  On the contrary, He cast them out of the Garden of Eden, and as promised, they experienced death. The same held true for the Israelites when they broke their covenant with God which included eating for His glory. As promised, God punished them with enslavement and death as a result of the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem.
 
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). God didn't accept excuses for disobedience then, and He won't accept them now!  As Adam and Eve and the Jews learned the hard way, you must also learn that God "disciplines those He loves like a father the son he delights in" (Proverbs 3:12).  Since your body is God's house, it doesn't belong to you.  That means you don't make the rules concerning it just as a child in the natural has to abide by his parents' rules while he lives in their home.  Consequently, you don't set the limits on rebuilding and repairing the damage you've done to the temple of the Holy Spirit. God does!
 
Unless He says, "That's enough!  I'm pleased and satisfied," you resist the temptation of cravings, you ignore the whining voice of fatigue, and you push through every plateau until the temple is a place that glorifies and honors God! You'll know when you reach that point because His presence will be manifested in you like never before just as it filled the physical temple in 2 Chronicles 5:14 when God was pleased because King Solomon and the Israelites completed construction of the Old Testament temple.
 
You can choose to obey His commands to honor Him with your body by eating and drinking for His glory, or you can continue to be lazy, procrastinate, or otherwise make excuses for your disobedience and suffer the consequences of obesity, eating disorders, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and ultimately, premature death. Tomorrow is not promised to you, and even if you do live to see it, it could be too late as heart attacks and strokes often occur with little or no warning.
 
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).  If you’re ready to serve the Lord by eating and drinking for His glory, PURCHASE YOUR COPY of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition ​ONLINE at Barnes and Noble.com!  In the book, you will learn the biblical principles regarding the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God! You can also follow us daily on Facebook and Twitter for recipes, and diet and exercise tips.  Lastly, don’t forget to read our weekly blog for motivation to stay healthy and fit through Christ.  Just visit our website at www.eatingasanactofworshipministries.org!

The Bible teaches us to "put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires" (Ephesians 4:22).  Instead, you are to "be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self-created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:23-24). This isn't a one-time occurrence. This must be done daily because temptation comes every day.  The fight for possession of the Promised Land of Healthy and Fit for Life is "not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, and against spiritual wickedness in the high places" (Ephesians 6:11-12). Therefore, we are commanded to "put on the whole armor of God" daily (Ephesians 6:13).
 
Before Jesus embarked on His spiritual mission to redeem mankind, He spent time alone with the Father, fasting in the wilderness. Sensing a moment of weakness, Satan tempted our Lord to stop abstaining from food in humble submission to the Father and urged Jesus to break His fast.  Jesus responded with the Word of God and said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). Similarly, when the disciples thought Jesus was hungry, He told them He had already eaten.  This confused them because they had not seen Him eat, but Jesus explained, "My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me and to finish His work" (John 4:34).
 
As in every other aspect of life, Jesus exemplified in these Scriptures how to eat for the glory of God.  No, you don't have to abstain from food and beverages for forty (40) days and nights, but you MUST commit to "honor God with your body" by maintaining the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is your body.  This isn't a choice. It's a command. Therefore, when you are tempted to disobey the command, you follow Jesus' example and fight back with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Ephesians 6:17) by continuing to follow your health and fitness plan or treatment plan for an eating disorder out of loving obedience to God, which is a form of worship.
 
What you'll discover is the phenomenal truth of Jesus' statement to His disciples, that is, obeying God's will to eat and drink for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31) is sustenance not just to your spirit, but also to your physical body.  In other words, the Holy Spirit gives you what you lack, self-control, and fulfills His promise that if you "resist the devil, he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
 
The battle for the healthy and fit version of you is spiritual warfare, and you must prepare your heart, mind, spirit and body for the onslaught from the enemy so you can stand against the evil today!  If you’re ready to put your war clothes on and learn to fight with the FULL ARMOR OF God, PURCHASE YOUR COPY of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition TODAY!   ​In the book, you will learn the biblical principles regarding the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God! You can also follow us daily on Facebook and Twitter for recipes, and diet and exercise tips.  Lastly, don’t forget to read our weekly blog for motivation to stay healthy and fit through Christ.  Just visit our website at www.eatingasanactofworshipministries.org!

​Romans 12:2 says, “Be ye changed by the renewing of your mind," and then you will know the perfect will of God.  In other words, change always starts within us.  That means we have to first choose to do something different, but humans often change their minds again and revert to their old habits.  This is probably the way it has been for you in terms of weight loss and eating disorders up to this point.  You make up your mind, or rather resolve, to start a new diet and exercise regimen, but your resolution falters shortly after you begin, if you ever truly get started at all.
 
God's Word says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8).  If you're honest with yourself, you can admit this is true in terms of your weight loss efforts and entanglement with eating disorders.  Not only do you constantly change your mind about starting a new diet or going to inpatient treatment for an eating disorder, but you also vacillate between sticking with the plan, following the advice of your therapist, giving in to your cravings to eat unhealthy foods, and making excuses not to exercise.  The instability is further evident by the excess weight you carry, changes in how you view yourself, how you relate to others, and how your health is, or eventually will be, affected.  Nevertheless, God can and will provide the stability you need in this area of your life when you change your mind and adopt His perspective of your issue with weight and eating disorders.
 
The choice is yours as to whether or not you trust God and obey His Will.  Jesus said, "He who loves Me obeys My commands" (John 14:21).  When you read and obey His Word as it pertains to the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body, you discover His good and pleasing will for your life in regard to food and beverages.  Then you have the right to ask for the Holy Spirit's empowerment to succeed where you previously and repeatedly failed in the past.  That is a request God can honor because seeking Him and His righteousness first (Matthew 6:33) in all things proves you now have the correct motivation for losing weight and being free of eating disorders.  In other words, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
 
If you’re ready to finally win the weight loss and eating disorder war through Christ, then order your copy of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition TODAY!  In the book, you will learn the biblical principles regarding the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God!  As you apply the principles to your life, the Holy Spirit will empower you to do what you have been unable to do for yourself and succeed where so many others have failed!  Order your copy of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition online NOW at Amazon.com. 

The Bible says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7).  It also teaches us, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be changed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).  In other words, God is saying that true change starts within when you decide to make a different choice, take a new path, form a new opinion, or try a different way of doing something.  However, you don't immediately become the "new you" the moment you decide to change.  Just as there is a process to change your mindset from your current way of thinking, there's also a process to turning your thoughts into reality.  You've gone through this process numerous times throughout your life without recognizing what was taking place.
 
For example, at some point in your life, you accepted, or rather chose to believe, the lies of the world regarding food and bought into the notion that you can eat whatever you want whenever you want or became entangled with an eating disorder.  Once you realized you were deceived, you probably tried to reorient your thinking, but you didn't think you could control your cravings or resist the temptation to change your unhealthy eating habits.  Many of you lost hope of being set free from eating disorders.  Others stopped trying to lose weight because your mind could only envision the overweight version of you and doubted you would ever successfully and permanently lose the weight you've gained over the years. 
 
If you continue to think that way, your situation will not change!  You will remain fat, and the inevitable results you fear will follow.  Namely, you will eventually need medication for high cholesterol, hypertension, or diabetes. You will need heart surgery.  Your leg will be amputated due diabetes.  You'll have to learn to walk and talk again after a stroke.  It’s the same for people dealing with anorexia and bulimia nervosa.  If you don’t see yourself eating healthy meals and living a balanced life on a regular basis, you’ll continue to see food and beverages as the enemy that must be avoided at all costs.  Ultimately, your jaded image of food will kill you.  Likewise, those suffering from bulimia must first envision a life without throwing up after every meal. 
 
From your perspective, being free of those dysfunctional and life-threatening eating habits probably seems impossible, but God says you can rewrite the story in your mind and think, "A thousand shall fall at my side, 10,000 at my right hand, but obesity, anorexia, and bulimia will NOT come near me" (Psalm 91:7).  "For I can do ALL things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13), including losing 50, 200, 400, or even 500 pounds of weight, eating healthy meals every day, and ending the trips to the bathroom to throw up food recently ingested!  Once you change your mind, act on your new beliefs.  Remember, faith without works is dead (James 2:20).  Your behavior is the proof that your mind has been changed.  The new you that emerges is evidence that you truly are the product of what you think.
 
If your heart cries out for change, order the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition TODAY!  In the book, you will learn the biblical principles about the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God!  The 12 concepts will help you renew your mind to God’s perspective of your body and equip you to stop conforming to the pattern of this world when it comes to health and fitness.  ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY on Amazon.

​From the beginning, God ordained a spiritual connection between food and man's positive or negative relationship with Him. For example, Adam and Eve would have been taken to the next spiritual level had they chosen to eat from the Tree of Life instead of from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Jesus is the Tree of Life and the True Vine who gives us, and would have given them, eternal life (Revelation 2:7; 22:1-2, 14-15) as well as the true spiritual wisdom they desired when they ate the forbidden fruit.
 
Likewise, the Israelites were Egyptian slaves, but after God miraculously set them free from bondage, He elevated them by making them a nation. Then He transformed the Levites into priests and instituted the Jews' new method of worship to include eating for His glory (see Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14). 
God specifically stated the food restrictions imposed on the Israelites were made so they would "be holy because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44-45).
 
Again, God changed the way mankind worshipped and ate when He removed us from the curse of the law and saved Jews and Gentiles alike by grace through faith in His Son, Jesus the Christ.  The disciples were elevated to apostles, and God's Holy Spirit was, and still is, poured out on all flesh who believe in Jesus.  It was at this point the Lord told Peter that all foods were declared clean, giving us the spiritual freedom to eat what we want.  However, the commandment to eat in a way that reflects His holiness remains.  Specifically, 1 Corinthians 10:31 states, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
 
These examples teach us that eating for God's glory instead of solely for our physical pleasure is a sign of spiritual maturity.  Like children in the natural, you should eventually graduate from spiritual milk to solid food in Christ (1 Peter 2:2, 1 Corinthians 3:2) as your relationship with God deepens and matures. Consequently, it's time to put away the childish things of pizza, fried foods, burgers and fries, cobbler, ice cream and cookies in spiritual obedience to honor God with your body by taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
 
If you’re ready to finally mature in Christ and worship God even in the way that you eat, then order your copy of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition TODAY!  In the book, you will learn the Biblical principles regarding the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God!  As you apply the principles to your life, the Holy Spirit will empower you to do what you have been unable to do for yourself and succeed where so many others have failed!  Order your copy of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition online NOW at Amazon.com.   

​God promised Abraham and his descendants, the Children of Israel, that He would GIVE them the Promised Land which flowed with milk and honey.  The only problem is that the land was inhabited by the Canaanites who lived in fortified cities with seasoned armies and by the giants who lived in the mountainous regions of Canaan.  Consequently, the Israelites were afraid of what they saw even though God had just miraculously delivered them from enslavement by the Egyptians.
 
We hypocritically criticize them harshly for their lack of faith, but we are guilty of doing the very same thing in our own lives, even when it comes to being set free from obesity and eating disorders.  Like the Israelites, many of you focus on what it will take to succeed instead of on the promise of success through Christ!  You see the number of pounds you have to lose, recall how difficult it has been to resist the temptation to eat what you crave, and doubt that you can ever successfully climb your way out of the mountain of weight you have put on.  Likewise, those suffering from eating disorders cannot imagine eating three (3) meals per day instead of starving themselves today, or they see no end to the cycle of bingeing and purging that has a devastating grip on their lives.
 
God's GIFT to you is the same as it was to the Israelites, Moses, Joshua, Caleb and David.  The gift is the victory that is assured through Christ not the avoidance of the battle!  God is your secret weapon!  You will not be on the battlefield alone. On the contrary, what you will discover is He will fight for you, for the battle is not yours, it's the Lord's (2 Chronicles 20:15).
 
Nevertheless, you must show up on the battlefield with healthy meals, by exercising on your dusty treadmill, by resisting cravings, and refusing to give in to the temptation to return to your old eating habits.  You must not yield to fatigue or be intimidated by how many pounds you must lose to achieve your goal.  You must continue to consume healthy foods and beverages when you do not want another carrot or a bottle of water and even if Satan is trying to convince you that food is your enemy and should be abstained from.  When there seems to be a stalemate, meaning a plateau, trust God to turn the tide of the battle in your favor.  In the end, your testimony will be that you are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you (Romans 8:37) enough to bless you with the laurels of success when the battle is over just as an athlete receives a medal for winning a race after months and years of training. 
 
If you are ready to finally win the health and fitness war through Christ and take possession of the Promised Land of Healthy and Fit for Life, then order your copy of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition TODAY!  In the book, you will learn the Biblical principles regarding the body, dieting, exercising, and maintaining a healthy body for the glory of God!  As you apply the principles to your life, the Holy Spirit will empower you to do what you have been unable to do for yourself and succeed where so many others have failed!  Order your copy of the Eating as an Act of Worship Teacher’s Edition online NOW at Amazon.com