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Eat Well, Christian Weight Loss

Do you Really Want to Be Delivered?

“Lord, I Want to Go!”

A couple of years ago, I was preparing a lesson for church titled “Preparation for Deliverance.” It focused on when God told Moses He was going to deliver the children of Israel from slavery (Exodus 3:7–17).

As I was meditating on the word “deliverance,” I paused to consider its root: “Deliver.”

At that moment, I had a small package sitting on the table next to me. I planned to mail it soon, to have it delivered. Then a simple, yet profound thought crossed my mind:

What if packages and letters could decide whether they would be delivered or not?

I imagined my little package looking up at me and saying, “No, Kim. I’m comfortable right here on this table. I don’t want to go!”

Of course, that’s silly. Packages don’t get a say. But people do.

And that’s when it hit me: Many people say they want deliverance.

They want God to move them out of a painful, toxic, or stagnant situation. But when God begins the process of moving them from where they are to where they need to be, they resist.

Like my imaginary package, they say with their actions, “I’m comfortable here. I don’t want to go.”

Meditation

Deliverance is not just about leaving something behind. It is about being moved toward something better. And just like a package on a journey, the trip may involve a few bumps, some delays, or discomfort.

But if the destination is worth it, the trip is worth it too.

Imagine you were being delivered to Hawaii. Would you let the thought of turbulence or temporary discomfort stop you from getting there? Of course not. You would keep your eyes on the destination.

The same principle applies when God is trying to deliver you. He has somewhere for you to go:

A place of peace.
A place of healing.
A place of purpose.

But you have to be willing to make the trip.

That means letting go of excuses. That means releasing the comfort of what’s familiar, especially when familiar isn’t healthy.

You cannot be delivered if you are determined to stay.

So here are some questions on which to reflect:

Are you thinking more about how uncomfortable the journey might be, or how good the destination will be when you get there?
Are you imagining the “what ifs” of trouble, or the joy of your healing?
Are you meditating on your freedom, or are you stuck replaying your fears?

If your focus is on the discomfort, then chances are you are still resisting.

But if you shift your focus to the goodness of God and what He has planned for you, then you can confidently say, “Lord, I want to go.”

Jesus is the Ultimate Deliverer. He is faithful to move you from bondage to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from fear to peace.

You do not have to make the journey alone. You only need to say “yes” and allow Him to carry you through.

Ask God in prayer:

Lord, I don’t want to stay stuck where I am. I want to be delivered. I know that sometimes the journey may be uncomfortable, but I trust that You are with me every step of the way.

Forgive me if I have resisted You in the past. Today, I surrender my fears and excuses. I choose to believe that the destination You have for me is worth every step it takes to get there.

Move me, Lord, from where I am to where I need to be. I say with faith and confidence, “Lord, I want to go.”

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

P.S.
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It’s a step-by-step journey of faith, healing, and transformation—delivered with grace and truth.

Ready to say, “Lord, I want to go”?
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Eat Well, Christian Weight Loss

Green Leafy Vegetables: Your Body’s WD-40

Has your body ever felt stiff, sore, and a bit “rusty”? Here is a sneaky eating strategy that may help!

Many years ago, I attended a conference called Food as Medicine. That week, we ate a lot of green leafy vegetables and other vegetable-rich dishes. It was all delicious!

A few days after the conference ended, I participated in the Peachtree Road Race. I was able to run all 6.2 miles!

I came to think of green leafy vegetables as the body’s WD-40.

For those who may be unaware of what WD-40 does, it is a penetrating oil that protects metal from corrosion and rust, releases stuck parts, and can lubricate just about any mechanical part.

Thinking of green leafy vegetables as your body’s WD-40 makes sense when you consider God’s first guidance to humankind about what to eat:

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food (Genesis 1:19 NKJV).

I also just did some research to discover why my analogy is valid. Below is the research I did.

My prayer that you will apply what you learn so that your body remains flexible even as you age!

Green Leafy Vegetable Benefits Like WD-40

The analogy of green leafy vegetables as the body’s “WD-40” is a creative and fitting way to describe their role in promoting smooth, efficient bodily function.

Here is a list of the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s top powerhouse foods. Notice that the top 16 are green leafy vegetables!

Just as WD-40 is used to lubricate, protect, and enhance the performance of mechanical parts, green leafy vegetables provide essential nutrients that optimize the body’s internal systems.

Here’s how this analogy works:

How Green Leafy Vegetables Act Like “WD-40” for the Body

Anti-Inflammatory Properties:
- WD-40 Function: It reduces friction and prevents rust or corrosion in mechanical parts, allowing them to work smoothly over time.
- Green Leafy Vegetables: Rich in antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and polyphenols, they combat inflammation and oxidative stress, which can “rust” or damage cells and tissues over time. By reducing inflammation, they help joints, muscles, and blood vessels function more smoothly, preventing wear and tear on the body.
Nitric Oxide Production for Circulation:
- WD-40 Function: Enhances movement by lubricating mechanical parts so they can glide effortlessly.
- Green Leafy Vegetables: High in nitrates (e.g., spinach, arugula, kale), they boost nitric oxide production in the body. Nitric oxide relaxes blood vessels, improving circulation and oxygen delivery to muscles—critical for endurance activities like running. This “lubrication” effect ensures your cardiovascular system operates efficiently.
Muscle Recovery and Energy Efficiency:
- WD-40 Function: Improves efficiency of moving parts by reducing resistance and enhancing performance.
- Green Leafy Vegetables: Packed with magnesium and potassium, they support muscle function and recovery by preventing cramping and optimizing energy metabolism during physical activity. This nutrient-rich “lubrication” helps muscles perform better during exertion and recover faster afterward.
Detoxification Support:
- WD-40 Function: Removes grime or buildup from surfaces to restore functionality.
- Green Leafy Vegetables: Contain chlorophyll and fiber, which help detoxify the body by supporting liver function and aiding in the elimination of waste products through digestion. This cleansing effect keeps your internal systems running smoothly.
Bone Health and Joint Lubrication:
- WD-40 Function: Prevents wear and tear on mechanical parts by reducing friction over time.
- Green Leafy Vegetables: Rich in vitamin K, calcium, and magnesium, they strengthen bones while supporting joint health. These nutrients act as a protective buffer against degeneration or stiffness in joints.
Endurance and Stamina Boost:
- WD-40 Function: Ensures machines can operate for longer periods without breaking down.
- Green Leafy Vegetables: Their combination of vitamins (A, C), minerals (iron), and phytonutrients enhances oxygen transport in the blood while supporting energy production at the cellular level. This helps sustain physical activity for longer periods—like running a race—without fatigue

Why This Analogy Works

Just as WD-40 is an essential tool for maintaining mechanical systems so they perform at their best, green leafy vegetables are vital for maintaining the human body’s biological systems.

They “lubricate” processes like circulation, muscle recovery, detoxification, joint health, and energy production—ensuring smooth operation and peak performance

Conclusion

Your experience at the “Food as Medicine” conference highlights how eating nutrient-dense foods like green leafy vegetables can transform physical performance—allowing you to run the Peachtree Road Race with ease!

Incorporating these vegetables into your daily diet is akin to applying WD-40 to your body: it keeps everything functioning optimally while preventing breakdowns caused by inflammation or inefficiencies in metabolic processes.

By Kimberly Taylor, takebackyourtemple.com with Perplexity.AI research.

Take Back Your Health God’s Way

With the Take Back Your Temple (TBYT) program, you will transform not just your body but also heal your heart and mind—so you can live the abundant life God has planned for you.

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Eat Well

Your Health as a Water Wheel

I love water wheels! In ancient times, water wheels were built for useful work, like grinding grain for flour, wood pulp for paper, or crushing fiber for cloth.

Recently, the Lord showed me that our bodies are like water wheels. After all, our bodies are 60-70% water!

Consider John 7:38 also:

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Proper hydration, nutrition, and exercise helps us maintain a healthy body much like water wheel system components.

Here is a clip of a water wheel in motion:

Let’s examine how a water wheel system works and how it compares to how our bodies work:

Hydration as the River

Just as a river provides the water flow that powers a water wheel, hydration is essential to provide adequate blood flow to power our bodies!

Hydration means replacing the fluids that our bodies lose daily through sweating, breathing, and eliminating waste.

On average, our bodies lose and need to replace about 8-12 cups of water daily!

Water is crucial for:

Maintaining blood volume and circulation.

Transporting oxygen and nutrients throughout the body and escorting waste products out of it.

Supporting cellular function and temperature regulation.

Without sufficient water, the “river” (your blood flow) slows down, reducing its ability to deliver critical nutrients to your cells. This can lead to fatigue, poor performance, and even health issues.

Key takeaway? Prioritizing hydration ensures that your body’s “river” flows smoothly, enabling all other systems to function well.

Eating Properly as Water Wheel Maintenance

A water wheel requires proper design, construction, and maintenance to work efficiently. Similarly, eating a balanced diet provides the “building blocks” (nutrients) our bodies need for repair, growth, and energy production.

Proper nutrition ensures:

Your muscles (the “paddles” of the wheel) are strong enough to generate force.

Your metabolism operates efficiently to convert food into usable energy.

Your tissues are repaired and maintained for long-term health.

Without proper nutrition, the “water wheel” may break down or operate inefficiently.

Key takeaway? Eating properly is like maintaining and fine-tuning the water wheel so it can handle the demands placed on it.

Exercise as Operating the Water Wheel

The water wheel only fulfills its purpose when it is set in motion by flowing water. Similarly, exercise activates your body’s systems to perform useful work:

It strengthens muscles and bones (the physical structure of the wheel).

It improves cardiovascular efficiency (like optimizing how well the wheel turns).

It helps burn stored energy (calories), akin to using the power generated by the wheel for productive tasks.

Regular exercise also enhances blood flow (the river’s current), creating a positive feedback loop that benefits overall health.

Key takeaway? Exercise is the act of spinning your water wheel to generate power for daily activities and long-term vitality.

Bringing It All Together

Here is a summary of how all the elements work together daily to generate health:

Adequate Hydration ensures a steady “river” of blood flow, which powers all bodily functions.

Proper Nutrition maintains the “water wheel,” keeping it strong and functional over time.

Exercise sets the system in motion, allowing you to generate energy and accomplish meaningful work.

By thinking of your health in this way, you can prioritize these components effectively:

Start with hydration as your foundation each day.

Support your body with balanced meals that provide essential nutrients.

Engage in regular exercise to keep your system active and productive.

This holistic approach mirrors how a well-maintained water wheel operates efficiently with a steady river flow—creating a powerful system that works in harmony for long-term health.

Eat Well

1 Tip to Make Life Easier

Self-control with eating is hard sometimes, isn’t it?

Not only must you handle outward circumstances, but conflicts inside of yourself!

Here is an eating conflict I faced once that gave me an eye-opening revelation.

I opened the refrigerator and saw a jar of peanut butter.

Before I even thought about it, I grabbed the jar and opened it, intending to eat some.

I had to laugh at how quickly I did it.

Now the problem wasn’t with the peanut butter. The problem was that I wasn’t even thinking about peanut butter until I saw it!

So I set up a battle for myself that I did not need to fight.

Have you ever been there?

But life is easier when you practice one principle that is based on God’s word.

This will help you not only with self-control in eating but in other areas of your life.

This is a principle that Jesus taught in Luke 16:10:

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”

Jesus says that how you handle little things in life indicates how you will handle the bigger things.

The peanut butter temptation was a little thing. However, I did not want to re-ignite a bigger problem I used to have.

When I weighed 240 pounds, I used to eat emotionally and out of impulse.

But God delivered me from that.

Eating the peanut butter would have been the wrong thing for me because I wasn’t hungry at that time. I just wanted to eat out of impulse because I saw the peanut butter.

Here is a principle I live by that Jesus’ teaching inspired:

“Keep the things you want to do close to you; keep the things you don’t want to do far away from you.”

This is how the principle works:

What to Keep Close

For me and eating, that means keeping healthy foods that do not hijack my brain in my home.

I accept that I must either prepare these foods myself or buy them already prepared.

In the mornings or the night before, I plan our meals for the day and assemble the ingredients. That way, everything is right where I need it when I am ready to cook.

They are close to me.

What to Push Far Away

To avoid the things I don’t want to do with my eating, I keep brain-hijacking foods out of my house. I avoid the restaurants where those foods live too, or if I must go, then I decide ahead of time what I am going to eat and stick to my plan.

To keep the peanut butter far away from me so that I did not eat it out of impulse, I pushed it to the back of the refrigerator.

That little action worked!

I still eat peanut butter, but I do it according to plan and not out of impulse. I don’t want to re-train myself to be impulsive.

Now you might ask: What if other people are bringing the tempting foods close to you in your home or work area?

Ask them to keep it far away from you, such as in the back of the refrigerator, cabinet or pantry where it is not easy for you to get.

Or you can put a covering over it that you cannot see through, such as foil or an opaque/color plastic wrap.

Be willing to test out which approach works for you.

The good news is that this principle even works for other things besides eating.

For example, to keep exercise close to me (because I want to do it), then I use exercise DVDs or sometimes videos on YouTube or FitnessBlender to work out.

To keep procrastination far from me (because I don’t want to do it) I started using an app that blocked certain websites during my work hours.

I had a problem surfing the internet when I should have been writing. I would go to the same websites during those times and willpower to stay away from them wasn’t working.

Now, if I even try to go to one of those websites during work hours, the app will display a message that reminds me I should be working!

I recommend creating a list for yourself, one list for “I Want to Do” for your day and another for “I Don’t Want to Do” for your day.

Then, ask the Lord for wisdom on how to bring the things you want to do closer to you, plus how to keep the things you don’t want to do far away from you.

I guarantee if you do this and obey what He says, you will make your life much easier.

In the end, life is all about finishing your race well in the Lord. Isn’t life hard enough without creating unnecessary stumbling blocks that stand in the way of your ultimate goal? I’m sure you will agree that this is the wisest way to live!

Eat Well

5 Ways to Recognize a Deceptive Food (Bible Warning)

Our grocery stores are filled with deceptive foods – processed foods that appear nourishing to our bodies but are not.

Instead, these foods hijack our brain’s reward and calming systems (Dopamine, Serotonin, Beta Endorphin primarily) and we become addicted to them.

Many believers in Christ are struggling with emotional eating too. To overcome, it is important that we consider the warning in this scripture:

When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you; …Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food (Proverbs 23:1-3).”

Considering what we eat carefully applies to us because we control what we eat and our food choices effect our ability to exercise self control.

The Hidden Danger of Deceptive Food

Deceptive foods interfere with our ability to eat with self-control. Self-control is a fruit of God’s spirit.

One additional fact complicates the issue: Some people who are suffering from emotional issues actually want food to hijack them!

To quote an old commercial, it is their “Calgon, take me away!” substance. Food becomes their escape from emotional pain.

As a result, part of them wants to continue eating deceptive foods, even though the overeating they cause is ruining their health and quality of life.

I know this issue well. Deceptive foods hijacked my life for over 20 years!

But Proverbs 4:23 says,

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

God showed me that my heart issue needed addressing first. If I did not allow God to heal the emotional issues in my life, I would always be tempted to run back to deceptive foods as a means of escape.

The enemy could continue to deceive me in thinking:

I can’t live without certain foods in my life
I’ll die if I don’t have certain foods
I can’t handle it if I don’t eat a particular food

The primary method the enemy uses to control God’s people is fear. Just like with Eve, the first woman, he uses the “fear of missing out” to keep you in bondage.

He had her focus on the one tree that would hurt her versus the hundreds, maybe thousands of trees that would help her.

His strategy is the same; he uses whatever means necessary to take God’s people out of their purpose. He doesn’t want us fulfilling the Great Commission.

But we have the power to stop this.

1 Corinthians 6:12 says,

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

While we can eat anything, we shouldn’t eat everything. Each of us is unique.

It is wise to focus on the foods that are truthful with us rather than deceive us: Helpful foods look good, taste good, and help us to feel good so that we can go out and do good works with energy and vitality.

We were created to do good works to glorify God!

How to Identify Deceptive Food

Here are 5 tips to identify deceptive foods that have hijacked your brain. By the way, I can write about this because I fell for every single one of these deceptions:

1.After you eat it, your mind becomes obsessed with it. It tasted good, but now your thoughts keep drifting back to where that food is. You keep thinking about when you are going to eat it again.

2. You have difficulty controlling the amount you eat of it. You aren’t satisfied with one serving; you must have several in one sitting. You may tell yourself that you are only going to have a little, but you find yourself eating a lot and are unable to stop.

3. You fear giving it up. Feelings of deprivation are just fear in disguise. Here is an easy way to tell if a food has hijacked your brain:

Imagine yourself never buying that food again. What feelings come up? If you don’t have an emotional attachment to it, then you are fine. But if you feel a sense of loss and can’t imagine life without that food, it has likely hijacked your brain.

4. You say that you are buying the food for others, but you are the one who eats it. You may have feelings of guilt buying the food, so you tell yourself that you are buying it for the kids, for your spouse, or for guests who happen to stop by. But the truth is that you are buying it for yourself because you are the one who eats most of it.

5. You got the food from the center aisles of the grocery store, in the freezer case, at the cash register, the convenience store, or at the fast food restaurant. While not every deceptive food lives in these areas, most of them do.

In summary, each of us must decide how we are going to show up for life. Do we really want to live our whole lives in a brain fog, and miss the abundant opportunities the Lord gives us to experience daily peace and joy?

I hope starting today, you decide to take back your Spiritual strength, physical energy and emotional stability!

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