Whenever you decide to do something good in life, something is always going to happen to test you on your resolve.
That is the basis for Step 5 of the Take Back Your Temple process: “Expect Tests and Be Prepared.”
I started this journey back in December 2003, but I still get tempted occasionally to eat things I know are not good for me.
Jesus was not immune to temptations either!
Luke 4:13 says, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”
Did you get that?
The devil tempted Jesus after His 40-day fast, Jesus resisted the devil, but then devil still sought another opportunity to tempt Jesus again!
That’s why scripture tells us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).”
This week, I faced a “tempting opportunity.” My husband Mike and I went to a neighborhood Christmas party. Mike brought some chocolate cake home.
The next day, I received a phone call with some bad news. Suddenly, I remembered Mike’s chocolate cake in the refrigerator.
That was the tempting opportunity.
Now up until that point, the cake had not tempted me. But I felt bad and I wanted to feel better.
From my past habits, that’s what I used to do – run to food whenever I had emotions I didn’t want to feel. It was my emotional pain killer.
But I remembered Psalm 46:10 in which the Lord says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
This time, I just sat still and talked with the Lord: “Lord, my heart is heavy. I need your Holy Spirit to minister to my heart right now and give me peace about this.”
I meditated on His word and allowed the Holy Spirit to bring scriptures to my remembrance that comforted me. He showed me a new perspective on the situation.
Learning to sit still with your feelings and allow your built-in Comforter to minister to you is a key skill in overcoming emotional eating.
The enemy will try to convince you, “I can’t stand it. I must eat right now to escape this uncomfortable feeling.”
Emotional eating is a behavior of impulse. The enemy wants you to move fast so that you don’t think about what you are doing. He also wants you to focus on looking to the past rather than moving forward!
I am happy to say that I did not eat that cake. So it is not tempting me anymore.
The bottom line is, you are going to get tempted at various times in life until you meet Jesus face to face. So the wisest thing to do is shut the doors on the enemy to limit those “opportune times” whenever you can.
Thank you so much, Kim. I needed this so much. All of your articles are wonderful, but this is my favorite one to date 🙂
Awesome, Heidi! I am so glad you found it helpful 🙂
Thank u Kimberley for the reminder to be vigilant. But I was just wondering if it is ok to eat the ‘bad” foods but in controlled portion and once on a while. Otherwise prolonged suppression or deprivation of these favorite but bad foods might lead to uncontrolled bingeing eventually. Yet there is
another viewpoint that eating such foods will trigger off the old addiction. What do u think?
Hi Jenny – That is an excellent question. A key principle of Take Back Your Temple is ‘no food is forbidden’ for the very reason you described! You eat healthy most of the time, but allow room for some of your less healthy favorites on special occasions. You are the one who decides what to eat and when under the Lord’s guidance. I had a piece of chocolate cake at the party and I enjoyed it thoroughly! I had decided I was going to have that and it was good. But the difference was, I wasn’t using the food to smother my emotions. During the “tempting opportunity” I mentioned, I would have been eating for the wrong reason. I didn’t want to fall back into old habits. I hope that makes sense!
thank you for that description, I was wondering the same thing. That helps me a lot.
I don’t know how but God always uses your messages to speak to me out of nowhere, your messages pop up with just what I need to hear. God bless your messages I hope God continues to use you Lord knows I need you and your anointing amen
I hear you God