Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how the Lord God has positively influenced my overeating, this doesn't necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verse. Debbie

COE Support Note:

If you REALLY want to read how Christ helped me throughout this weight loss and even when I was tempted, you should read some of the 100's of previous posts on https://christianovereaterssupport.blogspot.com/

What a Self-Serving Christian I Am!

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, And shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him: and the third day He shall rise again. Matthew 20:18-19

What a Self-Serving Christian I am! I read this passage and think of how selfless that Jesus was. He knew in advance that he would be tried, spit upon, hit, mocked, crucified on a cross, die, and be buried. He went through all of that so that He could rise again on the third day to save us all from our sins.

When I think about all of that, I am hard pressed to determine that I would go through with it all for others, especially for those who would spit on me, hit me and taunt me the way they did to our Lord and Savior. He didn't let that stop Him, though.

I pray that I am a better example of how Christ works in my life, that I am more open to sharing my faith with others regardless of what they might think of me or how they might treat me. Jesus didn't let things like that hold Him back, why do I? I feel so ashamed that I let these concerns interfere with being the person that Christ wants me to be.  Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, And shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him: and the third day He shall rise again. Matthew 20:18-19

Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.


 

I Was Still Lost

For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray. And if so be that he find it, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:11-14

I am so thankful for God's forgiving grace! I loved Christ since my friend first took me to church with with her when I was in primary school. Even though I loved Christ, I was still lost. Maybe I wasn't totally lost, but I was lost, none the less!

When Christ started showing me how lost I was, I found that I had been turning to food to comfort me in times of stress, joy, fear, boredom, etc. Christ showed me that I had made food a false god in my life, because I was turning to food in these and other situations instead of turning to Him.

That was a real eye-opener and I didn't want to believe it, but God always sees the BIG Picture and knew what I was doing even when I was oblivious to it and thought I was a Christian Focused on Christ. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray. And if so be that he find it, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:11-14

Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.



Do We Love Our Brother?

We love Him, because He first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John:19-21

Well, for years I used to take this passage very literally. I have to admit there are times when I was not always the best example of being a loving sibling, especially when they made life style choices that I thought were counterproductive. I had to be prayerful about my attitude and being judgmental of my siblings and their choices. I had to be prayerful about having a forgiving and open heart to them regardless of their actions. I can't tell you that I'm where I need to be, but Christ has made a miraculous change in my attitude and in my interactions.

I was a Can't See Beyond the Nose on Your Face Christian. I was only looking at my interactions related to my siblings. Once Christ drew my attention to my narrow focus, I realized that I needed to look beyond my siblings. Do I love those who snubbed me when I was heavy? Do I love those in the world who make poor life style choices? Do I love those in the world who sell drugs to others? Do I love those who don't love Christ and persecute those who do? Do I love those who traffic people? Do I love those who are against my country? Do I love those who have a different skin color? Do I love those who oppress others? Do I love those who........?

I won't lie to you, but am prayerful that Christ leads me in this goal to being a better example of the Christian He wants me to be. We love Him, because He first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John:19-21

Does It Matter What We Call Jesus?

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are One. 1 John 5:7

The Word is another name for Jesus. So is: Savior, Lord, Jehovah, Christ, the Light of the World, Prince of Peace and the list goes on and on. Does it matter what we call Jesus? You may think that this is a strange topic for me to address in a Christian Overeaters Past and Present Blog post. The thing is, I wrote this post because I felt led to show you the positive impact that Christ has had on my life, my food, and my eating and this is a part of that:

Well, the answer to: Does it matter what we call Jesus? is both yes and no. In some ways it doesn't, because any of these respectful names for our Savior is acceptable. It does matter when we use Jesus' name in vain saying things like: My Lord, did you forget again? or Jesus Christ, my team lost! Many of us who profess to be Christians, get caught up in the secular world and use God's name in vain as a slang thing to say without even thinking. Does it matter to God? You bet it does as evidenced by these many Bible Passages!

Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain. 

Leviticus 19:12 And ye shall not swear by My Name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 24:15-16.And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.  And he that blasphemeth the Name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the Name of the LORD, shall be put to death. 

Deuteronomy 5:11 Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.

Psalm 139:19-20 Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God; depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy Name in vain. 

Colossians 3: 8-10.But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him. 

Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Mark 3: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

Who Am I Trying to Fool?

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is a sin. James 4:17

Oh boy! I am very guilty of this one! There are many times when God tugs on my heart and I give some lame reason why I couldn't or shouldn't do this or that. Who am I trying to fool? Do I think that I can fool God who knows what I am doing and sees through those lame excuses?

The only one I'm fooling is myself! I'm fooling myself into thinking that I'm this devout Christian who is only too willing to do good on Christ's behalf, but is that true? Or am I a 50/50 Christian, doing some of the things God wants and ignoring others?

I hate to say this, but I am probably more of a 50/50 Christian than I'd like to admit. Sure, God took care of my weight loss and has taken my urge for large amounts of food away. He didn't just take half of my weight away and say something like, "Debbie is a 50/50 Christian, doing only half of what I want. I think I will only answer half of her requests." I am definitely glad that Christ doesn't respond to me this way and I need to be more mindful about being willing to do all the things that He requests of me. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is a sin. James 4:17

Trading One Vice for Another

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

Am I Satisfied and content with such things that I have? I find myself looking at others at church, comparing my clothing and seeing how it stacks up with what other female parishioners wear. I don't really think that God would be very pleased that these things go through my mind while I'm at church to focus on my faith walk with Him.

What's more than that, when I'm spending this time comparing styles, I am putting up a roadblock in my heart. In reality I'm making worldly things a priority rather than focusing on Christ and the message that's shared. This makes me sad to admit this!

I didn't want to trade one vice for another. Food had become a false god in my life, because I turned to it instead of turning to Christ when I felt stressed, etc. It seems that I've ended up trading worldly things or maybe I should say added worldly things as an additional vice. The funny thing is, I pride myself in not getting caught up in a worldly focus, but it appears that I have just been deceiving myself. Fortunately, God has led me to become aware of this. If He's gone to such great lengths to do this, He will cure me of this worldly focus if I ask Him. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

Since I am applying these Bible Verses to my life, it may not convey the whole meaning of the verses. Debbie

The Positive Impact of Prayer on Many

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

When I first read this verse, I immediately thought about the positive personal impact on me. I want to be healed from vices like overeating, failure to turn to Christ in all things, and for physical healing or relationships that need to be healed, etc. That's my very worldly I-Me Focus on the benefits for me.

This time, when I read it, I realized there are the benefits for others who are praying for our needs, as well. It may help them better relate to the needs in their own lives, some similar and some distinctly different. I was reminded that one of the reasons that I think that people have related to the Christian Overeaters Past and Present and other blogs is that Jesus uses my many shortcomings to impact the lives of others. I think, although I can't totally know, that some are able to relate to the many things, although some seem insignificant, that may work a wedge in our relationship with Christ.

I like the idea of being a Two-fer Christian, by my prayers for others and being prayed for by others. In that way, we all benefit. So, for what ever the reason, we are to: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.



O Debbie of Little Faith...

And He said, "Come." And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Matthew 15: 29-31

There have been these times when God's led me in a particular direction and I've been reluctant to go. I was reluctant to put the book: Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life on line when someone from my church suggested it. I had a lot of prayerful arguments with God about that, but fortunately He won out!

You would think that I would learn, wouldn't you? So when God gave me the instinct to create the Christian Overeaters Past and Present blog, I again argued that I was too busy. I also thought people may not want to read about the miracles that God did in my life by allowing an 80+ pound weight loss and that He allowed the vast majority of it to stay off for over 30 years. Again and again, I doubted Christ each time He led me to create another blog and only reluctantly did so.

So, why is this significant? It may not be significant to you, but it sure is to me. When I read this Bible passage, it's like I'm reading O Debbie of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?  You would think that after all the many miracles that God has done in my life, I would be more willing to do His will to share what He's done. No, not me. I'm there digging my heels in and saying, "No, no! I'm afraid of this, that, and the next thing!" Fortunately for me, I have a very forgiving heavenly Father who loves and reassures me despite my many fears whether I'm a Digging My Heels in Christian or not. And He said, "Come." And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Matthew 15: 29-31

Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.



The Peace Which Passeth All Understanding

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And The Peace of God Which Passeth All Understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

You don't know how many times that Christ has gotten me through difficult times through this Bible Passage. Additionally, He gets others through their difficult situations, as well. What do I mean by that?

Well, there was a time when my son was born and he had a serious condition and had to be rushed to a hospital 2 1/2 hours away to a big city to have emergency surgery the same day he was born. Everyone else had their babies in their arms, but I didn't. I thought about it and realized that normally I would have been a Devastated Christian with having my newborn son rushed hours away for surgery, but I wasn't. That's when I first realized that Christ had given me The Peace Which Passeth All Understanding. I knew that if Christ went to great lengths to give me this calm that only He can give in the midst of traumatic situations, that He would take care of everything. Knowing that got me through until I could go see my son.

It's happened various times in my life and I am so thankful for this special blessing that Christ has bestowed on me to know He is right there beside me through thick and thin. Now, when others are going through traumatic situations, I pray for God to give them The Peace Which Passeth All Understanding, as well. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And The Peace of God Which Passeth All Understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.




Do I Wear Rose Colored Glasses?

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. Romans 14:8-9

There are times I feel that others think I'm a Rose Colored Glasses Christian, thinking everything is going to be wonderful and am not focused on reality. I guess they are entitled to think that. I found out a long time ago, that I can't control what other people think. As I have been turning more and more of my life over to Christ's very capable hands, I realize what really matters is what He thinks of me.

Do I fret over what will happen if I gain my weight back? Do I worry if I were to get sick and die? Do I worry about things out of my control. I wouldn't be truthful if I said that I never worry, but I find that I worry a lot less when I am trusting Christ to be in control of my life and the lives of the people that I care about.

When there are problems, I do trust that my Savior will get us through them. I don't know that there is always going to be a fairy tale ending to each situation, but I know that Jesus will get us through the good and the bad and the in-between. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. Romans 14:8-9

Since I am applying these Bible Verses to my life, it may not convey the whole meaning of the verses. Debbie

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