Gluttony: An Area Needing Discipline.

Well, today I am bringing you a different kind of post than usual. Our health is very important to our lives in general because we as humans, each, are made up of three parts, mind, body, and spirit even though we are one person; in this life one does not exist without the other. We are a spirit that has a mind who lives in a body. When our body is sick, it also affects our mental & spiritual well being. Think of a time when you were extremely ill. What were the tormenting thoughts that you would have to fight back from your mind? Did your spirit man feel as strong in the things of God? When we are fighting an attack from the enemy in any part of our being, we are actually fighting it in every part of our being. I believe that it is our responsibility to keep our temple (body) healthy in order to do the work that God has called us to do. Gluttony, which the Bible refers to as sin, is simply the act of being given to excess. Now, in the land of the plentiful, we as Christians battle gluttony on a large scale whether we realize it or not; whether we even want to acknowledge it or not. Gluttony can get us into serious trouble because we are not setting boundaries for body...or mind...or spirit. How many times have you purposed in your mind not to eat something that you viewed as harmful to you, but your desires overrode what your mind said was right for you, and you ate it anyway? If we are unrestrained with what we put into our bodies, we will surely reap the consequences for it. I always have to keep myself in check especially when it comes to the area of sweets. Even though I have never battled weight problems, I could always put away huge (...and I emphasize the word huge) amounts of sweets. Sometimes the more sweets that I ate the smaller I got. At one point in my life I ate cookies, brownies, cake, chocolate, etc...etc...all day long without hardly even eating any real food, yet weighed only 90 pounds. So, you see gluttony is not even a weight issue in itself, but the weight problems (which ever way) is simply a result of gluttony. I paid the price of that wrong behavior through some real health problems. I actually feel so much healthier (mind, body, and spirit) in my 40's than I ever felt in my 20's and early to mid 30's. I am a true believer in herbs and all natural methods of healing. Many months ago a man had told my husband about a certain all-natural health item that he was using, and that it had made significant changes in his health. So, I began to research it on the internet, and found nothing but rave reveiws of this product. It has been on my heart to get it  for my husband to use who has been struggling now with gall bladder problems for four to five years now with it only growing worse. He has also struggled with knee and shoulder pain along with swelling for even longer. Lately he has hurt so bad in his knee that it was hard for him to walk on it and use it. It is difficult to watch someone that you love be sick. Well, I will tell you more about what we are doing tomorrow. Yesterday we went to the feed store (yes, you heard me right!) and bought some for fifteen dollars, began to use it, and within two hours my husband said that his knee has not felt this good in a very long time. The pain was virtually gone. I had been asking God what we could give him naturally that would heal his body. This might just be the answer to my prayers, and I want to share it with you. God wants us to prosper and flourish in our health. Begin to think about what areas of your life that you need to be more diligent in utilizing more restraint. It feels good to this flesh man to be able to consume whatever we want, but it is not good for us to walk in unrestrained behavior. In Matt. 26:41, concerning any temptations the Word says, "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptations: the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak." I pray that you and I both are able to overcome every temptation in the area of gluttony. We should eat to live & not live to eat. God, help us today to begin to be disciplined in this area.