God's Wisdom In A Nutshell

Hello,

Many families say a prayer before the evening meal and I was raised with this same ritual of blessing food as well. Food and prayer are discussed in the book of 1 Timothy.

“Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe, they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from demons. These teachers are hypocrites and liars. They pretend to be religious but their consciences are dead. They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanksgiving by people who know and believe the truth. Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it. We may receive it gladly with thankful hearts. For we know it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”(1 Tim 4:1-4)

This verse is speaking about some religions that state it is wrong for those who share the Gospel to be married and to eat certain foods. This is a man made conclusion from Satan’s influence- not a teaching of Jesus. God doesn’t have rules for teachers of Christianity to abstain from marriage or to abstain from certain food.  All food was provided for us to eat thankfully without gluttony. As far as alcohol goes, we are not to get drunk- which typically means to sip a modest beverage slowly and/or have it along side some food- using it as a beverage rather than a means to alter our state of consciousness.

The teachings of Jesus – first and foremost- ask us to believe in Him and trust Him. Later we may choose to follow the teachings of Jesus because we have discerned that His ways are flawless. Jesus’ ways make our lives easy, they help us avoid future problems and by following His ways we will be blessed profusely.  Being a Jesus follower will dissolve our need for substances that change our state or push down our unwanted feelings.

Our relationship with the Lord will also lead us to desire times of fasting or abstaining from certain food in order to make our prayers more powerful. During these self appointed fasts- which are the most meaningful to us (rather than religious fasts we adhere to for legalism) we can fast and pray as a way to show the seriousness of our prayer request.

…I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions….So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.” Ezra 8:21-23

Prayer before meals ensures we stop a moment and recognize the fact that we are blessed with daily food to eat. It also helps us to recognize that the Lord is our provider and without His blessing we might be an individual who doesn’t know where his/her next meal is coming from. Our intellect and ability to earn an income to provide food for our families comes from the Lord- we cannot be arrogant and think we are the source of our intellect and our hard work made this stockpile of wealth. On the contrary, everything- intellect, good breaks and work ethic come from the Lord and when we recognize this and stop daily to thank Him for our food as well as our other countless blessings, we will receive even more. Our lives then become a display of serving the Lord out of our profound thankfulness to this beautiful life He gave each and everyone of us.

“You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.”(Exodus 23:25)

Food For Thought!

Lisa