S2. E15. Romans 14 (part 2)
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Your Daily Bread Podcast-1: [00:00:00] you are eating in a way that gives God the glory, giving thanks to God before eating, you don't have to feel guilty about eating that food because you are giving him the glory.
Your Daily Bread Podcast-1: Hey y'all. Welcome back to your Daily Bread podcast. I'm so excited to be diving back in to Romans 14. We are in a series for the month of June where we are walking through Romans 14, and I'm excited to answer one of the most [00:01:00] common questions that I get. And that is, Abby, how do I pray over my relationship with food and how do I properly pray at mealtime?
So we're gonna be teasing that out. And to kick us off, I'll be praying a sin Father God. Thank you Lord for another day. Lord, thank you for just expanding the reach of this show. Lord, there are more and more listeners every single week. Thank you for every single listener and I pray just a special blessing and your favor over every single listener.
Lord, I pray that you reveal yourself as Jehovah jireh, the God that provides. Lord, I pray that you reveal yourself. Self as Jehovah Rafa, the God who heals. And Lord, I pray that you reveal yourself as Yahweh the great I am. And anything that we need, you step in that gap and you say, I am anything that we need.
You are, thank you, God for being sufficient for [00:02:00] us and help us to rest in that. And growing confidence in that and to trust you, Lord, I pray that as we study Romans 14, that your word is illuminated and that your Holy Spirit leads this conversation. It's not what I want to say, but what you want to say through me, Jesus.
Thank you Lord for the opportunity to open up your word and spread. Your word and the gospel to so many people, Lord, and I pray that this episode is especially healing for people when they meet with you at mealtimes. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So in Romans 14 verse six, it says, those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him.
Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord since they give thanks to God before eating. In Romans 14, as we studied last week, talks a lot about how there are no good or bad foods. When Jesus came, he deemed everything clean. [00:03:00] That even includes food that was not there in biblical times because God's word is the same yesterday, today, forever.
And we know that God's word was written. For a specific period in history, but it is also for us now, and it is the living word, so we can apply it to things today. So it's talking a lot about the foods that we eat and. It's okay to eat whatever food that it is if you're giving God the glory. And this is also confirmed in one Corinthians 10 31, where it says, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God.
So if you are eating in a way that gives God the glory, giving thanks to God before eating, you don't have to feel guilty about eating that food because you are giving him the glory. so I wanna walk you through how to. Pray at meal times because I think if we're just praying at the start of meal times, Lord bless this meal, or allow this food to nourish me so that I can continue to be your hands and [00:04:00] feet.
We're missing an opportunity to pray over our relationship with food and the things, the specific things that we actually need help with when it comes to our relationship with food. So I wanna give you a couple examples of things that you could pray. Obviously, you need to Let the spirit lead in your prayers.
But I wanna give you a couple examples of what you could pray maybe as a jumping off point, a, a starting off point when. Thinking about praying over your specific relationship with food, because we know from Psalm 37 23, the Lord delights in the details of your life, so he cares about your relationship with food.
So yes, we wanna thank him for the food. Thank him for the provision and because he has blessed you with that meal, giving you the resources, that time to prepare that meal or buy that meal. The food is already blessed, so you can thank him for blessing the food, but we don't wanna stop there.
I think it, it's a missed opportunity to pray over our relationship with food if we just stop there. So one thing that you could do to pray over your [00:05:00] relationship with food is pray. Revelation three 20. And that's when Jesus says, here I am. I stand at the door and knock. And whoever hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me.
So you could say, Lord, according to your word, allow this prayer as a spiritual symbol of me opening the door and inviting you in. Lord, come in and eat with me just as you did with your disciples. And Lord Help me get to a place of surrender. Lord, help me be patient while I'm eating this meal so I can really spend time with you.
Lord, increase my awareness of your presence. 'cause we know God is Emmanuel. God is always with us, but we're not always aware a prayer that you could be. Praying is Lord, increase my awareness of you here in this moment, and thank you for eating with me. And I just welcome any wisdom that you give me in this mealtime or any connections, or it doesn't even have to be teachings or wisdom, but just, Lord, thank you for helping me to enjoy this meal with you, so we can [00:06:00] build our relationship and our friendship.
You could also pray first Samuel three, where Samuel says, speak Lord for your servant is listening, so that you get yourself into a posture of surrender and listening. 'cause the Lord is always speaking, but we're not always listening. You could also think about the fruits of the spirit because that's when you know you're eating in a godly way.
And we talked about this last weekend in previous episodes that you know you're eating in a godly way of how you're eating is producing, leading to the fruits of the spirit. And one of the fruits of the spirit is patience. So you could say, Lord, help me to be patient while I eat this meal.
Lord, help me to take my time. Help me to properly chew my food. Help me Lord. Give me the strength to put my fork down in between bites so that I'm not preparing my next fork full as I'm still chewing the food that's in my mouth. Help me to be patient and take my time, especially if you have a tendency to overeat.
That's really important that you take your time when eating because it takes 20 minutes for your body to send you fullness cues. So if you're eating in [00:07:00] less than 20 minutes, you probably are overeating, not, not always, but I would say most of the time because you're not even giving your body enough time to send you fullness, excuses to be able to gauge that.
And you could also be praying, Lord, help me to savor my meal, to be fully present with this mealtime, to eat this mindfully and enjoy it. Sometimes we overeat because. We eat so fast and we're like, wait, that tasted so good. I wanna keep eating it. Or I ate that so fast, I don't even remember eating it, like literally blacked out during that experience.
I wanna keep eating because I want to have that experience of eating it again 'cause I missed it the first time. So, Lord, help me to be fully present and eat mindfully and really taste it, and Lord increase my senses so that I can eat this mindfully and fully enjoy it. And be present in this moment. It's also important to note that the way that your taste buds work, your taste buds get desensitized to whatever you're eating after two minutes of eating, meaning that the food gets less desirable, less flavorful, [00:08:00] like it kind of loses its impact with your taste buds.
After two minutes if you're eating a lot of the same things because your taste buds are like, oh, like it's just kind of more of the same. Like, I don't need to like, Get all excited about, like, when you eat something for the first time, it's like, woo, like flavor blast for your taste buds, and the receptors on your tongue are getting all excited and they're trying to sense like, all right, What flavors are we grasping here? There's different parts of your tongue that detect what's. Sweet in your food and what's savory Or salty. Or bitter or that umami flavor, like It's kind of like a map that detect that. So the receptors on your tongue get desensitized. If it's just more and more of the same. And that's actually God's grace and his design that can help you to stop eating when you're comfortably full and you've had enough. 'cause The flavor diminishes when you eat.
So if you're keeping, if you're, if you keep eating because you're trying to get that flavor back and have the food taste as good as the first couple bites, it's not going to, because we don't want to keep eating. We want to eventually come to a [00:09:00] stop. And so that's one way that God design of the human body shows us that we slowly end up kind of tapering off that desire when we are full and we've had enough.
We could also be praying. Thank you Lord, for taking care of and covering my work while I eat so that I have a break with you. Exodus 1414 says that the Lord will fight. For you. You need only be still. So the Lord will take care of your work. He is sovereign. He will take care of whatever you're taking a break from so that you can fully eat with him and consecrate that time as unto him.
So you could say, Lord, give me the patience to eat this meal with you and the self-control to not work while I eat. You could also pray. Lord, help me to be sensitive to your spirit and my body's biological cues to guide my eating and help me sense when I am emerging comfortable fullness. And also, Lord, grant me the self-control to stop eating when I'm comfortably full.
And you could also say, you [00:10:00] know, James four seven says that when we submit to the Lord, the enemy that's trying to temp us, flees from us. So you could even say like, Lord, I submit to you, help me resist the temptation to keep eating past the point of fullness and to cope emotionally. Help me turn to you for emotional comfort instead, not food.
Because there are so many times where we're feeling some type of way, but we also do need to physically eat. So you could say, Lord, help me to physically fuel myself in this moment, but then stop eating when my body has met its physical needs and I'm comfortably full. But if my soul needs fueling, if I need to feed my soul, help me to turn to you to care and cope and process whatever I'm feeling versus.
Turning to food to handle all of that. So I hope that this gives you a couple more ideas of how to pray over your relationship with food. And so regardless of what you're eating, doesn't matter if it's a calorie dense meal, a dessert, or a nutrient dense meal, or a salad, it doesn't matter what it is. It gives God glory If you pray these [00:11:00] things at the start of your meal and give him thanks for the meal.
That's more important to him 'cause you're posturing your heart towards him and you're involving him in your relationship with food and in that specific meal. So I pray that this is helpful. I pray that this amplifies your prayer life and this is going to help you to be praying without ceasing. Your quiet time and your prayer time with the Lord shouldn't be just one pious hour in the beginning of your day.
It. You should be abiding in the Lord throughout the day. And his word says that when you abide in him, he abides in you. And this is a way to keep the conversation going. Prayer is a conversation with the Lord. So this helps you to give you some checkpoints throughout the day to acknowledge the Lord, abide in him,
And keep building that relationship with him. So that is my prayer That these prayers strengthen your prayer life and your relationship with the Lord, and ultimately lead to deeper healing with your relationship with food. And if you know that you need healing with your relationship with food, go to the show notes and schedule a free [00:12:00] 20 minute Food Freedom in Christ.
Call and we'll get on Zoom. We'll talk about what you're struggling with when it comes to your. Current relationship with food and with eating. I'll give you some initial nutrition tips, some initial scriptures to meditate on that speak into your situation and kickstart your journey to healing a relationship with Food with Christ.
And at the time of this recording, we have five spots left for our Godly Girls Retreat. So if you are interested in that, please send me a DM on Instagram if you are interested in coming to our retreat. It will be from August 1st to the third in Nashville. We have a couple spots left, so if you're interested in that and want some more information and want to meet in person to heal your relationship with Food, break Bread with other women that are seeking Jesus and working on their food freedom journey, send me a DM on Instagram and I will send you some more information.
Talk to y'all soon.
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