February is National American heart month which is a vital reminder for all of us to focus on our cardiovascular health. One daily way you can do this is to be spiritually mindful when you sit down to dine, whether at home or a restaurant. An equally paramount consideration is our spiritual diet. For the past few weeks, I’ve been hearing the Lord’s loving cautionary words, “What you eat will consume you.”
The word consume or consumed is used approximately 150 times in the Bible and carries both positive and negative connotations.
We can take much comfort from the compassionate verses found in Lamentations 3:22-23,
“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.”
One of the Hebrew words for consume is taman, (pronounced taw-mam), Strong’s H8552, and means to be consumed, exhausted, spent, or destroyed. Also, it can refer to finish or complete, in a good or bad sense.1
A New Testament word for consume is analisko (pronounced an-al-is’-ko), Strong’s G355, and means consume, use up, or destroy.2
Our Focus Can Become Our Food.
Our focus can become our food, and companies know this all too well. This is one of the key reasons why so much money is spent on food advertisements each year.
These ads act in a subliminal manner which stimulates the mental process. Since they reside below our consciousness, they can affect our minds without us being aware of them.
You Must Be Having A Really Bad Day!
About fifteen years ago I was helping a family member who was going through a very deep valley due to a dire health challenge.
I had gone to the cafeteria, and, without fully realizing it, loaded my plate with all manner of junk food such as doughnuts, nachos, pudding, and the like. It was as if I was just going through the motions to eat something.
Since I’d not covered my plate with a napkin or a plastic cover in the cafeteria checkout line, the contents of my plate were fully exposed for everyone to see and evaluate.
When walking down the long hospital corridor from the cafeteria to my family member’s hospital room, a nurse passed by me and commented, “You must be having a really bad day.” I looked at her and honestly replied, “I am.”
An important takeaway is that while we may not make the wisest dietary choices every day, it’s the overall pattern that makes a difference.
For the remainder of the lengthy hospital stay where I visited our family member, the nurse’s comments reminded me to be spiritually mindful when I sit down to dine. The location of where I dine is immaterial. It’s what’s on my plate that makes the difference.
When we focus solely on our sadness, we may not realize we’re feeding it.
Our Daily Bread And Spiritual Food.
A spiritual diet parallels a physical one in that what we eat can either help or harm us.
Included in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)
In the literal sense, this food prepared by the Jews was composed of flour mixed with water and baked. It was in the form of an oblong or round cake, as thick as one’s thumb and as large as a plate or platter, hence it was not to be cut but broken.1
The spiritual application, which is far more important, is that we seek the Lord daily for not only our physical bread but our spiritual bread.
When Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He countered with “spiritual bread,” i.e, the Word of God.
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’
“But He [Jesus] answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4)
What You Eat Will Consume You.
If we are storing and hiding God’s word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11), then when the tempter comes to us and wants us to eat his nasty, negative, destructive diet, we can counter with God’s healthy, overcoming, victorious one.
Envision two plates as you sit down to eat. One plate is filled with hopefully healthy foods, and the other one is filled with spiritually harmful foods such as worry, self-pity, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, jealousy, self-ambition, and all other manners of the works of the flesh. (Galatians 5:19-21)
This is such a stark reminder of what you eat will consume you!
Feeding On God’s Faithfulness.
My October 24, 2022, prophetic blog post titled These Five Instructions includes feeding on the faithfulness of God.
https://sheilaeismann.com/these-five-instructions/
“Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4-5) (Emphasis mine)
These five instructions are followed by such a fabulous promise from God in that He shall give us the desires of our hearts.
Prophetic Insights For Daily Living.
#1. When we’re going through a really tough time such as the one I mentioned in this blog post, we can easily fall prey to the enemy’s tactics of shifting our focus from the goodness and faithfulness of God to only the negative which in turn creates a defeatist atmosphere around us, in our homes, and everywhere we go.
We may need a spiritual nutritional coach or advisor – a sister or brother in Christ who can give us some hands-on help.
If the Lord is calling you to be this trusted coach or advisor, would you be willing to do so?
#2. In addition, how do you navigate challenging days and circumstances?
#3. A practical exercise would be to set two empty plates on your table, and using pieces of paper with labels or pictographs of literal food and spiritual food reminders, examine what you are eating.
#4. What method do you use to fortify your spirit with God’s word? I like to write verses on lined 3 x 5 index cards and say them aloud. There is such power in the spoken word which also helps to create a positive atmosphere around us. This is one way I continue to feed my spirit.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21)
#5. How do you handle negative people and atmospheres?
#6. In what manner does this prophetic message minister to you? What verses is Holy Spirit quickening unto you that would be helpful for your daily spiritual diet?
Our spiritual food and our thoughts, followed by our actions, will consume us either way, through fear or faith.
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (1 John 5:4)
My prayer for everyone is that we will be mindful of when we sit down to dine because what we spiritually eat will consume us.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8)
Until the next message,
SFE (Sheila, Fellow Encourager)
Sheila F. Eismann, Prophetic Seer, Blogger, & Author, publishes her blog posts endeavoring to encourage others through God’s word. Her writings include instructions on how to apply prophetic insights for daily living.
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1https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h8552/kjv/wlc/0-1/