Victory Over Appetite
Victory over Appetite
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that
these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4: 1-4
This is my devotional and prayer request in one. I am praying for victory over appetite. I
would like to change my diet and ways of eating as I continually learn about it. I want to
also stay strong and complete the fasts that I commit to. I know that I cannot do anything
or change anything without the power of Christ. This is my prayer.
It is clear that uncontrolled appetite is a huge no-no in God’s eyes. Here’s why I say this.
Adam and Eve’s test of obedience had to do with eating from a tree that was forbidden.
What did they do? They ate from it. What did Christ come to earth and do? He was tested on appetite too. See the parallel? Upon fasting, the devil came to Him and told him to eat. Praise be to our redeemer that He overcame.
Now I see why and how I have overcome many addictions, behaviors and sins but struggle with appetite. I imagine that the devil just sits back and laughs when I fall into the temptation of overeating, eating between meals, eating harmful and unhealthy foods and falling out of fasts early. A Bible scholar wrote in 1874 that Christ knew that appetite would be man’s idol, and would lead him to forget God, and would stand directly in the way of his salvation. It is a painful fact that habits of self-gratification at the expense of health, and the weakening of moral power, are holding in the bonds of slavery at the present time a large share of the Christian world. Christ was our example in all things, even appetite.