Recently, I was seeking God about being completely submitted to Him. I felt like I was submitting to the best of my ability, but I sensed that something was standing in the way of my relationship with Him. So, I asked Him to search my heart and reveal to me anything that was hindering my walk with Him, and specifically anything standing in the way of the intimacy I was desiring with the Lord.
Be careful what you ask for, and be sure that you truly want answers. If you are sincere, He will give you the answers you seek.
Almost immediately, He showed me that I was in bondage to a spirit of gluttony. I knew it was true as soon as He spoke that to me. At the same time, I knew that He was going to set me free from it. I was bummed and yet relieved at the same time.
When I began to consider this new revelation and pray into it, I saw that gluttony is one of the most overlooked and accepted sins among Christians. It certainly was in my life. That being said, let’s address this sin that is a deceptive stronghold, and a killer of Christians and non-Christians alike.
Satan’s agenda.
Satan attacks us in many ways, but he always comes with the same agenda. To steal, kill, and destroy. That is his “modus operandi.” So, no matter what type of bondage he traps us in, it always has an agenda that is a product of his fallen nature. He can’t help himself; he’s a thief, a killer, and a destroyer.
Gluttony steals our health and robs us of our identity. It destroys our witness, our influence in the kingdom of God, and our ability to be holy as God is holy. It kills our confidence, our effectiveness in ministry, and eventually kills our physical bodies, sending us to an early grave. This is one of his favorite tactics to keep people from reaching their potential.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
I want to expose the details of Satan’s deception that many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have fallen prey to. Writing about this and helping others is a part of the process on my road to freedom from gluttony. My hope is that this teaching will help equip believers with the understanding and the tools to fight against this very deceptive spiritual attack.
Don’t be deceived into thinking that gluttony or overeating is only an insignificant vice. It is a spiritual attack on our identity and our divine purpose. There is a demonic spirit behind it, and this sin has far-reaching ramifications.
Proverbs 23:19-21 Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way. 20 Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat; 21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
Interestingly, gluttony is mentioned in the same breath as a drunkard. The modern-day term for a drunkard is an alcoholic. It is easy for us to see the devastating effects of alcoholism on our society. The broken families, the financial ruin, incarcerations, and the senseless loss of lives from drunk drivers and other bad decisions made while drunk. Yet, for some reason, we don’t view gluttony in the same light. But according to the above scripture, God does.
Gluttony does not impair our ability to think clearly. We don’t go to jail for over-eating and driving. However, we do risk others’ lives when we are gluttonous and operate a motor vehicle. Gluttony can lead to heart attacks or strokes that can kill just as easily as a drunk driver.
The worst part is that it affects our relationship with the Lord. It does impact others’ lives, and it disqualifies us from some of the greatest promises available to us as believers.
Our lack of understanding has allowed Satan to blind us to the sin of gluttony. Past the point of avoidance and into acceptance. Our worldly thinking has categorized this sin as small and unimportant. However, there is no such thing as a small sin; they all produce darkness and separation from God. They erode our confidence and weaken our faith.
Truthfully, we don’t even acknowledge gluttony as a sin in our lives, therefore, we never repent of it. We just admit we are overweight and say, “Pray for me, I’m working on it.” We try to diet and exercise to solve the problem on our own. We fall victim to guilt, condemnation, and shame when it doesn’t work and we repeatedly return to old eating habits. It causes us to think less of ourselves than what God thinks about us. All the while, we are taking medications for high cholesterol and heart disease. We have chronic pain and deteriorating joints, and a multitude of debilitating diseases and ailments.
There is a multi-billion-dollar industry built around our bondage to gluttony. It seems that every week, we see a new fad diet or “magic pill” that promises results, enticing people to jump on the bandwagon and try the newest “miracle” craze. We want a solution that makes us lose weight while allowing us to continue in our gluttonous lifestyle.
If we remain bound to gluttony, our quality of life soon becomes a shadow of what God intended. Our impact on the kingdom of God is severely diminished, and it will eventually cause us to die at an early age. Satan has deceived us into accepting it and just learning to live with it. He has flown gluttony in, under our radar, and built one of the most deceptive and devastating strongholds in the Church.
The harm that gluttony causes others.
The Bible says, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump”. This is found in Galatians 5:9 and 1 Corinthians 5:6. It means that any seemingly small sin, false teaching, or wrong believing can have a far-reaching and destructive effect on an individual or a group of people.
Gluttony doesn’t just affect you, but also your entire circle of influence. Your family, your friends, your colleagues, and the fellowship of believers you are joined to.
Any time a believer is bound by some level of demonic deception, their spiritual growth and progress is hindered, and their gifts and graces are suppressed. When the Spirit of God moves through a dirty vessel, it is filtered and flavored with the sin and impurity of that vessel. It doesn’t represent Christ very well.
Have you ever taken a drink from a cheap bottle of water that tastes like the plastic it is stored in? Or maybe you drank water from a well that tastes like sulfur and smells like rotten eggs? You can’t even enjoy the water because you are so distracted by the off-putting flavor and smell. Because of the offensive flavor, you drink very little and try to find something else to drink. It is the same principle. Most blessings from God come through other people, and we receive those blessings more easily when they come through a pure vessel.
Gluttony is a sin that rarely gets addressed. Despite it being explicitly pointed out as sin in scripture, we have turned a blind eye and don’t take it seriously in our churches, ministries, in our families, and in our personal lives.
In the case of gluttony. We don’t realize that we are holding back a part of us that is extremely important to the Lord. His temple. I was heartbroken when He showed me I was guilty of this. Although I made changes in my diet, eliminating almost all sugar and starches, and eating way less processed foods, I was still eating far more than what my body needed to be healthy. I was filling God’s temple with things that He never approved of. Even good food will kill you if you don’t eat in moderation and exercise self-control.
Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. It is God’s empowerment by the Holy Spirit to resist temptations, suppress fleshly desires, and make choices aligned with God’s will. Without the Holy Spirit’s help, we are powerless to overcome the bondage of gluttony.
Let’s be clear: You don’t have to be overweight to be a glutton. Anyone can be bound by gluttony. I know people who exercise constantly just so they can eat and drink anything they want and not gain weight. They justify their fleshly impulses by physically working hard to avoid being fat. Bulimia is a manifestation of gluttony where a person binges on food and then makes themselves vomit to keep from gaining weight.
Gluttony can manifest itself in any addiction to food. How about coffee, soda, or even diet soda? Any food addiction is a manifestation of the spirit of gluttony. When we experience a lack of self-control where food is concerned, it should raise some red flags. When our desire for food controls our behavior in any way, it has more power over us than it should.
I used to drink a whole pot of coffee every day. Sometimes more. I loved coffee! Then one day, as I was praying and repeatedly declaring, “God, I trust You,” the Lord spoke to me and asked, “Do you trust me with your health, Jack?” I immediately said, “Yes, Lord!” He said clearly, “Then stop drinking coffee.” That was four years ago, and I haven’t had coffee since. When God puts His finger on an issue and we cooperate with Him, He empowers us with grace to obey.
Our Body? NO! God’s Temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ. We are no longer owners and masters of our spirit, soul, and bodies. We are to relinquish our right to govern and submit completely to His will. Many believers are completely blind to this truth. They make their own decisions and continue to rule and reign over their own lives.
The things we sacrifice for gluttony.
God has given us the “earnest” of the Spirit at salvation.
Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
As if having the down payment of the Holy Spirit wasn’t enough, we see maybe the greatest promise in the Bible found in John 14. Jesus emphasized obedience to His word three times in this passage. His final comment is staggering,
John 14:15-18 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 14:22-24 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
In John 14 we see that the way we show our love for God is by obedience to His word. We not only have the promise of the Holy Spirit, but in addition to that, we see that through obedience to God, we can have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit making their home in us. We have the promise of Jesus manifesting Himself to us and the Trinity abiding in us.
In 1st John, we see that by obeying God, we show love for our brethren.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
So, catch this:
1 Peter 1:15-16 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
God is Holy.
1 John 4:8 “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
God is Love.
If God is Holy, and God is Love, then Love is Holy!
Have you ever considered that? Our love for God is expressed by our obedience to His word. Our love for people is expressed first, by obedience to His word, and then our behavior toward others as described in 1st Corinthians 13;4-8
Satan does not want us to express our love for God because this will inevitably produce holiness in our lives. So, he tricks us into being disobedient through the sin of gluttony. Obedience is God’s “love language.”
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
If we present our bodies as a living sacrifice daily in prayer, holy and acceptable to God, we will find the grace to obey and a built-in accountability to help us get free and stay free from gluttony.
Anyone who sincerely loves God will not willfully disobey Him. If we find ourselves struggling to obey and losing the battle, that tells us that our heart is pure, but something is fighting against our desire to obey Him. This is spiritual warfare.
Taking the first step toward freedom.
We can’t fix this on our own. We need God’s help. The good news is, He is ready, willing, and more than able to get the job done. However, we must cooperate. It starts with acknowledging that we are living in willful sin and willful disobedience. We must repent for it and begin applying faith for our deliverance.
Freedom won’t happen overnight. If you don’t think Satan will fight us on this, you are sadly mistaken. He won’t give up a stronghold, which is his fortified position, without a fight. So be warned; once you make a decision to break free from the chains of gluttony, he will throw every temptation at you that he can think of to keep you snared. Spiritual warfare ain’t no joke, so be prepared to make a change. Specifically, your commitment to God’s word.
Oh, thank God for the truth and power of His word!
John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Freedom is as simple as repenting and committing yourself to abiding in God’s word until truth sets you free. “But what about the stronghold that must be torn down?” I am glad you asked.
Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Once we repent and ask for God’s involvement, all we must do is keep it before Him in prayer, thanking Him for our freedom, expecting results, and remain committed to His word.
We have an enemy. He has an agenda. He hates us and is continually trying to kill us. The deception of gluttony is a slow and miserable death that Satan glories in. He kills us to hurt our Father.
We know from the Old Testament that God is very particular about His temple. Shouldn’t we be also? I don’t know about you, but I am no longer going to be used by Satan to hurt myself, God, or the people He has placed in my life. How about you?
JESUS IS COMING!
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