God's Diet Plan... 101... First lesson is... "Obedience"

Isaiah 30:21 "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

I have seen this verse in two different places this week. It touched my heart the first time I read it. The second time... I saw it in an out of the ordinary place... and I stood up to take notice. I figure it must be time to be alert and listen to what God might be trying to tell me. Well... last night... he told me.

I had that cup of coffee I spoke of yesterday. I was absolutely miserable the whole rest of the day after that. Last night was even worse. I had a festival of sorts... in my bathroom... all night long. I was physically ill. The coffee itself did not make me sick... (that I know of)... but the disobedience. My body is in a place that needs me to listen to it. Obviously what I am eating and doing right now... is not good for me... and my body is suffering... BIG TIME!

Well... during the middle of the night... I heard that voice behind me. That ever-knowing strong yet gentle voice that I know so well. God spoke to my heart. He basically laid out my eating plan for me. He explained to me... in great detail... and I will obey his wishes. I will be writing it all down in a paper journal. It is time to take complete care of myself. From the inside... out. I will also be telling my doctor on Tuesday about it when I go to see him about my gout problem. When God was done explaining this process to me... (two hours or so)... I had the most comfortable and peaceful sleep. I remember thinking... (in my sleep)... "Wow... I can't believe how comfortable I am! Nothing hurts! Everything feels so soft! My fingers are even comfortable!" I felt weightless... almost like every part of me was laying on the softest of clouds. It was nice.

Romans 14 "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. he who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of is lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written:

'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

I have faith that what God has told me to eat... and the process in which I should do it... will be richly rewarded both physically and spiritually.