Have you ever heard someone say, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit!”
I’ve been reading in Ezra and Nehemiah lately and there is a lot of history about God’s temple in Jerusalem.
I asked the Lord to show me how I can apply these history lessons to my own life. God always shows up when we ask Him to show us the truths in His Word.
So, I wanted to share with you today what God’s Word can teach us about caring for our bodies.
The History of God’s Temple
I want to set the stage for you so STICK WITH ME! I promise that there are some great lessons God has for us in regards to our bodies and our health.
The Temple was Expertly Built
King David’s son, Solomon, built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem.
The amount of gold and treasures in this temple were astronomical. We’re talking literal metric tons of gold, silver, and bronze. Everything was overlaid with gold or made of gold, silver, or bronze.
It was a great sight, and people came from all over to see it.
The Temple was Neglected and Misused
As the years went by, the people and the kings were drawn away from God. They started serving idols and setting up places to sacrifice and worship to other gods.
Some even sacrificed and worshiped other gods IN the temple.
A handful of kings down the line came back to the Lord and rebuilt or repaired the temple, but after a while (and many many warnings), the sin of the people was so great and God allowed them to be taken in exile to Babylon.
The Israelites went into Exile
During that exile, the Babylonians demolished the temple. The people were dragged away and forced into slavery.
They stayed in exile for many years, and eventually, Babylon turned into Persia.
God called the people back
After about 70 years, God impressed on the new Persian king, Darius, to let some of the Israelites go back and rebuild the temple. The people were given favor with officials, money, and materials to build the temple.
So, a few went and got started building it back block by block.
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So what does this have to do with me?
But, how can that help me get healthy?
1 Corinthians 6:19 (you may have heard it before) says, “Don’t you know that YOUR BODY is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”
God used to abide in the temple in Jerusalem, now He chooses to live in US.
Our bodies are expertly made by God
We are God’s workmanship. While the temple was originally built by master craftsmen, our bodies were created by the Master of the Universe.
We’re fearfully and wonderfully made and that verse (in Psalms 139) doesn’t only apply to our hearts and minds, it applies to our physical bodies.
We have neglected and misused our bodies
We can be guilty of neglecting God’s temple. Just like the Israelites chased after idols, have you been looking at idols?
Before you say, “No way!” Think about it…Do you look to the scale to tell you what your worth is?
We’ve been guilty of going to those false idols in hope that they will finally make us happy.
I’m just like the people; I had turned away from God. I had said, “Lord, you don’t really know the best way for me to get the body and the life I want, so I’m going to go look somewhere else for it.”
Emotional Eating Can Feel Like Exile
Because I was looking at other things to make me happy, there was a separation between me and God. I was moving forward in my walk with Him spiritually, but physically, I felt really far away from him.
You know that He loves you, but you feel far from Him, just like the Israelites felt when they were in exile.
If we neglect our bodies, the condition of our bodies will begin to separate us from Him. Our body becomes a barrier between us and Him and God never meant for that to happen.
God’s Grace calls us back
God never wanted anything to separate us from Him. That’s why in His grace, He calls us back.
Just like that Persian king gave hope to the Israelites and let the people rebuild the temple, let this be your “sign.” God is calling you back to rebuild your temple.
You can go back and rebuild. Every time you trust God you’re putting another brick on God’s temple.
Fighting for Every Brick
Just because God calls us back to rebuild doesn’t mean it will be easy.
In Nehemiah, we find that other nations opposed the temple being rebuilt and so they came to wage war on the group who was rebuilding.
Nehemiah 4:18 says, “Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.”
Wow! What a great picture for us! As we build back our temples by trusting God, by eating the way He intended for us, you can guarantee that we’ll be met with opposition.
The enemy knows that if you let go of diets and start to eat the way that God intended, then you’ll experience peace and power. That’s why he does everything he can to keep you in bondage to diets and hating your body.
But when he comes at you, you can be like those builders and be ready with the Sword of the Spirit even as you continue to rebuild.
Get the right tools to rebuild
With all the different diets out there, how can we figure out the way God wants us to eat?
Let me give you two ways:
- Eat when you’re hungry. God put hunger and fullness signals in our bodies to regulate our weight and energy. These signals are as unique as you are.
- Eat foods as close to the way God made them as possible. When we eat natural foods, we’re eating foods the way God made them. It might seem hard to do, but when you begin to eat out of true hunger, you’ll find that you WANT to eat more natural foods.
I want to tell you about another resource we have here at AshleyVarner.com. It’s called Faith Food Freedom. If you struggle with emotional eating, if you want to realign your faith and your health, then you’ll want to check out this program!
Faith Food Freedom
- Learn how to say goodbye to diets forever.
- Find out what’s causing you to emotional eat and overeat and deal with the problem at it’s core, not just the symptoms.
- Discover a new way to workout.
- Rekindle your relationship with your Creator and establish a new respect for your body.
This program is 12 weeks of videos with worksheets and email support to help you break free from emotional eating for good. Get started on your journey to freedom right now!
