How do we appropriate the blessings of God?  How, by looking to Him, can we  succeed in our weight-loss goals?  Jesus tells us the answer to this is Matthew 7:7-8, where we read: “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.”

So there we have it: ASK (and keep on asking) SEEK (and keep on seeking) KNOCK (and keep on knocking)  Let’s taker a closer look at these three elements…

ASK: Jesus said, “You don’t have because you don’t ask,” so the key here is to be pro-active.  Many of us were brought up being told that it is rude to ask and this can make us reticent even to trouble the Lord with our needs.  But we are created to be dependant upon God and asking Him to help us with our weight issues reminds us, (not God – for He already knows!) how much we need Him. We are furthermore exhorted in Matthew21:22 and James 1:6 to ask in faith, nothing doubting, then our joy will be full, for ‘everyone who asks receives.’

SEEK: Perhaps you have spent many years seeking for the key to overcome your disordered eating.  You have tried several diets and made so many resolutions, but it simply hasn’t worked.  Perhaps you have been seeking in the wrong place – looking for a method, a product, an eating plan – when all the time the answer lay with God. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,” said Jesus, “and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)  What this tells us it that we need to have right priorities. We are to seek the things which are above and not those things which are on the earth (Colossians 3:1) As we focus on the Lord, making it our aim to please Him, we shall find the strength to say no, when we need to, to the lure of excessive or unhealthy food which our bodies don’t need.

KNOCK:  God’s blessings don’t just drop into our lap; we have to lay hold of them.  Jacob, when he was wrestling with the angel, cried out, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” (Genesis 32:22-29).  We also need persistence if we are going to succeed; to settle in our hearts that we are in for the long slog and are not going to turn back or give up. Every day, in deed every meal time, we can knock on God’s door.  Ask Him to open up His Word that it may encourage you; to open your mind that you may understand what to do and to open your heart that you may love Him more than your necessary food.

In sum, then, the spiritual keys to your success in achieving a healthy weight and a relationship with food which truly glorifies our Heavenly Father are: to be pro-active, to have right priories and to be persistent. May God bless you as you seek to put all of these things into practice.