Ephesians 3:20 is one of my very favourite verses of Scripture.  It tells us that God ‘is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.’  I don’t know if you’ve ever read this verse in the amplified version, but it just gets better! Take a look at this:

God ‘by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes and dreams]

WOW!

When I first brought God into the equation regarding my own weight problems I certainly never dreamt that He would accomplish so much for me.  Losing 56 lbs was an enormous blessing in itself, but to be able to say, four years later, that I haven’t put any of the weight back on – that is amazing! Moreover, this weight loss was achieved without any conventional dieting – without counting calories, weighing food portions or cutting out various high calorie foods.  Can I go further?  Yes, indeed… for the weight loss is maintained without any regular weighing, in fact I don’t even possess bathroom scales any more!  Now that’s what I call SUPERABUNDANCE!

And how is all this achieved?  Our scripture tells us that it is ‘in consequence of the action of God’s power that is at work within us.  It has nothing at all to do with me! All I had to do was surrender.

My friend, God has no favourites; What He has done for me He also wants to do for you.  If you have surrendered your life to Christ He now indwells you through the power of His Holy Spirit and is waiting to be glorified in your body. His power is already at work within you, moulding your character and changing you from one degree of glory to another by His Spirit from the inside out. This isn’t being achieved by striving to achieve a list of rules and regulations, is it? Of course not – we all know how futile that is!  No, we surrender – we make Jesus our Lord - and in that act of surrender we are saying, ‘I trust You and will do what you tell me to do.’ 

Even though many of us know these fundamental Christian principles and have learnt to apply them effectively to moral issues in our lives, we find it hard to apply them to this most practical area of our relationship with food. We don’t think that God is interested in our weight. Well, does size matter? In one sense, no, it doesn’t for God loves us infinitely whatever our shape or size. But He is interested in our health and doesn’t want us to suffer unnecessarily because of the way we eat. More especially, He is deeply concerned about what is going on inside us – in our hearts and in our minds – for this is where our problems really lie.  It has very little to do with food!

Just as a fireman, to extinguish a blaze, will seek to go to the seat of the fire and deal with that, so God wants to get to the seat of our problem and address the cause of our disordered eating which, like a fire, has been raging out of control and threatening to destroy our bodily temple. It will take time, but your success is assured as you continue to look, not to your own will power or good intentions, but to the One who is able to do infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes and dreams.