Are you ready to get healthy and develop a godly approach to food? Here are five ways to take victory over food today!
It seems normal. It’s been around for so long and it affects so many people, we don’t even really notice it anymore. What is it?
The declining health of America. Of Christians.
In 1960, one in seven Americans was obese. Now, today, more than one in three are obese, and it is projected by 2050 that one in two Americans will be obese, one in three will have Type II diabetes, and the instance of Alzheimer’s disease will triple. We, as the Church, must rise up and stand against the assault on our health, our strength and our longevity. We need to stand on the Word of God for divine health and healing, then put feet to our faith through obedience to the Word of God.
Why is food a spiritual issue?
We are called by God to be good stewards of all He has given us—including our physical bodies. We are to be set apart, different from the world—distinct. And not just in our peace and joy, but in our financial prosperity, our relationships—and our health.
That’s why Kenneth Copeland sat down with world-renowned, Spirit-filled physician Dr. Don Colbert, M.D. about how Christians can get healthy and begin building a disease-resistant Church in these last days.
Dr. Colbert shares, “So many Christians I see as patients in my office are unknowingly signing up for disease, dementia and terrible diabetes. Many can’t leave their houses—they’re sitting on the sidelines; even pastors, prophets and teachers whom we need strong for the end-time revival. Too many Christians are not awake. They have not crucified their flesh. They have not laid on the altar what the Holy Spirit has revealed is holding them back.”
It’s time for the Church to be disease-resistant, not just disease-free. If you’re ready to put your faith in action and become part of a disease-resistant Church, here are five ways to take victory over food, according to Dr. Don Colbert.
1. Present Your Body a Living Sacrifice
“Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” –Romans 12:1 (NKJV)
When you think of presenting your body a living sacrifice to the Lord, you may stop short at the idea of spiritual service. But, God made us spirit, soul and body. He knows that for us to fully carry out His plans and purposes for our lives, all three must be in order—strong, healthy and working together.
First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “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? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (NKJV).
In other words, your body isn’t your own—you were bought with the blood of Jesus. That means we can’t treat our physical bodies any way we like. We can’t eat unhealthy food, refuse to exercise or get proper rest, and think we are in the will of God.
Part of presenting your body a living sacrifice to the Lord is crucifying the flesh. Like anything else, when it comes to food, this is a daily decision. Your flesh will scream, “Eat the French fries! Eat the dessert!” But, if you are tuned in to the Spirit of God, He’ll raise up a standard against the flesh. He will lead you into all truth and help you make right choices for your body.
2. Be Willing and Thankful
“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart.” –Psalm 9:1
If you are believing God to live in divine health or for healing in your body, you likely know you need to feed your faith through the Word of God, stand on the Word, and speak only the Word over your situation. But, there may be something missing in your plan of action.
When we look at the Bible, we see there are many times when Jesus called on the people to participate in their own healing. He gave them a part to play. “Go wash yourself in the pool” (John 9:7), “Go show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14), or “Hold out your hand” (Matthew 12:13). When they participated in the process, that was their faith in action—obeying what He said to do. And the moment they obeyed the Great Physician, He began working on them.
If God is asking you to make a change in your life today—in your diet, in your activity level—He’s asking you to participate in your healing, your health. Healing was provided, but we have to receive through faith and obedience to Him. So, be willing.
Then, be sure you maintain a grateful heart. In Luke 17 when Jesus healed the 10 lepers, only one returned to thank and praise Him. Jesus said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” (verse 17, NKJV). In other words, “Did no one else come back to give Me praise and thanks?” And, then Jesus said to him, “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole” (KJV).
Wasn’t he already healed? Why would Jesus now say he was made whole? Dr. Colbert explains that the other nine who didn’t return were healed. Their leprosy was gone. Their skin was clear. But when a person has leprosy, they develop deformities. Many times the nose caves in, fingers, toes and ears fall off. But this one who came back to give praise and thanksgiving and glory to Jesus was made whole, meaning any deformities were no longer present. That’s how God inhabits the praises of His people!
“This is the key to faith: Follow His instructions and then pray—entering into praise, gratitude and thanksgiving—because God inhabits the praises of His people.” –Dr. Don Colbert
“This is the key to faith: Follow His instructions and then pray—entering into praise, gratitude and thanksgiving—because God inhabits the praises of His people.” –Dr. Don Colbert
3. Pass the Food Test
“People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” –Matthew 4:4
Food has always been a test. Thousands of years ago, Adam and Eve failed the first food test. They decided to choose the healthy-looking piece of fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, directly disobeying God’s command. They chose the wrong fruit, and by choosing the wrong food, they infected the entire human race with sin.
The first key test Jesus faced was the food test. We read in Matthew 4 that Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, and the Scripture tells us He “became very hungry” (verse 2). Satan didn’t miss a beat and was there to tempt Him with food, saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread” (verse 3). But, Jesus had to pass the food test. He had to crucify His flesh, too. And He said, “No!” (verse 4) and answered back with scripture.
“That’s why we have to put the Word in our mind, in our mouth, in our heart to store up bullets against the devil, because he will come at us at our weakest moment” –Dr. Colbert.
We, as Christians, face the food test every day—but sadly, many are failing and unknowingly inviting disease into their bodies: obesity, dementia, Type II diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease. Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap” (MEV).
When we sow wrong foods into our bodies—sugar, carbs, starches and processed foods—we are choosing to reap disease. We work our faith muscles with simple things—like passing the food test. Say, “No,” to the cookie, say “No, thank you,” when someone offers you something you know isn’t healthful and nourishing. Ask God for supernatural help to break any and all food addictions.
Think about it. If you cannot resist a doughnut, a candy bar, a chocolate chip cookie and ice cream, then how are you going to resist the devil? That’s the purpose of fasting—as we learn to crucify the flesh when it demands food, we are learning to crucify the flesh in other areas, as well.
4. Use Your Faith to Lose Weight
“Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat.” –Proverbs 23:20 (NKJV)
Notice in this verse that the drunkard and the glutton are mentioned together. Food addiction is just that—an addiction. Just as one can have an addiction to alcohol, cigarettes or drugs, food addiction is real and must be dealt with in the natural and spiritual realm.
Years ago, Kenneth Copeland weighed 263 pounds. He doesn’t hesitate to share his testimony about how he was delivered from food addiction and from fueling his body with wrong food choices. Once he got revelation from God and allowed His supernatural power to help him crucify the flesh, he was delivered from all food addiction, lost the weight and never looked back. He has maintained his healthy weight for decades through a determination to stay fit for the Kingdom.
There are so many foods out there that look good, smell good and taste good—but they’re worthless—in fact, harmful. That’s why Proverbs 23:2-3 says, “Put a knife to your throat, if you be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat” (KJV). The devil doesn’t want you well, and he will use the desires of the flesh to convince you to feed your body harmful foods. But you can resist him!
As you begin to make good food choices, break food addiction and lose weight, start thanking God. Say, “Lord, thank You for helping me lose that weight. Thank You, Lord, for helping me lose two pounds, or five pounds or seven pounds.”
If you don’t lose weight, enter into the sacrifice of praise to God. You do this by thanking Him anyway—calling those things that be not as though it were. “Thank You, Lord, I’m losing one pound, at least, a week.” You just keep saying that, and you keep speaking it out, and then you act on it.
As you do this, be tuned in to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. He may deal with you to be obedient in exercising your body, or He may impress upon you to have testing done if the weight isn’t coming off as it should. Dr. Colbert explains that if weight isn’t coming off, first check your calorie intake—women should be at 1500 calories per day and men should be at around 2,000 calories per day for weight loss. He also suggests having your thyroid checked by a doctor who tests all areas of the thyroid, not just basic testing.
If you’re reading this today and you’ve tried again and again to lose weight—now is your season. Don’t speak against your weight loss. Don’t say “I can’t keep it off” or “I always gain it back.” That’s programming yourself even before you start!
Revelation knowledge is coming to you—new ideas, new insights, fresh opportunities. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, anointing you to be strong and healthy for His service. You don’t have to tolerate weight that won’t come off, fatigue or any other attack on your body. You have work to do for the Kingdom! Now, let’s get fit for it in the natural, just as we get fit for it in the spiritual.
5. Try the Keto Zone Diet
“Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days.” –Proverbs 19:20 (NKJV)
With a growing epidemic of cancer in the United States, Dr. Don Colbert was seeking a way to help his patients, as well as to build a disease-resistant Church. In his years of study and work with advanced cancer patients, he found one thing that worked—the ketogenic diet.
At the time, a ketogenic diet was difficult for people to follow long term, so Dr. Colbert developed his own Keto Zone diet, which has had great success. While similar to the Atkins diet in reducing carbohydrates, it differs in that it includes significantly less protein and unhealthy fats, while increasing the amount of healthy fats.
The Keto Zone diet shifts the human body from being a sugar-burning engine to a fat-burning engine through entering a state of nutritional ketosis or keto adaptation.
What is the basic breakdown of the Keto Zone diet?
- 15 percent carbohydrates. This will consist of mainly eating some berries, salads and green veggies with healthy fats.
- 15 percent protein. Most Americans consume 30 percent of their calories as protein, but excessive protein turns to sugar in your body.
- 70 percent healthy fats (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, fish, nuts), as well as other fats in moderation.
Why is this combination important? According to Dr. Colbert, eating more healthy fats causes your hunger to subside, slowing the desire for carbohydrates. You might say, “Well, it doesn’t make sense. I eat fat, and I burn fat?” Yes. When you eat fat, your body starts to use that preferentially as its fuel.
Dr. Colbert says of this lifestyle, “When you shift your body from burning sugar as its fuel to burning fat as your fuel, you close the door to most chronic diseases because it lowers inflammation tremendously in the body. You literally become a fat-burning machine, and it provides the best fuel for your brain, for your heart, for increasing energy. Your energy level will go up amazingly when you get in the keto zone.”
For more on the Keto Zone diet, click here.
You can take victory over food when you present your body a living sacrifice, be willing and thankful, pass the food test, use your faith to lose weight, and try the Keto Zone diet! Determine today to be part of the disease-resistant Church. Stand firm in your faith, walk in obedience, and make this the best year of your life!
It is important that each person be led by the Spirit of God in what, if any, elements you should implement into your life. We encourage you to be Spirit-led in all of your diet and exercise decisions. We pray that as you continue to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit you will increase in health and fitness. To learn more from Dr. Colbert’s talk with Kenneth Copeland, be sure to watch the broadcasts here: www.kcm.org/watch.
Disclaimer:You must not rely on the information on this website as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website.
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