Full Armor of God Diet

Sandra reminds us to get back up when we fall down, in her post to my January 20 entry. Amen, Sandra! I have fallen down on this journey so many times. About 3 years ago I started studying the Armor of God and thinking about applying it to my health and weight loss. I've learned that reading about and thinking about and knowing about the Armor of God doesn't actually help a whole lot. I have to put it on and use it. I have fallen so many times when I've been too busy to pray and too busy to put on God's Armor. Praise God he is there to pick us back up and get us going again.

While my kids dish up ice-cream for dessert this evening, I've come upstairs to pray and try to decide if there is something I would like right now more than chocolate ice cream. Do you know what? There is something I want more than chocolate ice cream. It's wisdom. Today I'm praying to God for wisdom. I need wisdom in so many different areas of my life. Not only to teach my children correctly, to deal with my husband with love, to spend my time wisely for the Lord, but to simply do my work efficiently and do it well.

There is a story about wisdom in the Bible. When Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and overtook it, he brought in some young Israelites to serve in his palace. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. He assigned the Israelites a daily amount of food and wine from his very own table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service. Among these young Israelites were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Agednego). What follows is an amazing story about how Daniel and his friends decided not to defile their bodies with the king's rich food and the king's wine. At the end of the story, you'll discover how God blessed them in a most amazing way.


Daniel 1:8-19 (NIV)
"But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."

Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."

Isn't that wonderful? Right here in the Bible we have a recording of a scientific study on health! Daniel and his friends resisted the rich, no doubt delicious, food of the king because they wanted to live according to God's laws of health. It only took 10 days for the difference to be noted. But here is the thing that has always impressed me the most. God blessed them with 10 times more wisdom than all the others in the kingdom. Either this was part of the natural health laws with cause and effect (clearer minds come from eating healthier food), or God bestowed upon them additional layers of wisdom as added blessing. My guess would be that it is both. Either way, it has always inspired me to choose the path of health. As we continue to make healthy choices day by day, not only will we experience stronger and healthier bodies, but God may also bless us with wisdom, just like he did Daniel, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego. This is my prayer today. Tomorrow, when I get out walking/jogging, I'll pray for each of you (Tammy, Sandra, Judy, Katie, Gracie, and everyone else who has participated in our online discussion). I'll pray that God will bless each of you, not only with good health, but with wisdom, too.