Dethroning King Stomach

Dethroning King Stomach

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will REJOICE and be glad in it. We have to make the CHOICE every day to REJOICE. Regardless of what you are going through, God is FAITHFUL and He is the great I AM, the SAME yesterday, today and FOREVER.
We talked yesterday about the THREE DUTIES OF EVERY CHRISTIAN…GIVING, PRAYING and FASTING. Today I want to talk a little bit about “DETHRONING King Stomach”.
Fasting means CRUCIFYING “KING STOMACH”. Consider for just a moment what has happened to the human race while under the rule of KING STOMACH:

· Garden of Eden (Adam and Eve) Genesis 2:8-9, 16-18

Genesis 2:8-9, 16-17 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (9) And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

And with one MEAL, Adam and Eve IMMEDIATELY went from peacefully enjoying God’s presence in the cool of the garden to fearfully hiding from His presence among the trees of the garden. THEY LITERALLY ATE THEMSELVES OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME.

They ate themselves out of the WILL of GOD for their lives. They ate themselves out of God’s provision and PLAN for their lives and out of His magnificent presence. But their stomachs were temporarily satisfied, and we still suffer the consequences of their appetites today.

· Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

When speaking of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, people usually focus on the rampant homosexuality in those cities. But that is not all the Bible teaches. The Lord said to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 16:49-50 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. (50) They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

The first thing that you may notice is that there was NO GIVING (poor and needy) and not PRAYING (pride and idleness). But it is interesting to note that the inhabitants of those cities were not only guilty of homosexuality, according to the account in Genesis, but as we see here, they were also guilty of gluttony (fullness of food). Along with their other sins, their excessive loyalty to King Stomach carried them right into damnation.

· Esau (Genesis 25:29-34)

Genesis 25:29-34 One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved. (30) Esau said to Jacob, "Give me some of that red stew--I'm starved!" That's how he came to be called Edom (Red). (31) Jacob said, "Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn." (32) Esau said, "I'm starving! What good is a birthright if I'm dead?" (33) Jacob said, "First, swear to me." And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. (34) Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That's how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.

The commentator Matthew Henry wrote, “Those who are under the power of a carnal mind, will have their lusts fulfilled, though it be to the certain damage and ruin of their precious souls.”

We need to understand that there are some PROMISED LANDS, and some PROMISES that God has for us. But some of them will never be realized as long as King Stomach rules our appetites and controls our lives. God wants to pour out supernatural blessings in our lives, but they will never be realized if we are not willing to seek Him in fasting and prayer. That is one of the reasons that I feel God leading us to a CORPORATE fast March 2nd -22nd, 2008. This will be a 21-day Daniel Fast. I BELIEVE God is going to give us many BREAKTHROUGHS in the weeks to come, as we are willing to do our part…FASTING.

I pray that you guys have a great, blessed day in the Lord! Blessings!
Pastor Rusty

Today’s “Through the Bible in a Year” reading:
February 19, 2008 (Tuesday): Judges 3:7-Judges 8:35

This week’s MEMORY VERSE: Matthew 17:20-21
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”