WEIGH DOWN: THE PURPOSE OF FOCUSING ON GOD

So how much of our mind do we have to give to the Father? That is a good question. We have already started with putting our mind on the Father every time we feel this desire eating or head hunger.

So, we asked you to start thinking about God when your mind wanders or starts lusting after food, which could happen frequently. Dieting has increased your lust for foods over the last few years. Therefore, you might have to get your focus off food and onto God many times a day!

But perhaps that is God's purpose. God has taken something that was occupying our mind and has asked us to transfer that over to Him. This is part of the purpose of the desert. Look at this instructional passage for God's children in Numbers 9:15-23:

On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the Lord's command they encamped, and at the Lord's command they set out. They obeyed the Lord's order, in accordance with his command through Moses.

Think about this assignment if you start to feel sorry that you have to look to God to know when you are hungry and look to God to know when you are full. The Israelites had to look up all day and night. If it was in the middle of the night, they had to pack their tents, put out the fires, gather the children and pets, and take off. Sometimes, just after they had unpacked their belongings, set up the tent, and had a good pot of manna boiling, God lifted the cloud, and they had to pack everything up and take off again. Let us stop complaining about a red light and green light with food. All you will have to pack up is a carryout of food! Have you noticed that it takes your whole mind to get the red light and green light with hunger and fullness down correctly? God wants it all. But when we make Him the master of our minds, we are free from the pull of food. Sounds good to me! Since we are going to be a slave to one or the other, I choose God!

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