As I read Leviticus, I have come to realize a very important truth...The purpose of God’s instructions to Moses to have His people build a Tabernacle was to fulfill His promise to the descendants of Abraham to "be with them," and because His people could not bear His direct presence, God would dwell among them in this place. I see now that to read Leviticus is not just about all God’s rules regarding how they are to live, but as Eugene Peterson in the Message states in his introduction to Leviticus, "that You provided a way through the sacrifices, feasts and Sabbaths to bring everything in and about us into Your Holy presence." It's more about how God’s people could live as He created them to live, Holy as He is Holy. It's an act of bringing everything we do in our daily lives, our sleeping, eating, going to work, and bring them before God as an offering.
Eventually the temple that He instructed Solomon to build would replace the Tabernacle as the dwelling place of His glory on this earth…then Herod’s temple. And ultimately because of Jesus’ sacrifice, for those who accept Jesus and in turn receive God’s Holy Spirit, our bodies are the final dwelling place of His Spirit. We, who call ourselves Christians, bear the incredible gift of God’s glory. Just as God instructed the Israelites in how to meticulously care for the Tabernacle and then the Temple, He also asks the same of us in caring for our "temples", our bodies that house His Holy Spirit. How can we portray God’s GLORY in bodies that are weak, sick and lifeless?! His Holy Spirit dwells within us (God’s church), and has fulfilled the ultimate purpose for both the Tabernacle and Temple. It is our responsibility to care for our bodies, not as belonging to us, but as to belonging to God. I believe this to be one of the most important truths that our churches are missing! We fill our bodies, mindlessly; full of non-foods, including stripped, processed, chemical laden “so called foods” (MAN’S FOODS) and this weakens us, not only in our physical bodies, but in our minds and spirits as well. This allows the devil to gain access because as we are all taught through God’s Word, Satan attacks in our areas of weakness. For some this, "not caring of the body" can open a door to physical illness and others to mental/emotional imbalance and illness or both.
Satan is very happy with the state of our foods on this earth. I believe he has orchestrated this, with great planning & purpose and we Christians have stepped right into his trap with eyes tight shut. It’s time we OPEN our eyes and realize the TRUTH of Your Word in this area. We need to understand that God has called us to care for our temples so that we can be His powerful messengers and workers on this earth. By eating only those foods that God created for us to eat in their natural, whole food form, we are strengthening our temples and in turn, strengthening our ability to be all that God created us to be and display His Glory.
Father God, I pray and ask that you continue to reveal these truths to us, help us to overcome the temptations of the enemy in the area of foods and addictions. Lord, I commit to you my body as it is the Temple of Your Holy Spirit. I place myself before you and submit to your will and lay down all fleshly desires that block your will and purpose in my life. Thank you, that you have given us bodies that can miraculously heal, and I purpose today to eat only those things you have given me to eat that are in your “original created form” that will allow the healing to happen. Thank you my Father for these truths.
Amen
Proverbs 20:17 “Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel”
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge”
1 Cor 3:19 “For the wisdom of the world is foolishness is God’s sight”
1 Cor 6:19-20 "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 with a price; therefore GLORIFY God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
1 Cor 3:17 “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is Holy, which temple you are."
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