The Secret Place and How to Overcome Addiction to Food
When we think about addictions, we immediately think about drugs and such. But addictions come in many ways, and food is one of them. We must understand that we are in a battle, and we are not wrestling with flesh and blood.
When I was younger, I was always very thin, and I enjoyed a season where I could eat whatever I wanted and when I wanted, and still I remained thin. But that period ended! When I was thin, nobody would have thought I was addicted to sugar and food. But when that period ended, and I started to gain weight, things changed.
I never really noticed I was gaining weight, and I took comfort in my broken scale and that always said I weighed the same amount. I knew in my heart the scale was wrong, but as I was terrified of getting on the scale, seeing what I wanted to see made me feel better about myself. As I entered a terrible stage in my life, food became a greater comfort, and I felt more and more condemned. I promised myself that one day I would fit into certain clothes that I hung unto like a fading hope.
Finally, the day came when I knew I had to do something. I got a bad report from my doctor, and another doctor I highly respected said to me one day, “You are prospering but prospering too much. You need to lose weight!” While I put on my artificial smile, inside, I was truly broken.
I had tried so many things again and again and always failed. So, it was time to change things and I knew the problem was spiritual. This is where the Secret Place comes in! For years I hid in the crowd, and while I had a prayer life, it missed the Secret Place. What am I talking about?
“He who dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
Psalm 91: 1
We have been invited to come into the Secret Place of His Presence. If you look at the Holy of Holies either in the Tabernacle of Temple, then you will see a type and shadow of the Secret Place. As you may know, His Presence dwelt in the Holy Place. His Presence among His people lifted them from being the least and unable to becoming the greatest and more than able. As His born-again children, we are invited to come into His Presence beyond the veil, and He desires to abide in us and with us.
- You Need Him
Let me start by pointing out that it is a spiritual problem. Stop focusing on the issue and start focusing on Him. Stay with me as we go through this. Look at the account of Jacob and how he was always trying to make “it” happen, but despite all his efforts he failed. When he come to return to Canaan despite meeting an angel and seeing angels surrounding his camp he couldn’t overcome it. He could not hide in the crowd. There was nowhere he could run to except to get alone and seek the Lord. His breakthrough didn’t come immediately but he had to stand fully committed hour after hour. He had to come into the Secret Place and touch the hem of the Lord’s garment.
“Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there the Lord spoke to him, and there he spoke to us- that is, the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is His memorable Name.”
Hosea 12: 4, 5
The word “Bethel” means House of God. In the Secret Place of His Presence, the Lord speaks to us. The only way to come into His Presence is if we are honest and recognize our absolute need of Him, we offer no excuses but surrender to Him, and we allow Him to speak into our lives whatever He desires. We must surrender the battle to the Lord and by faith stand trusting in Him.
When we are trying to do everything, we know and fail we become overwhelmed by condemnation and guilt which simply reinforces bad behavior. But as we come into the Secret Place, we are washed and cleansed. We will experience conviction, but we also discover the security of His love. We must pour out our soul to Him before Him and allow Him to open our eyes to see His love that we might know. Knowing He has accepted us, we must build our new lives in the security of His love.
“And we have known and believed that love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
1 John 4: 16
We must linger long enough that we come to know and believe in His love. Then linger longer and allow Him through holy intimacy to bring you to the place where you abide in love and no longer in rejection.
- Understand the Power of Authority
This simple and powerful key will change everything if you get it. As I said, stop focusing on the issue and start focusing on obedience to him. Jesus was asked to heal a centurion’s servant and He tells the centurion that He will come to the centurion’s house and heal the servant. But the centurion declares that he is unworthy, and then he says:
“Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I am also a man under authority having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, “Go,’ and he goes; and to another ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this and he does it. When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”
Matthew 8: 8-10
To walk with authority, we must come under authority, and that authority is conveyed through words.
Now go back to Psalm ninety-one. We must first submit to His authority. What is bigger in your life, food or Him? Do we live to eat and therefore abide in food, or do we live to love Him and abide in Him? We come into the Secret Place only through His blood and we submit to His authority.
If you have gone to court, you will know what it is like to face authority. The judge doesn’t ask for your excuses or opinions but a simple yes or no. Whatever the judge rules become the law in our life whether we like it or not. Many believers always seek to have God operate on their terms. We always have excuses and assume that God will accept them and relent in His ruling.
When you take time in the Secret Place and hear His voice as he speaks through the Word, you meet authority. Have you ever tried to fast and failed after an hour or so, yet if a doctor says you need to fast a day, you do it? Why? An authority spoke to you and when we recognize an authority than their words cause us to submit.
Now if you will daily come and present yourself to Him and subject yourself to His authority, you begin to walk with authority. To explain, if you accept a job offer, then you submit to the authority of that company which in turn gives you the authority to do the job given to you. When I was a manager and I told someone to do something and they didn’t, it was not my job to enforce things but if I operate in the authority given, then the company must back that authority and enforce it. In the same way, if I submit to His authority, He gives me the authority to do what he has called me to do and he will enforce that authority. Each one of us in Christ are called to be stewards of the body given to us. Our souls and our bodies are to be subject to our spiritual authority.
We must learn how to walk-in obedience and allow Him to say what we can eat, what we can’t eat, how much, and when. I was brought up and told to eat whatever was placed before me. No matter if I was full or not I was to finish what was placed in front of me. The Lord began to teach me how to eat better. He removed sugars and processed carbohydrates from my diet. He would tell me to eat the correct portions and not to be afraid to leave food on the plate. He told me to eat more fruit and vegetables. I began growing my own and found they tasted even better. When I craved something sweet, He allowed me to eat chopped apples, with granola and dark chocolate morsels.
- Learn the power of yes and no.
“But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”
Matthew 5: 37
First, we must stop with excuses because excuses are our way of avoiding the truth. Secondly, the devil always likes to get you in the cloudy arena of maybe. But authority demands a no that means no and a yes that means yes. Further, learn the powerful lesson of saying no first and not yes. It is easy to convert a no to a yes, but hard to convert a yes to a no. We must say no to our flesh and mean it. There are times when it is no fun, and we have to understand that we are frail earthen vessels and we are weak. But:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
2 Corinthians 4: 7
Keep praying in the Spirit and develop your spiritual muscles because you can’t do it in your strength. You are an earthen vessel but if you read Second Corinthians chapters three and four, you will see Paul was talking about the wonderful and powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit. So, keep sowing to the Spirit and refuse to become weary. When you are struggling, begin to worship or pray in the Spirit, and don’t quit until you have a breakthrough.
As you do this you will find that God doesn’t just want to free you from food, but He always has something more significant at stake. It may be your call and impact countless lives of others. During this season He is developing you to run the race he has for you.
- Be and Go
Many Christians get busy doing things to cover themselves and hide from people seeing what is really going on in their lives. Like Jacob, we keep running, but like Jacob what we run from we run right back into. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. It is time to do things differently. Learn to be a believer by waiting in His Presence and abiding in His Word.
The bigger He becomes in your life and the more time spent with Him; you will find you start thinking differently. Over time you will find you will see and think of food differently.
“If you abide in My Word, your are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall MAKE your free.”
John 8: 31, 32
The truth will MAKE over a period of time free.
- No Condemnation
This is a journey and not a short sprint. You will make mistakes.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12: 1, 2
I encourage you to read or study the lives of the various heroes of the faith because you will see that they, too, made mistakes. But those who got back up got back right with the Lord, got back to running, and this time ran stronger. Don’t let the enemy condemn you but look to Jesus. Keep your eyes on Him and not food. Give your eyes and ears to Him and the more you feed your spirit the greater your strength to run with endurance. Understand that He is the Author and Finisher of your faith. Entrust yourself to Him and DAILY present yourselves to Him. Ask Him how you are doing and if you missed it in any way and allow Him and Him only to correct you. Your job is to obey Him and watch for the smile on His face and His approval.
If we keep focusing on our relationship with Him and being faithful to do what He has called us to do or told us to do, His Holy Spirit will anoint us and strengthen us to ensure success.
- You Are Weak, but He is Strong
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Romans 8: 26
Paul explained that he boasted about his weakness, for he understood that when he was weak, the Lord was strong if he abided in the Secret Place. When no one is looking, pursue Him because you love Him. Fall deeper and deeper in love with Him. Take every opportunity to seek Him and allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you. Learn to pray proactively and not reactively. When you know you will face a challenge and a situation that typically causes you to stumble and pray beforehand, especially in the Spirit.
