I became passionate about health and healing when I started traveling the U.S. preaching the Word of God. I knew how tiring it was to preach, prophesy and pray at the altar for hours on end, sometimes until 1 a.m. My heart and desire are to minister in Africa regularly. I thought I want to be able to endure 12-16 hours of ministry because they have long services. I was not terribly out of shape, but I could eat better and put in an exercise routine. I never want to have to say after six hours of ministry, “Oh, I can’t pray for you anymore. I’m tired and need to stop praying for people.”
I have never suffered a food addiction or emotional eating disorder, but I have been surrounded by team members, friends and people I minister to who have struggled. Being a deliverance minister, I have seen the strongholds behind these addictions. I am not saying everything is caused by emotional eating or a demon; we do need to exercise self-control, and medical conditions and medications can lead to weight gain. If you knowingly have a problem and have not received the freedom you desire, why not consider there may be a spiritual root from which you need deliverance?
Steps to Finding Freedom
Identify Why You Turn to Emotional Eating
Identify why you need food to satisfy you. Why do you run to the cupboard when your emotions are out of balance or something bad happens? Ask yourself, “Why do I find comfort in food?”
Comfort: You find comfort in eating; it is soothing and relaxing.
Stress: You eat to relieve your stress.
Control: You can’t control anything else in your life except what you put in your mouth.
Boredom: You eat because you can’t find your purpose and are passive.
Loneliness: You eat because food is your friend and companion.
Discover the Root or Entry Point
By identifying what triggered your emotional eating, now we can discover what is behind it. What is causing you to run to food, and specifically what has not been healed in your past that is causing you to find satisfaction in food? When we don’t receive inner healing from our past, these hurts and wounds built up over time come out some way; and often, it is through eating. Where do you need healing?
- Sexual abuse.
- Marital discord.
- Family dissension.
- Offense.
- Anger.
- Unfairness.
- Betrayal.
- Rejection.
- Divorce
- Loss of a child, such as miscarriage or abortion.
- Self-worth.
Spend time meditating and seeking the Holy Spirit for what is triggering your response to eating in an unhealthy manner. We should eat to survive not to thrive. Obesity is at an alarming rate, and even though skinny people also have food addictions, when we don’t feel good about ourselves and eat it does lead to obesity.
Evaluate why you don’t feel good about yourself and what is holding you back from the fullness of God. Can you control your eating, or do you feel as though it is an endless battle? When we develop a negative behavior pattern and habit over time, it can become a spiritual stronghold in our lives. A spiritual stronghold often is a matter of deliverance. Therefore, if you have consistently attempted to break free from your food addictions to no avail, I encourage you to cast out the following list of demons that you feel or receive discernment from the Holy Spirit that could be hindering your freedom from food.
Cast out any of this list by saying, praying and declaring out loud. You cannot take authority over the demonic realm in your mind. It must hear you speak out (see my book Speak Out for more information). Pray something similar to this: “Spirit of (insert spirit name), I break agreement with you and cast you out in Jesus’ name. I know there will be the naysayers who say it is a matter of self-control, but I have seen many people delivered of food addictions after the spirits are cast out and they have received inner healing.”
Spirit listing: gluttony, food addiction, lust, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, bondage, overeating, self-indulgence, ungodly appetite, laziness, complacency, passivity, bulimia, anorexia, purging, luring, seducing.
Generational Curses: If your food and weight issues are generational, proceed with breaking those generational curses. Pray: “In the name of Jesus, I cancel all generational curses on me and my family line. I command generational curses of obesity, gluttony, emotional eating, familiar spirits and soul ties to go now, in Jesus’ name.”
Emotional Deliverance: We discussed that emotional eating could need deliverance. As you identified earlier what caused you to eat this way, cast that spirit out such as rejection, unworthiness or anger if it has become a stronghold in your life. Speak out loud to whatever your emotional trigger was and command it to go by saying, “Spirit of rejection, go in Jesus’ name. I break agreement with you.”
Addictions: We knowingly take on food addictions such as sugar, chocolate and caffeine. It is a known fact that cheese is a highly addictive food, which is very bad for you. If you knowingly have a food addiction to these things that are bad for you, pray a prayer similar to this: “Heavenly Father, I repent of being addicted to sugar. I break agreement with sugar addiction and command it to leave my life. Holy Spirit, I ask you to convict me when I want to eat sugar. I speak and declare I will have self-control and moderation. I decree today will be the beginning of me wanting to change my eating habits, in Jesus’ name, Amen!”
Inner Healing – Spend time with the Holy Spirit allowing Him to heal your past or present soul wounds or seek out an inner healing or deliverance ministry. By receiving inner healing, you are closing the doors to emotional eating and releasing your victory in Christ. Join my upcoming e-course on breaking food addictions at www.degrawministries.org and allow me to help you through the healing and deliverance process. You can also receive self-deliverance and freedom from demonic strongholds in my book, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan. {eoa}
Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic spiritual warfare strategist releasing the love and power of God, to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. She is the author of several books, including Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Identity Invasion, Who is Speaking? and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook, facebook.com/kathydegraw or visit degrawministries.org.
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