I received an email from a lady from the Take Back Your Temple website just the other day who said that when she binge eats, her mind just goes blank. Have you ever had that experience? I have.
But I just made an interesting connection among mindless eating, the blankness she described and Eastern meditation. It chilled me.
When you meditate the Eastern way, they tell you to empty your mind. The reason, they say, is that it relaxes your body and calms your mind. Now that I look back on it, my binge eating was a form of meditation, but it was the Eastern kind not the biblical kind.
My mind was blank while my hands seems to operate all on their own, picking up the fork, spoon, knife, box and bag, seemingly without me being involved.
I realize what I am about to ask is controversial and you’ll likely be uncomfortable in considering it: Could emptying your mind in this way open you up to demonic influence? I think it can.
In the story of the Unclean Spirit that Jesus told (Matt. 12:43-45), He talked about an unclean spirit being cast out of a man, but deciding to return. When the unclean spirit returned, he found the house empty, swept and put in order. Not only did the spirit come back, but he brought seven other wicked spirits with him!
While I do not believe a disciple of Jesus Christ can be demonically possessed because the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30), I do believe that we can be susceptible to the enemy’s influence through our flesh and an un-renewed mind. I believe there is a spirit of gluttony who “feeds” off the pleasure of food indulgence and grows stronger as we engage in that behavior.
In every instance of biblical mediation, we are told to meditate on or in something. We are never told to be “blank minded” or “mindless (without mind).”
On the contrary, we are told that we have the mind of Christ, and I know Jesus was not empty headed!
So if bingeing remains a problem for you, then I ask you to focus on filling your mind during those moments of temptation. Renounce the spirit of gluttony in the name of Jesus. Resist the urge to empty out your mind or go blank. Stay in the present and focus on what you are doing. Meditate on godly things and fill yourself with the breath He has given you. In that way, your house is not empty.
Here is an exhortation from the apostle Paul to Timothy, and I think it is good advice for us all:
“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, give attention to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the elders. Meditate on these things. Give yourself completely to them, that your progress may be known to everyone” (1 Tim. 4:12-15). {eoa}
Kimberly Taylor can testify of God’s healing power to end binge eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com. Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.
For the original article, visit takebackyourtemple.com.
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