Diet & Wisdom Appetizers

I’m a very vivid dreamer and I don’t just mean day dreams. Some mornings I wake so exhausted because my sleep time has been filled with non-stop action. This morning I woke completely spent from doing battle in my sleep with enemies of doom bent on my personal destruction. Those vivid horrifying nightmares are worse than the the rest of my dreams because they suck the energy right out of me.

When I awoke this morning, in spite of the heaviness in my spirit from a particularly dark dream, I immediately sensed God’s presence with me. In fact, I knew even in my unconscious state that God was with me and in the middle of my nightmare I kept crying out to God by simply saying His name over and over and over again.

“Jesus! Jesus! Jesus,” became my nightmare mantra. As soon as I was conscious I felt God impressing upon me that The Name of Jesus is so powerful and a mighty battle weapon that we fail to use to its fullest potential.

The example God gave me was if you were given a brand new car free and clear but you let it sit in your garage and opted to take the bus or rely on friends for rides instead, then your new car is useless and nothing more than a very expensive dust catcher. The car gives you the freedom to get where you want to go, but because you don’t use it, it’s as good as worthless.

The Name of Jesus Christ operates on the same principle. When we find ourselves tempted to give in to our addiction and sneak away to bury our faces in a carton of ice cream, we’ve got the power on the inside of us to stop the binge before it happens, but if we choose not to use it, it’s worthless.

Jesus is that power alive and living on the inside of us if we’ve asked Him to come into our hearts and be our Savior. I’m guilty of neglecting or ignoring the power of The Name of Jesus because I spend too much of my life living by my feelings and my flesh and being controlled by the whims of my selfish desires.

The next time I feel the urge to attack a stack of Oreos, if the only thing I know to do is walk away chanting, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” then I’ve got to trust the power of The Name alone will change my circumstances and help me to walk away from the Oreos.

We’ve all got that same power available to us. The question is, are we using it to its maximum potential?

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear; it soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. ~John Newton

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)

PRAYER FOR TODAY: Lord I thank you that I can call on The Name of Jesus any time of night or day and I know you are with me. I thank you for comfort even in my sleep. May I continually feel the warmth of your presence throughout my day and when I lay down to sleep at night, help me to rest in the knowledge that you are there as well. Above all, may I take advantage of the power available to me through The Name of Jesus so that I can stand fast in my convictions to eat healthy and conquer my food addictions. I ask all these things in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.