There are two kinds of nutrition the wise woman prepares ‘with her own hands’ each day for her family: food from God’s Word and food from her kitchen. The spiritual and the physical are connected.
The wise woman eagerly rises before the sun to talk to her Father God and hear from Him in His Word and in prayer for she is convinced that she needs to receive her own strength FIRST from God before she puts together what her family needs for their day.
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
It should give a wife and mother great satisfaction to know that with her own hands she puts together well-balanced meals for those in her household; that they have what they need each day when it comes to nourishment for their body and encouragement for their soul.
I see commercials suggesting that working mothers buy their junk food from producers in order to make the morning easier to get everyone off to work and school. How absurd! You can plan ahead the night before to have simple nutritious breakfasts. You can plan days ahead to have nutritious dinners too. All it takes is the desire; for when there is the will to do so – there is a way to get it done. There is so much information available to help with this on eating healthy. Most mothers have been raised themselves to do what’s easy instead of doing what is right and so they continue on with that terrible thinking, and so on with each generation becoming more sickly and foolish.
We shouldn’t make the mistake in thinking that our spiritual food is more important than our physical food, or the other way around. The body can not live without water, and the spirit’s soul can not live without the Holy Spirit. The physical and spiritual are connected. Both come from God so that we are both physically and spiritually fit for every good work on the earth and for eternal life with God after we die.
Poverty is on the rise because righteousness is on the decline.
Jesus went to beggars and gave them the opportunity to believe in Him. If a poor man put his faith in Jesus – he was no longer begging people for food or money because God had become the man’s provider and enabler. After the Lord delivers you from poverty so that you have enough to feed yourself it is your responsibility to then move through His open doors of success and prosperity so that you can meet the needs of your children/family, and go from there to become His servant in helping others in your path. God blesses us so we can be a blessing to others expressing God’s love for them.
“The righteous are rewarded with good things.” Proverbs 13:21
“Those who work their field will have abundant food.” Proverbs 28:19
“You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:11
Your children and husband will be stronger or weaker depending on the kind of food you feed them. The health of your husband and children is mostly your responsibility as a wife and mother unless you have given over to your husband the responsibility God gave to mothers. More and more men today (working men) are the cooks and shoppers of food, even doing the laundry as well as keeping up the house and outside yard. Women who work should have the help of their husbands as well as children, but what is becoming commonplace is for women to care more about their careers outside the family and home so that they expect others to do what they should be doing. How refreshing it is to see true mothers and fathers today, by God’s definition of a mother and father.
Woman, not knowing how to cook is not a good excuse for why you and your family eat out at restaurants or at fast-food places, nor is it your husband’s responsibility to prepare meals for the family because you don’t like to cook, and won’t learn to. Neither is being gone all day (at work or otherwise) an excuse for serving your family packaged and prepared foods.
In America we see the traditional roles within the family being exchanged for unnatural roles. Just because you like this “role exchange” doesn’t mean it’s a good way to live, and then we wonder why families are so frustrated and insecure, and why there is so much upset within the whole of society.
Are there certain natural foods you don’t like and therefore eliminate altogether in meal planning? Natural foods are those that God made; things that grow out of the ground, as well as living creatures. Denying your children and husband the foods they need just because you don’t like them is not wise and caring. We all have different likes and dislikes and little children need to be introduced to all kinds of natural foods.
Gagging on physical food is something children do to get out of eating the food that is good for them, unless you are trying to feed a toothless baby meat. Gagging on spiritual food is a mental problem unless you are trying to feed the “meat of God’s Word” to a new believer. There are those who ARE old enough for the meat of God’s Word but simply don’t like what they read or hear from out of God’s Word – refusing to take it in: resisting the conviction or instruction of the Holy Spirit of God’s Word.
Hebrews 5:12-6:3 “You ought to be teachers, but instead you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church: “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:1
I hated liver growing up. It made me gag, but my mother would make us eat a couple bites each time she made liver. She would also make mashed potatoes with it and I would heap on the potatoes with each bite to just get it down. When I got out to live on my own I never ate liver, but the day came, after I was married and being pregnant with our first child, that my doctor told me I was mildly anemic and should eat LIVER of all things! My husband liked liver. So I found a recipe to use so that I could get it down. All through my years of being pregnant I made it a habit to eat liver from time to time, and to make our little ones eat a little too and with LOTS of mashed potatoes.
Little by little, anyone can learn to eat anything they don’t like the taste of. I have a motto: “The more you eat it – the more you’ll like it!” Our children and grandchildren learned to eat salad and all kinds of vegetables by telling them this and making them repeat it because like I said it is a mental problem; a matter of choice and perseverance. If children can do this, so can adults.
I also hated beets growing up until I grew my own and pickled them. I learned gardening and canning from my mother-in-law Lois. There’s something very appetizing when seeing food spring up from a garden you planted, cultivated and harvested. It excites the taste buds! God has created natural foods for the health of our body. God cares about our health so much that He made fruits and vegetables to look like parts of our body that affect that part of body. For example:
Slice a carrot cross-wise and see the human eye in the middle. Carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. Slice a tomato cross-wise and you will see the four chambers of your heart. Red, like the heart, a tomato is a heart and blood food. A walnut looks like a brain with a right and left hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. The wrinkles and folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. Walnuts help develop more than 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function. Kidney beans heal and help maintain kidney function and they look just like a kidney. Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb – look just like bones. They target bone strength. Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the female womb and cervix and they look just like these organs. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. Avocados help in female hormone balance. Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow just like a man’s testicles. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the number of sperm. Figs help overcome male sterility. Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually help balance the glycemic index of diabetics. Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries and they look like ovaries. Oranges, grapefruits and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of breasts. Onions look like the body’s cells and help clear waste material from all of the body cells. They produce tears, like no other vegetable or fruit, which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
When we buy processed foods the benefits for our bodies are not there. Far too many people get sick or die from processed foods and from eating out in restaurants where cooks are not that careful. As wives and mothers we need to know exactly what is going into the mouths of our family.
Does the food and teaching you and your children take in each day have God’s seal of approval?
I recently listened to a new report about a pregnant couple who were radically in to “health,” and decided they would NOT give their newborn baby breast milk or dairy substance of any kind. They gave the newborn soy milk. The child died before it was a year old from malnutrition.
Who else knows what is best for our minds and bodies, but our Creator Father? People will believe almost anything when they do not know the truth.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through me (godly wisdom) your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.” Proverbs 9:10-12
Feeding yourself and your children “the truth” will do wonders for your body, soul and spirit. When we take the truth to application we will see most of our problems leave, both physical and spiritual. Doctors should never be regarded as having the final say in your situation or in your child’s situation. What your child’s school teacher says or your church pastor says should be compared to what God says, after you go to Him and wait on Him to answer you out of His Word or in prayer. But you must ask Him! “Ask and it will be given you,” says the Lord. “Seek and you will find,” says the Lord. “Knock and the door will be opened to you,” says the Lord. Believe what God says and then stand firm on it. Even people with good intention can lead you away from the truth.
When it comes to vaccinations and any type of “preventative” medicine – you don’t need to feed that into your body. You have God as your preventative measure! God is your protection and provision; so trust Him.
What is this “teaching/food” that Jesus says seduces and misleads His servants into sexual immorality? (Revelation 2:20) Food and suggestive teaching is what Satan used on Eve in the Garden to ruin her relationship with Adam her husband and to ruin Adam’s relationship with God. We always need to remember that this is the devil’s number one scheme, and by the looks of our society Satan has been VERY successful.
The best meal of the day, of any day, is found sitting at God’s Table, but most of us have either gone without that ‘first’ meal of the day or replaced it with junk. Sleep is good for our physical bodies, we need it, but if we let sleep replace God’s Word then that extra amount of sleep can’t help with what’s ahead in our day that God would help us with if we took the time to be with Him. Your “first spiritual meal” of the day should not come from ‘other’ books that talk about the Bible, or tell you how to interpret or understand the Bible. The Holy Spirit is the One who teaches us what Jesus said, and how to think about it as it applies to our lives. I hear from so many Christians how they read what other Christians write about the Word of God as their quiet time with the Lord. No, that’s their time spent with other Christians, not with the Lord personally.
If we replace God’s Word with other people’s devotionals, newspaper, emails, music, television, etc. – we will be depleted of nourishment. Are you exhausted? Are you worried? Are your emotions up and down? Are you short-tempered? Are you indecisive? Are you confused? Are you depressed? Are you anxious? Are you hopeless? You will not overcome any of these things unless you come to God’s Table and let Him serve you the food He has prepared with His Hand.
When Moses was leading the children of God through the desert they were told to gather just enough manna (His bread) as they needed for the day. If they tried to gather any more than a day’s, that which they had gathered for the next day spoiled; it was full of maggots and began to stink. (Exodus 16:15-20) The Word of God is for daily use. God feeds us with exactly what we need for that day, 24 hours. God will not give you more than you need and neither will He give you too little.
When you sit down to feast on God’s Word don’t get up till He has fully satisfied and strengthened your soul and spirit. Prepare ahead of time to spend enough time with the Lord. This is wisdom and God will honor it and bless it mightily. Don’t let Satan tell you that you don’t have the time. Make the time. The Lord has His table set for you each morning and He is ready and eager to serve you.
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalms 107:8-9
Don’t sit and read any longer than you need to either. Some of us can spend hours in the morning without having to be anywhere punctual. Know when you’ve had enough, just like you should push yourself away from the table when you are full, not stuffed. Too much of any good thing – is wasteful.
Jesus had a crowd of people before Him that had come to Him to be healed. After He had healed them of all their physical problems He turned to His disciples and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” (Matthew 15:32) Three days without food? Two days without food? Wow! They had been ‘spiritually’ satisfied by the teaching (healing) of Jesus so that their physical hunger was not felt in comparison. But Jesus cares about our physical hunger because the physical and the spiritual are connected. His food allows us to live the full life instead of the empty life.
