Don’t Give Up Your Right, For A Bite!

The phrase for the blog came to me as I was meditating on a Christian movie my Aunt Mary told me to watch called “The Power of the Air.” I talked to my dad about the revelation I received from a scene in the movie dealing with food. My dad told me in the bible that bread was used to make a covenant. When you ate bread with someone, you made a covenant with them during those times. There is a saying, “A way to a man’s heart is his stomach.” I thought of several instances in the bible when the devil used food to lure people in to deceive them.

Adam and Eve Eats the Forbidden Fruit

God told Adam in Genesis 2 every tree of the garden they could eat but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they could not eat. The consequence was death (spiritual death). Adam knew the truth, so the serpent went to Eve first. Genesis 3:4-6 Easy Read Version 4 But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. 5 God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!” 6 The woman could see that the tree was beautiful, and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So, she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some fruit, and he ate it.

Adam and Eve were kicked/driven out of the garden, bringing sin and a curse into the world.

Esau Sold His Birthright for Jacob’s Stew

Genesis 25:29-34 Living Translation: 29 One day, Jacob was cooking stew when Esau arrived home exhausted from the hunt.30 Esau: “Boy, am I starved! Give me a bite of that red stuff there!” (From this came his nickname “Edom,” which means “Red Stuff.”)31 Jacob: “All right, trade me your birthright for it!” 32 Esau: “When a man is dying of starvation, what good is his birthright?” 33 Jacob: “Well then, vow to God that it is mine!” And Esau vowed, thereby selling all his eldest-son rights to his younger brother. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread, peas, and stew, so he ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to losing the rights he had thrown away.

The Man of God from Judah

1 Kings 13:14-23:13 The old prophet went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who just came from Judah?” The man of God answered, “Yes, I am.” 15 So the old prophet said, “Please come home and eat with me.” 16 But the man of God said, “I cannot go home with you. I cannot eat or drink anything in this place. 17 The Lord said to me, ‘You must not eat or drink anything in that place, and you must go back on a different road.'” 18 The old prophet lied to him and said, “But I am a prophet like you. And an angel from the Lord came to me and told me to bring you home and give you something to eat and drink.” 19 So the man of God went to the old prophet’s house and ate and drank with him. 20 While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke to the old prophet, 21, and the old prophet spoke to the man of God from Judah. He said, “The Lord said that you did not obey him! You did not do what he commanded. 22 He told you not to eat or drink anything in this place, but you came back here and ate and drank. So, your body will not be buried in your family grave.” 23 The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet saddled the man’s donkey for him, and the man left. 24 On the way home, a lion attacked and killed the man of God. His body was lying on the road while the lion stood next to it. The donkey stood nearby. 25 Some people came walking by and saw the body and the lion standing by it. They went into the city where the old prophet lived and told people what they had seen on the road.

Jesus is Tested in the Wilderness

Matthew 4:3-4Now, when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ 

I noticed that the devil tempted them in each situation when they were on a spiritual high or at their lowest. We must be aware of the devil’s schemes. Jesus resisted the devil with the word of God. When the devil comes at us, say, “it is written.” Study and know the word of God so you can resist the devil when tempted.

We are spiritually aware when: we acknowledge God in all our ways, and He will direct our path (Proverbs 3:6). 

1 Peter 5:8 Amplified Version 8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be constantly alert and cautious. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.

Galatians 6:8 Amplified Version: For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Do not give up your right for a bite!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for sending me your Holy Spirit that lives in me. I repent for sowing to my flesh, reaping corruption desensitizing me to the devil’s schemes and the voice of God. I walk in the Spirit and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. I am in the world, not of the world. God, I acknowledge you in all my ways. Instead, I am on a spiritual high or in the valley, and you direct my path. God help me in areas where I am weak. I lean on your strength. I have no confidence in myself but trust in God. I will not give up my rights in God for a piece of food or whatever the devil uses to lure me in to bite the hook. I do not live by bread/food alone. But every word that comes from God. I let my life be the proof of Jesus’ love and sacrifice to bring the lost into the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ name!