Digestion comes from Ingestion
Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Proverbs 4:23(AMP) Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23(GNS) Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
Proverbs 4:23(HCSB) Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.
Proverbs 4:23(MSG) Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.
Proverbs 4:23(NIV) Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23(NLT) Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.
Introduction: I welcome the beloved of the Lord to another week of Speaking Scriptures. While appreciating your efforts to find time reading from this blog, I want you to be like Berean Christians by finding out God’s mind as you search the scriptures daily. You can also be a blessing to others through your comments and questions in all aspects of life.
🙏 God will keep and make us faithful to His words unto His coming in Jesus name.
This week, we want to look at what dropped in my heart in the course of reading the Bible. “Digestion comes from Ingestion”
▶️ Ingestion is the action of consuming or eating while Digestion is the process of digesting or bringing out what is consumed or eaten.
🛑 Digestion comes from Ingestion therefore means what is brought out comes from what is taken in.
Food and the word of God are synonymous. Food feeds the body for healthy living and sustenance while the word of God feeds the soul which consists of the mind, the Will and emotions of human beings to keep alive the spirit.
Hear what God told His chosen ones why He deliberately deny them food for sustenance in the wilderness on their way to the promised land.
Deuteronomy 8:3(AMP) And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
When Satan wanted to entice Jesus Christ, the Last Adam the way he did to the first Adam that fell for his trickery, Jesus quoted the above Scriptures.
Matthew 4:3-4(AMP) And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [loaves of] bread. But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
🛑 Food that we eat everyday is the physical Bread that takes care of the body while the spoken and written word of God takes care of the quickened spirit inside every Christian.
Everyone born of a woman consists of the body, soul and spirit. The spirit inside is dead from birth due to Adamic sin which caused spiritual death for everyone. Anyone without Jesus Christ has the body, soul and dead spirit. He/she is just a natural living person under the control of the prince of this world. Anyone that receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour will through redemption have a quickened spirit with spiritual body inside the natural body.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
The quickened spirit inside Believers is the difference between Christians and non-Christians.
1 Corinthians 15:45-48(NLT) The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What came first was the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam’s, but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ’s.
🛑 The spiritual body MUST be fed by the word so as NOT to emaciate and die just the way natural body will emaciate and die without food.
Please note that it is ONLY the word of God, Scriptures written for us that can feed the spiritual body NOT enticing words of men that give strength to soul or natural body.
2 Timothy 3:16-17(NLT) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
🛑 The natural body, also known as Flesh, Old-man, Sinful nature, Adamic or Human nature will crave for food. Sincere Christian must intentionally control the natural body through the quickened spirit inside to checkmate inordinate desires of the Flesh through the soul the real man, consisting of mind or heart. This is the heart that directs the issues of life which MUST be guarded.
Proverbs 4:23(NLT) Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.
The heart or mind must be guarded intentionally by greatly admiring God’s word.
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Remember after Jesus Christ fed multitudes that attended His crusade with Bread and fishes and by the 2nd day, multitudes started looking for Him again, and when they eventually found Him, hear what they said;
John 6:24-25(NLT) When the crowd saw that Jesus wasn’t there, nor his disciples, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. When they arrived and found him, they asked, “Teacher, how did you get here?”
Hear the reply from Jesus Christ
John 6:26-27(NLT) Jesus replied, ” The truth is, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you saw the miraculous sign. But you shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Son of Man, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for that very purpose. “
Jesus Christ, the Word of God then introduced the Food that takes care of the spirit to His Disciples compared with food for the body.
John 6:48-50(AMP) I am the Bread of Life [that gives life–the Living Bread]. Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and [yet] they died. [But] this is the Bread that comes down from heaven, so that [any]one may eat of it and never die.
❓Do you know the introduction of spiritual food, which is the Word of God offended those disciples looking for Jesus?
John 6:60-61,63,66(NLT) Even his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, ” Does this offend you? It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
Exactly the same thing is happening in the church today. Many desert where true word of God is preached and look for what can bring perishable things like food and glories of this world.
Now as Christians, what we bring forth as fruit is determined by what we feed on. Digestion comes from Ingestion
Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
When Christian life is accustomed or addicted to enticing words of men, social media banters and whatsoever that gives pleasure to natural man, then the quickened spirit will emaciate and die eventually. This is what makes a Christian to unnoticeably go back to worldly lifestyles. When the spiritual body is well fed, it controls the soul ( mind, Will and emotions) and is transformed to the image of Christ without conforming to worldly lifestyles.
Romans 12:1-2(AMP) I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
Anyone without Christ is dead spiritually and cannot discern or understand the truth, he/she dwells in darkness.
2 Corinthians 4:4(AMP) For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.
The thoughts from the mind of anyone makes him/her who he/she is. Personality is determined by the light received by the word of God.
Proverbs 23:7a For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
Actions and whatsoever come from the mouth is generated from the mind or heart. That is why every Christian MUST feed on the word of God regularly to avoid defilement of Christian personality.
Matthew 15:18-19 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Finally brethren, what we feed the quickened spirit will determine our level of maturity as we move towards becoming like Jesus Christ.
We can assess our Christian growth through what we produce;
whether works of the Flesh;
Mark 7:21-23 (NLT) For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God.”
Or fruit of the Spirit at every point as we journey towards eternity with Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:22-24(NLT) But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
What is ingested determines what is digested. Therefore, Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
✋ Maranatha
