Satan wants to heighten the senses to such a degree they overpower the mind.  He uses temptations. The sensual temptation is so great, it orders the mind to stop thinking. They speak to you, using no audible sound. They call you by name. saying, “Come to me. Come get me.” The mind says, “You know this isn’t good for you”. The seduction continues. “Go ahead, indulge. It is wonderful. You want it., You’re worth it, You deserve it”. Then we tell the mind to be quiet, we are listening only to the call of seduction.”.

As a human seductress lures her catch away from the comfort of marriage and home, cheesecake will call us until it is heard. It will lure us away from the comforting arms of the Holy spirit, and then we wrap ourselves in the comfort of it instead. .Sugar is the most seductive of foods. It calls us again all common sense, because it is important to the devil that we find our comfort somewhere besides the Comforter. Sugar is a comforting food. It is called “a comfort food”. Whether is found in fries, chips, candy, donuts, heroine, morphine, or cocaine. It is all sugar. It is important to the devil that we indulge. This is why Losing weight is an emotional battle. When a battle between the senses and the mind take place, emotions will erupt. Most people today know in their mind what is unhealthy, what is fattening. If we think logically, with the mind God gave us, no one would be over weight . Think for a moment.  If we have a desire to lose weight, a need to lose weight, and we know what we should avoid to lose weight, we should lose weight without problems. But the truth is, the mind doesn’t always control us. The senses get titillated and convince the mind to be quiet. Sugar is the most seductive of all things that can be consumed.. If you don’t agree, try to stay off of it. Soon you will hear your very name being spoken by something that is or converts to sugar. Ice cream will summon you to come forth. It may call you out of your comfortable home to drive all the way to the store to get it.

It’s almost impossible to get it out of your head. You cannot seem to make it shut up talking to your mind.. It gets in and practically possesses your whole mind, until you break down and indulge. Sugar does that to you. It is very seductive because  it is very pretty. It is very appetizing.

satan uses us to meet his needs is to disguise himself in something that is good. None of us would consciously say “yes” to anything we knew the devil founded. That is why we scream and run when the monster is revealed in scary movies, or haunted houses. The idea is to run as far as we can, as fast as we can from the demonically evil creatures. It is instinctive. Therefore, he has to get around this by pretending to be something that isn’t going to harm you, but it going to help or enhance you.

As scripture says, “The wolf in lambs clothing”

It looks like it is going to be a good thing, until you say “yes” and take it unto yourself. Once you accept it, it reveals its’ ugly nature and destroys you. Most children begin enjoying alcohol by drinking the pretty, sweet drinks. Make a beautiful frozen daiquiri, and a seven year old will enjoy it. However, if you give children only a spoon of Jack Daniels, and they will spit it out.  Sugar makes everything more appealing.

Deserts are beautiful. They convince you to have them for entertainment and celebration. All it takes is a  bite, and you’re hooked. The sugar takes over, and begins acting on emotions, causing them to unravel.  Next it destroys physical health with excess weight, or high blood pressure from fluid retention. It speeds the onset of diabetes. It makes you hungry which leads to overeating. The addiction takes over, and bam! You are slammed shut in a trap.

Let us pretend you live in Maine. You own several acres of untamed property. You own the land free and clear. The bank does not have a hold on it. You paid cash. It’s’ all yours. For this story, keep in mind  that live bears still roam in Maine. True.

As a wise landowner, you place bear traps on the property. After all, it would not be a good idea for one of them to wander to your home, making it impossible for you to get out of the house. Worse case, it harms one of your children. Since the traps are set, you feel safe to walk the land.

 A beautiful spring morning you arise early and go for a walk. The odor of freshly cut grass, and the feel of warm rays of sunshine on your shoulders entices you to meander through the property, walking further than you normally would.. So thankful for the day, the weather, the land, and all the blessings from God, you meditate and pray. You are a free person, walking and praying freely to your God.

It’s exhilarating to be consciously aware of your personal freedom. You can walk anywhere you like. It is your land,  and  it’s your own two legs and two feet doing the walking.

 

During the walk, You happen upon a bear trap you set in the fall. You may not have graduated college, but you understand fully that if you step in that bear trap, it will hurt you. It will snap shut and enslave you. If it keeps you hostage for any length of time,( and you are not rescued by someone), you could possibly die. It would become a rather depressing situation. You may cry and become very sad. You may yell and scream. After viewing the disfigurement it caused to your body, you may simply lose all emotional control.

Knowing all these ramifications of that one little bear trap, you make the decision to avoid it.

Don’t be confused. You are certainly free enough to step in it if you want to. You have the freedom to choose.  All things are permissible, but not all things are profitable.

The wise choice is to “stay away from the trap”. It will profit you none to step in it.. It is not the wise thing to do. For some, sugar is like that bear trap. Galatians 5:1, reminds us of our free status but warns as well.” It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.” You can eat whatever you want. You are free. Say, “1 am free in Jesus.” See, you are free. However, the verse directly after that says, “Stand firm then and don’t let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” You are so free you can choose slavery if you want to.

Many reading this would say, “That’s silly. I would never choose slavery.” Nevertheless, the very people who say that choose slavery daily. In the Old Testament, if a man died owing money, his wife and children became slaves to pay it. They worked until the full debt was paid. Are we not doing the same thing with the “American dream”? How many of us have paychecks that are spent before we ever get it in our hand? See, we go in debt. Then we become enslaved working just to pay off the debt. Then we pay even more money for the privilege of being allowed to go into debt. We are so free we choose slavery. It is stupid but we do it anyway. It is permissible. We get seduced into it. Something looks so good that we must have it before we have the money for it. We tell our mind to “shut-up”, and emotions take over. Later, we are using credit cards to pay off credit cards. Alternatively, an extra loan on our house to pay them off.

Addictive substances are no more than modern day bear traps. You are free until you taste the sweetness of the drug of choice.  Then it slams shut on you, and you are trapped. Understand the trap of sugar is called by different names. Your trap may be cocaine, heroine, alcohol, or French fries. It all turns to sugar.

The Word of God has an answer for everything. Proverbs 25:16 says this, “Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much of it, or it will make you sick.” Honey is God’s form of sugar. Therefore, that’s the better form. We have already discussed Gods’ food versus mans rip off versions. God made it. However, even God himself warns us, “Do you like honey?” Now think about this for a moment. He had to have known you would answer, Yes,” because of the way He followed it up. If he thought you were going to say, “No”, there would never be this sentence after it, “Don’t eat too much of it.”

The word would read stupidly if  we did not have a sweet tooth. “Do you like honey?” “No, I don’t.” Then,, , “Well, don’t eat too much of it. It will make you sick.” You would be saying, what? What are you talking about? I told you I didn’t like it.” Nevertheless, God says, “Do you like honey?” knowing that we would say “yes”. Then He says’ “Don’t eat too much of it or it will make you sick.” He gave us a specific statement. You cannot misinterpret it. Many people interpret the Bible a million different ways. I do not see bow you can interpret that any differently than what it specifically says.

As we read scripture, we understand that when people were suffering physical sickness, they suffered spiritual as well. I am certain they also suffered emotionally.. For instance, there was a woman with the infirmity.. A physical healing took place because she was able to stand up straight. It also says demons were cast out of her. This denotes a spiritual healing.. I imagine she became emotionally better too. With this in mind, I believe when the scripture talks about being sick, it means physical and spiritual and emotional.. So when it says “Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much of it or it will make you sick,” I believe the sickness will be physical, spiritual, and emotional. A woman that I loved like  my own grandmother, told me a honey story. Revealing that in days as a young bride, all she had to eat was biscuits and a can of honey. One day, she was so hungry she ate a lot of honey. It made her terribly ill. She became physically sick. For over fifty years, that memory kept her from ever eating honey again.

This story makes me know that if we east too much honey it will indeed make us sick!

Never forget that God set us free. We can eat anything we want. If you want hot fudge cake and ice cream, you can have it.

However, it is not necessarily beneficial to eat it. If it will close on you like a trap, and keep you craving sweets, don’t do it.

Luke 21:34, Be careful or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life. And that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

If you want scotch and water this evening, you can have it. However, if it will make you get out of control with alcohol, then don’t do it.

If sugar is your counterfeit Holy Spirit, then don’t do it. What I mean by that is, if you are indulging in it for comfort. If you turn to it for comfort, rather than trusting the Comforter to take care of your emotions, then it is your drug.  The minute we trust something else to be our comfort provider, we have replaced the Holy spirit with a false god. WE are joining with the devil in proclaiming that He is not powerful enough to keep His throne. It is active idolatry, bowing before the false god of sugar. It is adultery by turning to the arms of another for comfort. Is sugar evil? It can be.