We have all heard the expression "you are what you eat." When it comes to our spiritual diet, what do we eat? Lets take a look at four different spiritual diets.

Starvation—If you stop eating food and drinking liquids, you will starve to death. The parallel is a lack of prayer and Bible study. Death does not occur immediately on a starvation diet, but if not corrected it will invariable lead to death. The same is true if we seldom study or pray.

Unbalanced diet—An unbalanced diet can lead to poor health and many physical difficulties. Spiritually, an unbalanced diet would be where we tend to study only one topic in the Bible—such as prophecy or history. The Bible gives us a balanced diet of spiritual food—including Christian living, prophecy, history, doctrine, etc. We may have a favorite section of the Bible that we like to study, but don't neglect the whole Bible (Matthew 4:4).

Food fanatics—We have all encountered people who become extreme in their eating habits. I remember one gentleman that I encountered who basically just ate bananas. Spiritually, this would be a person who only studies one point of Scripture. This becomes his spiritual "baby."

Balanced diet—Our physical diet should consist of a proper balance of foods from all the different food groups—fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, etc. A balanced spiritual diet would be to study the Bible in proper proportions. Sometimes we study according to our spiritual needs. Those needs will vary from time to time.

What happens when you eat a poor diet? Your resistance is low. As a result you could get a cold, flu, or some disease. When you're sick you don't want to eat, and you become weaker. When our spiritual resistance is low, almost any trial or test could throw us. Paul admonishes us in Galatians 6:10: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." The more we rely upon God and the closer we are to Him the more God's strength is made perfect in us (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). We receive the power of God when we totally rely upon Him.

Very seldom do we forget to eat. We would not dream of only eating once a week. Yet this is what we do spiritually if the only time we study and pray is on the Sabbath. Every time we sit down to eat it should be a reminder that we need to eat spiritually. We must pray and study regularly for spiritual strength.

Source: The Importance of Prayer and Bible Study

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