Count Your Blessings

Thankful for Food - God Is Our Provider

Sunday November 15th, 2020 - Pastor Wungreiso Valui

Num. 11:21-22

And Moses said, "The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.' Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?" (Num. 11:21-22).

THE MESSAGE:

By eating you are doing the will of God. So eat and drink to glorify God.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:13).

THE INTENTION OF GOD'S GIFT OF FOOD:

The food in the desert was not only a gift from God, He wanted to REVEAL His INTENTION to have a relationship with His people.

THE PROBLEM: CRAVINGS CONTROLLING YOUR LIFE:

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes! (Num. 11:4-5).

One of the biggest complaints of the Israelites against God in the wilderness was about food and water. Let us come to Jesus and practice gratitude to experience the wonder of our existence.

THE SOLUTION: DIFFERENT WAYS TO COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS FOR FOOD

• 1. Eat Everything with a BLESSING:

  There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. (Num. 11:5)

1. Cursing what we have is despising God's blessings.

   The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness (Ps. 24:1).

2. Saying a blessing for our food brings us to an awareness of God.

• 2. Eat to Live and And Be Fruitful:

  Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; (Num. 11:4)

1. So if your physical health and wellbeing is foundational for a meaningful and productive life, deal with your preoccupation with food and the control it has over you.

   "...To everything... in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so" (Gen. 1:30).

2. It is God's will for you to live and thrive.

• 3. Embrace Hunger:

  "so the children of Israel also wept again" (Exodus. 11:4)

1. Embrace hunger and thirst to honor God.

   "Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:5).

2. God satisfies your mouth with good things.

• 4. Eat Enough:

  "Who will give us meat to eat?" (Ex. 11:4)

1. Do not despise the presence of God to satisfy your cravings

   "Feed me with the food allotted to me" (Prov. 30:8)

2. God is enough and He is our portion.
3. Do not eat more.
4. Do not eat less.
5. Eat enough.

• 5. Eat With Contentment:

  "We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic" (Num. 11:5)

1. One of the biggest complaints of the Israelites in the wilderness was about hunger and lack of variety in their food choice.

   "And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content" (1Tim. 6:8).

2. They were not content with the miraculous manna.

• 6. Eat With Christ: Invite Jesus to dine with you

  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Rev. 3:20).

1. Eat with Christ, and transform physical hunger and thirst into a hunger and thirst for righteousness, a hunger for the presence of God.

• 7. Eat to connect with God: Set aside time, sit down, give thanks and eat

  "Then I will come down and talk with you there" (Num. 11:17)

1. When you bless the food and eat with thanksgiving, you elevate the most routine, essential and unconscious, automatic act of eating to connect with God.

   For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:33)

2. Each time we eat the food with thanksgiving, We elevate the ordinary act of eating to a moment when we can connect with God.

• 8. By eating you are doing the will of God.

1. Eat or drink so as to glorify God

   God's provision, the gift of food, reveals His intention to have a relationship with His people

2. Invite Jesus to dine with you

   We are how we eat

3. Eating to glorify God can make a difference for ourselves, our community, our nation and the whole earth.