This Book Belongs Tostore.weighdown.com/assets/pdf/wd_basics_workbook.pdf · wrong to lose weight...

Copyright © 2010 by Gwen Shamblin and Weigh Down Ministries

The Weigh Down Ministries name and logo are registered trademarks. The Weigh Down Basics name and logo are

trademarks.

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photograph, magnetic or other record, without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of AmericaRemnant Publishing

Weigh Down Ministries ®308 Seaboard Lane, Franklin, TN 37067

1-800-844-5208www.weighdown.com

ISBN # 1-892729-10-5

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

John 4:34

This Book Belongs To:

F o r e w o r d

Welcome to Weigh Down Ministries! We have a very large staff that is here to meet your needs.

We are so excited about you finding the way to get your weight off permanently! You are not going to believe the blessings.

Every year, we send out Weigh Down materials to thousands of

hurting people. The materials include seminars, books, and other audio/video products. Donations are appreciated and are used to help get this message of hope and truth out to those without hope. Whether it is a few additional dollars on top of your purchase or a larger donation, all of the proceeds are used to teach people how to have a relationship with God and to love Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

May these materials be used to further the Kingdom of God and to make His True Nature known.

Now it is time for you to get started... Please use our website, email, the 1-800 Weigh Down phone number, our Regional Rep-resentatives, our Coordinators, Truthstream and WDWB web Ra-dio to stay encouraged along the way on your path to permanent weight loss...

Gwen and The Weigh Down Ministries Staff

Ta b l e o F C o n T e n T s

General Medical Information 6

Weight Record 7

Weigh Down Ministries 8

Let’s Get Started 13

Lesson 1: Waiting for True Hunger 16

Lesson 2: Focus 48

Lesson 3: Jewels 78

Lesson 4: Let Go of Control 100

Lesson 5: A New Life 118

Lesson 6: All or Nothing 136

Appendix: Complications of Obesity 153

Glossary 156

Credits 161

About the Author 164

Resources 166

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Read Before Starting:General Medical Information

You may have joined this program because the stronghold of food (or other addictions) is having a physical impact on your body, as well as your spirit. If this is the case, we recommend that you consult your physician for a medical examination before you begin. Also, if you have any pre-existing health condi-tions such as: food allergies, diverticulitis, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, bowel resections, chronic ulcers, kidney disease, chronic constipation, etc., please con-tinue to be under your physician’s care and guidelines for food and medication. For example, if you have chronic constipation, you must keep eating fiber. If you have ulcers, take your medication and do not eat the foods that upset your stomach. Reducing your intake of excessive amounts of food will be a positive change, but the body that has become accustomed to excess food may experi-ence some unfamiliar feelings during this transition. God has made our bodies to be sensitive to what and how much of anything we need, but this internal system must be resurrected! Be patient and trust God ultimately to satisfy you far better than anything the world can offer.

Some physical conditions may be alleviated when you lose weight and start eating regular foods in smaller amounts. For example, if you have high choles-terol or triglyceride levels, losing weight permanently could possibly alleviate the problem. Spastic colon and ulcers may improve as you eat the volume of food that your body calls for. Joint and muscle problems are improved in some cases. People on cortisone and/or those who have lupus will still lose weight, but the weight loss may be slower. Diabetics going through this program will re-duce their food intake, bringing the insulin/food ratio closer. As a result, many have been able to reduce or even eliminate their medications. It is very impor-tant to understand, however, that the process of regulating insulin must be done under a physician’s supervision. Also, medications that should be taken with food usually require only small amounts—e.g., one to three crackers. Please consult your physician in regard to any of these conditions.

Weigh Down Ministries has helped many anorexics and many more bulim-ics to let go of control, and they have watched themselves become at peace with their bodies. They have lost their focus on food and their obsession for thin-ness, trading this in for a focus on and devotion to God. While individuals with anorexia or bulimia can certainly benefit from this program, they should remain under the care of their physicians.

If God causes your heart to question, we suggest that you take your con-cerns to your physicians and counselors to prayerfully determine how to best treat your personal situation.

Weight Record

The Weigh DoWn Basics class is about truth, and by getting on the scale and weighing each week, you will start telling yourself the truth. Stomach hunger is obeying God. Head hunger is obeying self, greed, and your own desire to control or feed indulgence. Obey God! (See page 30 for more information on weighing on scales.)

BodyWeight

WeekOrientatio

n

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14+4

+2

0

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10

-12

-14

-16

-18

-20

-22

-24

-26

-28

-30

-32

-34

-36

-38

+4

+2

0

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10

-12

-14

-16

-18

-20

-22

-24

-26

-28

-30

-32

-34

-36

-38

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14Orientation

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The Pioneer of Faith-Based Weight Loss Programs

Weigh Down was established over 20 years ago, and it is the only one of its kind. It is a faith-based program that is medically sound and has withstood the test of time. Weigh Down is teaching people how to address the whole person and the root problem of overeating; therefore, it teaches you how to end emotional eating and learn the self-control of a Thin Eater—someone who can stop in the middle of a candy bar and have no desire to eat the second half. The results are freedom from the slavery of overeating which gives you good physical and mental health. It is right for us to take care of the body that God has given us. It is wrong to lose weight in a way that damages the body. Weigh Down helps you to lose weight naturally and to lose an excessive preoccupa-tion with body image.

This educational seminar is based on sound medical and nutritional facts. It is taught primarily using videos, books, e-books, audios and internet seminars. Having grown up around the medical community (with a father and brother who were surgeons), I received an under-graduate degree in Dietetics and a Masters Degree in Nutrition Science (which is based on biochemistry), which gives Weigh Down a strong foundation in nutrition science. Further experiences in training include the following: Membership in the American Dietetics Association, five years of experience as the Nutritionist at the Health Department teach-ing Food Nutrition, and five years as an Instructor of Foods and Nutri-tion at the University of Memphis.

The Weigh Down Diet was published by Doubleday, and Exodus Out of Egypt was the first seminar. All information is disseminated via video les-sons, books, e-books, audio lessons, and workbooks which teach people how to eat and think like a Thin Eater and how to overcome binge-eat-ing.

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Widely Accepted

Although Weigh Down was established in 1986-1990 at the height of the diet craze, calorie counting obsession, and excessive exercise regimens, Weigh Down is not a diet in the strict sense of the word. In fact, it was considered revolutionary. By the 1990s, America was ready for a fresh approach. Weigh Down rapidly expanded and became international and was widely publicized throughout the world, including Larry King Live, 20/20, The View, USA Today, BBC, and all major national magazines and newspapers.

After 20 years of worldwide acceptance, Weigh Down’s sound prin-ciples were adopted in the medical community, influencing weight loss principles espoused by the Surgeon General and The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. Whereas 20 years ago the Surgeon General and the CDC were promoting diets, they are now endorsing hunger and fullness and smaller portion sizes.

Obesity at Epidemic Status Because Diets Don’t Work

Overweight and obesity are fast becoming an epidemic and this condition is the single most related factor to cancer, heart disease, dia-betes, joint pain, poor health and slow healing...and early death. How-ever, even with the introduction of the Weigh Down principles, dieting never lost its popularity because the large profit-making diet industry keeps people on an endless roller coaster of gaining and losing weight while selling diet food products—shakes, bars, and diet pills. In other words, the diet products create the major earnings for the 40 billion dol-lar dieting industry. Therefore diets will always be around.

But the population has not benefited from the dominance of diet programs and specialty foods. Indeed, in the midst of this diet scheme, we have witnessed that diets do not solve, but only exacerbate, the root problem—the addiction to and focus on food. Diets increase the obses-sion with food and are the wrong medicine for the condition of overeat-ing. Diets are not just the wrong solution for obesity; they are causing binge-eating and overeating behaviors. Scientists are confused and are

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depending more on pills, hormones, suction-assisted lipectomies, etc. Both the medical community and the government are concerned about the rising cost that obesity is causing.

Weigh Down Gives You Hope!

We have hope because you can relearn how to change your eating behavior and your approach to food, and therefore regain control by eating moderate amounts. There is hope! Everyday unsuccessful “diet-ers” have become successful “Thin Eaters.” A Thin Eater only eats when his stomach growls, and he stops eating when he is full. Overall, Thin Eaters eat less food, and they know what their bodies are calling for. People who live the longest and are in the best health eat regular foods in small amounts, according to what their bodies call for—they always respond to hunger and fullness. The best way to describe the results of the program is that you will return to eating like you did as a child—free from the worry about what you are eating. Is the program effective for people who need to lose 200 pounds or more? The answer is YES! No one who is reading this is past the point of no return. There is hope for you.

The Second Generation

Weigh Down has been so highly successful and in existence for so long now that it is helping the next generation. I know you want to lose weight permanently, but I also know you really care and want to help your children and grandchildren so that they never go through the pain of overweight—the ridicule, shame, hurt, and grief of obesity—or the health risks and danger of anorexia or bulimia.

Recently an article was published in Shape magazine that had a young actress, AnnaLynne McCord, on the front cover who was thin and shapely and credited the principles of Weigh Down. She told of how her mother lost 45 pounds and kept it off. Even though she was brought up in Georgia around fatty fried foods, her mother taught her and her two sisters how to eat the Weigh Down way and how to eat like

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a Thin Eater—eating smaller amounts in control.Now, the science and the medical basis of this time-tested perma-

nent weight loss program is based on teaching you to eat like a Thin Eat-er. No other program has more experience or results. Weigh Down has more trained instructors and coordinators who are permanently thin and extremely skilled. They are located all over the United States and Canada and other parts of the world. Praise God that He has granted us His Truths on how to get the complicated and emotional human being to change his or her behavior and end years of binge-eating, grazing, bulimia, binge-drinking, dieting, and all the behaviors of an overeater—and turn them toward thin eating.

Faith-Based Weight Loss

So what does God have to do with it anyway? The answer...this is about the whole person. Diets do not address the heart, soul, and mind of a person and the person’s inward longing. Many people eat from the pain and the stress in life. Weigh Down is not just for Christians—this is for all people of every language and all religions. (See www.mbc.net/mbc.net/Arabic/Multimedia/Morning Show/badana.wmv) How is that possible? Each person has a deep yearning for more, but they do not know that this yearning is just a pre-programmed honing device that God has put in each of us so that we might reach out and seek Him. The heart is located next to the stomach, so it is not surprising that we have tried to put chocolate cake or chips and dip down into this longing heart. Weigh Down will teach you how to distinguish the difference between physiological hunger and spiritual hunger. We all can become enslaved to anything on this earth, and in this country, food has defi-nitely become an idol. Weigh Down teaches you how to transfer a rela-tionship with the food (or idols) over to a relationship with God.

Weigh Down truths are still universally accepted and highly endorsed. See weighdown.com Media Links such as Tyra Banks, Today Show, CNN, Fox News, and WETV. (www.weighdown.com/AboutUs/WeighDownInTheMedia.aspx) Why? People have the same basic needs. Weigh Down is about pushing away from the table and turning to God for

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strength and help. Learning to focus more on the future than the moment is good for all mankind, and learning that “more is less” is essential for all mankind. Can this work for any age, denomination, race or creed? Yes—again, these truths are universal to all religions. Why? Because it is not about a religion but a relationship with God. It is about transferring a relationship with the food to a relationship with God. Where you used to read about, think about, dream about, and dress for the food—by putting on stretch clothes so that nothing would come between you and the binge—now you read about, think about, long for, and dress for your Creator. It is about filling up this yearning and hurting heart with a relationship with God versus the food. Food is a false god—it is not a good companion, preoccupation, or friend. God is the God of all comfort. True Religion should be about what you adore, and we all adore or bow down to or worship something—so essentially we are all religious—but what you adore could help you or hurt you. If you bow down to food and the refrigerator or the alcohol bottle or cigarettes, it could be likened to a slow suicide—it is very bad for your health.

Why waste one more minute or one more dollar? Again, we cannot emphasize this enough! It is time to get help by turning back to your faith and your Creator and going back to eating the way you did when you were a child... It is so freeing! Return to Weigh DoWn Basics—natural eating—so that you can be thin for the rest of your life!

Sincerely,

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l eT ’s G eT s Ta rT e d

Welcome to Weigh Down! Get ready to make some new friends who have all experienced the pain of obesity and have lost their weight permanently! Make sure you read the General Medical Information (page 6) before getting started. Also read our stance on exercise (page 49) so that you can take care of your body until you are at a weight that is conducive to exercise. Take care of the joints and knees that God has given you—be careful. You have no special foods to buy for this pro-gram or ever again. Start saving money today with smaller portions and no diet foods!

If you are new to Weigh Down you need to know there is wonder-ful support provided for you. You are not alone. We have a free phone number (1-800-844-5208) that is paid for by the ministry so that you can receive direction and encouragement. This office is open 9-5 CST Monday through Thursday. All weekend questions will be returned first thing on Monday morning by trained Weigh Down professionals. We also have Regional Coordinators for different parts of the country and internationally. You can go to the official website to find your Regional Representative (www.weighdown.com).

Weigh Down not only helps with weight loss but helps with all addictions and struggles. Truthstream is optional but so very help-ful in being able to address the stressful things in life that can dis-tract you from concentrating on your task at hand. See “The Store” (store.weighdown.com) for more on Truthstream and weigh down web radio (WDWB). Both keep you focused UP!

How to Start

Make sure you watch all the different Weigh DoWn Basics promo-tional videos and Lesson One. Then it is time to go to the workbook Lesson One. This will help you with your first 36 hours. Call the office if you need help. You can do this, and it is so exciting! The lessons can be self-paced or you can sign up for a class. Both options have trained

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Coordinators to assist you. The more you read and the more you listen, the better your results will be with this new way of eating.

Each week you will be shown a video lesson which will last approxi-mately 45 minutes to 1 hour. The information that is shared in these lessons is founded in God’s Word as it relates to our lives. In addition, each video includes testimonies from people who have transferred their focus to God and have been set free from food and/or other strong-holds. Make this all-important change your priority! Plan on taking notes each week and be sure to bring your NIV Bible. You also will have homework and audio lessons that correspond with each video lesson.

About This Book

This workbook is designed to be a tool for you to use every week. Each week contains:

• Summary of each week’s video lesson and Scriptures• Homework Questions• Reinforcement Resources

You will also have the opportunity to record your weekly progress on: • Answered Prayers Charts• Food Schedule and Relationship Charts• Weight Record (Record your beginning weight this week.)• Jewels page to record your rewards for obedienceWork on all of these sections as God leads you during the week.

There is no formula or schedule for this workbook, but rather a con-stant focus on God and being led by His Spirit. Find things throughout the week that help you with this focus on God’s will and keep you off of yourself, such as music, Truthstream, or other Weigh Down materials. See the back of this book for additional Weigh DoWn Basics resources as well as other Weigh Down materials. Most importantly, find the fel-lowship of like-minded believers who will continue to challenge you and convict you as you live to please only the Father, just as Jesus did ( John 14:31). If you need help finding a group, call our office.

The time between weekly classes should be spent in independent, self-paced study. The most important tool you will use during this study

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is your Bible. The Scripture references in the class videos, audios, and workbook of this series are from the Holy Bible, New International Ver-sion (NIV). We recommend that you also use the NIV version during this study. (Call the Weigh Down office at 1-800-844-5208 or visit the website at www.weighdown.com to get a new Bible if needed.) You will also need a CD or digital audio player for your audio lessons.

Please use every element of this seminar as a tool for breaking free from years of restrictive dieting and overeating, as it will help you trans-fer your relationship with food over to a relationship with God. Please contact our permanently thin and well-trained staff for any needs or questions you may have by calling us at 1-800-844-5208 or posting a message to us on the message boards at www.weighdown.com. You are going to do great, and remember, the only thing you can do wrong is quit!

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L e s s o n o n e

waiTinG For True hunGer

Scriptures ❑ Colossians 2:20-23 ❑ 1 Timothy 4:1, 3-4 ❑ Psalm 81:5-10

Weekly Checklist ❑ Watch Lesson One Video ❑ Listen to Lesson One Audio ❑ Answer Lesson One Homework Questions ❑ Use your Reinforcement Resources and Truth Cards ❑ As you feel led, fill out the Weight Chart

Reinforcement Resources ❑ The Weigh Down Diet Book—“How to Feed the Stomach” pages

41 - 63 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“Weigh Down Basics” Video 1 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“Transferring Your Focus” Video 2 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Heart of the Matter” Audio 1 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Rise Above” Audio 2 ❑ Laying Down Your Idols Devotional—“Temptations and Desire Eat-

ing” January 13th ❑ Use a Seek Ye First Notepad ❑ Join Weigh Down’s Facebook Group

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Lesson One Video Summary Welcome to Weigh DoWn Basics. First and foremost, understand

that you are not a failure. Over the years you have developed a passion for and a focus on food which has left you overweight or miserable under its control. Attempts to solve the problem by dieting only increased this focus. Through Weigh Down, you will learn to transfer both the passion for food and your cry for deliverance from it to the only One Who truly deserves all this attention—God. This program is highly successful and permanent because we direct your efforts toward the root problem of obesity and overweight: overeating. You can quickly relearn how to eat like a Thin Eater by learning how to desire less food. By changing your focus or your mindset toward the amount of food that you deserve, your behaviors will change at each meal and snack. Diets do not work; spending years of dieting has only made matters worse because it is the wrong focus—so you actually desire more and more food each year, and you gain more weight with each passing year. Years of restrictive dieting have only strengthened the chains of slavery to food.

You are going to learn how to eat naturally and with control. You do not need to buy special foods or pills or sign up for special exercise programs. Weigh Down teaches you how to eat like a “Thin Eater”—a person who has self-control with eating regular foods. You will be able to eat like a child again—free from a preoccupation with food, free from binge-eating, dieting, bulimia, and exhausting exercise programs that have gotten you nowhere. And what is more—free from depres-sion from the incredible pain of the consequences of overweight.

At this point, you have tried everything else to lose weight. It is time to get the mindset of people who have no draw or interest in food, but strictly use food for fuel. It is time to call on God for help to learn to eat how He intended it—how all the animals in the wild eat. Even in times of abundance, they do not eat more than their bodies are calling for.

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The Weigh Down Approach

With God’s help you can learn to stop in the middle of a meal and have no desire to eat the second half if your stomach is satisfied!

God did not put chocolate or lasagna or real blue cheese dressing on earth to torture us, but rather for our enjoyment. However, He wants us to learn how to rise above the magnetic pull of the refrigerator so that food does not consume our lives!

The Problem and the Solution

We have been created with two empty, needing-to-be-fed holes in our body. One is the stomach, and the other is the heart.

The stomach is a literal hole in our body which is to be fed with the proper amount of food. As for the heart, I am speaking figuratively of our deep-down feelings. To satisfy these deep-down feelings, needs, or desires of the heart, we may often turn to food and overload our stomach with more than it needs.

Trying to feed a hurting, needy heart with food or anything on this earth (alcohol, tobacco, antidepressants, sexual lusts, money, the praise of other people, etc.) is a common error. The person who attempts to feed a longing heart with food will stay on the path

to overweight. Those who pursue an overindulgence of alcohol or tobacco or power will also reap the consequenc-es of those pursuits. There is nothing inherently evil about food, alcohol, tobacco, mon-ey, credit cards, etc. However, it is wrong to become a slave to any of these things or to let them master you.

Figure 1-1: God created two empty

places in each of us.

Figure 1-2: Feed the stomach only when it growls and stop eating when it is satisfied (not stuffed). Using food to fill the

heart leads to overweight.

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Lesson 1

The Solution for Overweight

As you can see from the diagram, we have been trying to feed our hurting, longing hearts with physi-cal food. We have also learned to love food. Therefore, the solution is as follows:1. Relearn how to feed the stom-

ach only when it is truly hun-gry.

2. Relearn how to feed or nourish the longing human soul with a relationship with God.

3. Relearn how to recognize the different “hunger” urges and not confuse them.

Am I a Failure?

Your major concerns will be: How can this work for me?1. “I feel a distance between God and me, because I thought He made

me overweight and, for years, has not answered my prayers to take this weight off.”

2. “I’ve tried every diet five times, every diet pill and exercise, and failed miserably—so how can this work?”

What we are really asking is... “Am I a failure, or is God angry at me and sabotaging me?”

Well, you are not a failure, it is not genetic, and God is not sabotag-ing you. He does hope that your slavery to diets and overweight will make you call out to him. He is in love with you, and He wants you to depend on Him for deliverance so you can see how mighty He is and how important you are to Him.

Why have diets not worked so far? The reason is that you (like me and the rest of the world) have tried using man-made rules (diets) in-

Figure 1-3: Our heart and needs are fed by looking for and finding that God is our Financier,

Comforter, Mechanic, Lawyer, Physician, Counselor, Friend, Husband, Defender, Trusting

Leader, and Father.

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stead of God’s rules. God has never asked anyone to eat food off of a list, to count fat exchanges, or to take an appetite suppressant. You have just been applying the wrong medicine to this condition. You were using your willpower and man’s rules. God is too smart to let a local weight-loss group or fat gram counting be your Savior and thereby get all the credit. Man-made rules will not work.

Now, welcome to Weigh Down Ministries, a place that teaches you God’s rules for eating and shows you the futility of man-made rules. Welcome to Weigh Down Ministries, a place that shows you how to use God’s strength rather than your willpower! Welcome to Weigh Down Ministries, a place where thousands of people are now thin after years of trying.

In summary: you are not a failure. You have been using man’s rules and your willpower, and now you are going to use God’s plan for eating and His strength. There is hope, and God will get the credit!

Diets Will Never Work

Diets do not get to the root of the problem. In fact, diets aggravate the problem rather than alleviate it. Diets just boil down to making the food behave. Food companies have spent several decades and millions of dollars to pull out the fat and calories so that the food is righteous! Actually, billions of dollars are spent by the food industry to make us feel needy. Many food companies may not want us to succeed in losing weight, but rather would prefer to make us feel dependent on them so we will consume whatever is sold. In fact, the more diets fail, the better off the industry is.

The root of the problem is not the food ingredients, but how much volume is going down the old hatch (our esophagus)! And, indeed, we consumers have wanted the food industry to take the fat out of the Twinkie so that we can simply eat more Twinkies. Changing the food but not changing the volume of what is swallowed will leave us on a roller coaster of weight loss and weight gain. Changing our metabolism or our nervous system by taking pills and hormones is not permanent because we cannot stay on them due to the side effects. The motivation

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Lesson 1

to be thin is not vanity—it is natural. God has programmed us to want the best for our bodies.

We cannot continue to have the doctor suck out the fat from one part of the body (suction-assisted lipectomies) while we continue to stuff our mouths. We must surrender the root of the problem; that is so much easier to do than diets or surgery. Weigh Down is different from all other diet systems because it is not selling a diet plan, a food, or whatever. It is selling a future, a future to be filled and fulfilled. Hunger is filled, God’s love is embraced and enjoyed, and appetites are under control and given to God.

Do You Have to be Religious to do the Program?

For those of you who do not feel particularly religious—do not worry. You have exactly what you need to be able to do this program. You see, each of us has a heart to worship, and we all adore something. That tells us we have the capacity to give our heart to something. The question is: can you transfer your devotion from one thing to another? The answer is: yes!

Giving our hearts over to something is a learned process and can be relearned. For example, some people enjoy sports, but other people seem to worship sports. Some people enjoy material things, but other people seem to worship things. Some people use money, but other peo-ple will do anything to get it.

Some people use food for fuel to run the body, and some people dream about food. Some of these dreamers have been known to get up in the morning and find the bony remains of fried chicken on their chest! This old relationship with food can be transferred to a relation-ship with God or to a heart for God.

In the past you may have loved the feeling of planning a binge and dreaming over recipes, cookbooks, and magazines that have food plans and pictures of food. You may have looked forward to the feeling of waiting for everyone to go to bed (and they had better not get back up out of bed) so you could prepare, cook, and consume the food without the judgment of anybody.

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The good news is that you can relearn how to get that feeling from the Lord. When you learn to get this happy feeling from finding God, you will experience much more fulfillment. Bingeing out on seeking God has no yucky, guilty, depressing side effects. In other words, it is possible to let go of that old way of having fun and replace it with some-thing so much more filling (yet with no calories!). By choosing this new path you will lose weight and never regain the weight.

I know some of you are reading in disbelief. I can hear you think-ing, “You’re telling me that if I am not hungry and want to eat a pan of brownies, that I should go to the Bible and read it instead!?” This con-cept is not “pie in the sky.” Keep reading. I dare you to let me prove this to you.

Thousands of people have taken Weigh Down Ministries seminars or have read The Weigh Down Diet book. They no longer get this “binge high” from food, but from focusing completely on our true Heavenly Father and trying to please Him. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work” ( John 4:34).

Some people have experienced a “high” when they became involved in exercise. While the “high” is not wrong, it is not complete. And usu-ally, obsessive, tedious exercise to become thin eventually wears thin if the exercise is self-focused rather than God-focused. Exercise, like food, must also be put in its place and not worshiped, but enjoyed.

The transfer to a heavenly focus from a focus on food, exercise, or anything else is much more delightful and fulfilling. It has so many re-wards that you will never want to return to giving your heart to anything else!

How do You Lose Weight?

Once you stop going to food for sensual indulgence, escape, spac-ing out, a tranquilizing effect, comfort, and so on, and start swallowing regular foods only when your stomach growls, you will swallow or eat just one-half to one-third of what you used to swallow. The desire eating goes away. That means you will lose weight! You will be able to do this; it happens naturally. You will not have to measure the food or count the

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Lesson 1

grams—your stomach will guide you. The volume of food decreases as you focus on hunger and fullness. Thousands of ex-dieters are doing this within twenty-four hours of starting Weigh Down.

Figure 1-4: Expect your food consumption to go down in this program—anywhere from one-half to two-thirds.

The typical weight-loss program suggests losing weight through diet and exercise. We suggest that if you lose the passion for food, the result will be that you eat less food and therefore lose weight permanently. The typical 1950s–2010s approach tried to fix the body or the food but did not address the passion. The Weigh Down Ministries approach fixes the heart first, and the body follows.

Weigh Down Ministries will show you how God can bring us to peace with food—never to return to the nightmare of endless over-weight, yo-yo dieting and “have-to” exercise regimens, but rather to a calm, non-magnetized approach to regular foods with the ability to ap-proach foods such as rich entrees and desserts without losing control. Exercise need no longer be connected to burning calories; instead it can be an enjoyable activity. You will be free!

We are going to relearn how to eat like a Thin Eater and simply imitate that behavior. We have been imitating overeaters for decades; even the world who has followed the West is fast imitating our behav-ior and are therefore becoming obese. Many professionals believe that

24

people are overweight because they eat the wrong foods. How do you know that is not true? Because Thin Eaters eat those foods that we call “wrong”—they eat regular foods and stay thin day in and day out. It is NOT the foods’ fault. In fact, you could not get naturally Thin Eaters to eat diet foods.

God has programmed you to desire a variety of foods. God is the Genius Chef behind all foods, including lasagna and chocolate cheese-cake. He did not put bagels and cream cheese on earth to torture us! If you are sick of certain foods, you are free to avoid them until you desire them again. That is a very healthy nutritional practice. Your body has a natural biological feedback mechanism that cues you to a variety. You need to trust how your body was made and feel free to eat regular foods in small amounts.

God created the universe and the world, and He set up certain laws that cannot be changed—for instance, gravity. If you drop an object, it will fall to the ground. Now, God set up these laws, and science should just be a study of God’s laws. It should be impossible to separate God and science. Medical studies should always be based on how God made the body and should work with it, not against it. Weigh DoWn Basics is not a diet in the strict sense of restrictions of certain categories of food. It is based on God’s laws and therefore addresses the one thing that has been left out in the diet world—dealing with the human emotions. It is deeper than just saying, “Eat this food or restrict this food group.” You have to deal with the whole person—the heart, soul, mind and strength. So man-made rules have no value in restraining sensual indulgence...

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an ap-pearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Colossians 2:20-23).

25

Lesson 1

r e F u e lo r e aT

s To p e aT i n GaT s aT i s F i e d

If your desires do not get restrained or curtailed—then you will never lose the weight. Do not worry, you are not missing a nutrient. You have overfed yourself for years, and that is why your back aches, your joints ache, you cannot sleep well, your stomach aches, and you generally feel exhausted all the time. Feeling hopeless is the number one cause of depression. Watch how your emotions will change this week as you feel hope that there is an answer to being free from the slav-ery of food and overweight!

“WAIT” is the keyword this week. Just WAIT for true, physiologi-cal hunger. You can take a walk, listen to your audio lessons, read the Bible or pray. Run to God’s Word and ask Him to fill up your time and mind instead of going to the food. Those who wait on the Lord will soar like eagles! You will be flying above this week as you eat less food!

how to approach Food once You Find hunger

ಎ eating regular Foods: God has put a variety of foods down on this earth for us to enjoy, not to torture us. He did not accidently leave the Four Basic Food Groups out of the Bible, so do not worry about good foods versus bad foods (Matthew 6:25, Mark 7:14-23). Biological feedback was programmed inside of each of us by God to guide us into a variety of foods. Eating what your body calls for will ensure a balance of food. When you have had too much of one category of food, you will naturally desire to eat from another category. Do not assume that you will want a sweet or dessert at the end of a meal, but if you do it should be in small amounts. No more

26

binges on sweets. You can find more information on this subject in Weigh DoWn Basics Lesson Four and The Weigh Down Diet book.

ಎ Food allergies: True food allergies should be respected. For in-stance, if you are allergic to certain types of seafood, then by all means do not eat them. If you have a sensitivity to milk, listen to your body and limit your milk intake. You will know your own sen-sitivities, hungers, and nutritional needs. However, there are many more incidents of simple food sensitivities that are not true aller-gies. By decreasing your portion sizes, you may discover that you will not experience reactions to foods like you did in the past. Any severe conditions that persist need to be treated by a physician.

ಎ what about diabetics: Consult your physician and make sure he or she is fully aware of the principles of this program. Type 1 diabet-ics need to know how to check their glucose levels regularly and to adjust insulin intake accordingly as the volume of food decreases. They must eat when their blood sugar is too low and when they feel hunger. Type 2 diabetes (adult-onset) is usually the direct result of overeating. The body is overburdened by the ingestion of too much food, and the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to han-dle the excess. Diabetics who have come through the program have sometimes been able to regulate their insulin level and eliminate medication by simply reducing their intake of food, which gets the insulin/food ratio closer. Occasionally, low blood sugar and hunger do not coincide. If blood sugar levels drop, do not panic! Usually, small amounts of food taken within a few minutes will make you feel better. This is not an open invitation to binge.

ಎ eating situations: Many times, questions arise concerning the way to handle specific eating situations when you are trying to lose weight. The wonderful truth about losing weight the Weigh Down way is that there are no special food rules to follow that include weighing, measuring, counting, or restricting food selections. All foods are to be enjoyed with thanksgiving between the boundaries of hunger and fullness. The only rule is to get your heart right with God—the body will follow. Listed here are some typical eating oc-casions and how to handle them within the boundaries of hunger and fullness:

27

Lesson 1

• it is your lunch hour and you are not hungry. Do not eat. Your body is not calling for food, and if you do eat, it will only be added to what needs to be burned (your stored fat). If you get hungry before the next meal, you can eat a small snack of some kind to satisfy your hunger until mealtime—or you can choose to make that your mealtime.

• You are hungry, but mealtime is still an hour away. Do not panic. Just drink an ounce or two of juice or eat something very small. This will satisfy your hunger enough to allow you to make it to mealtime. And even if you are not able to eat a snack, just remember that this hunger will not hurt you. In fact, the gnawing sensation will usually go away after a few minutes and will not come around again for a while, maybe an hour. Just do not use the premature hunger as an excuse to eat two meals!

• You have only ten minutes to eat. You can eat in ten minutes but still eat between hunger and fullness and with self-control. Weigh Down recommends that you learn to slow down your eating for two reasons. First, you will be able to taste each bite instead of inhaling it. You can savor the quality instead of quantity. Second, you remain in much better control and can detect fullness better when you eat more slowly. The body processes food more slowly than the mouth chews it and swallows it. Therefore, it is important to eat slowly enough that your brain can signal your mouth that your stomach is full! However, once you have adjusted to the smaller amounts that your body is calling for, it is much easier to stop at a certain quantity, even if it has to be consumed in a short period of time. You must use all of these suggestions with the good judgment that God gave you and your body.

• You do not like breakfast but love evening snacks. No problem—as long as you are responding to hunger and fullness. You could be a “p.m. person” who sleeps later and stays up later. These people usually start their day without hunger and prefer most of their food later in the day. Eating late at night is not wrong as long as you are hungry. And it stands to reason that if

28

you eat late, you will probably not wake up hungry. The reverse is the “a.m. person” who rises early, ready to eat. These people often prefer heavier food early in the day, dwindling to lighter and less food at night. Either one is okay as long as you are using your hunger/fullness mechanism as your signal to eat.

• You are satisfied, but there is still food on your plate. If you are at home, you can cover it and save it for later, or you can throw it away! If you are eating in a restaurant, you can leave it on your plate, or you can ask for a carry-out and take it home. We have the misconception that it is wrong to leave food on the plate, but the real problem is greed—whether it is helping yourself to too much or eating too much. If you serve yourself and later realize that “your eyes were bigger than your stomach,” learn to serve yourself smaller portions. If someone else prepares your plate, whether it is at home or in a restaurant, they have no idea how much you are hungry for and may bring you too much. You do not have to eat food just because it is there. Eat until you are satisfied, and either save or dispose of the rest.

ಎ ideal body weight: God designed all of us along the same prin-ciples, but each body is quite unique. What is the ideal body weight for one person is not the ideal body weight for another. He designed our systems so efficiently that when you eat according to hunger and fullness, your body will naturally go to a slender size and remain there. Your body knows when its reserves have all been used up, and your hunger sensation either will come more often or will require more food before being satisfied. It is important not to focus on a specific weight. It is also important not to repeatedly skip hunger signs. Continually ignoring the signal that your body needs to eat is as harmful as overeating. It can lead to anorexia and trying to maintain a body weight that is too thin and not healthy. As long as you are obedient to hunger and fullness, your body will reach and maintain the weight that God intends for you.

ಎ special situation—effects of illness on hunger: The more you understand about the human body, the more you just have to believe that God is such an incredible Genius. One of the systems He cre-

29

Lesson 1

ated which works in amazing ways is the circulatory system, which includes the heart and blood vessels. Your body can hold only so much blood, so there is a way that your body can direct more or less blood to different parts of the body as needed. For example, if you are studying or taking a test, your body needs a little extra of your blood to supply oxygen and fuel to the brain. The blood vessels in your brain dilate or get bigger, and some of the rest of the blood ves-sels in your body constrict or get smaller. This allows the blood to go to the area with the greatest need. When you exercise, the blood goes to your muscles. When you eat, it goes to your gut to digest the food. That is why you get sleepy after eating—there is not as much blood in your brain! The more you eat, the sleepier you get.

When you become sick or injured, the blood will go to the area affected by the attacking virus or injury. That is why wounds swell and become red. As a result of the body’s attempts to send blood to the sick area, the body will not send a lot of blood to your gut. Likewise, your body balances competing needs for energy. Fighting a virus expends energy, as does digesting food. Therefore, your body will not call for very much food during the time of illness or injury. It does not want to take the precious blood or energy from the area that needs it the most. So naturally, you can expect that you will not be as hungry as you normally are. By understanding that, you can relax and not try to “feed” the fever, illness, or injury. Mothers and grandmothers want you to eat when you are sick; however, you need to follow the body’s cues. Just pay attention to your fluid intake (thirst), and you will heal faster. Feeding the body when it is not asking to be fed is generally not good. However, for some rare conditions, eating despite lack of hunger may be indicated. For example, the chemicals administered during certain cancer treatments may throw the body off balance. Check with your physician and dietitian.

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How to Approach the ScalesGod is trying to get you away from bowing down to the “scale-god.”

How sad to think of the millions of people in this country bowing down to this false god to get approval or to see if they have been good or bad! (If you occasionally want to record your weight, space is provided on page 7.) If it seems to control your emotions, weigh no more than one time per week. As you are learning to rise above the food, learn to rise above the scales, too. Some of you may be used to getting on the scales three times a day! Start using your conscience to tell if you have been obedient or not.

Do not be surprised if your weight goes up if you are disobedient to the stomach. If you are a female, do not be surprised if your weight goes up when it is time for your cycle. Do not get depressed if one week your weight does not go down and you did everything right; you are being tested to see if you will be obedient to God even without immediate reward. Do not get depressed if you cannot pull together complete obe-dience to God in the first few weeks of the program. I have seen every possible combination. Just keep focused on what you are supposed to be doing—use your conscience and talk to God; if the graph is not go-ing down, then eat less food! This will help you, not harm you.

Above all, do not compare your desert walk to someone else’s. God has your walk already mapped out; just look to Him for everything!

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Lesson 1

The basics of

1. praise and prayer: You are on a journey to the right path. Learn to start your day off with praise to God for giving you another day and then prayer for help to lead you not into temptation but to deliver you from any evil—which would include greed for food. We have been commanded to take care of our bodies and not destroy them. Over-eating makes you sick and damages the body. Start the day off right, and get used to praying all throughout the day.

2. hunger and Fullness: You get to wait for stomach hunger, which is a growl. If you cannot get to food at that point—do not worry. The hun-ger will go away in about 10 minutes and come back around in about an hour. Just wait. Once you get hungry again, eat small amounts. How? Serve yourself regular foods on a small saucer or cut the foods in half. Rate your foods and eat your favorite foods first. You may have very small units of chocolate or sweets at the end of your meal. Make sure you eat the desserts very slowly—sipping between bites. Stop when you are full and get the food out of sight—by putting it in a carry-out, covering it with a napkin, or storing it away.

3. less is More: Remember—there will be no end to greed, and more is not better. No more binge-eating—the body cannot taste the food during a binge anyway. There is a whole life out there beyond the food! If you are having trouble with going beyond full—slow the eat-ing down and sip between bites. Put your fork down for a few min-utes. Sit back, try looking up more, and enjoy the conversation with the people around you. It is good to limit alcohol because it can give you a false sense of hunger, and it also can relax your determination to wait for hunger. But drinking something hot (coffee or hot tea) can make you feel satiated or full. It takes 20 minutes for the food that you have eaten to hit the bloodstream so that you feel the satisfied feeling.

4. pray when Tempted: Pray when you are tempted to eat but you are not hungry. Run to God, His Word, the workbook, and audios. All other temptations to eat—including head hunger, mouth hunger, TV eating, party or social eating, the lust or desire to eat, or the food lur-

32

ing you because it is hot—none of those “escape eating” or “mindless eating” excuses can be a reason to eat anymore. The temptation to eat will pass in about 10 minutes if you get away from the food and turn to God for help! God will not tempt you past what you can bear.

5. The Transfer to God is blessed: If you really want to get out of the slavery of overeating and binge-eating... then change what you focus on and what you listen to. If you change your focus, you will change your desires forever! The transfer from being enslaved to food over to worshiping God is life-changing and amazing! The blessings are countless! It is awesome to use food only for energy—not indul-gence—eating only between hunger and fullness. The number of times, amounts, and portions of food you eat per day will be less, so you will feel better and have much more energy to get other needed things done. You will have hope again! Instead of eating, run to your Creator, your Heavenly Father, to fill and fulfill your mind, time, and life. He can do so much better than a binge of food. Most of this class will be audios and readings that will help you transfer this desire to eat over to relationship with God. This will open up a whole new and blessed life. Temptations and spiritual warfare are real—so just stay focused and determined and these times will pass. The clouds will go away and the sunshine will come back out. This is just a part of the test from the Heavens to see if you love the Creator more than cre-ated things. This is life—and the results are wonderful. Hang in there and the results will be better health and a happier outlook and a more fruitful and blessed life full of love and joy!

Please feel free to duplicate the following page and keep with you wherever you go.

weigh down Thin eater approach• Eat only when you feel physiological hunger.• Eat regular foods.• If necessary, start by cutting your food amounts in half.• Rate the food on your plate and eat the most pleasing bites first.• Stop as soon as you are satisfied.• Rejoice in how little it takes to satisfy (instead of how much you

can get away with).• Eat more slowly.• Eat with a fork; put it down between bites.• When eating with others, enjoy the companionship as well as

the food.• If you have leftovers, save them for later or share them with

others. Do not eat beyond full.• In a restaurant, ask for a carry-out and take the rest of your great

meal home. Again, do not eat beyond full.• If you are tempted to continue eating after you are full, remove your

plate from the table, cover it with a napkin, or leave the table.• Drink water, tea, coffee, or non-caloric (diet) beverages between

hunger periods.• Avoid drinking sweetened beverages between hungers. The

sugar will interfere with you sensing true hunger.• Just as you eat when you are hungry, drink when you are thirsty—

rather than just drinking all day long. • Notice that when you are really hungry, food tastes great! But

the taste will diminish as hunger begins to be satisfied.• If you overeat, simply wait for the next hunger signals before

eating again.• When you are tempted or challenged, go to God for your

strength and your direction, and look only to Him. You will need something to love and adore, and only God can return this love.

weighdown.com 1-800-844-5208

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Lesson One Homework

ಎ Record some of the points from the video and audio lessons that really hit your heart this week, as well as any Scriptures that God led you to...

ಎ You might want to get a fresh Bible (available at Weigh Down). Every Scripture that is referenced in this class—try to find it in the Bible and underline it. Your first set of Scriptures are below. Read them and learn that your body is the temple of God and is to be taken care of: • Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,

who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

35

Lesson 1

• Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

• When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive (Proverbs 23:1-3).

ಎ Imitating a Thin Eater: From the video testimony this week, what did you learn about a Thin Eater that you are now going to imitate? (Review this list often as you relearn how to approach food like a Thin Eater!)

ಎ Now record the date that you decided to leave dieting in your past!

(Pack your bags and leave Egypt. Read the Exodus story on page 56.)

Date: ______________________ (Decision to stop dieting.)

ಎ Try to remember back to your first diet. That could have been your first year of lusting after food. How many years have food and dieting been a part of your life?

ಎ Were you able to WAIT on true stomach hunger this week? q Yes q No

ಎ How long were you able to wait for your first true hunger this week? (How long did it take to find a true stomach growl for the first time?)

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ಎ Describe your physical symptoms of hunger.

ಎ How did it feel to wait for hunger? Was it not more fun and energizing to WAIT on stomach hunger than to eat prior to God’s leading?

How exciting—you obeyed your body’s signal to “eat” and it is how God planned it AND it feels great! This is a breakthrough!

ಎ Did you practice getting your mind OFF food while you were waiting? q Yes q No

ಎ Again, record your emotions this week. Were you happier? Did you

feel more peace? You probably had more energy this week than you have had in years. Be honest and write down everything.

Monday:

Tuesday:

37

Lesson 1

wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday: [Warning: Be careful on weekends. Do not lose momentum just because it is the weekend. You should get prepared—we have made a choice to eat this way forever. The old desires will fade away if you keep focused off the food, diets, and your body (weight, etc.).]

saturday:

sunday:

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ಎ Thin Eaters eat regular foods, not diet foods. What foods in the past have you forbidden yourself to eat because you feel as if you will lose control?

Did you eat them in control?

ಎ Read Colossians 2:20-23. Rewrite this verse in your own words:

ಎ What are some activities you did while you were waiting for hunger that helped you?

ಎ What are some Reinforcement Resources you listened to or read in order to get your mind OFF food and onto God while you were waiting on true hunger? (Example: The Weigh Down Diet book, audio lessons, etc.)

39

Lesson 1

Prayer and a Relationship with God

We are ending our relationship with the food, and we are gaining a relationship with God. You cannot have a relationship with God with-out talking to Him. Jesus taught us how to pray:

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:7-15).

We were taught to pray in the Name of Jesus because He has been given all power. Every day and many times per day I pray... “In the Name of Jesus Christ.” It is the most powerful thing in the world. The Bible teaches us that God hears the prayers of the righteous.

Prayer Chart Sample

When you woke up this morning?

For God’s help in waiting for true stomach hunger?

For God’s help with food tests/ways of escape?

Once you got stomach hunger, for God to help you with what to eat, to slow down and stop when satis�ed?

When any stressful situation came up today?

With your family or friends today?

For others and for God’s Kingdom to come?

Before bed for your sins to be forgiven?

Did you pray... M T W T F S S

Did you spend time in the Word, audios, Truthstream, workbook learning about God and looking for His lead?

Did you �nd yourself praising God in your heart today?

Are you starting to be drawn to God like you were to the food?

Are you starting to lose interest in overeating/bingeing?

Look at the chart above; are you starting to pray and depend on God more?

Are you starting to change (Yes or No)...

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Prayer Chart
















41

Lesson 1

Prayer

Dear Father, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that You, Father, will help each and every person find the joy of working for the same purpose Christ had of making His food to do Your will and to finish Your work. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34).

Answered Prayers

I cannot stress enough the importance of prayer. If you forget this, then you have missed the purpose of life, and especially of this class. Pray for everything and pray without ceasing and pray for all the other Saints who are looking for this relationship with God. True Saints are looking for a relationship with God, and answered prayers are the key! Our hearts need to be right! Read John 14, John 15, Ephesians 6, and 1 John 3:21. Summarize these Scriptures then write your answered prayers from this week:

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

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Food Schedule

To help you learn where your focus is, try writing down your eating schedule—your fast food drive-thrus, your movie and snack hours, your middle-of-the-night runs, and your personal food schedule—write it all down. Try to think about even the small things—how many pieces of candy or mints or bites of chips from that little snack drawer and that little hideaway did you have? How many cups of coffee with cream or sugar? People are so used to mindless eating that they really do not remember what they ate. Next, enter the amount of time you spent pre-paring for and eating the food. Note: When you start eating when you are not hungry, you will not be able to feel the full sensation either. So you will have to put an “X” on both Hunger and Fullness. The goal is to eventually have no “X”s on Hunger and Fullness and continue to try to get the “Total Time” of Thinking About Food and Eating Food less.

Food Schedule Chart Sample

bagel, jelly,large juice

half sandwich,10 french fries

two smallReese’s cups

meat & three on smallplate, roll

3 hrs.

Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:

What YouAte/Drank:Meal

/Snack:

Time Spent �inking &Preparing:

Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

15 mins.

1 ½ hrs.

15 mins.

1 hr.

5 mins.

15 mins.

10 mins.

1 hr.

1 ½ hrs.

X X

Date:

= 4 ½ hrs.

Tempted but passed the test! Praise God!

43

Lesson 1

Relationship Chart

For the Relationship Chart, use the questions to help you make the transfer of your focus and time spent on the food over to time spent with God! You will find that there is a direct correlation between the time you spend with God and your relationship with Him. The goal is to have “zero” time with the food, except when you are truly hungry. Each week, use these charts to help yourself gauge the amount of time spent with God versus time spent with food. This relationship with God is the key to permanent weight loss!

Relationship Chart Sample

Time:Relationship With

Self/Food/Idols Time:Relationship

With God

Total Time: Total Time:

Praising/�a�ering men

Gossiping about others

Exercising for weight loss

Dreaming about food and eating

Worrying about body, clothes,problems, etc.

Focusing on self

Seeking worldly things

Time giving into temptation

Hearing/listening to the food call your name

Reading recipe books, magazines

Time talking about food

Praising God and Christ

Talking about Saints in the Bible or living Saints who love God

Exercising spiritual muscles to pass every test for God

Worrying about Christ’s food ( John 4:34)

Worrying about the Body of Christ

Focusing on others

Seeking God

Praying and running from temptation

Listening to God’s Word, CDs

Reading the Bible/Workbook

Time talking about God, Godly things20

15105

1515

10

1 ½ hrs.

30301020

15

1560

3 hrs.

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Food Schedule Date:_____

Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God




Time talking about God, Godly things

45


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 1

46


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





47


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 1

48

L e s s o n T W o

FoCusScriptures

❑ Ephesians 4:17-19 ❑ John 4:31-38

Weekly Checklist ❑ Watch Lesson Two Video ❑ Listen to Lesson Two Audio ❑ Answer Lesson Two Homework Questions ❑ Use your Reinforcement Resources and Truth Cards ❑ As you feel led, fill out the Weight Chart

Reinforcement Resources ❑ The Weigh Down Diet Book—“Rise Above” pages 127-136 ❑ Weigh Down at Home —“Your Heart Belongs to God Not Food”

Video 3 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Emotional Eating” Audio 3 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Stay Awake” Audio 4 ❑ Laying Down Your Idols Devotional—“Learn To Expect Testing”

February 6 ❑ Use a Seek Ye First Notepad. See how much you have accomplished! ❑ Set your phone to receive Gwen’s tweets from Twitter

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Lesson Two Video Summary Did you wait and find the growl this week? Did you notice how the

food tastes so much better when you are hungry? It is fun to wait and feel victorious over the food! When you are full, God designed the taste buds to “turn off.” You will be unable to taste the full flavor. It is God’s way to get you to stop eating.

The past week was probably a new experience for you—you had no idea how much of your mind and your time has been devoted to food. But as you have begun to wait for hunger, God is showing you just how much of your heart has been devoted to this passion rather than to Him. But now, you are free from worrying about food, man-made food rules, and their control over you. You are free to be devoted to Him, while enjoying His wonderful foods when your body is hungry.

What about exercise? Just as dieting does not help your heart de-sire less food, neither does exercising. Focusing on the body more than focusing on God will still lead to an empty heart. Exercise does have virtue for physical fitness, muscle toning, cardiovascular conditioning, and bone strengthening. “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). We are going to be concen-trating on the spiritual training. The most valuable exercise is getting down on your knees to pray. Participants in this program who lose their excess weight always report how much more energy and ability to move around or “exercise” that they now have after focusing first on their re-lationship with God and following His lead of hunger and fullness. If you feel led to exercise, please be careful because it is most strenuous on the joints on the muscles when you are overweight. If you do choose to exercise, use this time to listen to your audios. But please know that exercise will not speed up your weight loss. When using hunger and fullness it might make you feel hungrier, but that’s all. Be moderate in exercise and remember that some of the best aerobics are cleaning the house and doing yard work. Scrubbing, vacuuming, pulling weeds, and organizing closets benefits the whole family and still benefits you.

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Weigh DoWn Basics is about learning how to eat like you did when you were a child—eating only when you were hungry, eating regular foods, and never dieting. Remember back to the time when you would rather play than eat.

There are two senses used for either weight loss or weight gain. They could either take you down the right path or the wrong path.

1. Sense 1: The EYES (or “FOCUS”—what you see or are focused on

in your mind or with your physical eyes). What you focus on is what fills your mind. You could have simply focused on how your parents ate and imitated it. We pass our idols, or what we adore, down to our children. Overeaters are focused on the food when they enter a room. They have their own food stashes.

2. Sense 2: The EARS (or the voices that you LISTEN to in your mind). Overweight people are LISTENING to the food call their name. They hear the pan of brownies from the pantry calling out, “Come eat me!” They are in tune to TV commercials that advertise food and restaurants and food shows. Their ears perk up to conver-sations on food and dieting. When they drive down the street, they listen to the “#2 Combo” of hamburger and french fries calling their name—and more times than not, they wind up pulling into the fast food drive-thru to order.Has the food-focused dieting and self-focused exercise made us

thinner? No—rather, dieters have become increasingly overweight. Science fails to see that this is not a food issue but rather a volume is-sue and a desire issue. Greed is in the heart, and it is something inside of you that wants more than you need. The Bible talks about people who are greedy with a continual lust for more and more in Ephesians 4. People who are greedy believe that they deserve more or that they need more than the next person. They like hanging out with people who are over-indulgent. But we are going to start hanging out with Thin Eat-ers—people who abstain from overeating. Thin Eaters only eat when their stomachs growl. Over the years, as Americans became more afflu-ent, the food became more abundant and it became more socially ac-

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ceptable to overeat. People began to eat when food was just set in front of them. Parents were afraid of missing a nutrient, so the children were encouraged to clean their plates. Some were eating out of boredom, for a reward, or just mindlessly eating. People were lied to and told they would get sick unless they ate even when they were not hungry. This resulted in fear!

The stomach and the heart are close in proximity, and so when your heart hurts from all the stress and pain in life, the confusion is under-standable. The answer is going to involve your own personal respon-sibility using the two senses—eyes and ears. The eyes and ears are the feeling senses for your mind which in turn create your desires or what is in your heart. You fall in love with what you focus on. Now, if you STOP the focus on the food and you stop listening to the food, the de-sire or the heart’s love for the food will fade away and eventually die. This is so exciting! You can start over. You can change what you focus on and what you listen to. When you change what is going into your mind, you can change your mind and therefore your desires or wants... a new life.

The best things to fill your time and mind with are selfless things. Jesus Christ spent His life focusing on the will of God. All other preoc-cupations could send you right back into self and selfish desires. Jesus said in John 4 that He was not focused on physical food. “My food is to do the will of the Father and to finish His work.” To re-focus is the key to ending the head or heart hunger. Then it is practice, practice and concentration to go back to eating only when the stomach growls. You have to learn that every time your mind goes to food you need to get it off and concentrate on higher callings.

Most people think that food is a friend to them; it is entertaining, it fills up time, and it is basically like having a relationship with another person. If you have ever had a crush on someone, then you know how this feels. You feel your emotions rise and your pulse rate goes up. In a relationship with the food, you are now dressing for it—you are putting on your stretch clothes to make sure that you are able to get as much down you as you can. You listen for its voice. You think about it in the

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morning, and you think about it at noon. You start reading about it and preparing for it, and the next thing you know, you have got this affair going on by the time it is ten o’clock at night when no one is there and no one is looking, and you can go down and secretly be with that food. But this food is not a friend. It is a parasitic leech. First, it robs you of your spiritual relationship with God. Then it robs you of your health, it robs you of your time, and it robs you of your finances because it is ex-pensive. It puts a wedge between you and other people; it puts a wedge between you and your spouse, and then it keeps you from playing with your children. It keeps you from cleaning up the house because you are too tired. You are constantly having to go to the doctor, and you are trying to figure out what is wrong with you. So food is not a friend. It is a false comfort; it is a false help; it is a false friend. Now you can reverse that with a relationship with God—you are listening to God, you are dressing for God, you go to Him for your relationships and your finances. You are going to Him for everything! God’s will and His laws are better than a binge. God is the True Friend, the True God. Food is the false friend and the false god.

You will still have the complication of the “testing times” when you are eating for emotional reasons—the pain of life, stressful situations, times of boredom, times of sickness, and even times of celebration. You are going to have to surrender those times of eating, knowing that the end result will be SO much better!

Think about it. You are exchanging 1 hour of indulgence for a 24-hour day of fun! How fun to be

thin! This far outweighs the indulgence with food!

Remember, everyone has tough days, but food can no longer be your comfort or reward during these hard days. Here is the way to rea-son with yourself during a “testing time” when your mind wants to go and eat food, but your stomach is NOT calling for food yet: Remind

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yourself that it is either suffering for 1 hour to pass the test and not eat, or misery for 24-72 hours if you fail and binge out. Remember: You are exchanging 1 hour of indulgence for a 24-hour day of fun! How fun to be thin! This far outweighs the indulgence with food!

THERE IS HOPE!!!

Remember, whatever your main focus is—that is what your heart falls in love with...and you cannot help but pass this down to your chil-dren. But also remember the HOPE about this! You CAN change your focus more and more and more onto God each and every single day—which in turn will make you PERMANENTLY fall in love with Him and out of love with the food! Every day that you make the CHOICE to FOCUS on God instead of the food, the more you fall in love with God and out of love with the food.

Cutting the food in half and eating only when you are hungry will not change your devotion. You need

to transfer your love to the Saviorwho deserves your love.

Likewise, the amount of TIME spent on focusing on God equals more of a heart for Him. Stay encouraged! However much time you spent focusing on God today, spend MORE time tomorrow! And how-ever much time you spent focusing on the food today, spend LESS time tomorrow! This is a permanent change of heart!!!

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The basics of

1. praise and prayer: You are on a journey to the right path. Learn to start your day off with praise to God for giving you another day and then prayer for help to lead you not into temptation but to deliver you from any evil—which would include greed for food. We have been commanded to take care of our bodies and not destroy them. Over-eating makes you sick and damages the body. Start the day off right, and get used to praying all throughout the day.

2. hunger and Fullness: You get to wait for stomach hunger, which is a growl. If you cannot get to food at that point—do not worry. The hunger will go away in about 10 minutes and come back around in about an hour. Just wait. Once you get hungry again, eat small amounts. How? Serve yourself regular foods on a small saucer or cut the foods in half. Rate your foods and eat your favorite foods first. You may have very small units of chocolate or sweets at the end of your meal. Make sure you eat the desserts very slowly—sip-ping between bites. Stop when you are full and get the food out of sight—by putting it in a carry-out, covering it with a napkin, or stor-ing it away.

3. less is More: Remember—there will be no end to greed, and more is not better. No more binge-eating—the body cannot taste the food during a binge anyway. There is a whole life out there beyond the food! If you are having trouble with going beyond full—slow the eating down and sip between bites. Put your fork down for a few minutes. Sit back, try looking up more, and enjoy the conversation with the people around you. It is good to limit alcohol because it can give you a false sense of hunger, and it also can relax your deter-mination to wait for hunger. But drinking something hot (coffee or hot tea) can make you feel satiated or full. It takes 20 minutes for the food that you have eaten to hit the bloodstream so that you feel the satisfied feeling.

4. pray when Tempted: Pray when you are tempted to eat but you are not hungry. Run to God, His Word, the workbook, and audios. All other temptations to eat—including head hunger, mouth hun-

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ger, TV eating, party or social eating, the lust or desire to eat, or the food luring you because it is hot—none of those “escape eating” or “mindless eating” excuses can be a reason to eat anymore. The temptation to eat will pass in about 10 minutes if you get away from the food and turn to God for help! God will not tempt you past what you can bear.

5. The Transfer to God is blessed: If you really want to get out of the slavery of overeating and binge-eating... then change what you focus on and what you listen to. If you change your focus, you will change your desires forever! The transfer from being enslaved to food over to worshiping God is life-changing and amazing! The blessings are countless! It is awesome to use food only for energy—not indul-gence—eating only between hunger and fullness. The number of times, amounts, and portions of food you eat per day will be less, so you will feel better and have much more energy to get other need-ed things done. You will have hope again! Instead of eating, run to your Creator, your Heavenly Father, to fill and fulfill your mind, time, and life. He can do so much better than a binge of food. Most of this class will be audios and readings that will help you transfer this desire to eat over to relationship with God. This will open up a whole new and blessed life. Temptations and spiritual warfare are real—so just stay focused and determined and these times will pass. The clouds will go away and the sunshine will come back out. This is just a part of the test from the Heavens to see if you love the Creator more than created things. This is life—and the results are wonderful. Hang in there and the results will be better health and a happier outlook and a more fruitful and blessed life full of love and joy!

This relationship with God is the key to permanent

weight loss!

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The Exodus Story as Told by Moses

(Exodus Chapters 1-12)

The Exodus story from the Bible explains the unseen war for the heart’s devotion. This information is necessary to unlock your heart from the clutches of food, alcohol, or any other idol. It is a neglected story that should have been passed down from generation to genera-tion.

The book of Exodus explains how a large group of God’s children were saved from bowing down to an earthly ruler. It is symbolic of how God has saved many people in Weigh Down from being overweight and enslaved to food, and it is symbolic of how God wants to save you to-day.

In Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him to let God’s people go to worship God in the desert. You see, you cannot wor-ship God in Egypt. You have to get out of Egypt to worship God. But Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to get back to work and stop taking the people away from their labor (Exodus 5:2).

It is interesting to note that when you have a heart for God but are enslaved by something on this earth, it is labor—it is work. Dieting is hard work: counting fat grams, measuring foods, using exchange lists, having to stick to regimented exercise routines, denying yourself the foods you really want, and more. It consumes your energy and your time. Well, it was about to get even harder on the Israelites. That same day Pharaoh gave the order to no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks (Exodus 5:6–9).

Have you noticed that when you finally make a decision to leave Egypt so that you can tru-

ly worship God, satan doubles the trouble?

He is not afraid when you are in the middle of Egypt, happily mak-ing your bricks for Pharaoh and bowing down to him—in other words,

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when you are dieting, counting fat grams, and exercising obsessively. But when you decide to leave behind your exchange lists and pictures of food to go forward with a new focus on God, you can be sure there will be a period when satan doubles the labor by withholding the straw. Keep in mind that when you decide to leave Egypt and worship God, you will hear people saying, “You are so gullible. Are you really going to a quick-fix program where they are telling you that you can eat what you want to eat? You are just looking for the easy way out! Get to work! You need to count your fat grams and start your exercise program again. You are just lazy.”

Please do not listen to that lie. You will never get out of Egypt if you do. Satan will always make you feel that you are lazy and unproductive when you are developing a love relationship with God or seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness first. Never forget that fact. You are not lazy when you are giving your heart, soul, mind, and strength to build a love relationship with God and leave a love relationship with this earth behind. You are not lazy at all.

Once the labor doubled, the Israelites cried out even more. There-fore, God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh. “Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pha-raoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magi-cians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs” (Exodus 7:10–12).

To make a fair, clear, obviously superior challenge, God made Aar-on’s staff become a snake. The Egyptian specialists were able to duplicate this supernatural act, just as our present-day worldly specialists are able to temporarily produce weight loss. Symbolically, just as Aaron’s snake swallowed up the Egyptian snakes, God will ensure that the worldly weight loss techniques will not survive. He is swallowing them up as we speak. But Pharaoh’s heart became hard, and he would not listen to them, just as God had predicted.

Now the challenge had been made. The chance for Egypt to back down without any physical damage had been offered. It was too late to go back.

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The fight between God and the ruler of this earth began. God is going to make a mighty distinction between Egyptians and His children—people who want to love the world versus people who want to love Him. Since Pharaoh would not listen, God was devising some penalties for Egypt.

Round One

The first Round between the heavyweight champions was the plague of blood (Exodus 7:19-21, 24). Please imagine, if you can, the Nile being filled with blood. With the heat of Egypt, the stench would be unbearable. You could not wash in the water, and an overwhelming impact of this first plague would be thirst. Even a small amount of blood spilled is frightening to me, but rivers and basins and faucets of blood would be terrifying. Anyone in his right mind would have given in, but since the Egyptian magicians were able to make blood with their secret arts, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

Round Two

Before the land was purged from the color of red, Round Two would begin. The Lord made frogs cover the land of Egypt, and they came up into every house and palace, until Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for the Lord to take the frogs away (Exodus 8:1–4, 6–10). So the Lord made the frogs die, and they were piled in heaps. But once Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron. Round Three would begin.

Round Three

The next plague was the plague of gnats (Exodus 8:16–19). Yes, this was the finger of God, and just as the ancient plagues from God resulted in thirst, slimy amphibians invading their personal space, and irritants buzzing around in their eyes, in their ears, and in their mouths, God’s Finger has been working in your life and is moving this very minute. Not only is God trying to make you aware of His power and presence; He is actually causing discomfort.

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If you do not think God works that way, look at how He dealt with mankind in the beginning, starting with Adam and Eve. In Eve, He increased labor pain, and with Adam, He increased the pain of labor. Whenever we are where we are not supposed to be, God will start with irritating, disturbing, nagging annoyances that unsettle us. We may not have blood, frogs, and gnats, but we have clothes that are too tight, ex-haustion by 10:00 a.m., trouble breathing, trouble sleeping, indigestion, and nagging comments. As difficult as this is, like Pharaoh, we wait un-til tomorrow, or even Monday, to call upon God, hoping that these an-noyances will just go away without any repentance on our part.

Up until now, these plagues had been just annoying. For some, the annoyances were painful enough that they packed their bags and left Egypt. But unfortunately for most, it would take more. And satan, who is symbolized by Pharaoh, does not want us to stop bowing down to him, and an even more basic goal of his is to ensure that we do not bow down to God. Satan was and still is jealous for the devotion of God’s children, but he is no match for God. A normal opponent would have let go in Round One, but God allowed satan’s heart to stay hardened so that we could see more of God’s passion and power—more of His pas-sion for a good fight, more of His passion for our hearts, and more of His passion to show how distinctively different He is. Before it is over, He will demonstrate that satan and the lure of the world (food, money, sex, etc.) does not even belong in the ring. God has no contender.

Round Four

Due to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, we are now going to re-live a different level of combat, which starts with Round Four—the plague of flies (Exodus 8:20–24). But this plague did not affect the Israelites, only the Egyptians.

Rounds Five and Six

As you can see, in the plague on the livestock and the plague of boils (Exodus 9:1–4, 7–12), God was introducing a new point by the fourth

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plague. And from this plague on, He spared His children from the dev-astation, making sure that all the world knew that those who wanted to go and worship Him were treasured and favored and beloved.

What was once an annoyance had become something far more ago-nizing. Those of us who did not leave Egypt after the annoyances have found that being overweight is now more than just uncomfortable; it is becoming physically damaging. What were once minor symptoms have now become chronic syndromes. Instead of festering boils, it is fester-ing marriage difficulties and financial problems. Can it get worse if we continue to cling to a false god in our lives? I am afraid so. God could have easily stopped here, but more needed to be established about His powerful leadership and disclosed about man’s stubborn heart.

Rounds Seven and Eight

At Round Seven, God took a people who now had diseased live-stock, ruined livelihoods, and bodies covered in boils, and He moved them into the full-blown fury of plagues. The next plague of hailstones destroyed all the crops and any man or animal left in the fields (Exodus 9:13b–19, 23b–26).

Even after the Egyptians were almost beaten to death, Pharaoh’s heart got harder—something that seems unimaginable. The Bible tells us about the next plague of locusts, which covered the ground until it was black, and devoured anything green in the field or trees that was left after the hail (Exodus 10:3–5, 13–15, 7, 20).

Egypt was a punching bag. As in any fight, you would hope that the referee would stop the fight when it got this one-sided, but this fight would continue.

Round Nine

In the ninth round, as God took a new twist on His tactics, He sent the plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21–26a). The Lord wants every part of our hearts to leave Egypt—not even a hoof must be left behind. Sa-tan knows if a part of your heart is left behind, he will eventually have

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the whole heart again in his clutches. Pharaoh was mad at this request, and he was not willing to let them go. Pharaoh was so mad, in fact, that he threatened to kill Moses if he appeared before him again.

After devastating hailstorms and locusts, the Egyptians had total darkness for three days. No one could see anyone else or go anywhere. Likewise, as we keep our hearts in Egypt and insist on worshiping food or anything in this world, we become increasingly robbed relationally and financially, so that anything green in our lives is destroyed. Like Pharaoh, we do not yet realize that Egypt is ruined—that our lives are miserable. Eventually, it leads to spiritual blackness, a blackness that can be felt. A separation from the light and love of God is the most fear-ful plague. Just as the Egyptians could not leave their houses, many of us today have become confined to our own houses by panic attacks and other fears. We cannot seem to lift our heads to worship anything.

Finally, the last category is death. In the final round, God pulled a right hook on Egypt—the final blow, the knockout punch.

Round Ten

In the tenth and final plague, the Lord struck down the firstborn male from every family in Egypt, including livestock (Exodus 11:1, 4–7; 12:29). The Israelites were instructed not to go out of their doors until morning. And as the Lord went through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He saw the blood on the tops and sides of the doorframes. He passed over those doorways and did not permit the destroyer to en-ter those houses. “Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead” (Exodus 12:30).

The children of God were spared because they had sprinkled the blood on the doorposts. This should make us all stop and think. Are we living in light, or are we living in darkness? Look around your house-hold. If we have left our families in Egypt, there is not a house where someone is not spiritually dead. Food has not saved us. There is great devastation and nothing green in our lives from what the locusts have eaten. These Scriptures were written as symbols to show us that God is

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working today in each life so that we can have our own private exodus. God wants us to realize from all the pain that the love of food is worth-less and eventually will lead to death of a relationship with Him. But transferring over to God the same attention and heart you have given to food is salvation. It is the path to an actual relationship with God. You can be saved from slavery to anything, and God saved the Israelites that very night.

Complete Deliverance

During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.” At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, com-ing between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen” (Exodus 12:31, 41; 13:21; 14:19b–23, 26).

At daybreak, the water flowed back and covered the Egyptians. Not one of them survived. Never has there been such complete deliver-ance!

We have all been enslaved by the world and have looked to the world to save us. But the world is not going to save us from loving it. In fact, the world’s remedies are merely disguised incubators that cultivate more love for itself. God has not abandoned us. We have abandoned Him,

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and we have become distracted and enticed by the glimmer of Egypt, His competitor. But God is a genius as well as the Passionate Pursuer of our hearts. He knows that we make heroes out of heavyweight cham-pions, that we will follow the winning quarterbacks, that we will throw confetti on the five-star general who strategically wins the battle, and that we will ride away anywhere with the knight in shining armor. God will never allow fat grams to be our savior or exercise to be our savior or diet pills to be our savior. He is our Savior—He has saved us from hav-ing to love food, and we get to love Him. He has saved us from having to love the medicine cabinet or the alcohol or the cigarettes, and we get to love Him.

So the point has been made—Egypt and Pharaoh were no match for God. On the tenth and final round, satan and all the world could see that God and God alone was the One to worship, and Egypt was exposed for what it was—worthless and barren. Egypt, after all, could not save itself and could offer no comfort—it was not a god after all.

The blood on the doorpost was symbolic of the blood of Christ, and the blood of Christ was never intended to be used to leave us in Egypt with a crush on food. The point of the Passover plague is to spare us and at the same time to catapult us out of Egypt—to drive us out completely and to rescue us entirely!

Besides the Exodus—the great boxing match of all time—God sent Jesus to die for us. He died so that we could have a relationship with God. Jesus’ sacrifice opened the door to the heart of God. What have we been doing with this opportunity? What have we been thinking? Don’t we realize that even having a chance to be in the presence of God is the ultimate privilege, much less to be invited through Jesus Christ to have an intimate relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son?

The blood of Christ was used to part the Red Sea, so that we could simply walk across from Egypt into the Arms of God on dry land. Then God closed the sea back up on Egypt, leaving a wide chasm between the love of the earth and the love of God, making it impossible to be in both places at once. May we all wake up! God is shaking the walls of Egypt

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all around you to loosen its grip on you. Look at Egypt—take a good look around you. The world is worthless!

What did I learn behind the walls of that little counseling office in Memphis years ago? Were we overweight due to the wrong food? No. I learned that the problem was that we were in love with food—deeply in love. And there is only one love that has a stronger magnetic pull than the love of food—and it is the love of God.

If you have covered your doorposts with the blood of Christ, I pray that you will never, ever find your heart stuck between the mortars of the pyramids. I pray that you will never find your heart sinking deep into the middle of the Red Sea, teetering between the love of food and the love of God. I pray that you will find your heart in the center of the Exodus, following God Almighty out of Egypt.

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Lesson Two Homework ಎ Record some of the points from the video and audio lessons that

really hit your heart this week, as well as any Scriptures that God led you to...

ಎ Did you wait for true hunger this week? If you messed up at all this week, write down the time of day and the situation so that you will be prepared next time that you are tempted to eat before true hunger.

ಎ Did you have any temptation to return to your old ways of dieting this week? q Yes q No. Explain:

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ಎ When you waited for true stomach hunger, did you feel VICTORIOUS that day? q Yes q No

ಎ When you waited for true stomach hunger, did you have MORE energy and “pep in your step” that day? q Yes q No

ಎ When you felt true stomach hunger, did you remember to PRAY and go back and eat like a child? Did you give yourself permission to eat ANY food under the sun and eat exactly what your body was craving without fear or control? q Yes q No

ಎ Record and remind yourself in the space below how many diets you have been on and how they did not work. Read this often during the week if you are tempted to return to dieting.

ಎ Read Colossians 2:20 to remind you that man’s rules look wise but will not help you lay down indulgence. What does Colossians 3:1-17 say to focus on? List here:

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ಎ Do you know any naturally Thin Eaters? List them. Try to watch Thin Eaters eat and watch them “not eat.” Notice they eat quickly, infrequently, and with no preoccupation on the food.

ಎ From the lesson this week, we learned that there are two core elements for either weight loss or weight gain: 1. EYES (what you are focused on in your mind or with your eyes).

Example: “Every time I go to the breakroom at lunch I am looking for some food or snack to eat.” Or “I always count the fat grams I eat at every meal.”

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2. EARS (or the voices you LISTEN to in your mind). List some examples of what you have been focusing on that have kept you enslaved to the food. Example: “I am always listening to conversations at work about the next diet.”

Now, make a decision to change what you look at and listen to. Start a whole new focus on God! So if you fall in love with what you focus on, what are you focusing on? Write it out below.

ಎ Some practical ways you can get your EYES (your focus) and your EARS (what you listen to) onto God instead of the food are listed below. Write out beside each one of these how much you think you need to be doing these... Daily? Twice daily? Weekly? Before every meal?• Reading the Bible:• Listening to Truthstream:• Serving others (by God’s prompting/leading):• Doing your Weigh DoWn Basics homework:• Teaching your children about God or reading them a Bible

story:

ಎ What do you think your children or your spouse or your friends or your co-workers think that your main focus is? (Hint: What do you talk about the most?) God? Food? Yourself?

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Lesson 2

ಎ This week, did you ever have a time when you “heard” or “listened to” the voice of the food (maybe from the fast food restaurant or the vending machine at work) but you STOPPED listening to that voice and turned to God instead? q Yes q No

ಎ If you PASSED your test with the food, how did that feel? Did you feel your heart changing toward God at all (for the better) as you passed your test and you let HIM fill you up more than that food?

ಎ List the different excuses you have used that allowed you to eat when you were not hungry. (Example: “Every time I was stressed at work.”)

ಎ Did you PRAY & PREPARE before you ate for God to give you something MORE FUN/FULFILLING to DO after you are done eating so that you could easily get your mind OFF of the food at the end of your meal? (Examples: Playing with your kids, taking a walk outside or at the park, serving others or your spouse or your boss at work [which is very fulfilling!], writing an encouraging card to someone in need, dropping off a “happy” to someone hurting , or reading the Word or any form of Reinforcement Resource in order to get your FOCUS back onto God and how fulfilling He is, etc...) q Yes q No

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ಎ Every time you have your EYES and EARS focused on the food, it creates a desire for more food in your heart. You will fall in love with what you focus on. To stop this love for food, you will have to stop this FOCUS on the food. You can change what you focus on and what you listen to! Go back to your Relationship Chart and see if you decreased your amount of focus on the food and increased your focus on God! Remember, the only time you can think about food is when you are physiologically hungry. Write out your plan so that you will “pass the temptation or test.”


We are ending that relationship with the food, and we are having a relationship with God. You cannot have a relationship with God with-out talking to Him. Jesus taught us how to pray (Matthew 6:7-15).

We were taught to pray in the Name of Jesus because He has been given all power. Every day and many times per day I pray... “In the Name of Jesus Christ.” It is the most powerful thing in the world. The Bible teaches us that God hears the prayers of the righteous.

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Lesson 2

Prayer Chart
















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Prayer

Dearest Father and God, we are so in need of You, and we cannot even believe that You are willing to pull us out of this world and out of this rela-tionship with anything on this earth, pull us out of Egypt and then take us through the Desert of Testing and into the Promised Land of a relationship with You. This is absolutely mind-boggling , but we appreciate it. Please for-give us for resisting Your love and help us to obey. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Answered Prayers

I cannot stress enough the importance of prayer. If you forget this, then you have missed the purpose of life, and especially of this class. Pray for everything and pray without ceasing and pray for all the other Saints who are looking for this relationship with God. True Saints are looking for a relationship with God, and answered prayers are the key! Our hearts need to be right! Read John 14, John 15, Ephesians 6, and 1 John 3:21. Write your answered prayers from this week:

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Food Schedule & Relationship Chart

ಎ Each week, use these charts to help yourself gauge the amount of time spent with God versus time spent with food. There is a direct correlation between the time you spend with God and your relationship with Him.

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 2

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 2

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 2

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L e s s o n T h r e e

JewelsScriptures

❑ Hebrews 11:6 ❑ Matthew 10:29 ❑ Matthew 10:30-31

Weekly Checklist ❑ Watch Lesson Three Video ❑ Listen to Lesson Three Audio ❑ Answer Lesson Three Homework Questions ❑ Use your Reinforcement Resources and Truth Cards ❑ As you feel led, fill out the Weight Chart

Reinforcement Resources ❑ The Weigh Down Diet Book—“Desert Of Testing” pages 139-157 ❑ Save Your Heart for Me—choose Audio or Video ❑ Heaven’s Kiss—Audio ❑ Weigh Down at Home —“What Stops You From Changing” Video 5 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“A Genius Creator” Video 6 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“True Repentance” Audio 5 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Dodging the Draft” Audio 6 ❑ Laying Down Your Idols Devotional—“God’s Generous Rewards” January 29 ❑ Use a Seek Ye First Notepad. See how much you have accomplished! ❑ Watch “20,000 Pounds Down” on Weigh Down’s You Tube channel

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Lesson Three Video Summary By the way, why do people think that vitamins and vegetables are

more “virtuous?” What about all those food rules concerning protein, vitamins, fats, calories, carbohydrates, Four Basic Food Groups, free foods, trigger foods, and so on? We have spent millions of dollars and years of research trying to figure out how the body functions and why it gains weight. But God never intended for us to worry about what we should eat and what we should drink—any more than He intended for us to worry about how much oxygen the body is getting in order to breathe (Matthew 6:25–27; Mark 7:14–19). When we eat according to hunger and fullness, one of the things we discover is that the body has the amaz-ing and very accurate ability to sense what it needs. All food groups do not need to be consumed in one day. The body stores nutrients, includ-ing vitamins, from the food just as a squirrel stores nuts for the winter. We also do not need to count calories or fat grams because the reduced amount of food that we are consuming (between hunger and fullness) will naturally reduce all those counts—calories, fat grams, carbohydrate grams, and so on. We have learned that when you use dieting as a solu-tion to overweight, it makes you focus in the wrong direction. Focus-ing on the food and making the “food behave” is counter-productive for permanent weight loss. It makes us feel hopeless. However, when you stop dieting (let go of control) there is HOPE. You can choose to allow God to control you through hunger and fullness, and by changing your focus you can change your desire! Make sure you read The Weigh Down Diet for more food information.

By NOT focusing on the food until you are truly hungry, you will feel the magnetic pull of the refrigerator decrease more and more with time, and when you do this, you will see immediate results!

Remember: The faster you change your focus OFF the food and ONTO God—the faster you will

lose the weight!

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Do not think that this will be impossible for you because “you like food so much.” It is NOT impossible to change your heart! It is simply a choice of where you put your focus—that is what affects your heart. As you focus on food, it will become less interesting to you, and God will become more and more interesting! The more time you spend in the Bible and reading Weigh Down materials, instead of opening the pantry or the refrigerator, the more you will crave learning more about God and Christ. The more you think about God, sing to Him and praise Him, the more you will feel passion for Him. As God becomes your highest interest in life, the love for food will disappear! You can be per-manently thin!

Don’t you WANT to desire less food? Don’t you want to be someone who has self-control with the food? So then, stop thinking about the food. Get your mind onto anything but food and especially think about the commands of God. If your heart only knew that God was going to let you get hungry again and that He is going to feed you again! He is a Great Shepherd who loves to feed His sheep physically and spiritually. In fact, the picture of a shepherd is of one who spends all day looking for a great place for the sheep to feed. Look to Him for guidance about when to start eating and when to stop. Believe Him when He says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). You have got to come to know how good He will be to you if you seek Him. If you will obey God and not overindulge, there will be some reward for you. We call these little rewards “jewels” or “happies” from God. A jewel from God will always be waiting for you if you wait for hunger and stop when you are full, because that is obedience to Him.

But you are never going to lose ALL the weight until you finally say, “I am not having a relationship with that food anymore!” Flee it! Turn around and say, “NO!” and make a decision to have a relationship with God instead. God is begging you for a relationship. Do not run back to the relationship with food. If you are tempted to go back, ask Him, “O God, can you do better? Can you do better than these relationships

81

Lesson 3

I have had?” Within minutes watch Him answer that prayer! He will come in with ways of escape and jewels that are far better! He is better than that food! You will see that He is the Genius; He is beyond bril-liant; He is beyond personal. There is a relationship with God and an adoration of Jesus Christ His Son, and it is real, and it is far better being in tune with the Creator (Who has more money, more power, and bet-ter perks) than anything else out there!

You used to eat this way as a child, and you can relearn how to eat this way; and you are going to be thin again if you turn to God to help you be born again—take off the old and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22). The reason this is going to work is because you have two dynam-ics going on: 1) You are ending the focus on food, and so your desire goes away. 2) When the desire goes away, the large volume goes away. You are going to be eating less and less food until you are all the way down to your right weight!

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Dealing With TemptationsSituations

1. It comes when you least expect it...

2. It comes when you are vulnerable...

3. It comes when you have lost your purposeful focus (on God and His will) and have replaced it with depression and self-pity...

ResponsesSo learn to expect it and pray the Lord’s prayer daily. (Lead me not into tempta-tion, but deliver me from the evil one.)

So try to keep rested. Flee the scene. Know your temptation times and loca-tions. Know the “lies” that get you.

So keep your mind off of yourself and get-ting your own needs met; rather, keep it on praising God for meeting your needs.

If you have wandered from the hour-to-hour, day-to-day seeking for and receiving acceptance from the Father, you will be left vulnerable and strongly tempted. (The neediness you feel is normal if you have wandered.)

Wake up, and be ready for the fork in the road. You have two choices—one leads to life, and one leads to

death.

Run to FoodRunning to the world will only lead you away from giving your heart to God.

It will result in guilt/depression.Look for anger/desperation.Look for the scales to go up.The food will never fill up this need.You will remain needy because food can-not love you back.

Run to GodCry out to God. Look for your way of es-cape. He will fill you up, and the desire to overeat will leave. A word from the Bible (God) may make your heart pound.

You will have a pulse and a strong—and growing stronger—heartbeat for the Lord.Look for your jewels.Look for the scales to go down.Acceptance floods in, and the temptation is over for now.

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Lesson 3

The basics of

1. praise and prayer: You are on an Exodus with the children of God away from the slavery of food—through the Desert of Testing to the Promised Land—a place where you have a relationship with God more than a relationship with food—a relationship with the Creator of the universe over created things. Learn to start your day off with praise to God for giving you another day and then prayer for help to lead you not into temptation but to deliver you from any evil—which would include greed for food. We have been commanded to take care of our bodies and not destroy them. Overeating makes you sick and damages the body. Start the day off right, and get used to praying all throughout the day.

2. hunger and Fullness: You must ignore head hunger—the strong desire to chew or eat when there is no stomach hunger. What an op-portunity to get to wait for true stomach hunger (which is a growl)! Once you get hungry, eat small amounts of regular foods on a small saucer or cut the foods in half . Rate your foods, and remember to stop when you are full.

3. less is More: The more you eat, the more you want. The less you eat, the less you want. More is not better. Say “No” to binge-eating. If you are having trouble with going beyond full—slow down, focus on the will of God, and pray to obey Him with eating. Slow down and think of the benefits of obedience you receive for the rest of the day. Remember the painful consequences of disobedience.

4. pray when Tempted: Pray when you are tempted to eat but you are not hungry. Run to God, His Word, the workbook, and audios. All other temptations to eat—including head hunger, mouth hun-ger, TV eating, party or social eating, the lust or desire to eat, or the food luring you because it is hot—none of those “escape eating” or “mindless eating” excuses can be a reason to eat anymore. The temptation to eat will pass in about 10 minutes if you get away from the food and turn to God for help! God will not let you be tempted past what you can bear.

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5. The Transfer to God is blessed: If you really want to get out of the slavery of overeating and binge-eating... then change what you focus on and what you listen to. If you change your focus, you will change your desires forever! The transfer from being enslaved to food over to worshiping God is life-changing and amazing! The blessings are countless! It is awesome to use food only for energy—not indul-gence—eating only between hunger and fullness. The number of times, amounts, and portions of food you eat per day will be less, and the smaller volume of food will make you feel better. You will have much more energy for a new life! God can do so much better than a binge of food. Eventually, you will transfer this desire to eat over to a relationship with God, and the temptation to eat will dis-appear. Tests and spiritual warfare are from God for a purpose—so stay awake and expect it. This is just a part of the journey of life to see if you love the Creator more than the created. Do not be dis-couraged—but rather encouraged—because you are alive, being disciplined as a real child of God. The results will be better health, a happier outlook, and a more fruitful and blessed life—full of righ-teousness, love, and joy.


weight loss!

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Lesson 3

Lesson Three Homework ಎ Record some of the points from the video and audio lessons that

really hit your heart this week, as well as any Scriptures that God led you to:

ಎ Imitating a Thin Eater: From the video testimony this week, what did you learn about Thin Eaters that you are now going to imitate? Remember, you cannot watch for just one meal; you need to watch their whole week. They eat one-half the food an overeater does, unless they are teenagers and/or athletes. (Review this list often as you relearn how to approach food like a Thin Eater!)

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ಎ List your “Ways of Escape” from this week (any opportunities that God gave you to get out of a temptation to overeat). Do not ignore them so that God does not stop sending them!

ಎ How does it feel when you deny yourself extra food and mobilize the stored energy all over your body? Describe in detail how much energy you have when you wait on God and obey His amounts.

ಎ Look up the following Scriptures on how God wants you to be like Christ and deny yourself (underline them in your Bible): q Luke 9:23 q Mark 8:33-35 q 1 Peter 2:21-25 q Matthew 10:24 q Romans 6:1-14

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Lesson 3

ಎ How does it feel when you keep eating past full? Describe in detail how tired you are when you overeat.

ಎ According to a Surgeon General report, obesity is responsible for 300,000 deaths every year in the United States. As Americans are getting larger and larger and more and more insensitive to hunger and fullness, they are becoming more and more unhealthy. We are witnessing the first generation in over two centuries to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Read the “Complications of Obesity” in the Appendix on page 153. Dieting and focusing on the food has ultimately brought you bad health. Write down any physical complications you have experienced from your overeating as a reminder of why diets do not work.

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ಎ Do not listen to the lies in your mind this week that say, “This will be impossible for me... I like food so much!” The truth is anyone can change their focus. The more you focus on God, the more you will fall in love with Him! You will build a relationship with God! Write down any lies that you hear this week that are discouraging you from doing this and remember... they are LIES!

ಎ The Exodus story clearly describes how our hearts cannot be in love with the food AND be in love with God at the same time. God wants to save you from Egypt, or a relationship with or dependence on the food. The symbolism is so helpful in seeing the pain of staying in Egypt versus the deliverance from God. What has been your pain from being enslaved to the food? What deliverance or freedom from this pain have you already experienced in this series?

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Lesson 3

ಎ Having a relationship with food has only robbed you—of time, money, good health, good relationships with others, etc. Write down what food has robbed from you. Use this as a reminder so you never want to go back to that false friend or love affair with food.

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ಎ We have learned that your weight is a reflection of your thoughts and your hours. Your actions are not a mystery. Take the hours you have recorded on your Food Schedule Chart and apply them to a new preoccupation on God and Christ and Their Kingdom. Breaking bad habits, however, takes concentration. Make out a good long list of all those things that you need to work on or do, what you have put off, or things that you have not gotten to. For example, cleaning out drawers and cleaning out your own car and organizing your own house and training and helping your children to do the same, and especially cleaning up your heart! Keep a copy of this list with you and spend the hours you used to spend on food getting these things done! What a more productive life you will have!

ಎ Now write down the TRUTH about how you can be changing your focus off of food and onto God. Remember—you used to eat this way as a child, and you can relearn how to eat this way again. Keep your Truth Cards in your pocket or purse. Keep your Bible and this workbook nearby during any “testing times.” Make a list below of all the Weigh Down materials and Scriptures that you will be filling up on this week to get your mind onto God instead of filling up with food.

ಎ Another suggestion—memorize Scripture: “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

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The Ten CommandmentsExodus 20

1. You shall have no other gods before me.2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of any-

thing in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth gen-eration of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my command-ments.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sab-bath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the sev-enth day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

6. You shall not murder.7. You shall not commit adultery.8. You shall not steal.9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet

your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

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Jewels ListRecord all the blessings from God this week that came as you

changed your focus and only ate between hunger and fullness! How does this make you feel about God being so personal? Do you feel clos-er to God? Start a list of all the wonderful jewels, answered prayers, blessings, and signs of God’s love that you reap from turning to God and focusing on Him instead of focusing on the food.

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Lesson 3

Jewels List_____________________________________________________________

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We are ending that relationship with the food, and we are having a relationship with God. You cannot have a relationship with God with-out talking to Him.

We were taught to pray in the Name of Jesus because He has been given all power. Fill out the following Prayer Chart to see how your relationship with God is growing:

Prayer Chart
















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Lesson 3

Prayer

I pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, O God, that You will help each person to find their ways of escape and their happies and their jewels so they will have a deeper relationship with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Answered Prayers

Write your answered prayers from this week:

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





97


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 3

98


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





99


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 3

100

L e s s o n f o u r

leT Go oF ConTrolScriptures

❑ Matthew 6:25 q Mark 7:14–23 ❑ Ephesians 5:5-7 q John 9: 26-33 ❑ John 14: 11-14, 23-24 q John 15:5-7

Weekly Checklist ❑ Watch Lesson Five Video ❑ Listen to Lesson Five Audio ❑ Answer Lesson Five Homework Questions ❑ Use your Reinforcement Resources and Truth Cards ❑ As you feel led, fill out the Weight Chart ❑ Add to your list of “Jewels” on page 92

Reinforcement Resources ❑ The Weigh Down Diet Book—“Outside Force versus Inside Force”

pages 257-270 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“The Exodus” Video 7 ❑ Weigh Down at Home —“The Value of Suffering” Video 8 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“God’s Passion & Good Things”

Audio 7 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set —“Jewels” Audio 8 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“The Torture Zone” Audio 9 ❑ Laying Down Your Idols Devotional—“You are Not a God” March 8 ❑ Use a Seek Ye First Notepad. See how much you have accomplished! ❑ Go to www.weighdown.com—see if there are any upcoming speaking

events.

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Lesson Four Video Summary Dieting is a form of control, and Thin Eaters let go of control and let

what is inside of them be their guide. The truth is that Thin Eaters eat less food in one week than you would. You have probably been told all your life that you have a metabolism problem, but you do not. When a human eats a doughnut—no matter what their age or size or gender—he or she traps the same amount of calories. Someone with more mus-cle mass may need more calories. Someone more active may need more calories. But in general, everyone still traps the same amount of energy from any food.

Here are a few eating tips that you can use to help you stop overeating:• You need to rate your foods. You will now want to eat your

favorite foods first. Why? Because you cannot be certain as to when you are going to be full, and once you feel the full feeling, leaving your least-favorite foods on your plate will be easier than leaving your favorites.

• Another tip is to get a carry-out. It can help you stop eating if you tell yourself you can eat it the next time you are hungry. You have thousands of eating occasions left in your life, and you will see the food again—you do not have to eat it now.

God programs the “what to eat” inside of us—we do not have to have a degree in biochemistry for good health. He has put food down on earth for us to enjoy, and He did not accidentally leave the Four Ba-sic Food Groups out of the Bible. God did not put food down here to torture us, so forget good and bad foods. What is detrimental is the binge-eating or strict dieting where food groups are eliminated, such as “no carbohydrates” and “no fats”—neither extreme is healthy. We worry about “bad foods” because the world has made that rule, but it is not God’s rule.

How can we stop the worry? Are we not made out of what we eat? I propose to you that we are not what we eat, but that our health is ad-versely affected when we deny the body the kinds and amounts of food

102

it wants. The human body, over time, wants appropriate amounts of a variety of foods. Biological feedback is what God has programmed in-side of us to guide us. The saying, “You are what you eat,” is not true. Look at the animals... robins eat worms and turn into robins, kittens drink milk and turn into cats, and cows eat grass and turn into cows and make nutrient-rich milk. All the cows in the world are eating different grasses and perhaps cornmeal, yet they all make the same milk. The ani-mals follow God’s lead, and He can make any food turn into any animal, so why worry about the “what” you eat?

The Weigh Down techniques of food consumption involve a three-fold learning process:1. You understand true hunger and do not respond to other drives that

tell you to eat. 2. You recognize fullness and begin to stop at that point. You are de-

veloping a new lifestyle. You are no longer going to shovel food in or binge or stretch the stomach. You are going to take care of your body and not harm it.

3. You develop this ability to sense what your body is really calling for. To begin developing this ability to sense what your body is calling for, ask yourself, “What do I really want to eat?” Eating only when your body calls for food is what you can depend on to moderate the amount you eat daily. When you have had too much of one cat-egory of food, you will naturally desire to eat from another category. (Example: you will not want potatoes for every meal, just as you will not want chocolate for every meal.)

Eat small amounts of regular foods. Do not assume that you will want a sweet. If you still have room in the stomach and want something sweet, then eat small units. If you will listen to your body, it does not want many sweets, but rather only small amounts. God wants you to eat like you did when you were a child—sweets were a treat, but you did not eat them all the time.

Physical food should not be the focus, but rather spiritual food should be the food for the heart. Good health and longevity most

103

Lesson 4

always comes to those who use their internal, God-given cues. The preoccupation with declaring good and bad foods can quickly become an obsessive-compulsive worry of whether something is “organic,” “natural,” or “chemical-free.” God matched your biological feedback of what to eat with what the body needs and the vitamins and minerals that are in the food. The food we eat is not depleted.

Remember, this is not about religion but about a relationship with God.

There are many Saints who are looking for this relationship with God who confuse God’s disciplining, yet loving Hand, with satan trying to pull them away. God is trying to train you up and get you stronger, and He is not trying to discourage you. When you fall down, you get right back up and you persevere. Those are things that are just a part of this life. We are going to stumble from time to time, but you will get up and you will get to where you are faster and faster and you are better, and then you are running a great race! Spiritual warfare is real, but you need to call out to God and flee from temptation. Do what Christ did—He confronted satan with the Truth every time satan lied to Him, and He just kept saying, “God is great, and I am following God.” When you sing songs and you praise God, satan will flee because he cannot stand to hear a beautiful song toward God. It drives him crazy, and it sends him fleeing. So sing to God, pray to God, and praise God!

Choose to fill up your life and mind and purpose with looking for and listening to God each day and looking for His jewels and answered prayers. How do you get answered prayers? You obey Him. A relation-ship with God is something that you can give your stress to. Religion causes stress, but a relationship with God and being around Saints who have a relationship with God gives back so many blessings and answered prayers that you feel like you have something to hold on to in times of testing. That is what you and your children need for a healthy life!

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The basics of

1. praise and prayer: You are on an Exodus with the children of God away from the slavery of food—through the Desert of Testing to the Promised Land—a place where you have a relationship with God more than a relationship with food—a relationship with the Creator of the universe over created things. Learn to start your day off with praise to God for giving you another day and then prayer for help to lead you not into temptation but to deliver you from any evil—which would include greed for food. We have been commanded to take care of our bodies and not destroy them. Overeating makes you sick and damages the body. Start the day off right, and get used to praying all throughout the day.

2. hunger and Fullness: You must ignore head hunger—the strong desire to chew or eat when there is no stomach hunger. What an op-portunity to get to wait for true stomach hunger (which is a growl)! Once you get hungry, eat small amounts of regular foods on a small saucer or cut the foods in half . Rate your foods, and remember to stop when you are full.

3. less is More: The more you eat, the more you want. The less you eat, the less you want. More is not better. Say “No” to binge-eating. If you are having trouble with going beyond full—slow down, focus on the will of God, and pray to obey Him with eating. Slow down and think of the benefits of obedience you receive for the rest of the day. Remember the painful consequences of disobedience.

4. pray when Tempted: Pray when you are tempted to eat but you are not hungry. Run to God, His Word, the workbook, and audios. All other temptations to eat—including head hunger, mouth hun-ger, TV eating, party or social eating, the lust or desire to eat, or the food luring you because it is hot—none of those “escape eating” or “mindless eating” excuses can be a reason to eat anymore. The temptation to eat will pass in about 10 minutes if you get away from the food and turn to God for help! God will not let you be tempted past what you can bear.

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Lesson 4

5. The Transfer to God is blessed: If you really want to get out of the slavery of overeating and binge-eating... then change what you focus on and what you listen to. If you change your focus, you will change your desires forever! The transfer from being enslaved to food over to worshiping God is life-changing and amazing! The blessings are countless! It is awesome to use food only for energy—not indul-gence—eating only between hunger and fullness. The number of times, amounts, and portions of food you eat per day will be less, and the smaller volume of food will make you feel better. You will have much more energy for a new life! God can do so much better than a binge of food. Eventually, you will transfer this desire to eat over to a relationship with God, and the temptation to eat will dis-appear. Tests and spiritual warfare are from God for a purpose—so stay awake and expect it. This is just a part of the journey of life to see if you love the Creator more than the created. Do not be dis-couraged—but rather encouraged—because you are alive, being disciplined as a real child of God. The results will be better health, a happier outlook, and a more fruitful and blessed life—full of righ-teousness, love, and joy.


weight loss!

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Lesson Four Homework ಎ Record some of the points from the video and audio lessons that



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Lesson 4

ಎ This week you learned how to rate your foods by eating your favorite bites first. Did you try this tip this week? Did it help you stop at “full” since you were leaving your least favorite bites behind? If you did not try this tip, why not? Do you still fear eating the foods you crave because of the old “dieting lies” you were taught? Remember, do not fear any foods! There are no “good” or “bad” foods. Fear the binge that is caused only by denying your body the food it craves. Eat small amounts of what you crave and you will end your binge-eating!

ಎ You now know that there are no “good foods” and “bad foods.” God made all the varieties of foods and created your body with perfect biological feedback so that you get exactly what you need. You no longer have to worry! List all of the food rules that you are going to leave behind forever!

ಎ You will have thousands and thousands of eating occasions left in your lifetime... you do not have to eat more today! The food will always be there. Write out any lies that you have believed that have caused you to eat more food than what your body was calling for.

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ಎ In Matthew 7:14-23, Jesus teaches that it is what comes out of your heart that is unclean—not the food—so you no longer have to worry about the content of the food but the content of your heart. So far in this class, what are some things you have learned about your own heart that you want to change?

ಎ Do not respond to any drives that tell you to eat except for HUNGER! List any of the “false” signs to eat that you have listened to. This list will help you stay on your guard from falling for these lies anymore. Example: “Well, I might as well go ahead and eat with the family now because I will probably get hungry soon,” or “I am physically tired so eating will probably make me feel better.”

ಎ Another tip you learned in this lesson was to recognize fullness and to stop at that point. What does “full” feel like for you? Remember this so that it is easy to recognize each time!

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Lesson 4

ಎ You have got to start eating less food than you have been. According to this lesson, the definition of a small serving size is usually on a small plate or saucer. You can also start by cutting your food portion in half and put the rest in a to-go box for later. What are several things you are doing to eat smaller amounts? (Reminder: the best tip of all is to add PRAYER and a relationship with God to your mealtime! God can help you to desire less food!)

ಎ You have got to be ready for the spiritual warfare. Satan does not want you to have this relationship with God, and he does not want you to follow God’s wonderful guidelines of hunger and fullness. Have you experienced any of these spiritual battles or testing times so far during this series? Are you praying for God’s help when the testing comes? You cannot continually pass the temptations without the help of God.

ಎ Children eat regular foods between hunger and fullness (unless they developed a food focus from the parent). They will naturally do everything to avoid eating too much. Observe a thin-eating child this week and write down anything that you learned from watching them—either that you remember doing as a child or that you would like to start doing.

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ಎ Do you consider yourself a controlling person? Does it drive you crazy to let God rule when you eat? q Yes q No.

ಎ Do you want to go back to dieting so you can control when you chew? Write down why you want to control. Now repent! Example: “Immediate results.” “I do not think God will make me thin enough.” Give up control. God must rule!

ಎ You have got to get ready for the evening time and add God-centered and people-centered activities to your night. A TV show or another movie just translates into a binge. Try taking a walk while listening to a Weigh Down audio; try reading the Bible. Call or go visit someone who is sick or who needs encouragement. Try playing with children or cleaning out their closet with them. How sweet to have time with God and to do His will. What are some activities you want to do this week in those evening hours? Plan out your week below...

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Lesson 4




Prayer Chart
















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Prayer

Dearest Heavenly Father, we pray in the Name of Jesus Christ that You will help everyone with this message of Good News to know that we CAN lay down our old relationships and the rebellion that we had and that we CAN transfer it over to a relationship with You. Help them to know they can do it, and help them to do it, Almighty God. In Jesus’ powerful Name, Amen.

Answered Prayers


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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 4

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 4

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 4

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L e s s o n f i v e

a new liFeScriptures

❑ Colossians 2:20-23 q Romans 8:5-8 ❑ Ephesians 4:20-24 q 2 Corinthians 5:17 ❑ John 15:18-19 q Titus 2:11-13

Weekly Checklist ❑ Watch Lesson Five Video ❑ Listen to Lesson Five Audio ❑ Answer Lesson Five Homework Questions ❑ Use your Reinforcement Resources and Truth Cards ❑ As you feel led, fill out the Weight Chart ❑ Add to your list of “Jewels” on page 92

Reinforcement Resources ❑ The Weigh Down Diet Book—“True Repentance” pages 205-244 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“Back to Egypt” Video 9 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“Back to Hunger” Video 10 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Lies” Audio 10 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“Perhaps the Purpose” Audio 11 ❑ Weigh Down Live—“The Only Thing that Matters” ❑ Laying Down Your Idols Devotional—“Wholehearted Devotion” October

16th ❑ Share Weigh Down with one friend ❑ Are you doing well? If so, share what you are doing with your

Coordinator.

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Lesson Five Video Summary Weigh Down Ministries and the Weigh DoWn Basics series, a mere

Christianity message and a message of truth, has been proclaimed for the last 25 years, but it is an ancient message that has been around since the beginning of time. It has been and continues to be highly successful and permanent, because we direct your efforts toward the root problem and toward the Source who can solve all problems. We must not de-pend on something or someone to just take this weight off or clean up our lives.

It is our own choices that can quickly turn our eating and overweight around.

Man’s ways are corrupted, and the world is increasingly anxious and aggressive and afraid and therefore greedy. With each generation we have more separation, more divorce, and degenerative health problems. In other words, are we spiritually healthier than our great-grandparents? Indeed, we are much worse. We are more addicted to food, cigarettes and pornography, and our children are much more likely to be obese and become divorced and in debt than our parents’ generation. Most people see it as a hopeless epidemic, and professionals and scientists believe that there is no hope. But is there hope? The answer is YES! It does not have to be this way. Hope comes with the choice.

Do you want to be a different person for the rest of your life and for eternity? It is time to end this seemingly endless cycle of weight loss and weight gain. Are you not ready for a whole new life? God never wanted you to stay in the bad condition that you are in. His grace teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness—say “NO!” (See Titus 2:12.) This word is go-ing to be a part of your new vocabulary.

As much good as there is in our modern medicine and modern sci-ence, there is a gap in knowledge when it comes to emotional addic-tions. All weight loss industries have ever offered you all your life is basically a diet—a list of foods that you can eat and a list of foods that

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you cannot eat. What they blame as the reason for overweight is the “wrong foods” or the lack of exercise. This seems reasonable; however, you can find yourself eating the diet foods and yet gaining weight back. So what do you blame now? Well, you quickly jump to, “It has got to be metabolism.” Yours must be cursed; theirs must be blessed. You blame your genes. Who made your genes? Who made the DNA? Who de-cided on the body type? In other words, what are you saying? Are you blaming it on God? Are you saying, “God, this is all too hard”?

Read Romans 8. So, there are Spirit-led minds and there are minds that are hostile and that cannot submit to God. There are sinful minds and there are Spirit-led minds; minds controlled by the Spirit of God and sinful minds that have rebelled and are controlled by the evil de-sires. There are desires in Heaven, and there are desires inside of us. Both can be felt within us. Sin is simply being controlled by the evil desires inside of us. The sinful mind, focused on its own desires, cannot obey God. It cannot stop overeating; it cannot stop over-drinking. It cannot do what God wants, and it cannot submit to God’s law. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

So, how could a focus or mindset control your weight? Well, re-member that you fall in love with what you focus on. Your size is a re-flection of what your focus is on. Your whole mind is loaded with self and your own desires. The world taught you this. The wrong shepherds taught you this. Jesus did not teach you this. The Bible did not teach you this. Those man-made rules have no value in restraining sensual in-dulgence. In fact, they make you sensually indulged. But the faster you shrink your focus on the food, the faster your weight loss will be.

Start with repenting, saying, “I am not going to go there anymore. I want to be a new person. I no longer want to focus on the food nor what I deserve to eat nor what I can eat.” You do not need all those meals and all those snacks. Start with saying “no” to whatever it is. Cut out the snacks. Cut out the extra meals. You do not need that much food right now.

After making the decision to cut back on the food consumption, really listen to God’s voice, what God set up—this hunger and this full-

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Lesson 5

ness that is inside of you. Sometimes only a few bites can satisfy that hunger when you are in weight loss mode and your body is trying to get the excess off.

The goal—NO focus on yourself. We are going to start all over and be born again under God, through Jesus Christ, and fill our minds with a whole new world of activities and conversations and hopes and dreams that do not include a lust after food. The results will be that you will rise above the magnetic pull of the food or anything else on this earth that is pulling you down.

Now keep in mind that since this is the truth, it is the answer and it does work; it will change your life, and it will be permanent. Satan and the whole world that is under his control will try to get you away from this answer, this ministry, this focus on God and this focus on Christ. They do not want you to change because misery loves company. The world wants you to accept a life that does not do anything but get you deeper into being attached to yourself. They will say that this message is not right. Jesus said that the world will hate you ( John 15:18-19). So you might even get grief from people who you thought loved you or you thought were your best friends. Your whole new life, this whole new fo-cus must be God first, so He is testing you to see if you really, really want to put Him first. God knows that you can change your focus, so now it is up to you. All you have got to do is offer your time and offer your mind and offer your heart to this new life, to this new focus, to His beautiful will and to His Kingdom. It is time!

A special note: Night Eating—A Note to All Weigh Down Basics Participants:

Please give up your overeating at night! You give God your day and not your night? Give it up! Just give up this indulgence and let God give you a whole New Night! This New Night will not center around food any longer. Say “Goodbye” to excess food, and “Hello” to a whole new life. It will be productive and God will find His own way to indulge you. The blessings will pour in and you will feel a respect from both God and man. The stars twinkle when you transfer from night eating to a whole New Night!

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The basics of

1. praise and prayer: You are on an Exodus journey away from slavery and into freedom from the pull of this world. Start your day off with praise to God and then prayer for help to lead you not into temptation but to deliver you from evil. Overeating harms the body, and we must take care of what God has given us. Natural eating for good health is to eat only when truly hungry and to stop when you are satisfied.

2. hunger and Fullness: Once you get hungry—serve yourself regular foods on a small saucer or cut the foods in half—slow down and pay attention, and stop when you are full. No more binge-eating—this is greedy.

3. less is More: Remember—there will be no end to greed and more is not better. No more binge-eating—the body cannot taste the food dur-ing a binge anyway. There is a whole life out there beyond the food! If you are having trouble with going beyond full—slow the eating down and sip between bites. Put your fork down for a few minutes. Sit back, try looking up more, and enjoy the conversation with the people around you. It is good to limit alcohol because it can give you a false sense of hunger, and it also can relax your determination to wait for hunger. But drinking something hot (coffee or hot tea) can make you feel satiated or full. It takes 20 minutes for the food that you have eaten to hit the bloodstream so that you feel the satisfied feeling.

4. pray when Tempted: If you are not hungry but you feel the tempta-tion to eat—get away from the food and turn to God for help—using prayer, the workbook, audios and the Bible.

5. The Transfer to God is blessed: The small amounts of food eaten when hungry will leave you feeling great—energized, productive, hap-py, blessed, and hopeful. Times of testing, temptations and spiritual warfare are allowed by God for a purpose—so stay awake and expect it. This is just a part of the journey of life to see if you love the Creator more than the created. Do not be discouraged—but rather encouraged because you are alive, being disciplined as a real child of God. The re-sults will be better health, a happier outlook, and a more fruitful and blessed life—full of righteousness, love, and joy.

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Lesson 5

Lesson Five Homework ಎ Record some of the points from the video and audio lessons that


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ಎ Are you still waiting for true physiological hunger every time? q Yes q No

ಎ This desire for food is in the back AND the front of your mind much more than you realize if you have not lost your excess weight. Add up the number of hours of lust for food or another stronghold, and then multiply that by 365 days in a year. Now multiply that by how many years that you have been struggling. How long has it been on your mind? This will help you see where your focus has been.

ಎ Total number of hours spent in one day focused on food or other desires (from your Food Schedule Chart) = ____ hours.

ಎ Total number of those hours per day times 365 days in a year = ____ hours in a year.

ಎ Total number of those hours in a year times the number of years struggling with weight loss = ______ hours of focus on food!

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Lesson 5

ಎ Did you really add up your hours right? Did you really add up how many unpeaceful hours that you have had from worrying about your weight, fretting over your clothes that do not fit and worrying about what people think? Did you add up your hours of dread that you feel due to this worry about a lack of a relationship with God because you are bowing down to something on earth more than Him? You forgot to add up the hours in digesting the food. Time is so valuable! Do you not see that you are going to have so many more hours of peace and productivity? Changing your focus affects everything! Write down some different ways you are now going to spend your time.

ಎ Next, take all your energy today and for the next two or three days, everything you have got, and completely break up your old habits. Completely break it up. Reschedule it so that you are not around those idols, so you are not tempted by those idols. Break it up with a temporary fast from the food or whatever your stronghold is. Write down some ways you are going to do this.

ಎ If you messed up recently, what caused you to stumble and how can you avoid that stumble next time?

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ಎ In the past, what did you blame for your overweight problem? Example: “I have a slow metabolism.” Write down the truth about each lie.

ಎ Read Ephesians 4:20-5:8. Summarize this below. Which life do you want?

ಎ You have the opportunity to completely start over and be a different person! Is that not exciting? You get to throw off the old man and put on the new (2 Corinthians 4:17). This is possible for you. If it is going to be permanent, a whole new you, a whole new personality, a whole new mindset, a positive nature, a new pep in your step, a new life, you cannot do this without help from God your Creator or Jesus Christ. It is through Christ. How is your relationship with God? In what ways have you changed so far?

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Lesson 5

ಎ The grace of God teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness—no! (See Titus 2:11-13.) A big word—NO. It is going to be part of your new vocabulary. What are some times that you are tempted to eat outside of hunger and fullness? In the past, on what occasions have you given yourself permission to overeat? Make this list and get prepared to say NO to the food during those times.

ಎ As part of your new “UP Focus,” have you been talking to and getting encouragement from those who have already made this permanent transfer from food to God? Make a list for this week of how you can reach out and learn from those who have already had success.

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ಎ You must be determined to change your life and become this new man, determined to learn what it means to come to Christ. No longer is it going to be half-hearted and a religion of self. Coming to Christ means to “surrender our preoccupation for His occupation.” Jesus’ occupation was the will of the Father. This will of the Father is to be good at what you are. If you are a wife, then be a good wife. If you are a husband, then be a good husband. If you are an employee, then be a good employee. Are you a citizen somewhere? Then be a good citizen. List your roles and ways you can do better in them.

ಎ Did you experience any spiritual battles this week? How did you fight back the lies of satan? Read 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. How does satan work?

ಎ How has your Relationship Chart been changing since Lesson One

of this workbook? How are your other relationships in your life changing?

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Lesson 5




Prayer Chart
















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Prayer

Dearest God, we thank You for this new life. This is awesome, and it is fun. We want to share it with everybody. So we praise Your Holy Name for even letting us in on the big secret that we CAN be born again, we CAN have a new life, we CAN take off the old and put on the new and that we CAN be walking with Your Spirit—Your great Spirit that has love in it and joy in it and peace in it and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. Thank You, God, for letting us walk in Your Spirit, because that Spirit just floats. It is fun, it is peaceful, it does not have arguments, and it has a great life. And we thank You for letting us walk in that Spirit! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Answered Prayers

Write your answered prayers from this week and describe how you feel toward God when you obey/follow His lead with food. God makes us feel closer to Him when we obey, and we get our prayers answered and we lose weight. Why not just trust and obey? What is holding you back?

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 5

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 5

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 5

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L e s s o n s i x

all or noThinGScriptures

❑ Mark 12:29-31 q Genesis 25:19-34, 27:1-40 ❑ Hebrews 12:14-17 q Ephesians 6:10-20 ❑ 1 Corinthians 10:11-13

Weekly Checklist ❑ Watch Lesson Six Video ❑ Listen to Lesson Six Audio ❑ Answer Lesson Six Homework Questions ❑ Use your Reinforcement Resources and Truth Cards ❑ As you feel led, fill out the Weight Chart ❑ Add to your list of “Jewels” on page 92

Reinforcement Resources ❑ The Weigh Down Diet Book—“The Promised Land...Do You Want

It?” pages 271-281 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“God’s Temple” Video 11 ❑ Weigh Down at Home—“The End of Desire Eating” Video 12 ❑ Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set—“The Prize/Getting Back on Track”

Audio 12 ❑ Constant Encouragement—“It’s Going to Take All You’ve Got” Year I Volume 40 ❑ Laying Down Your Idols Devotional—“Obedience = Freedom; Dis-

obedience = Slavery” June 26th ❑ Use a Seek Ye First Notepad. See how much you have accomplished! ❑ Watch Gwen’s interviews on Larry King Live and WETV on Weigh

Down’s YouTube channel.

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Lesson Six Video Summary

Exodus 20:1-4

And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

The key to Weigh DoWn Basics and ending your relationship with food and overeating, binge-eating, and binge-drinking is a transfer of a relationship. Another way to say it is “a choice of a lifestyle.” But you need to know a secret so that you do not waste your time. It is all or nothing. Moses warned the people to have no idols before God, and all the Prophets warned about this. But it was Jesus who made it clear in Mark 12 that the summary of all the laws of God is this: “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no com-mandment greater than these.” Also, remember the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25). Esau was godless; he sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son for a single meal, and yet Jacob fought for the birthright and blessings. Esau was left with nothing.

So that is what Jesus was saying: you have got to give all of your heart; it is all or nothing, because if you leave a root, it will come back in and take over. Jesus could have easily said, “Give your heart, soul, mind and strength to God,” but instead He purposefully said, “Give ALL of

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your heart, ALL of your mind, ALL of your strength, and ALL of your soul to GOD, and love your neighbor as yourself.” The “ALL” is telling.

This is about a relationship with God. You have got to show God that you would rather have a relationship with Him than just a single meal. You would rather have His blessings than food, and if you leave a root of “love of self ” over “love of God,” it WILL come back and take over. If you leave a root of indulgence in the heart—even if you have laid 90 percent of it down—it will come back to take over. If you leave a root of wanting to go back to your old lifestyle, then the root will grow up and take over and you will become obese or overweight again.

If your desires rule over what God’s programmed hunger and full-ness tell you and if your desires for what to eat rule over what the body is calling for, then you are being your own boss over God’s body. You are deciding what is best. Think back to the decisions you have made over the years: Have you overfed the body? Have you taken care of your body? Have you made sure that the body was pure and that your mind has been pure? When you rule, you make many bad decisions.

Perhaps you are afraid that God will not give you enough food or good times or money to spend. Perhaps you think He is too distant or harsh. But look at all the animals—they are so taken care of, all with a home and family. Remember back to your first few days just trusting God with hunger and fullness and how great you did. You did not hurt for anything and you lost weight and were happier and had so much more energy. Those are the moments of giving ALL to God. Learn to LOVE to follow God’s voice through hunger and fullness.

The spiritual warfare is real. You must put on all the equipment to make it through (Ephesians 6). Most of the testing is in the mind (1 Corinthians 10). Surrender—let go of control and use only hunger and fullness and eat what the body calls for. The result is small, infre-quent meals that have a variety. The only thing you can do wrong is to quit seeking and knocking on this door of a relationship with God. Remain in The Vine ( John 15) and you will be blessed!

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Lesson 6

The basics of

1. praise and prayer: You are on an Exodus journey away from slavery and into freedom from the pull of this world. Start your day off with praise to God and then prayer for help to lead you not into temptation but to deliver you from evil. Overeating harms the body, and we must take care of what God has given us. Natural eating for good health is to eat only when truly hungry and to stop when you are satisfied.

2. hunger and Fullness: Once you get hungry—serve yourself regular foods on a small saucer or cut the foods in half—slow down and pay attention, and stop when you are full. No more binge-eating—this is greedy.

3. less is More: Remember—there will be no end to greed and more is not better. No more binge-eating—the body cannot taste the food dur-ing a binge anyway. There is a whole life out there beyond the food! If you are having trouble with going beyond full—slow the eating down and sip between bites. Put your fork down for a few minutes. Sit back, try looking up more, and enjoy the conversation with the people around you. It is good to limit alcohol because it can give you a false sense of hunger, and it also can relax your determination to wait for hunger. But drinking something hot (coffee or hot tea) can make you feel satiated or full. It takes 20 minutes for the food that you have eaten to hit the bloodstream so that you feel the satisfied feeling.

4. pray when Tempted: If you are not hungry but you feel the tempta-tion to eat—get away from the food and turn to God for help—using prayer, the workbook, audios and the Bible.

5. The Transfer to God is blessed: The small amounts of food eaten when hungry will leave you feeling great—energized, productive, hap-py, blessed, and hopeful. Times of testing, temptations and spiritual warfare are allowed by God for a purpose—so stay awake and expect it. This is just a part of the journey of life to see if you love the Creator more than the created. Do not be discouraged—but rather encouraged because you are alive, being disciplined as a real child of God. The re-sults will be better health, a happier outlook, and a more fruitful and blessed life—full of righteousness, love, and joy.

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Lesson Six Homework ಎ Record some of the points from the video and audio lessons that


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Lesson 6


ಎ Write out the most important behaviors you need to acquire to

become a Thin Eater. How close are you?

ಎ What is holding you back from giving your ALL to God? Slow down and really think about this and write down your thoughts.

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ಎ Read Ephesians 6:10-18. Write out all the pieces of the armor of God and what they represent. You have to do it all—especially pray. How often do you pray? ____________________________ Are your prayers answered? q Yes q No. Obedience is key to answered prayers. Read John chapters 14 and 15.

ಎ In order to fight through any lies or your own desires and find God’s Lead every day, you cannot become lazy or put this relationship with God on the back burner like Esau did. (Read Hebrews 12:14-17.) What are some ways you are planning to make sure you are listening to truth and keeping this “UP Focus”?

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Lesson 6

ಎ Stop and think of why you started this Weigh DoWn Basics class and write it down. Now that you are at the end of class, do you see that it really is all about having a relationship with God? How has your relationship with God changed throughout this class?

ಎ Read Hebrews 12:1-12. Do you ever feel depressed or rejected when you are being disciplined? How does this passage prove that you are taking testing and discipline the wrong way?

ಎ Make a list of some of your most favorite points from all the lessons

in this series that you want to remember and put into practice.

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ಎ Now that you are at the end of this class, you are probably wondering what you are going to do next. Weigh Down Ministries offers many other classes and additional encouragement materials, free web radio broadcasting 24 hours a day, and a download service that gives you access to hundreds of lessons. All of these will help you with your FOCUS on God! (See page 166.) Write down any of these resources that you are planning to use as a reminder for yourself.

Remain In the Vine

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” ( John 15:5).

ಎ Read John 15:1-17. People want a time when it is “their time” and “their entertainment.” We believe we deserve a “me time.” Let God give this time to you. Do not control what or how much you eat! Stay in The Vine. Relax in God, not “from” God. Love God’s Lead; allow the pruning—then you will bear much fruit!

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Lesson 6




Prayer Chart
















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Prayer

Dearest Father, when the testing gets tough, help us not to blame You, but help us to realize that this disciplining is there for our own righteousness—our own growth so we can be close to You. Help us stay away from looking for ways to ignore Your Lead... that we learn to relax in You, not run from You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Answered Prayers


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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 6

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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 6

150


Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





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Breakfast/Morning:

Lunch:

A�ernoon:

Dinner:

NightEating:


/Snack:


Food Schedule

Total time on food

Hunger?

Fullness

?Time Spent

Eating:

Date:

=

Relationship Chart



With God







Focusing on self











Focusing on others

Seeking God





Lesson 6

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Appendix

a p p e n d i x

Complications of Obesity/Related Diseases

Overweight and obese people are at an increased risk for developing the follow-ing conditions (in no particular order):

• Type 2 (non insulin-dependent) diabetes • Cardiovascular disease • Stroke • Hypertension • Hypothyroidism • Dyslipidemia • Hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance • Congestive heart failure • Angina pectoris • Cholecystitis • Cholelithiasis • Osteoarthritis • Gout • Fatty liver disease • Sleep apnea and other respiratory problems • Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) • Fertility complications • Pregnancy complications • Psychological disorders • Uric acid nephrolithiasis (kidney stones) • Stress urinary incontinence • Cancer of the kidney, endometrium, breast, colon and rectum, esophagus,

prostate and gallbladder • Death

Here are 20 diseases or conditions related to Obesity:

1. Diabetes, a disorder where the pancreas is not producing enough, or some-times not any, insulin. Diabetes can lead to a whole host of other medical issues, and obesity is one of the main causes.

2. Cancer has many different forms and types; many of them could be pre-vented with more attention to eating healthily and avoiding obesity.

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3. Congestive heart failure is a condition in which your heart cannot pump enough blood to your body’s other organs.

4. Enlarged heart is another heart condition where the muscle of your heart becomes larger due to being overworked, which naturally happens if you are overweight.

5. Pulmonary embolism is a sometimes fatal blockage of an artery. Being over-weight causes most people to reduce activity, and after time, lack of activity can result in an embolism.

6. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a condition in which cysts develop in your ovaries. These can burst, causing even further problems.

7. Gastro-esophageal reflux disease happens when stomach acid and juices flow from your stomach back up into your esophagus. It is common in over-weight people.

8. Fatty liver disease is a reversible condition in which large pockets of fat ac-cumulate in liver cells.

9. A hernia is caused when the hole in the diaphragm weakens and enlarges. 10. Erectile dysfunction is the inability to develop or maintain an erection,

which can be caused by a medical problem due to obesity. 11. Urinary incontinence is the inability to control urination. It is frequently

associated with obesity, weak bladder and pelvic floor muscles.12. Chronic renal failure, meaning your kidneys fail to work, is a much greater

risk to those who are overweight or obese. 13. Lymphedema is a condition that occurs from a damaged or dysfunctional

lymphatic system, sometimes caused by people suffering from obesity actu-ally crushing their own lymphatics.

14. Cellulitis is a spreading infection, involving both the dermis and subcutane-ous skin tissues, resulting from poor lymph flow caused by obesity.

15. Stroke is caused by a lack of blood supply to your brain. 16. Pickwickian syndrome is characterized by sleep apnea resulting from obe-

sity placing an excessive load on your pulmonary system. 17. Depression is a condition where a person feels miserable constantly, even

to the point of being suicidal. It can be worse for someone who also has a weight problem.

18. Osteoarthritis is a clinical syndrome in which low-grade inflammation re-sults in pain in your joints. It is caused by abnormal wearing of the cartilage, often times due to obesity.

19. Gout occurs when uric acid accumulates in your blood. Nerve endings then become irritated, causing extreme pain, which is made worse by carrying extra weight.

20. Gall bladder disease commonly affects overweight people as a result of high blood cholesterol levels, which cause gall stones.

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Appendix

A Special Note on MedicationsThis series was written to address the heart’s addiction and dependence upon

food as a comfort and as a delight. However, once one examines one’s own heart, other addictions surface. Early Christians were warned about using alcohol to get drunk and were advised, in contrast, to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). These early Christians did not have access to anti-depressants as we know them to-day. Mainstream religious institutions have adopted an alarming stance on the liberal use of medications for the pain of an undirected heart. Instead of warning individu-als to stop loving something on this earth, they have embraced medications to numb all the symptoms of sin—to a fault.

If what Jesus meant by “making us whole” was to call us out and to make us depend upon God plus medications, then how did first-century Christians manage? I am making a plea for God’s people to re-examine the liberal use of medications. Even the government is now monitoring the distribution of popular anti-depressants because of their unprecedented use in the last three years. This is a stronghold satan dreads for us to attack even worse than the food, because a lack of joy in God’s people helps to keep the spread of Christianity in check. Satan would hate for us to realize that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Satan would much rather we chase an earthly cure.

Weigh Down is by no means suggesting that everyone throw out their medica-tions today—that is not the point. However, this is a prayerful challenge to people of God who have thrown God out and embraced a pill. This series is asking people to re-examine their worship, their dependency, and their position upon the liberal use of anti-depressants and medications, just as we have asked people to re-examine their worship, their dependency, and their position upon the liberal use of food.

Some people may be reluctant to examine the present position on the use of medications which currently exists in this country. But, it is our duty as Christians to question anything that does not teach people to repent from investing their lives in idols on this earth and instead turn toward God as their first and major treatment. As Christians, we should put loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength first on our list instead of second, third, or last.

So, again, I plead: let us re-examine our stance on the dependency upon the medicine cabinet. We need so desperately to examine our attitudes and lack of trust in God and our overconfident trust in medications. Weigh Down has seen thousands who have done just that, many of whom have completely come off medications step-by-step.

If God causes your heart to question, we suggest that you take your concerns prayerfully to your physicians and counselors to establish appropriate treatment for your personal situation.

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Glossary ಎ exodus out of egypt: The Biblical book of Exodus in the Old Tes-

tament is the age-old story of the exodus of God’s children from Egyptian bondage. (See page 56 to read about the symbolism of this story.) Just like the Israelites, you will experience a deliverance from dieting and the bondage of food and diet programs. You will be shown how to follow in the footsteps of God’s children who en-tered the Promised Land of milk and honey. The Promised Land is a place out of the hot Desert of Testing, a place where you no longer feel tempted to eat when your stomach is not hungry. When you de-velop a relationship with God, it saves you from giving your heart to man and his rules of self-love and the love of this world. One of the Weigh Down Ministries’ seminars is entitled Exodus Out of Egypt: the CHANGE Series (see page 167). You will enjoy taking this class as you continue on this journey.

ಎ spiritual warfare: In the process of transferring your focus from food and dieting to God, there will be a mighty battle for your heart. This is where satan comes in. He is jealous of our devotion to God, and his sole purpose is to steal our hearts from God (Luke 8:5, 11–12; 1 Peter 5:8). As long as satan can distract us from our true direc-tion, he can successfully keep us from victory on this journey. He will distract us with lies, excuses, temptations, temporary failures, stressful situations, and other challenges that complicate and con-fuse the path to freedom ( John 8:42–44). It is important to recog-nize these distractions for what they are. You must trust that God’s ways are always right. If you focus on Him and do not allow satan to distract you, you will see His Mighty Right Hand come to rescue you.

ಎ on-demand Class: You decide what time each week you want to watch the class. No more “have-to” class times. You will have eight weeks to complete this six-week class at your own pace. You will also be assigned a coordinator and have access to this person via email, someone who has lost all their excess weight and is there to answer your questions and encourage you via e-mail.

ಎ local or online Class: Take your class online in a group setting or call

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our office for class locations near you. Enjoy fellowship before and after the class with share time and group accountability. Your class will meet at a specific day/time every week. Each weekly meeting will last ap-proximately one to one and a half hours for video lessons, prayer, and live interaction with your coordinator and classmates either via an on-line chatroom or your local class setting. Your coordinator, who has lost all his/her excess weight and kept it off for several years, will be there to help answer your questions and encourage you on this journey!

ಎ “Jewels”/“happies”: If you will obey God and not overindulge, there will be some reward for you. We call these little rewards “jew-els” or “happies” from God. A jewel will always be waiting for you if you wait for hunger and stop when you are full! One of the most important assignments in Weigh Down and in life is to look for and find the jewels that God has given you. Why? Because it develops a relationship with God. There is nothing more fun in life than look-ing for the attention and personal love of the Father.

ಎ way of escape: Our dear Heavenly Father gives us a way of escape when we are in the middle of a temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). Some ways of escape are funny, such as struggling to open a bag of popcorn, only to have the popcorn scatter all over the kitchen floor. These will help you with your relationship with God because you see that He is very interested in your devotion, and He wants to save you from your own selfish desires. He is there trying to help you develop an incredible, deep relationship with Him.

ಎ Truthstream: This streaming online service is a monthly member-ship that gives you access to every audio and video in your Rein-forcement Resources for this class (which is much more affordable than purchasing each resource separately), and it gives you access to thousands of lessons from the Weigh Down Archive—meaning you can search any topic and get instant encouragement anytime you need it. If at the end of the class you no longer want this service, you can cancel it with no penalty.

ಎ Faith-based weight loss: Diets do not address the emotions and the inward longings of a person. Everyone is born with a yearning for more, and they are looking for their Creator, even if they do not know it. God has pre-programmed this longing in each one of us so

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that we might reach out and seek Him. Weigh Down teaches you how to turn to God instead of food for comfort.

ಎ Thin eater: Someone who has been thin from birth; someone who has never had a preoccupation with food, and food is not their “thing.” This is not referring to people who are anorexics or bulimics or people who are “exercise-aholics.” These people may have a thin body, but they are enslaved to control. A Thin Eater has self-control when eating regular (non-diet) foods and does not gain weight.

ಎ stop dieting: Dieting is a man-made rule, and it is man’s idea of chang-ing the food content to lose weight so that you do not have to change your own behavior of overindulging. God never asked anyone to diet. When you use dieting as a solution to overweight, it makes you focus on the food, so therefore you fall in love with the food. You do not need to fear regular foods or the caloric content of foods making you over-weight; it is the overconsumption of food that is the problem.

ಎ physiological hunger: Physiological hunger is the signal God gave us to tell us when to eat, and this hunger can be satisfied only with food. We refer to physiological hunger as “stomach hunger.” It is an empty, hollow, burning sensation, which may be followed by a growl. The stomach is located above the waistline just under the rib cage. Stomach hunger comes at different intervals after your last meal, depending upon what and how much was eaten and upon your activity level. Our hunger and fullness gauge is like the gas gauge on a car. “Empty” signals the need to refuel. “Full” signals enough. Eating between the boundaries of hunger and fullness will automatically decrease the amount you eat, usually as much as half of what you used to eat. Remember, most children and all the ani-mals eat this way—you can do this too!

ಎ spiritual hunger/head hunger: This is the desire to eat when you do not have physiological stomach hunger. It is “desire eat-ing.” This may include going to food when we are stressed, angry, bored, sad, lonely or lazy. But it also includes going to food just because it smells good, or because it looks good or simply because it is there! Head hunger includes continuing to eat past full just be-cause the food tastes good and is still on your plate. Head hunger also includes eating according to the clock, whether you are hungry

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or not. Eating to satisfy the deep-down feelings, needs, or desires of the heart is a common error, but food cannot solve our problems; it only exacerbates them. This emptiness that we feel can be satisfied only by God.

ಎ True religion: The whole concept of True Religion is denying yourself for the sake of a relationship with God. It is saying NO to greed for more food or money or any other desires. God wants us to put Him first. True Religion is to have no other loves or idols before God and to come out of this world, thus the symbolism of the Exodus Out of Egypt story (see page 56)—for those who want to bow down to God instead of man or man’s rules. Everyone is religious—we all adore something, and religion is simply what you adore. What you adore could help you or hurt you. If you bow down to food, it is very bad for your health. If you bow down to God, you will be set free!

ಎ basic prayer: You cannot have a relationship with God without talking to Him. You need to pray all the time. Pray for everything and pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Before, every-thing reminded you of food and you followed its voice and its lead. Now, listen for God’s lead, His voice through prayer and answered prayers in everything, all day long! This relationship will be so much more rewarding than the food!

ಎ Transferring a relationship from Food to God: You fall in love with what you focus on. Where you used to read about, think about, dream about, and dress for the food (by putting on your stretch clothes so that nothing would come between you and the binge), now you can read about, think about, long for, and dress for your Creator. You have got to come to know how good God will be to you if you seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). God rewards you when you exchange your own selfish desires for His will (what He wants). An-swered prayers, rewards or “jewels,” and ways of escape are all ways that God will show you how loved you really are. He knows you better than you know yourself!

ಎ bible (niV): In this series, you will use a Bible often to find this relationship with God—to find out what He likes and does not like and to find how He can fill up your hurting heart better than the

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food. The more time you spend opening up the Bible versus open-ing up a package of cookies or any other “comfort” foods, the more you will crave reading it again. The faster you change your focus from food to God, the faster your heart will be in love with God over food—permanent freedom! Below is a list of the books of the Bible that you can use as a reference. We recommend that you use a New International Version (NIV) Bible, and you can contact our office for a copy if needed.

Old Testament Books

New Testament Books

Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua JudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles

2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekiel

DanielHosea JoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachi

MatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians

Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon

Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John JudeRevelation

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Appendix

CreditsAll directed by The God of the Universe through willing vessels.

Author/Director/Producer: Gwen Shamblin

Production Team: Joe Langsdon, Amy Stites and the video and audio editing team: Erin Moore, David Martin, B.B. Barcus, Erin Shamblin, Elizabeth Hannah, Ryan McCauley, and Laura Gormsen.

A special thanks to Michael Shamblin for writing the song “Good To Be Good” used in this series and sung by Matt Weaver. Underscoring for this seminar was written and produced by Michael Shamblin, B.B. Barcus, and Scott Sabo. Additional thanks to the following artists for their contributions: Matt Weaver for “Higher and Higher,” and Julie Radebaugh for “Wonderful God”—which were used in these lessons. Thank you also to all the musicians and vocalists who contributed their musical gifts, as well as the band, which includes: Michael Shamblin, David Martin, B.B. Barcus, John Radebaugh, Dustin Hertz, Matt Weaver, and Robie Bass. Thank you!

A special thanks to the MIS team, including Eldon Gormsen and Marc Dunn, and the Marketing, Outreach and Administrative team, including Tedd Anger, Candace Anger, Jessica Walters, Jenni Mendl, Jennifer Martin, Tish Dunn, Abigail McDonald, Debbie Blair, Sue Ruth, Charlotte Duncan, and Pat Sanchez.

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We also want to thank the Weigh Down Auxiliary Production Staff: Brandon Hannah, Phyllis Eikenberry, Elisabeth Lorenz, Jonathan Walters, Anique Leaman, Greg MacPherson, Robert Zanoni, Dale Ruth, Larry Sims, Michael Barnes, Jacob Auernheimer, Connor Holmes, Theo Williams, Pam Gunger, Beth Ancona, Ruth Beld, Andrew Langsdon, Calvin Voorhis, Jeff Graves, Jonathan Hagans, Kris Kubichar, Kyle Davis, Luke Higgins, Rich Friesen, Robbie Ruble, Ryan Sisemore, Scott Sabo, Sheldon Singh, Todd Kubiak, and Derek Davis.

A special thanks to all the Regional and International Representatives serving the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and the Far East who volunteer to keep our participants encouraged during their classes. We praise God for our hundreds of very skilled online coordinators, who are willing to host a class any day or time of the week, whenever there is a need! Special thanks to: Gayle Mahnke, Heather San-chez, Heather Higgins, Lydia Muri, Jodi Hertz, Jean Kurtz, LuAnn Thatcher, Leona Hagans, Whitney Sabo, Mary Mornout, Monica Weaver, Kristine Petralito, Catherine Zanoni, Cheryl Fitzgerald, Marcia Blatchford, Kim Hinton, Brenda Meyer, Rebecca Jackson, Carmen D’Amato, Maggie and Andy Sorrells, Pam Friesen, Jill Sharp, Nicole Peters, Deah Hayden, France Martin, Tracy Voorhis, and Vicki Johnston.

For more pictures, visit our websites: weighdown.com; GwenShamblin.com; remnantfellowship.org

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About the AuthorGwen Shamblin was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, with a strong faith

and foundational values. She grew up with a medical background, making rounds with her belated father, Walter Henley, M.D., who was a General Surgeon. She re-ceived her undergraduate degree in Dietetics and Masters Degree in Nutrition with an emphasis in Biochemistry from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Mrs. Shamblin was an Instructor of Foods and Nutrition at the University of Memphis for five years, and she worked with the city’s Health Department for an additional five years, helping specifically in the areas of overweight, obesity, pregnancy, and child health.

A very spiritual person with a strong faith in God, Mrs. Shamblin felt led to found The Weigh Down Workshop in 1986 in order to teach these principles to those who were desperately seeking to lose weight permanently. Initially offered through audiotapes and small class-es taught by Mrs. Shamblin in a retail setting, this teaching began yielding unprecedented results. Participants were not only losing their weight while eating regular foods, but they were using the same Bible-based

principles to turn away from other addictions such as smoking or alcohol abuse.By 1992, the program was packaged for seminar use, churches began to sign up,

and the media began to pay attention. The growth was explosive. By the late 1990s, Weigh Down was internationally known in most Protestant, Catholic, and Evangelical churches. Gwen Shamblin and The Weigh Down Workshop were featured on such shows as 20/20, Larry King Live, and The View, as well as in such magazines as Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day. In 1997, The Weigh Down Diet was published by Doubleday, Inc. The book quickly sold over one million copies as people discovered the secrets to losing weight quickly and permanently while finding a new relationship with God.

Feeling led to go even further in helping oth-ers to live fully for God, in 1999, Gwen Shamb-lin, along with other individuals who shared her

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passion for God, founded the Remnant Fellowship Church. Twice-weekly church services are webcast live from the origi-nal Remnant Fellowship Church located outside Nashville, Ten-nessee.

The dream of helping peo-ple turn away from the love of food and toward a love of God has turned into a ministry. Through Remnant Fellowship and Weigh Down Ministries, hundreds of people are helped daily as they break away from the pain of obesity and other addictive behaviors. Mrs. Shamblin is continually

producing new materials for both the church and the Weigh Down Ministries, yet she takes no salary for her efforts. Funds that are re-ceived through the sale of Weigh Down products and seminar fees or through donations to the church are used to support each respectively in order to help hurting people of ev-ery nationality discover the love of God that can set them free.

Gwen Shamblin has been married to David Shamblin for well over 30 years. They have two grown children who are married and have children of their own. Their chil-dren reside close to the Shamblins’ home in Brentwood, Tennessee.

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Additional Resources by Weigh Down Ministries

•Truthstream, a monthly subscriber programThis streaming online service is a monthly membership that gives you access to every audio and video in your Reinforcement Resources for this class (which is much more affordable than purchasing each resource separately) and it gives you access to thousands of lessons from the Weigh Down Archive—meaning you can search any topic and get instant encouragement anytime you need it. If at the end of the class you no longer want this service, you can cancel it with no penalty.

Weigh Down Seminars•Weigh Down Basics

This six-week beginning seminar teaches the foundational principles of Weigh Down. Learn how to eat like a Thin Eater between hunger and fullness, end greed eating and emotional eating, and end dieting by learning how to change your focus off of food. The result is permanent freedom from overweight!

•Weigh Down At HomeThis 12-week foundational weight loss program is an independent, at-home study. Learn the basics to Gwen Shamblin’s revolutionary weight loss ap-proach in an all-in-one package. This is a powerful focus tool alongside any class.

•Exodus From Strongholds A 12-week seminar to help you break free from any stronghold (drinking, nagging, anger, drugs, praise of man, etc.) in your life—permanently. Also available as an at-home study.

•The Last Exodus An eight-week weight loss class that was originally geared towards children and teens, but continues to build on the basic foundations of what you learned in Weigh DoWn Basics and begins to introduce the concept of spiritual warfare. Do it as a class, a Bible study for the whole family, a homeschool project, or as a class for your neighborhood, family, and friends. It is available as a class or as an at-home study.

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•Exodus Out of Egypt: The Change SeriesThis weight loss class goes beyond the basic founda-tional principles of Weigh DoWn Basics and The Last Exodus. It includes eight weeks of intense Scrip-ture, troubleshooting, practical tips, hints, and advice on weight loss and dealing with “problem” foods or tempting situations during the day.

•The Breakthrough Series If your weight has hit a temporary plateau, take this eight-week study. Beyond the basics, this class teaches you to take personal accountability and responsibility for your condition and go all the way in giving up any last bit of greed, control, or anti-authority. Learn how to let go of control and commit to never going back to your old ways. Find your breakthrough moment—the result will be losing weight again!

•The Legend to the Treasure SeriesThis 16-week advanced study will change the way you evaluate your weight, finances, marriage, and all relationships. What are you searching for in life, and where are you taking your family? Are you on a path to the greatest Treasure available to man—a relation-ship with God? If not, how do you turn your ship around? Let your eyes be opened to The Treasure and be permanently set free.

•Weigh Down Advanced We recommend you take all other classes prior to be-ginning this class. This powerful 10-week study takes you beyond the physical aspects of your hunger and fullness into a deep, convicting study of your heart. Open your eyes to the “big picture” of how rebellion affects God and His Church and His plan for you. Learn the reason you can and must put the will of God into practice.

For more information or to watch orientation videos for these classes, please call us at 1-800-844-5208 or visit our website: www.weighdown.com.

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Additional Weigh DownBasics Resources

•Weigh Down Basics Truth CardsA set of 24 Truth Cards with encouraging Scriptures and truth that you can ei-ther keep on a key ring or in your purse or shoulder bag or briefcase. You will want to keep them at your fingertips to help you stay focused and to get you through any tempting situations.

•NIV BibleOrder a new NIV Bible and highlight all the Scriptures from this class. The Scriptures you need for this journey will jump out at you every time you open your Bible.

•Exodus Out of Egypt Audio Set Re-familiarize yourself with the basic Weigh Down approach. These 12 audio CDs are original to the 1990s Exodus Out of Egypt Series. Weigh Down favorites include: The Heart of the Matter, Opposite World, True Repentance, Spiritual Marines, and more. This set is an excellent way to stay focused while in the car or moving around.

•Seek Ye First Notepad This practically designed to-do list notepad will help you prioritize your day while keeping you focused on God’s priorities throughout the entire day!

Titles by Gwen Shamblin•The Weigh Down Diet

A must-have with this class! It is Gwen Shamblin’s groundbreaking approach to weight loss, and it includes practical advice to help you on the path from physical hunger to spiritual fulfillment, also including inspira-tional testimonies. End dieting forever!

•Rise AboveWritten for the struggler, this book continues the en-couraging message from The Weigh Down Diet to those who continue to struggle with weight loss issues and other strongholds. Look inward into your own heart and learn to transfer your devotion to the food over to a wholehearted devotion to God Almighty.

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•The Legend to The Treasure This book contains powerful spiritual lessons on how to lay down the last bit of self and praise of man, cou-pled with practical, true statistics of what life is like without God. Dig deeper into your life—find out if you are pursuing the True Treasure, and find an inex-pressible joy that comes from a relationship with God alone. Buy it separately or receive it as part of The Legend to The Treasure class materials.

•EXODUS Devotional, Volume One and Volume Two

These devotional books are packed with strong con-viction and encouragement that will lead you out of bondage and straight to the Father.

•John Foxe’s Book of MartyrsAs you enter the path of total surrender, be encour-aged by studying the lives of men and women who valued truth about God above their own short lives on this earth. This book includes a powerful intro-duction by Gwen Shamblin.

•A to ZionThis is an inspirational alphabet book that will teach your child from an early age that life is all about God. For a complete list of resources for children and par-enting, go to www.weighdown.com.

Websites and Free Encouragement •www.WeighDown.com

Visit the official Weigh Down Ministries website for more videos, resources and encouraging. Visit the online store for focus materials on weight loss, marriage, parenting, anger, and love. Find devotionals, Bibles, journals, gifts, music, and much more.

•www.GwenShamblin.com Gwen Shamblin’s personal web page.

•www.RemnantFellowship.org Remnant Fellowship Church is the official sponsor of Weigh Down Ministries. For more information about this connection, visit www.WeighDownChurch.com.

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•www.WeighDownAtHome.com Free online weight loss class.

•www.WeighDownRadio.com Listen to free 24/7 online encouragement.

•www.WeighDownChronicles.com Free, ongoing Scripture and encouragement from Gwen.

•FacebookJoin the “Weigh Down Ministries” Group on Facebook.

•TwitterFollow “GwenShamblin” on Twitter and receive frequent encouragement—inspiring words that help us to focus UP!

•YouTubeWatch inspiring videos on Weigh Down’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/weighdownworkshop. For example, watch Gwen on Larry King Live, the Tyra Banks Show, and the 20,000 Pound LineUp.

•Emails Receive occasional emails from Gwen and the staff that will uplift, encourage, and challenge you on this journey. Go to www.weighdown.com to sign up.

•Message Boards Get connected to other class participants at www.Forums.weighdown.com.

Come Visit Our StaffWeigh Down is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the nations to

Christ. God is the Great King and Lord of the universe; many of His subjects have half-hearted or divided loyalties, and yet our God deserves wholehearted, loving, loy-al people. Our mission is to call God’s people back to full devotion to our Almighty God. For more information call 1-800-844-5208 or visit www.weighdown.com and www.RemnantFellowship.org.

Help us make a difference in the global obesity epidemic. Tax-free donations to Weigh Down Ministries can be made online by going to www.weighdown.com or by mail to 308 Seaboard Lane, Franklin, TN 37067.

If you are hurting or need encouragement, please call one of our trained counsel-ors at 1-800-844-5208 or e-mail us at: [email protected].

Any time you are in the Nashville, TN area, feel free to stop by and take a tour of the office. Office hours are Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CST.

Our address is 308 Seaboard Lane, Franklin, TN 37067.

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Live Weight Loss Lectures

Join us for a FREE Weight Loss Lecture Online

Founder Gwen Shamblin gives free weight loss lectures via the web every few months. Along with Gwen’s talk, there are testimonies of people who have lost from 5 to 300 pounds and practical tips on how to keep your weight off. All you need to receive this LIVE talk for FREE is internet ac-cess! No sign up necessary.

Experience Desert Oasis in Nashville

Gwen Shamblin invites you to join her

and thousands of people from around the world for a powerful time of encouragement, teaching, praise, and amazing testimonies at Desert Oasis. Held in Brentwood, Tennessee in the Summer, this two-day event will move you closer to the Heavenly Father and further away from overeating and other strongholds.

other desert oasis highlights:• Topical Break-Out Sessions• Individual encouragement and

counseling• Meet Gwen and the Weigh Down staff• Hotel discounts

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Rebuilding the Wall May Be Coming to Your Area

The founder of Weigh Down, Gwen Shamblin, may be coming to your area. At a Rebuilding the Wall event, the Weigh Down Staff travels to you! At this event, you will hear powerful teaching, incredible testimonies and moving music.

As in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day, we have a chance to live our lives wholeheartedly for God and Him alone, forsaking all idols. As a living stone, your wholehearted obedience to God builds up His Kingdom. Help us to Rebuild the Wall—dusting off the commands of God and living them out daily. Come and join us to Rebuild the Wall! To request a Rebuilding the Wall event in your area, email us at: [email protected].

Check our website (www.weighdown.com) for exact days and times for each of these events.

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