Page 56 - Overcoming Addiction

Numbers 11:4-6
The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of
Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us flesh to eat? We remember the
fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and
the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There
is nothing at all to look at except this manna."

God provides us with a perfect food. It has everything necessary in it to
promote life and spiritual health. As Yahshua testified, those who eat the bread He
gives them “will live forever.” What we have been testifying throughout this book
is that divine life is the answer to the problem of sin. As we receive the life of
Christ into our beings we are filled with the desire to please God, and the power to
accomplish these desires. When we eat the Bread of Heaven we become filled with
the fulness of Christ. He ever lived to do the will of the Father, and so will we.
We understand through the parable of the manna that this receiving of life is
obtained as we feed on that which Yahweh has provided for us. The food that God
provides for the Christian to eat is designed to increase Christ in us. However, this
bread from heaven does not appeal to the flesh. The rabble in Israel provide a type
of those who are called out of the world by God, but who are not satisfied with His
will for them. They still crave evil things, and are not willing to lay aside their
former appetites. They begin to complain about the things God provides for them
to feed upon. Rebellious men and women look at God’s provision and say, “Who
will give us flesh to eat? There is nothing to look at except this manna!”
When a child of God is born spiritually, they receive a new spirit within them
that desires to do the will of the Father, yet they still are clothed in sinful flesh.
The flesh will always desire that which satisfies the flesh. It will continue to crave
sinful things. God has revealed through the history of Israel that when He calls us
out of the world we are to immediately change our diet. We are to cease feeding
our flesh, and begin to feed our spirit. Only in this way will we find the statement
fulfilled, “I must decrease, but Christ must increase.”
Many Christians have been called out of the world by God, yet after many
years they are still fleshly creatures, bound to the appetites of the flesh. The reason
is that they rejected God’s provision of food for them, and have yearned to eat
those things they once fed upon while in the world. Like the Israelites they cry out,
“We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the
melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.”
It has been shown through numerous surveys by a number of companies that
there is as much sin in the church today, as there is in society outside of the
church. The reason is that they are both feeding upon the same diet. They watch
the same television shows, go to the same movies, read the same magazines, listen
to the same music, and pursue the same pleasures. It does not matter if the
Christian has been called out of the world by God, if they continue to feed on the
same worldly offerings then they will not find Christ increasing, and self
decreasing. Victory over the flesh will elude them.
Because the Israelites cried out to God for flesh to eat, despising the manna,
He told them He would give them what they wanted.