The connection between water and weight loss is more simple than you think.
Here at Revelation Wellness, we’re concerned with helping you lose the things that weigh you down.
Often that is fear, shame, and believing the lies of the enemy. Sometimes, that means physical weight also.
Maybe you suffer from chronic health issues that are a symptom of obesity. Or, maybe you find yourself gaining weight year after year because you’ve grown neglectful with your eating and exercise – choosing comfort over health.
Either way, we’re here for you. The gospel is for your heart and your body. Jesus is Lord of your thoughts and desires, as well as your eating habits.
There are many factors in weight loss – age, hormones, gender, emotional agility, genetics, stress.
But one overlooked contributor to weight loss or weight gain is thirst – both our physical and spiritual thirst.
A More Urgent Thirst
In John 4, Jesus speaks to a woman at a well.
Not just any woman at any well.
He speaks to a Samaritan woman living with a man she is not married to who is getting her water at high noon from “Jacob’s well” (John 4:6).
We can imagine she is a woman who is thirsty for a lot of things – true love, friendship, rest, a new beginning.
When Jesus reveals that He is the Messiah, the Living Water for whom she really craves, her urgent thirst is revealed.
“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:28-29).
She leaves that which will never totally satisfy her thirst – the water jar –to spread the news of the One who will satisfy the deeper thirst inside of her.
One overlooked contributor to weight loss or weight gain is thirst – both our physical and spiritual thirst.
What do you crave when you are thirsty?
Now, after telling her estranged neighbors about the long-awaited Messiah who knew everything she ever did, I bet she sat down with a large jar of water and drank until the water ran down the sides of her mouth. But, her heart and mind and hope had finally found a good, life-giving well to draw from.
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. “ John 7: 37-39
The refreshment the Samaritan woman felt at the well would soon be experienced by all believers of Jesus.
At Pentecost and beyond, the Spirit would flow through believers like rivers of living water. Meeting urgent thirsts and hydrating hearts beyond the purest water you could ever drink.
So, what does this have to do with weight loss?
Let me ask you a question, what do you crave when you are thirsty? Who or what do you turn to when you are run down and weary?
Go to The Living Water
When you constantly trod down the path of guilt and shame, do you really believe that God has your heart? Your needs in mind?
When you reach for another coffee or another snack to satiate your thirst, instead of a simple glass of water, are you trying to quench the pleasures of your flesh or your creaturely need for hydration?
Are you motivated more by God’s love for you or by satisfying the desires of your flesh?
Anything that rises above the love of God is an idol. The idols that you raise up will not give you life. They will not bear the fruit of the Spirit in you or through you.
It is only believing and trusting in Jesus that creates an outpouring. Out of His heart flows rivers of living water. When you live by His Spirit, rivers of living water flow out of you also.
Why this analogy of thirst? In ancient times, water was life. We take water for granted. People were dependent on water for food and life. In the same way, we are entirely dependent on God. He is our sustenance.
The solution is not the “better you,” “the thinner you,” etc. The solution is going to God. So whether you need to lose 10 lbs to get your blood pressure under control, or you need to lose the shame that binds you, it is Jesus, the Living Water, who will quench your thirst and set you free.
Your Turn
Let’s get simple and practical:
– When you’re dehydrated, your metabolism is slower, your joints ache, your mind is foggy, etc.
– Then, you confuse thirst with hunger about 60% of the time. When you eat, are you actually just thirsty?
– Drink a cup of water before you drink anything else.
Pray: Lord, according to your Word, let it be done to me. Living water flowing within me.
Alisa Keeton is the founder and CEO of Revelation Wellness and the author of The Body Revelation. A 25+ year fitness professional, she believes that the Gospel is a wholistic message of heart, mind, soul, and strength, and each body holds a story that must be told. It is then that healing, health, and wholeness can truly begin.
A Better Way to Weight Loss
This Guide will give you all the information you need to start losing weight in a way that is radically different than the world’s way. This is the God first way.
For every practical tip we give you (and we’ll share a lot!) there is often deeper heart work to identify the desires and beliefs that keep you falling into bondage.
We can’t wait for you to get started. You’re in the right place for true weight loss.
