How to stay productive and win during the holidays.

Of Holidays, Spirits and Gluttony.

Author

Ugonne Ann Okonkwo
December 26, 2022

Hey, you, Merry Christmas! This mail should have gotten to you way before now but I've been fighting battles and winning. Hallelujah somebody!  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know what I'm talking about. Haha! Today's message is going to be a slightly uncomfortable one for all of us so brace yourself. I am not writing to you just because I want to. I am coming to you as an employee and the sent one who must deliver a message.

A few days ago, I woke up, got dressed, and ran off to buy Baozi (steamed buns). It's a popular breakfast meal in China and my family loves it. Because, I don't go out a lot these days, because of my newborn, I decided to use the opportunity to buy some sweet treats I've been craving. I bought 2 boxes of Pocky, snickers, and another pack of chocolate cookies. As soon as I got home, I unpacked everything else I bought and then I took my sweet treats and hid them in the kitchen cupboard above where no one can see them. I thought to myself, "Yeah. This should last a while."I decided to treat myself to some chocolate cookies. I shared a little bit of it with my bubbly toddler, Zite while I set the table for our breakfast. After one cup of soy milk and Baozi, I found myself eating the snickers. Before it was lunchtime, I had eaten one of the two packs of pocky. I was stuffed but I still ate lunch. Then I ate bread, and an apple and just constantly wanted to eat something. Towards evening time, I started having this feeling of "throwing up" and yet, I took the final pocky and ate it all. By the way, I was hiding or trying to hide all the while so that I can eat everything by myself.

The Realization

It was as we were going to bed later in the night that I started to ask myself, "Wait, what did I even achieve today? " As we did our night devotion, I started to pray in the spirit, and then boom, it hit me. The Holy Spirit dropped in my spirit that I was battling with the spirit of gluttony. I quickly googled the word gluttony for clear definitions and I saw exactly what happened to me the whole day.

"Gluttony is a greedy overindulgence in food or drink"

The thing is that when you think about the word, glutton, you may imagine a fat person with a giant plate of food eating and moaning and gulping it all down with large cans of soda but it's way more than that. It's not as much about the size of food or person as it is about "overindulging and overeating". It's actually very personal. One person may look at what I ate like it's no big deal, but eating a week-long worth of sweet treats in a few hours is definitely gluttony for me. I decided to search the scriptures on this topic and guess what I found.

Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way [of the Lord]. Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat, For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.

Proverbs 23:19‭-‬21 AMP

Do you see it? Whooosh!! I love the word of God because it's a mirror. Can you now see why I was pretty much unproductive the whole day? I know that you will not typically connect food to poverty but can you see it? Ha! This revelation made me shudder because the goal of the spirit sponsoring gluttony is to automate this greed in my soul, make excessive eating a habit and ultimately keep me unproductive. Like joke, like joke, that's how poverty and lack become a prayer point. 

The Solution

I remember coming across a video by Fela Durotoye where he mentioned that he had not eaten rice in a whole year. That's how much power and control you want to have over your life and it starts with taming the food you eat. Food is supposed to be fuel and nothing more. If you find that you are in a constant struggle with it, check yourself again sis. 

How do you recognize the operation of the spirit of gluttony? 

  • You are thinking about food a lot.

  • You sometimes hide food in your bag, cupboards, etc.

  • You can't stop yourself from eating even when you want to.

I know most people are in holiday mode and you have every right to indulge cos come on, it's Christmas but consider these warning bells from your angel. You can actually eat in moderation and still enjoy the heck out of this season. And Yes, you have the spirit of power, love, self-control, and the grace to actually say "No" to ungodliness in any shape or form.

If you do recognize the operation of gluttony in your life and you want to do something about it, the first thing I'll recommend is to fast. 

Fasting is a powerful spiritual tool for recalibration. There are a ton of resources on YouTube on how to fast properly. Check out Apostle Joshua Selman's messages and Tiphani Montgomery on this topic. It will bless you.

Speaking of seasons, Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New year from the Okonkwo family. May the Good Lord who is the reason for the season fill your heart with light and love as you navigate into 2023. I hope that you would enjoy every bit of this Christmas season. We didn't do much on my end but If you'll like to see how we spend Christmas in China sometimes, check out the link below to watch. 

📖📖 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜

  • Psalm 91 TPT. This scripture is my machine gun for this new wave of covid in China. The devil thought he had me but he's such a sore loser.

📺📺 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜

  • Dr. Foy. I loved these interviews. Kai. It's deep and I fancy deep a lot. Did you hear that part about the lepers and his prayers? Kabaya!

🎤🎼 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 

  • Greatman Takit's "Look what you've done". I heard it on Instagram and just instantly fell in love with the song and went to search for it. I love God's love cos I'm a product of his love. And I like this guy's sound. It's just good.

🐱‍💃 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩

  •  The New year. I'm praying, planning, and preparing for 2023 & it gives me great joy to see a bit of what God has in Store. I'm making a vision board as well and loving how it's turning out. My last vision board was for 2020 and I liked the creation process a lot. I actually made a video about it then. Would you like a YouTube video on my 2023 vision board? Let me know. Hit the reply button.

🙇🙌 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 

  • My husband Obinna Isaac. Sometimes I forget how much this man loves me (cos he's not the most vocal person in the world in that regard) but this man is hustling daily to protect, provide and keep us safe as much as is within his power and I'm eternally grateful to God for it. Thank you so much Babe for all that you do for us. Love you to the moon & back!

Don't forget that you are a visionary. You are valuable, important and relevant in God's program.

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𝘋𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯? 𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝙃𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙣.

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