Eating as Worship!

A study of Genesis 2:8-17
I’m hungry-
… If heaven were an eatery and she’s taking orders; I would have one plate of praise, two spoons of thanksgiving and a bottle of prayer to go with it. Kindly serve it while it is still worship because only then can the satisfaction be given to God…
Genesis 2:8-17
“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;   And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is
Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”.
Genesis 2:8-17
My first line “I’M HUNGRY” would better have been put as “I HAVE NOT EATEN”, because vs 8 of Gen 2 says before he put the feeling of hunger, he had already put food; before he asked you to worship him, he had already created the worship to which you will use to praise him. It says “And the LORD God planted a garden (where the fruit to be eaten will come from) eastward in Eden; and there he put the man (the person for whom the fruits were made) whom he had formed.
Vs 9 “And out of the GROUND made the LORD God to GROW every TREE that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. Remember vs 7 of this same Gen 2, ” And the Lord God FORMED MAN of the dust of the GROUND, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”. This really shows the greatness of God; whatever you hunger for, is actually the same thing you were created from (l’m talking to those that have said Yes to Jesus ). 
Again vs 9b says, the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (this is were those that haven’t said Yes to Jesus come in). It was important to differentiate this because whatever you hunger for is what you were created from; that’s why the desire and work always match (for instance, someone with absolute passion for sports, cannot be found more hungry for politics…). It is possible to hunger for the things of the world and the lust of the flesh, but does this mean you were created from lust? Or the things of the world? NO! But it does mean you eat from them ( that is why giving your life to Christ is important). This hunger comes with great benefits…
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled”. Matthew 5:6 … So for you to be eating worship, you must have been created from worship (God) and for worship.
Vs 10- When the hunger is in the correct place, you will know because true hunger comes without you being thirsty ( thirst used here in the context
that the most important material required for the growth of your food, as in this case worship, will be provided). As against the wrong hunger in which you have to look for what will keep the hunger and what will keep the food as well, as it says “… A river went out of eden to water the garden!”
Vs 11-14 talks about how good the material that aided the growth were; what aids the growth of your worship? For clarity, worship is not just a song sang, but a life we live and it’s in this context that I’ve been speaking….
“Figure out what will please Christ and then do it,”- Ephesians 5:10 msg… What pleases God is worship (because those that worship in truth and spirit offer an acceptable service unto him, John 4:23-24 ). So therefore, anything a person does that glorifies God and makes him happy is a form of worship. Since we had water springing forth from the four corners of the garden to help in the growth of the fruits, we are going to study four materials meant for watering our worship, they are:
The Bible, Praise, Prayer and Lifestyle.
The Bible
This is God himself (John 1:1 ). In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. It’s important to remind us that God honors his word over his name, because while his names are what we think of him which is even the least of who he is (little wonder in Exodus 3:14 , he said I AM THAT I AM is my name, which means anything beyond great could be attributed to him), the word can be honored more because he’s the word, remember John 1:14 , “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us…”, WE ALL KNOW, only God in the form of his son Jesus became flesh. So with this stated, what other form of worship growth stimulator could a person ask for than THE BIBLE ( Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)! The rules on how to eat worship are clearly and boldly written there.
Praise
God inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3 ) . The presence of God is the greatest form of worship one can give to God. His coming down to join you in worshiping him cannot be compared to anything, no wonder, when praises go up, blessings come down (a popular saying, attributed to a paraphrase from Psalms 67:5-7).
Prayer
This is a means of communication with God. During this process, you talk to God and he talks back to you. God is always happy when you give him the opportunity in your life to talk to you. David knew this so well, that’s why he spoke to God about everything thus becoming the man after God’s heart (Acts12:13 ).
“Prayer gives you an opportunity to receive feedback on your worship status with God”-SST.
Lifestyle
Christianity existed long before religion, so it’s naturally not possible for Christianity to be ONLY a religion. Remember, the people were called Christians (Acts 11:26 ), because, after a time of careful (careful because those that called them weren’t Christians themselves) observation, they people were called Christians since they behaved like Christ. It is important to note that FOR YOUR WORSHIP TO GROW, IT MUST FIRST BE ACCEPTED (that’s why John 4:23-24 , tells us how to worship). Therefore, for your lifestyle to be accepted, you must be like Christ; simply put BE CHRIST-LIKE (a christian is someone like or
in the image of Christ). This leads us back to the beginning, Gen 1:26, when God created man in his image; this is the true origin of Christianity,  so for a growth in worship which is eaten with Christ, STOP THE FALSE RELIGION ONLY CONCEPT YOU’VE BEEN TAUGHT AND START A RELATIONSHIP INCLUSIVE ERA WITH CHRIST!!!
A look at the 10 commandments will give a clearer picture into the significance of a relationship with Christ as it concerns Christianity… Exodus 20:1-17 … Vs 1-8; the first four commandments talk about a relationship between God and man, while the last six, vs 9-17, talks about a relationship between man and man. When Jesus was put to test as to which was the greatest commandment, he responded, LOVE with God
and with your neighbors all this boils down to having a relationship.
Vs 15, The Lord did not just prepare the garden and leave it, he did not just prepare worship to leave it; he said TEND and KEEP it. This is very direct, it means tend and keep worship; let it become part of you as you grow in it.
Vs 16-17, Our study doesn’t just end without a WARNING!!! Since there was already two world views when man was created, he knew that even within creation, something might go bad, so he warned to abstain from anything evil, you will certainly know its evil because the signs are usually very clear; the only reason you will be going for it will be for your own glory when all glory must be given to God (Isaiah 42:8 ). So even though
worship is large, there is a specific kind of worship He wants from us; meaning, if its not in that nature, then its not accepted. Eating as worship means being in God’s will, taking heed to his warnings and eating in a kingly manner. Phaphers you’ve been hungry (the only reason you are hungry is because you haven’t eaten), its sure time to change that
statement to… I haven’t eaten (meaning the food is there), so you can now go and eat realizing the water he will give you to quench your thirst would be eternal (John 4:14).
Know this
“When eating becomes a true act of worship, we will no longer worship food”.
“When food becomes our god, our appetite for the Bread of Life is diminished” Julie Ackerman
God bless
Olabode oluwatosin (Sst)
(Coauthor of ‘The Big One’
Author of the soon to be released ‘The Ideal Being’)