Lessons from our Gut
July 15, 2025
I am human and I am not perfect. I’m in the process, like everyone else, of learning and growing to be more like Jesus each day. I face struggles with this process every day. Not every day is the same, but it’s a day that the Lord has given to me.
Pride can hinder the process of becoming more like Jesus. Pride can swing us from one extreme to the other extreme of the road we are walking on. Ungodly pride is quite the hindrance, so much so that God resist the proud.
“6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.””
I believe one of the reasons the Lord gave us bowel movements (BMs) mostly every day is to remind us that we are human, that we have a lot to process, and it comes out of us each day. We need a saviour every day who can save us. His mercies are new every morning for us.
BMs is the uncleanness that leaves us. It is the process of digestion, removing what is not beneficial to us from what we have ingested. As vessels, we consume many things each day. Not just in physical eating, but in the content we watch, things we say, the things we do, the things we hear, the things we see, that we are constantly consuming. And the Lord knows this; he designed us this way.
So, since the process of waste removal from our body is a normal process, the Lord has taught us how to deal with that in Deuteronomy 23:12-14. Do we play with our dung? Do we just put it anywhere? No, we put it in its rightful spot. We flush it away, and we walk away never to see it again. Only babies and those mentally ill play in their filth. As a child grows, they are taught how to deal with it cleanly.
Spiritually, a bowel movement represents sin/uncleanness in our lives.
BMs are not typically something people like to discuss. It can be pretty uncomfortable, especially when talking about it publicly. However, those who understand the body, like medical professionals, know there’s valuable information in a BM. They want to know how often you go, the consistency, the colour, and whether or not there’s pain. Because there’s a wealth of information in there that talks about your overall health. This information determines whether and what interventions are needed to bring you back to a state of health.
It is a reminder that we are human and we constantly consume nutrients. Examining your output reveals a great deal about your input to a medical professional. It tells a lot about your health, and it’s the same spiritually as what you consume in your mind. Flows down into your heart, and what’s in your heart, your mouth will speak.
“45 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”
If you’re consuming things that allow unclean spirits/demons to enter your life, it will show up much like how parasites in the body show up. They’ll have signs and symptoms, and it needs to be treated. The spiritual treatment is deliverance, repentance, and self-control. Because he can treat the parasites, but if you keep going back to a source of parasites, then you’ll just get more, which can cause greater harm to your body. You need to turn away from that behaviour with repentance and practice self-control, by putting the flesh to death.
If you have constipation, it’s often a result of not having enough fluids or fibre in your diet, or not moving. Spiritually, that can mean: are you in your word enough? Are you consuming enough of the word to be washed in it? Are you applying the principles of the word to your life? There are various interventions for constipation. if those interventions don’t work and a blockage is present, it needs to be removed by a medical professional trained in that procedure. Just as in the physical realm, there is spiritual treatment, ranging from deliverance to the Lord, pruning, and redirecting. There are different levels of interventions for the various levels of constipation. The method of interventions matters. That’s why you need to be trained in the truth of the word, or you can hurt someone. Listen to the Holy Spirit.
Diarrhea can also have parallels in its spirit. Are you talking too much? Are you gossiping? Do you spread evil words, or are you lying? What’s your intake like? Are you eating poisonous food? Something that’s not good for your body may be good for someone else, but might not be good for you, just like how allergies or food sensitivities work in people. Are you only living on milk and not progressing to meat? What is your diet like?
How many people have sensitivities in their guts? The same in the spirit. Based on our history, some people are more sensitive to things than others. Some people have to cut certain things from their diet to maintain normal body function. The same applies to what we consume in our daily lives. And that’s why we have to be mindful of people’s conscience so it doesn’t get seared. To clarify, this refers to things that aren’t necessarily harmful to humans, but which other people might be sensitive to. In 1 Corinthians 8:10-12, Paul discusses eating meat, offering to idols, and being mindful of where people are in their spiritual journey, so you don’t cause your brother to stumble, just like how we are cognizant of people‘s dietary needs today so they can stay healthy. For example, you don’t drink around a recovering alcoholic or give gluten to someone allergic to it.
“To clarify, this refers to things that aren’t necessarily harmful to humans, but which other people might be sensitive to. ”
We serve a great God. He is the “greatest physician,” and he is not scared of our crap. He looks at it with wisdom and understanding. He treats us according to our needs. He knows that we’re perfectly human and that we need a saviour every day. And having a physical process of filtering out the good from the bad in what we consume, I believe this is an act of mercy from him. To teach us this concept so that we may understand his ways and remain humble.
We serve a great God
He is the “greatest physician,” and he is not scared of our crap!
For individuals who are deeply concerned about their gut health and dietary restrictions, he can meet you where you are. He can heal you and make you whole. There are things that humans should not consume; if you consume those things, the negative consequences will follow, even death.. We are not meant to consume things that lead us into sin or sin itself. That is poison. These are the things the flesh desires the most. We’re meant to walk in holiness to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, crucifying our flesh each day.
Our physical bodies teach us about our spiritual body. How do we discipline our physical body like an athlete? It’s very much how we train to discipline our spiritual body. It’s in the resistance of the weights against our muscles.
1 Corinthians 9:24-2 NLT
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified.
We serve a great God. According to Romans 8:28 NLT, " And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Nothing phases him. Even BMs are helpful; they’re useful for knowing the health of your body, but they also get used in the environment to feed the plants. Nothing is wasted.
Death feeds life, life feeds death. Everything is connected. Our hearts are often described as a garden. And the thoughts we need to filter out are like weeds that try to grow in the garden. And what do we do with weeds? We throw them out, we compost them. They turn to soil and feed the plants that we want to grow. Nothing is wasted. He is a God of victory. He does not know defeat.
Death feeds life, life feeds death. Everything is connected. Our hearts are often described as a garden. And the thoughts we need to filter out are like weeds that try to grow in the garden. And what do we do with weeds? We throw them out, we compost them. They turn to soil and feed the plants that we want to grow. Nothing is wasted. He is a God of victory. He does not know defeat.
So come before the Lord Humbly, and he will receive you. He’ll wash you and make you new.
He resists the proud; they don’t even know it, but they’re covered in their filthy rags. They think they’re rich, but they’re quite wretched and don’t even know it.
He resists the proud; they don’t even know it, but they’re covered in their filthy rags. They think they’re rich, but they’re quite wretched and don’t even know it.
Isaiah 64:6 NLT
6 We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
If you live an unhealthy life and only know unhealthy, you may think you are healthy. It isn’t until you see what proper health is that you will understand how unhealthy you are. So allow the Lord to heal you. His processes probably will surprise you. Sometimes it’s like peeling layers off an onion, and other times it’s instant like jumping in a river. He is a great physician, and he knows what he’s doing, so come and get healed by the great physician. There’s nothing new under the sun. You are perfectly human, and you can’t scare him away. Don’t let your shame scare you away and hide from him because he wants to help you.