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Made to Crave Devotional: 60 Days to Craving God, Not Food

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Most of us know “how to” get healthy. Where things often fall apart is with our “want to.” In Lysa TerKeurst’s book Made to Crave , she helps women find the missing link between our desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen . But when French fries are so close and God feels so far away, we need more than nineteen chapters to stay motivated and on track. That’s why Lysa wrote this daily devotional with sixty inspirational entries. There is plenty of new material not in the original book, as well as your favorite nuggets of wisdom from Made to Crave . In this devotional you will find: Just like the Made to Crave book, this Made to Crave Devotional is not a how-to-get-healthy book. It is the road to finding the lasting “want to” that extends far beyond the surface issues of weighing less and wanting to wear a smaller clothes size. There’s a spiritual battle going on. It’s real. And it’s amazing how perfectly the Bible gives us specific ways to find victory over our food struggles. Even for girls who don’t crave carrots.

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

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About the author

Lysa TerKeurst

143 books32.7k followers
Lysa TerKeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and the New York Times best-selling author of Univited, The Best Yes, Unglued, Made to Crave, and 18 other books. Her newest book, It’s Not Supposed to be This Way, is scheduled for release in November of 2018. Lysa was recently awarded the Champions of Faith Author Award and has been published in multiple publications such as CNN and Fox News online. Additionally, she has appeared on the Today Show as one of the leading voices in the Christian community.

Each year, Lysa is a featured keynote presenter at more than 40 events across North America, including the Women of Joy Conferences and the Catalyst Leadership Conference. She has a passion for equipping women to share their stories for God's glory through Proverbs 31 Ministries' annual She Speaks Conference and writer training program, COMPEL: Words That Move People.

Connect with Lysa on social media @lysaterkeurst or at http://lysaterkeurst.com/.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Laura.
623 reviews135 followers
May 2, 2018
So many trust worthy tid-bits of advice and wisdom about self-control in this book. I actually avoided this book for a long time because it sounded gimmicky, but thats not what I found within the pages at all. I always enjoy Lysa's voice, her honesty, and her ability to make me laugh. This book does focus on loosing weight, but I found it to be a very good read for anyone struggling to gain self control in any area of their lives. It's really about practicing to let go of the holds Satan has on us and being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us. In addition to dieting, I think this devotional might also be helpful for those struggling with smoking, drinking, pornography, excessive shopping... basically any area that one might need to practice self control.
Profile Image for Heather.
4 reviews
August 23, 2015
I read the book at the same time as reading through the devotional. I am sure they would be just as powerful on their own but the devotional really brought out some of the most important parts of the book. It's changed the way I "hear" my hunger. Am I really hungry or am I being distracted?
Profile Image for Margo Berendsen.
676 reviews84 followers
May 6, 2013
So encouraged and enlightened by this book. It's not just for ladies trying to lose weight; it's for women who have been discouraged by trying everything else that didn't have lasting results. But this book delves into SO MUCH MORE than just losing weight and emotional eating habits; it addresses spiritual aspects in many different areas of life. It's really all connected.

I was torn whether to buy the original book or the devotional. While I can't compare them, I will say I was very satisfied with the devotional; I think getting this much needed information and encouragement in small daily doses was just what I needed. I often read daily devotions twice, or even three times, to make sure I was "digesting" them!

Lysa starts with addressing the question, is losing weight even a spiritual issue at all? Isn’t it just a physical issue?

When you’ve tried and failed as many times as I have, you start to feel gun-shy about trying again. I’d lose the weight, feel great for a couple of months, deceive myself into thinking I could return to old habits, and all the weight would creep back on. I’d failed at finding lasting victory with every other attempt.

...why in heavens would I want to add spiritual guilt on top of my physical guilt?

...Guilt wrapped in shame is a terrible burden to carry. Guilt always came when I knew I was making poor choices and could see the scale numbers climbing. Shame came when my weight gain became apparent to everyone else in the world. Battling something so raw, so deeply personal was hard; knowing my failures were apparent to everyone else added humiliations to my toxic stew of emotions.

Yes, the physical struggle was hard enough. I certainly didn’t want to drag down my spiritual life with this struggle as well.

But here’s the problem: whether or not I wanted to admit it, my weight issues were already dragging me down spiritually....I needed spiritual motivation to step in where my physical determination falls short. So I started reading the Bible from the perspective of someone struggling with food issues. Though I had read the Bible many times and have even taught Bible studies for years, I’d missed how much God cares about and talks about this issue. Tucked within this book written thousands of years ago are some of the most astounding and life-changing truths directly applicable to this modern-day unhealthy eating epidemic.


From Day 10:

Why do we crave?

The definition of craving is something you long for, want greatly, desire eagerly, and beg for. God made us to crave so that we’d always desire more of Him.

Don’t read over that last sentence too quickly. Go made us to crave Him. But Satan wants to do everything possible to replace our craving for God with something else. I like how the New Living Translation puts this:

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you… for the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our acheivements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (I John 2:15,16)

This passage details three ways Satan tries to lure us away from loving God. And Stan used these very same tactics the first time he tempted humankind through Eve:

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food [physical craving] and pleasing to the eye [material craving] and also desirable for gaining wisdom [significance craving], she took some and ate it. (Genesis 3:16).

Eve kept her focus on the object of her desire. The Scriptures give us no indication she tried to check in with God or Adam. She didn’t walk away and truly consider this choice. And she certain didn’t take time to consider the consequences.

...Interestingly, Satan later applied the same three tactics he used with Eve when he tempted Jesus, in Matthew 4. ….While Eve focused on the object of her temptation, Jesus kept His focus on God’s truth. He refuted each of Stan’s lures with Scripture.

...When we face our own cravings, will be we like Eve, focusing on our object of desire? Or will we be like Jesus, pausing, reciting truth, and remembering what matters most? Temporary satisfaction or true contentment?

Just as I must have physical food for my body to survive, I must have to have spiritual food for my soul to thrive. Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish His work. (John 4:34). And He goes on to say , ”I tell you, open your eyes and looks at the fields! They are ripe for Harvest.”

There is bigger plan here! Don’t get distracted by physical food... it can’t satisfy the longing of your soul. Only Jesus can do this. Our souls were created to crave Him and love others to Him.

The first time I read this, I only picked up on how food can’t satisfy our soul; only God can fulfill that craving. The second time reading, while typing this up, I picked up the second part that I had glazed right over the first time (no doubt because of my fixation with food!): we’re created to crave Him AND love others to Him. I wonder how often when I’m reading or studying the Bible that I pick up part of what God’s saying, but totally miss other parts?

But that’s the reason why God says the Word should be our daily bread; we should partake of it daily, just as we do food. The meal we ate last nite does not benefit us all week, we need to keep eating. The same with the Word. We can’t expect to live healthy spiritual lives if we rely on one reading of the Word a week!

And this passage taught me as I read it again that I can replace my craving for food with a craving for God, but that craving God will also necessarily result in my eyes being opened to see the harvest in the fields – other people who need God too. Now if I thought turning to God instead of binging on food to fill an emotional need was hard, it’s even harder for me to tell others about God if I don’t know how they’ll receive it. I’m scared they’ll sneer at me. But God says the fields are ripe for harvest. Someone out there is ready (ripe) to hear the Word of God.

Each devotion ends with a short one or two sentence prayer. Don’t skip these! I’m often tempted to skip other people’s prayers and come up with my own instead. This is fine, too, but still read what Lysa writes here, because otherwise you’ll miss one of the crucial steps that doesn’t show up in the rest of the text.

What I mean is that the text is insightful and encouraging, but it often plays out this formula: “Now that you’re enlightened, go do this.” But how often have I been enlightened by reading and studying the Word, and I head out all fired up to apply it in my life and I succeed for a day or two, and then slip. I lose my focus; other things get in the way. Then several weeks later when I realize what’s happened, I feel like a failure!

What’s missing here is the crucial understanding, so, so, so crucial, that “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). On our own, even with the best of intention and motivation, we’ll quickly run out of steam, and ultimately fail. Change is hard. Everything is against us making true, lasting change. It’s been a long slow learning process, but I’m learning I can only change by leaning (sometimes even falling) on Jesus the whole way. Remembering that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Remembering that my own will power always fails, so I must call on God’s power instead. This serves the triple purpose of strengthening us, keeping us close to God, and keeping us humble.

If you don’t read the prayers at the end of each devotion, you will miss this crucial point, and find yourself one day dusting this book off your shelf and sighing “that was such a good book! Too bad it didn’t work for me.” Of course no book will work for you! It’s just a book! (except the Bible). All books can do is give us new insight and then point us toward God and his truths. There is where the true power lays.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that once you understand, you can do it. Not without God on a daily basis you can’t! And the bigger the change in your life you want, and the longer you want it to last, the closer you must draw to God, talking to Him and listening to Him, often in a moment-to-moment relationship if you’re an addict facing strong temptations and cravings (truly food addiction is just as powerful and deceiving as alcohol, addictive drugs or other addictive behaviors like gambling; its just that consequences come more slowly and are more socially acceptable.)

I really recommend reading Made to Crave as part of a group, or joining a group of other believers desiring to address this aspect of their spiritual and physical lives. I tried connecting with friends at church on this issue, and didn't have success, but I kept trying and eventually connected with a wonderful Overeaters Anonymous group applying the 12 steps with the God of the Bible as our higher power. I am not sure if could have applied what I learned in Made to Crave on my own; I needed the accountability, encouragement and feedback from face-to-face meetings with other people who understood my weaknesses and struggled with it themselves.

But back to the book: I often find myself wishing I had a closer relationship with God, but there are days when I read his word that the words don’t sink in, and days when I pray where I feel I’m talking to the wall. Several of the devotionals in Made to Crave address this problem too:

Then Jesus said to them: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

I want this kind of all-out pursuit with God. But what does this look like in today’s culture?

I think part of what it means is breaking old habits to create space in my heart for new growth.

In reality, God desires our sacrifice – our turning from selfish ways – not for His benefit, but for ours. For instance, I stopped watching TV for season. I realized I was turning the TV when I felt must depleted – and when I’m most depleted, I soak up deeply whatever I take in. Why would I want to soak in deeply the entertainment of this world and not things that breathe life back into me? I broke the old habit of watching TV and created space in my heart for new growth.

Another example is my commitment to do nothing else each morning – including checking my phone or turning on the computer – before I open up God’s word. I used to wake up eager to tune into the world. I’d soon be sucked into answering this email, reading that Twitter post, and returning phone calls. Before I new it, half my days was gone, and I hadn’t let God prepare my heart for any of it. So I broke the old habit and created space in my heart for new growth.

Right now I’m intentionally sacrificing sugar and processed food that turn into sugar once consudedm. Tyes, I want to maintain my weight loss. But this journey is so much more than just that. It really is about learning to tell myself no and learned to make wiser choices daily.

...Am I saying all my Jesus girlfriends need to do the same? No more TV, no more checking your computer and phone first thing in the morning? No sugar? Nope. These aren’t things I think everyone needs to do. They were personal practices for my own benefit. I’m not asking you to follow me; I’m saying to follow whole-heartedly after God. Ask Him. Seek Him. Do what He tells you.



Profile Image for Rissa.
1,583 reviews44 followers
May 14, 2019
Made to crave⭐️
I feel like some of the things like food could be traded out to better ft your life. One of the days was I deserve cake or chips becuase i did this or dealt with that. I do that with books. I had a hard week and deserve to buy these three books from the Meijer favorite book picks. I went out and socialized all weekend and Bookoutlet is having a sale I deserve more books. Gaining weight and a TBR pile is similar. So even if you don’t struggle with your weight you can still take the messages tweak them if you want and apply them to your life.
I think every now a days is looking to be healthier and I think this is a good motivation even if you dont have eating problem or weight issues. Its just good to see what God has done through us and what we take in food and otherwise.
Profile Image for Stefanie Foard.
1,191 reviews
February 29, 2012
It's a brave thing to come between a woman and her food, but in a country that desperately needs God and is also diagnosed with obesity, this book is sure to make some waves. It helped me think of food cravings in a whole new way...food in general really...and showed me that what we eat can be an expression of worship. Sounds like a crazy concept, but it's not! I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Jane.
18 reviews
June 14, 2012
This is the most awesome book I have ever read it has page after page of encouragements and inspirations for people such as myself with eating problems. It contains 60 daily devotions and when I have completed the 60 days I just start all over again.
Profile Image for Michele.
62 reviews5 followers
March 14, 2012
Pretty basic. I wish it were deeper and more about the needs we fill with food.
2 reviews
March 14, 2014
Amazing heart wrenching book

this book has played such a crucial role in my life! Lisa is such an amazing writer who knows how to relate to her audience!
Profile Image for Kristen Jane.
599 reviews4 followers
February 7, 2021
Gosh I really needed that book. It contained so many truths about eating habits, body image, and insecurities—and ultimately, it filtered all of those things through God’s Word and biblical principal. Highly recommend; I’ll be playing these truths and lessons in my head forever! Definitely a re-read; it really revolutionized my thinking.
Profile Image for Meaghan Vogt.
Author 1 book17 followers
December 13, 2021
We are all led through the impossible. But we have to remember to get intentional, make good choices and to set mini goals. The outcome, can be victorious. Don’t forget to be joyful and remain thankful. There is no magic pill and no quick fixes in life, but we were all MADE for more.
Profile Image for April.
109 reviews8 followers
November 18, 2023
It was a light read, but there were plenty of encouraging nuggets throughout. Each day's reading is only 2-3 pages long, so it doesn't take long. Each day contains:

A key Bible verse
The main thought/message
The devotional
A closing prayer
Profile Image for Kristi Ray.
97 reviews
March 6, 2022
I have struggled with a negative body image and food related issues for much longer than I’d like to admit. Thankful for Lysa and Proverbs 31 Ministries. Her willingness to share her story and provide support to other women is a blessing!
Profile Image for Elle.
106 reviews2 followers
January 19, 2012
After the success of Made to Crave, Lysa TerKeurst has returned with new insights, as well as some favorites in a 60 Day devotional to help aid people on their weight loss journey. This devotional is not like any dieting book you have seen, rather than telling you how and what to eat, when you should exercise and how many miles you need to run today TerKeurst is tackling the root of the problem of battling a weight loss journey. The cravings. We all have them, we fill our needs with food, we emotionally eat, crave more when we are bored and the list goes on.

TerKeurst has come along beside us to help us see the reasons behind those things and how we are placing food as an idol and turning it into a god. Instead she wants to help us re-evaluate and crave God more not food. This book is full of great snapshots and some tough challenges. Made to Crave is not only for those searching to lose weight or get a handle on their cravings, this book has information to be gleaned by everyone that can speak into many aspects of your life. Definitley a book to look into as we search to crave God more and more each day.

I received this book complimentary from Zondervan through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Kalena.
710 reviews29 followers
April 21, 2016
Christian Living/Non-fiction, 2nd book read by this author. In this devotional, the author seeks to address food, weight, and God issues. While I am fond of Ms. TerKeurst, there are just some things that did not resonate with me because that just wasn't where I was at (or may never be, like her growing up in the South when I am from the West)--not a big deal. There was still a lot I took away from this book--my favorite things include sticking to scripture and lessons from the Bible and the short prayers really did sum up things nicely and gave me uplifting words to keep in mind throughout the day. Also, I admit that I did not read Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food prior to this devotional, so I cannot comment on possible repetition or worthiness of this devotional as a companion book. However, I do not feel I need to read the book as the devotional offered, if the author forgives me, easy to digest, bite-size chunks of wisdom. :) Here's to a mouthful of what is really good for us!
Profile Image for Abigail.
190 reviews41 followers
February 24, 2017
I definitely found this book helpful, and convicting, and I think she did a good job of reminding you of the truth. Not just subjective truth, but the truth of the Bible... though I am not entirely happy with all of her conclusions. I sometimes felt like she took one verse of scripture and stretched the interpretation. I think that the message is applicable to any kind of addictive tendency, that we are made to crave, but if we are placing anything but God at the center of our craving then we will feel the lack! But I felt like it got a little repetitive by the end. Although maybe that's the point? I mean the whole idea is that you're trying to make long-term changes one day at a time. So I would rate it a 2.3 stars ^_^
16 reviews
November 9, 2024
I read through this every few years. The healing this devotional brings me is so good.
1 review
March 30, 2015
Love this devotional

I loved reading this book so much, I plan on reading it again and again. I want to read it over & over because I don't want it to end.
Lysa is so sincere & honest, funny & insightful, & so much like me that it wasn't hard to put these devotionals to my everyday life. I even shared them, & those people thanked me, so I'm thanking you Lysa, for such a wonderful devotional & being a part of each day as some of my special time with God.
Profile Image for Katie Randolph.
5 reviews
December 13, 2013
I have really enjoyed Lysa TerKeurst's books, and this one did not disappoint. I always feel like her writing is from an honest and genuine heart; not trying to sugar coat anything. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking on ways to make their weight loss journey about their relationship with God, and not just about physical change.
Profile Image for Carlie Van Amerongen.
101 reviews7 followers
January 18, 2014
The Made to Crave titles offer the powerful message that our hearts were made to crave God, but that we often turn that craving to food instead (applicable to any other addiction) and make that the centre of our lives. This devotional is a watered down version of the complete title. Some devos were good, others, meh.
Profile Image for Marcie.
Author 2 books6 followers
November 22, 2015
LOVED THIS!

I just finished reading this but I'm turning back to page one and starting over because I still need these lessons. I want to soak this in again and see what I may have missed the first time. And I'm going to do it in conjunction with the book. A MUST READ FOR ANYONE DESIRING A CLOSER WALK/RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD!
Profile Image for Janie.
6 reviews3 followers
May 31, 2016
Inspiration

I felt that I was talking with a friend. I was empowered and inspired. I would recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with food and their relationship with God. It is easily read and very supporting.
Profile Image for Marnie.
697 reviews12 followers
May 28, 2012
This is a book I will read again in the future. It helps keep you on track with your daily food choices.
24 reviews1 follower
February 4, 2013
This is another book I reAd every day as I struggle with my weight . I never looked st my body as a temple of god
Profile Image for Scarlett Pierson.
274 reviews7 followers
July 11, 2014
Great book for anyone with an eating issue or struggles with eating.
Profile Image for Shannon.
4 reviews2 followers
May 1, 2014
Perspective-changing in the best way. Such an encouragement. Well-written and completely relatable and practical.
Profile Image for Christina.
88 reviews23 followers
January 28, 2014
Perfect sized devotions for a busy life. Makes you laugh, makes you cry digging in those deep spiritual moments of making a choice. I recommend to any one who has an addiction to food.
Profile Image for April Alcorn.
5 reviews22 followers
January 26, 2015
Lots of spiritual truths that can be applied to multiple areas of your life.
3 reviews
January 1, 2016
This book along with the workbook is great, I would recommend this book to anyone.
154 reviews19 followers
June 29, 2015
Great book. I could totally identify with the author and her struggles.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

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