Can I Believe for “Supernatural Weight Loss?”

The answer to this question depends on what you have in mind.

If you want to live on pizza and fries with the idea of at some point claiming “supernatural weight loss,” you are in the same presumptuous category as the people decades ago who actually believed they could “cast out calories” before they ate.  (True events are sometimes more bizarre than anything you would think up yourself!)  Of course, their calorie-casting didn’t work and it probably didn’t take too long to figure that out.

If you are overweight because you have a large, heavy tumor, you have every right to believe for supernatural weight loss caused by that tumor’s disappearance.  I knew someone who ministered to a woman who had a tumor the size of a basketball.  The tumor instantly disappeared, and the woman lost 100 pounds in the blink of an eye.  That was certainly supernatural weight loss, especially because the tumor didn’t ooze out of her body onto the floor; it just vanished without a trace.  I wasn’t in that service, but I believe the account because I’ve been in some of his services on the platform and seen legs grow out, broken backs instantly healed and other rather jarring demonstrations of the Spirit right in front of my eyes.  Regardless of whether your results are instant, you have every right to curse a tumor and command it to leave in the name of Jesus.  (I guess I should explain that cursing the cancer means pronouncing death over it, as I’ve been warned by the story about the preacher who told a man to curse his cancer, and the man started exclaiming, “You @&#%*, #@!*$ cancer!...”  He got healed though!)  Then, with that cancer gone, you will weigh less, and that will be supernatural.

If you’re overweight just because you eat too much, you can apply Galatians 5:16 and believe that you are not a debtor to the flesh to live after the flesh (Romans 8:12).  This IS supernatural weight loss, but it isn’t spectacular weight loss.  Not everyone will receive a spectacular manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but anyone can believe the Bible and control his flesh.  I’ve heard other stories of other people who had instant significant weight loss in Christian services, though I don’t know any of the people involved.  However, I believe that such things would fall under the category of manifestations of the Spirit, not something that everyone can believe for instantly.  Even Paul had to discipline his flesh to keep it under (1 Corinthians 9:27).  If even he had to do it, so do you.  It isn’t always fun, but it’s necessary.  Otherwise, if you did experience a special manifestation of supernatural weight loss, you would still gain all that weight back if you didn’t change your habits!

I’ve heard Leviticus 9:24 cited as proof (and it is) that God can supernaturally burn fat: “And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”  However, there are NO cases recorded in either Testament of God’s fire burning fat that was in a person’s body at the time!  So with God all things are possible, but I can’t give you a Scripture to stand on for supernatural weight loss if it’s only a matter of excess fat that you want God to burn up instantly.  I’m not saying it couldn’t happen.  Signs and wonders are great to hear about, but you can’t just believe for them in all situations. I always want to steer you to the Word, and thus to what could work for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’ve found that eating fewer calories and expending more calories has been the only thing that’s worked consistently for me.  An occasional fast helps, too; it’s amazing how well that works when you sense a strong need to mortify your flesh.  Still, we have every right to ask God to help us lose weight with the expectation that He will!  I can’t see that God would want you to be in an unhealthy condition because His explicit will is for you to be in health.  He needs your cooperation, so be open to whatever He tells you.  It’s possible that you could pray for His help losing weight, and He’d tell you, “You need to stop your nightly habit of having a hot fudge sundae with four large scoops of peanut butter ice cream topped with whipped cream, nuts and candy pieces after your triple cheeseburger platter.  And get off the couch and do something more active than playing video games or swapping text messages all day.”  If you hear and heed His advice, that is still supernatural weight loss.