Role of prayer before eating

What are your thoughts on this. Is it a serious issue or just something that should be practiced to strength a persons faith or something else?

I am at a crossroads with it.
Today, at work, we had a Christmas party and the plant production manager said the blessing prayer completed with 'In Jesus Name'. As we ate one of the associates, who was actually off today, came in to join us. I noticed the first thing he said was 'Has this food been blessed?' He asked this of a another fellow who used to be pentecostal preacher in Miami. You can tell it to as he speaks. The plant uses him to talk when it comes to United Way because he gets everyone moving.

I wondered how important it was for this guy to have his food blessed before eating and he believes is happening there. Is there a mystical experience going on?

My crutch with it is that at one time I ate at a church I went to and the pastor blessed the food. 30 minutes after I got home I threw it all up but I really wasn't sick. A few people said it was God's way of purging poison out of me but to me that seems a bit too much. Kind of like being super spiritual and really reaching for an answer. This happened back in 1995? Ever since then I have not prayed over my food unless in groups where it is done because I don't see nor do I understand its role before eating. I have never gotten food poisoning.

John

We humans are addicted to religious excercises, though the Scripture warns that practicing these things is of no value in pleasing God.

Never the less we always do well to receive anything with thansgiving and God is pleased when our gratitude is genuine. If the blessing is done simply to please men... the reward is lost.

I am used to praying for the food and thanking God for giving the food from the very young age. I was raised a Hindu, so I did not find worshiping the food wrong at that time. After conversion I got a conviction that I should not worship food. Now my prayer before taking every food item is to first thank God for the food he gave me. This to me is an acknowledgment that God is the bread winner for my household. I have not got this food because of my work but because of God's mercy. Then I pray that God will bless this food so that the energy that this food gives my body will be used to live for his Glory. This is a very short 2 lines of prayer. Often people who sit next to me don't even notice that I have made this prayer. Jesus always gave thanks to God for the food that he received. It is a good practice to do the same.

Regarding the situation in your workplace, the guy who joined late could have prayed for the food individually instead of asking if someone prayed for it. May be he wants a mass payer for all of them. But if it was a personal conviction to pray for blessing before eating then he could have done a personal prayer as well.

In our Church we always have a Lunch service after our Sunday meeting, so it is customary for us to pray for God's blessing for the food that he has provided for the Church. In our Church we do not pass offering bucket asking for Money, so any money that came into the offering placed at a secluded location was because of men whose heart God moved for blessing the Church. Hence it is very important for us to thank him for that provision.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Please correct me if I am forgetting something, but outside of Jesus blessing the food and then breaking it (multiplying it to miraculously feed the multitudes and again at the last supper) I think this is the only other place where prayer and food is mentioned as relating one to another. This passage does not speak, I think, of saying a blessing or prayer over our food every time we eat. It speaks of the fact that we are not bound by the old testament dietary laws. Pork is sanctified just as deer is.

I would be interested, if there is a brother or sister out there who knows the origin of the word translated prayer here. It is only used twice in scripture, the other being translated intercession.

I do not believe personally that there is anything wrong with failing to bless our food. However, there is nothing wrong with praying with thanksgiving and blessing our food before we eat. It is a good reminder of where our provision comes from.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Please correct me if I am forgetting something, but outside of Jesus blessing the food and then breaking it (multiplying it to miraculously feed the multitudes and again at the last supper) I think this is the only other place where prayer and food is mentioned as relating one to another. This passage does not speak, I think, of saying a blessing or prayer over our food every time we eat. It speaks of the fact that we are not bound by the old testament dietary laws. Pork is sanctified just as deer is.

I would be interested, if there is a brother or sister out there who knows the origin of the word translated prayer here. It is only used twice in scripture, the other being translated intercession.

I do not believe personally that there is anything wrong with failing to bless our food. However, there is nothing wrong with praying with thanksgiving and blessing our food before we eat. It is a good reminder of where our provision comes from.

Your words about pork. If pork is not cook thoroughly does it still become sanctified?
I have never understood how something becomes sanctified as a result of prayer when regards to food. Where is the relation between sanctification of food in prayer and making sure it is cooked thoroughly?

under the old testament law, some foods were considered clean, and some foods were considered unclean. God said, you can eat this, but you cannot eat that. Here we find that as a new covenant believer, all animals are permissible for our food. It is not about cooking food thoroughly, germs, bacteria, or the like. It is about receiving with thanksgiving all that God had provided for us for food, without being condemned by the old testament law. what was sin under the old covenant dietary law, eating pork for example, is no longer sin under the new covenant as it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. You see, the old testament law was composed of carnal ordinances (rules that we tried to keep in our own fleshy effort). But the new covenant is about spiritual rebirth and a relationship with God by Grace through faith in what Christ did for us.

A few days ago, a good friend sent me this verse which deals with this subject ... the odd thing is that the blessing was to take place when they were full after eating:

Deu 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

John wrote:I am at a crossroads with it.
Today, at work, we had a Christmas party and the plant production manager said the blessing prayer completed with 'In Jesus Name'. As we ate one of the associates, who was actually off today, came in to join us. I noticed the first thing he said was 'Has this food been blessed?' He asked this of a another fellow who used to be pentecostal preacher in Miami. You can tell it to as he speaks. The plant uses him to talk when it comes to United Way because he gets everyone moving.
_____________________

My first thought was how blessed you are to work in a place that would allow a blessing to be given and to speak the Name of Jesus as well. I don't know of any companies that would allow that.

To me giving thanks is just that. I am grateful to GOD for providing the food, and the means to prepare it. I am thankful to HIM for all that HE does so I want to give HIM my thanks. I want to speak those words and recognize HIS provision in my life. I often give thanks for other things too not just food and I am in a time where I am learning to be thankful in times of trails because HE is with me.

God Bless
maryjane

Hmmm...never noticed this verse before - not used in this context, anyways.

When I was a young girl back in the 1950s people would pray before and after a meal was consumed but it has fallen into disuse. Might be a good thing to resurrect. (We still pray before each meal.)

I like the perspective Sree shared...do we recognize where our food comes from and are we thankful? Do we express our thanks? This perhaps is the greatest issue.