Fasting is about a whole lot more than just not eating food or certain types of food. Anyone can do that. In fact, whenever my doctor tells me he wants to run some lab work, he always tells me to fast before hand. Should I expect God to do some big break through miracle in my life just because I didn't eat before I went to the doctor. I don't think so.
Fasting is way more than just not eating. Fasting is a time to come into God's presence and humble ourselves. The sad truth is that we live in a time that could be called "the culture of me" Everything that happens has to be viewed through the lens of how it affects me and my life.
When we consider our life, we mostly think in terms of the physical body. What we look like, are we hot, cold, hungry, thirsty etc. What we need is to come to an understanding that our true life has little to do with the physical. We are not just physical beings. We are being that have a spirit, soul and body. Our physical bodies are obviously important, but one of these days this body will quit working, but our spirits and souls will live on.
Let's talk about our soul for a minute. Our soul is made up of our mind(what we think), our will(what we want) and our emotions(what we feel). Isn't that how we live our lives? Making decisions based on what we think, want or feel? More often than we like to admit, what we think, want and feel can pull us a million miles off track from God's plans and desires for our lives.
What am I talking about? This morning I woke up starting the third day of my fast. I'll be honest with you, I didn't feel very spiritual. I felt like I wanted to throw my alarm out the bedroom window and go back to sleep. Not only did I want to go back to sleep, but my body was telling me that what I needed to do was go in the kitchen and cook up some eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, toast, Jelly, ham. That may be a little excessive I realize, but it IS my third day of fasting. Immediately my mind starts telling me I could eat and no one else would even know. My thoughts, feelings and desires were not very spiritual to say the least.
What I did, however, was put my feet on the floor and say this day I'm going after God. I told my stomach it would just need to shut up, and my feelings to get out of my way......I still didn't feel very spiritual.
It's not really about the feelings though. It's not about what I think or want. What fasting is really about is telling God, I want you more than I want even the food that I eat. It is about humbling myself and shifting my thoughts and focus to God and His plan.
In Scripture it tells us:
Humble yourselves in the sight of The Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10(NKJV)
In the New Living Translation that same verse reads:
When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on Him, He will lift you up and give you honor. James 4:10
That's it right there. How many of us want to be honored by God, not for how great we are, because we are not, but because we come to Him humbly realizing our total dependence. One thing we constantly miss in the church is that our talents and abilities, no matter how significant they are, cannot accomplish the plans that God has for us. It takes more than our talent and ability, to really live for God and have an impact for His Kingdom.
Total dependence is what we need. Humility. We see humility as a weakness in our culture but God says humility is one of the keys to Kingdom greatness.
As you progress in your fast, come before God with humility of heart. Tell Him of your total dependence on Him. Don't just mouth the words, really seek to realize your dependence on Him. He is the God of the universe, and us? Not so much. We need God more than we even realize.
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