Fasting

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Daniel 9:3-5

What is fasting? No it is not starving yourself because the Bible says you should fast, or because someone you know keeps telling you should fast. It is not a lose weight quick diet. It is not abstaining from food and sleeping until the time you plan to turn in your fast and then wake up and eat. It is not abstaining from food and playing video games or watching TV while you do it. Jentzen Franklin defines fasting as: “abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose” in his book Fasting. You have to have a purpose for fasting. Jesus told his disciples not to fast as the hypocrites do because they were just starving themselves to make themselves look righteous. Instead he says to wash your face and anoint your head so that no one would know that you are fasting and God would reward you publicly.

In the verses from Daniel chapter 9, there are six points I found in these three verses that I want to share with you. It concerns the attitude and posture that Daniel took when he began to fast and what he did while he fasted. First, he humbled himself – then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request. Second he prayed and made supplication. To make supplication is to petition or entreat someone in humbleness. Third he fasted with sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth and ashes was a sign of mourning or anguish in Old Testament times. When Job lost his family and was afflicted with boils, he put on sackcloth and ashes to display his mourning for his children and his anguish about his situation. Fourth, he confessed. He confessed the sins of his people and his ancestors before them. Fifth, he worshipped and praised God – “O Lord, Great and Awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments.” And the sixth point – he repented. Though he was confessing the sins of his people he included himself in it and in repentance asked for forgiveness for himself and his people. The entire chapter is about his prayer to the Lord while he was fasting and he entreats the Lord on behalf of his people throughout the first 19 verses of the chapter. His answer came that evening and God revealed things to him that were to come.

I wanted to share something with you regarding fasting from my own personal experience. When I was just a baby in the Lord, the Lord spoke to me and told me He wanted me on a campaign of fasting. This meant that I had to fast for several days. At the time I knew nothing of fasting except for the fact that you can’t eat. So I asked questions because I also had to work and I had a problem that if I didn’t eat by a certain time of the day I would have a terrible headache. My pastor told me I could fast from 6am to 12 noon since I would be at work most of the time. Anyway I obeyed and I began to fast from 6am to 12 noon with no water and no food. It was not easy because I was at work all week but God gave me strength. Since I didn’t know when I was supposed to stop I did this for almost 2 months everyday and Sundays I would fast in church. Now that I think about it I probably fasted 40 days. I don’t recall the exact amount of days; I know that it was almost two months. During that time I did not see any results though I was seeking the Lord and I was reading the word and my purpose was to get closer to Him. One day before I stopped, I asked my pastor how long I had to keep fasting and she did not know that it had almost been two months since I got that word and was surprised that I was still doing it. When it was over I noticed the changes God had been working in me during that time. I did not see them while I was fasting, but when it was over I was asked to teach the 1-3 year old children at Sunday school. My point is that you may not see the results right away but you will see your prayers answered and you will see God moving in your life when you humble yourself before Him, fast, pray, and give. Fasting and praying go hand in hand, along with bible study. I have had moments of clarity in bible study during a fast. I encourage you if you haven’t tried it yet, to do so. There are different kinds of fasts. You can fast 3 days, 1 day, 21 days, 40 days, or you can fast from sunup till sundown (6am to 6pm). You can abstain from all foods and just drink water and juice or you can do a partial fast where you abstain from meat, sweets, and bread and eat only vegetables and fruits. If you have health problems you can fast from 6am to 12 noon after consulting your doctor. If you want to fast for more than one day make sure to drink plenty of water. The point is you can do it! Fasting breaks chains! Fasting does not make you holy but it makes you sensitive to the Spirit of God. It helps you draw closer to God and make you aware when He draws closer to you. Try it and you will not regret it, don’t listen to your stomach, it will always tell you that you’re hungry. Remember that you have to have a specific purpose for your fast, whether it be for direction, a lost loved one, your church, or a deeper intimacy with the Lord. God answers prayer and when prayer is combined with fasting the atmosphere begins to change and the glory of God is revealed to you. Praise the Lord!

Ambassadors of Reconciliation

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21

When I looked up the word reconcile, there were several definitions but there were three that stuck out and that are fitting in relation to these verses. The first is: to reestablish a close relationship between.
The second is: to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent.
And the last one is: to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable – as in hostile persons.
Now the first one describes the desire of God to reconcile us to Himself. The second one describes the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that brings us into agreement with Him and makes us consistent. The third one describes how through Jesus God brings us from hostile to amicable or into a friendship with Him.

Everything belongs to God and when God first created man, He created Him with relationship in mind. He created man to be His friend, to have dominion over the earth that He created and to reveal His plans to. Adam and Eve had that for a little while but then they disobeyed and ate the fruit. Disobedience is rebellion. When man rebelled against God by disobeying His command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the friendship they had was severed. God could no longer commune with man and speak freely His plans for mankind because man was now sinful and God cannot look at sin. Ok enough history!

The awesome part of all of this is that God KNEW what man was going to do and set a plan into motion. That plan was to send His only begotten Son into the world to reconcile US to HIMSELF. Can you believe it? God wants us to be His friends and He loves us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten to bring us back to Himself. But wait! It gets better! Now that we are reconciled to Him, those of us that have received Christ as Lord and Savior, we are now given the ministry of reconciliation! How do we do that? By doing what Jesus commanded in Mark 16:15 – Go and preach the Gospel to all the nations. The nations does not necessarily mean that we will travel the world. Some of us will probably never leave the state we were born and raised in but in a country such as ours the nations are here; our neighbors, our families, our co-workers. I think every nationality of the globe has a percentage in the U.S.

Those of you that know me know that I like to look up words so the next word I looked up was ambassador and I found two definitions that fit these verses as well. The first is: A diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative.
The second is: An authorized representative or messenger. As sons and daughters of God, we are of the highest rank because we are princes and princesses of the King of kings! He is the Sovereign One who sends us to represent Him in this place we call our temporary home. How many know that we are not citizens of this world? We are citizens of heaven! Therefore we are resident representatives here on earth until we go home to be with the Lord. We are authorized representatives or messengers because we have been given authority through Christ. The message we bring is a message of hope, peace, love, salvation and yes, reconciliation! Because He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God through Him!!! Praise God!! Let’s be good ambassadors for we represent the most Sovereign of sovereigns, the King of kings and the Lord of lords!! He wants all to be reconciled and He does not desire that any should be lost. Let’s proclaim the message of the Gospel of Peace that through us God would plead with the lost and the hurting and the hostile to be reconciled to Him.

If by chance you have not been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, let today be the day where you say yes to Jesus who has been knocking on the door of your heart waiting for you to invite Him in.

Love

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-39

Most of us would vehemently say that we love God, but do we love Him with all our hearts, souls, and minds? Do we love our neighbors as ourselves? For some of us those questions are easy to answer but there are those of us who might find it difficult to answer.

Let’s go back to the time when we first got saved…for some of us from that very moment all we wanted to do was to eat, sleep, and breathe God. For some of us food and sleep didn’t matter we just wanted to breath God. It was like when you fell in love for the first time and all you wanted to do was be with the person you love. Being in love with God is like that and so much more. When you love God with all your heart, soul and mind you live with the sole purpose of pleasing the One who saved you and it shows in everything you do. Being in love with God means you are full of the love of God because it is a relationship where the Father enjoys nothing more than to show you His love for you. Therefore loving your neighbor as you love yourself is a piece of cake! It’s like second nature because when the love of God abides you it has to pour out on others. You just can’t help it! The love just oozes out of you. J My sister calls it a love burst when you feel love just oozing out of you.

Sadly, in these last days, many Christians have forgotten what it felt like to be in love with the Lord and how to display it to others. The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. When people are broken, hurting, and a mess, love brings them to the cross. Love heals wounds, love gives strength, love gives the desire to press forward and love shows how to love others. Whose love is this that I’m talking about?? God’s love. The Bible says that God is love, therefore if God is love and you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, you will reflect that love because when you abide in Him, He abides in you. The only love that is compared to the love of God is the love of a mother. A mother will lay down her life for her children and that is what Jesus did. He laid down His life for us because He loved us.

So how do we find that love again? Go back to the first time you fell in love with Him and fall in love with Him again. Continue to do so everyday. God has been so good to us that it shouldn’t be hard to fall in love with Him everyday. His love will cause you to love others! You will be full of love bursts for others that will help them heal, stand firm, and love in return. I am a witness of the power of God’s love. It has brought beauty for ashes in my life and in the lives of many others. Let’s ask God to fill us with His love everyday so that we can love our brothers and sisters. So that we can love the backslidden and the lost, so that we can love those that have never known, experienced or received love so that they too can love. God has called us to mend, restore, heal, and deliver, but without love, we can do none of these. Paul said though he speak in different tongues, without love it is like a clanging symbol. We must learn to walk in love, give love freely, and receive love from our Father as well as our neighbors. Church, God is calling us to love more and fight less. God is calling us give love freely without expecting anything in return. Yes there will be those who we pour out our love on and they don’t seem to notice, but that’s ok! Don’t be discouraged! You are doing the will of your Father by loving that person no matter how insufferable he/she is. God wants us to love HIM without reserves, to love Him unconditionally. I believe that is the reason why He gives us the choice whether or not to serve Him because He wants us to serve Him because we love Him and want to please Him. He does not want a dictatorship, He wants a relationship! Hallelujah!!! How awesome is that?? I feel a love burst coming on for my King!!! Glory, glory! Church let’s ask God to fill us to overflowing with His love and His mercy for our neighbors that we may please Him in all that we do.

Heavenly Father,
We come before You with thanksgiving and praise that You loved us so much that You gave Your only son to save us so that we could have a relationship with You. Help us Lord, to walk in love and honor You. Fill us with Your love everyday so that we may pour it out on others the way You want us to. Help us to never forget the day we first fell in love with You because You were already in love with us. Father bless all those who are reading this inspiration today and give them a double portion of Your love so that they will be bursting with love bursts for everyone who comes there way. Most importantly Lord remind us to always love You with all hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds and with all our strength.

In Jesus mighty name we pray,
Amen!

Walk in the Vision

So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:16-17

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:18-19


The church of God is going through a transition. God is taking her to another level and not everyone in the church is ready for it. There are those that would try to oppose it, detain it, or hinder it and God begins to clean house and move the stumbling blocks out of the way. Whenever God is about to take a church, a ministry, or an individual to a higher, deeper level, those you least expect will oppose the change. There are times when God wants to deposit something in you and do something new with you and the people closest to you try to discourage you. They will rise up against you and tear you down with their words. Fear takes hold of those who are not walking in the vision of a church, ministry or individual and they can be easily shaken by the enemy and those who are in opposition of the vision. It is for those that these words are written.

Elisha was a prophet who believed God and did what the Lord told him to do. He had a vision to do God’s will no matter the cost. When the Syrians tried to come against Israel and Elisha, his servant grew fearful because he was not walking in the vision. He was not holding tight to the promises of God nor did he know and trust the God he served. He walked with the prophet but he was not walking in the vision. Therefore Elisha prayed to God to open the eyes of his servant so that he could see that there were more with them than those against them. He was asking God to open his eyes so he could see the vision!

When God begins to clean house and remove those that would hinder His blessing in a church, ministry or individual, it may seem that the enemy has the upper hand. But when you perceive that God is cleaning house – know that a truly great blessing is on the way and God has to prepare those that will receive it. Jesus told Peter that the gates of hell would NOT prevail against the church of God because He knew opposition would come before the blessing but the church already has the victory.

Notice that I included individual as one being opposed because sometimes the opposition is not just in the church or the ministry. It can start with an individual in your own home! And guess what? God will clean your house to remove the hindrance. There will come a time when God will want to do something with you where He will have to move those around you that would distract you, discourage you, oppose you, or hinder you. You may not understand it at the time but the bible says that what you don’t understand now, you will understand later. Just know that when opposition arises it is because God is about to do something so huge that the opposition can’t handle it! If you cannot perceive that God is in the mix of whatever adversity is going on in your life, ministry or church, ask God to open your eyes and let you see that there are more with you than those against you. Ask Him to open your eyes and let you see the vision.

He will raise us up!

Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Hosea 6:1-2

Take a moment to think about these verses. Though Hosea was speaking to the people of Israel at the time, these verses are also prophetic regarding Jesus sacrifice. Think about the reason Jesus came to earth in the flesh to live among men, so that we would return to the Lord. For He has torn, but He will heal us; we must remember that these people were rebellious and idolaters yet they were the chosen of God. They were His special people however when they sinned against Him there were consequences for there sins. God always sent one of His prophets to warn these people, to give them a chance to repent before His judgment was issued upon them. The bible says that the Lord is slow to anger and great in mercy, so He always gave His people the opportunity to repent and correct their ways yet when they didn’t they usually fell into some kind of captivity. So they were torn from there land and heritage yet there were still those who were faithful to the Lord and the Lord would heal His people and restore them to their land when the repented. Jesus was also torn. His flesh was torn for our sake so that we would be healed. His heart was torn for us because we were lost and without hope yet He would heal our wounds and give us new hope. He has stricken but He will bind us up; praise God! Israel was stricken with affliction when she sinned against God but in His mercy He would send His prophets to exhort them and give them words of encouragement when they repented and He would bind them up. Jesus was also stricken with all of our infirmities, with all of our sin, with all of our hatred He was stricken so that He could bind us up to Himself. Glory to Jesus! After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. I don’t know about you but this part fills me with great joy and a tremendous love for our Lord who loved us first. When Jesus died on the cross, He was buried and in the tomb three days. During that time He went down to gates of hell and snatched the keys of death from the devil and on the third day He rose. After two days He will revive us – Jesus takes the keys of death from Satan and revives us because now He has overcome death! On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. When He rose from the grave on the third day He was telling us that we too would be raised so that we could be with Him forever! Whether we rise from the grave or we are caught up in the twinkling of an eye without seeing death, one thing is for certain, we will live with Him for always!!! In His sight! That is a wonderful place to be. In God’s presence, in His sight, in His perfect will. Praise God! Jesus sacrificed everything He had for you and me. He left His throne in glory to walk among us, feel what we feel, hurt how we hurt, so that we cannot say “God you just don’t understand how I feel”. Yes He does!!! He experienced it all. He was tempted just like we are, He was betrayed just like we are betrayed by those we love and those we think are our friends, He felt pain just like we feel pain! He is the perfect mediator for us because He knows what it is to be human. He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. We are in victory my brothers and sisters because Jesus has given it to us through His life, death and resurrection! Praise the Lord!!!

Eat and Speak

You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” Ezekiel 2:7-8

If you’ve ever read the book of Ezekiel, you may have noticed that he has a unique style of writing. He is very detailed in his description of the visions he saw and how the Lord spoke to him and how the Lord spoke through him. Ezekiel was called to speak to the northern part of the nation of Israel or what was called in his time Israel. The nation of Israel had divided into two separate kingdoms after Solomon died so there was Israel to the north and there was Judah to the south. Jeremiah prophesied to Judah and Ezekiel prophesied to Israel probably around the same time.
If we look at these verses, they are very direct, and we can relate to them today because we also live in a rebellious, idolatrous nation. America has turned her back on God just as Israel did thousands of years ago. She has compromised her beliefs and her morals and adulterated herself with foreign gods. Money, power, and sex have become objects of desire so to speak and the results of these desires are greed, corruption, adultery, homosexuality, idolatry, and even murder. People have killed for money, power, and yes-even sex. These things become habitual, almost like second nature in the lives of those who pursue it. Such was the state of Israel during Ezekiel’s time. Some of the gods of the Canaanites and the foreign nations surrounding Israel required sexual acts as forms of worship and Israel had begun to worship these pagan gods. They had hardened their hearts to the One True God and put their trust in idols. They even had their own prophets who prophesied in the name of their pagan gods! God was angry with them, yet His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting so He would send out His prophets to warn the people.
When God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet, He warns him not to be “rebellious like that rebellious house” and goes on to tell him to open his mouth and “eat what I give you”. He was to eat God’s word! As I said Ezekiel is very detailed in his description of what he saw, spoke and did. God knew that Ezekiel would be obedient even when he protested. He was to speak God’s words whether they listened or not! Sounds familiar? Is there someone in your life or a few someone’s that God stirs you up to give them word and it seems to fall on deaf ears? God is telling you to speak anyway! Whether they listen or not you must speak what God puts in your mouth. Why? Because if you don’t, you will be held accountable if that person dies in his/her iniquity because you didn’t tell him what God told you to say. God told Ezekiel that he would be a watchman. Watchmen are those that stand on the wall of the city or in a watchtower and warn the people when danger is coming. If he did not speak when he was supposed to speak and a person perished, his blood would be on Ezekiel’s head, but if he spoke and the person perished in his sin then it is no longer Ezekiel’s responsibility. You see we are responsible for speaking what God tells us to speak to people whether they listen or not because when we speak they no longer have the excuse of saying “well nobody told me.” At times you get tired and frustrated of speaking to the same person or persons over and over and over and that person doesn’t get it or those people don’t get it and continue living a godless life. It is sad but your responsibility is to speak what God tells you to speak and the rest is between them and God. God is faithful and will continue to tug at a person’s heart but if the person is rebellious and continues in his ways and ignores God, he will perish and spend eternity in torment. God is not a toy to play with. You can’t pick Him up when you’re bored and when you got what you want or get tired of playing with Him you put Him down. No, No, No! God is saying in these last days that we cannot be like that rebellious house but eat what He gives us and speak what He tells us to speak.

Be Renewed Day by Day

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Paul suffered through many things on his missionary journeys to the different cities where he preached the gospel. In those days there was no such thing as cars, motorcycles, airplanes, phones, the Internet or email. No text messaging or instant messaging. These people walked, traveled on horses or camels, or traveled by boat. Their forms of long distance communication were letters that took weeks to reach one location from another depending on how far it was. So imagine Paul walking for days on end or on sea for weeks at a time; going through various storms on sea, and suffering heat, cold, rain and other weather hazards on foot. Not to mention that the different places he would travel to had their own dangers. There was the risk of the people not receiving him and stoning him, whipping him, or treating him in an otherwise inhuman way. He suffered physical sickness as well as physical abuse from those who did not want him in their cities. Yet in all this he reminds us that no matter what we suffer for the cause of taking the Gospel to the lost, the broken, and the hurting, it does not affect our inward man. No matter what the body goes through, weariness, sickness, fatigue, abuse, hunger, pain, it is only the outward man that feels these things and perishes. The inward man is being renewed daily through the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, when we see the fruits of our labor.
We may not suffer the things Paul suffered to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles, but we do suffer because as human beings we feel loss, rejection, pain, and our spirits cry out daily for those that are lost. Yet Paul calls it a light affliction and when you look at it that is exactly what it is. None of us have suffered the things Jesus suffered to save us, so yes, it is a light affliction to be laughed at because you are faithful to God. It is a light affliction to be rejected by your family because you serve God. It is a light affliction when the enemy rises up against you when you try to evangelize a community for Christ. Yes it is but guess what people? It is only for a moment! Maybe not a 60 second moment but before you know it the trial is over, the opposition is gone, the giants are knocked down with their heads chopped off, and the mountains are moved because our light affliction is working for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory!!
Why?? How can trials work bigger things and eternal glory for us?? Because we look at the things that are not seen, which means we see in the Spirit. We are not looking at the things that are seen because they are temporary. The house is temporary. The car is temporary. The job is temporary. The trial, opposition, giants and mountains are all temporary! They don’t last! But our mansions in heaven are eternal!! They last forever!! So our affliction is light and works for an exceeding and eternal weight of glory because our treasure is not on this earth!! Our treasure is in heaven and it does not perish! Oh brothers and sisters if we look with our spiritual eyes instead of our natural eyes we will see that everything we go through will work out for something greater in the end. Everything we go through brings us that much closer to eternity with Jesus! Praise the Lord! So when you are afflicted, remember that it is light and for a moment for the things we see and look forward to are eternal!

Happy New Year!!!!