Isaiah 53:1-6 NLT
The last week of Jesus’ life was hard. He went through a lot. My own puny little fast is my attempt to share in his sufferings this week.
People do not understand that, and I accept the fact that they don’t. But it is something I feel I must do.
And it has been hard. I guess I lost my reserve during the 21 day fast I ended two months ago. Even though it has been two months, it feels like a short time. The hunger has come back more quickly than before.
I suppose that a fast is so abnormal that it stays with you. I still remember strongly the 30 day fast I undertook in 1997. In fact, it is hard to believe that it has been fourteen years since it happened.
When it comes down to it, it is not natural to deny yourself the basic needs of humanity. You can live without sex, without clothes, without shelter even. But to live long, you must have food and water. You can go a while without these, but sooner or later, if you do not eat or drink, you will die.
But, again, and I have said this during the last fast, there comes a time when you want to hear the voice of God more than you want to eat. It is almost as if his word cannot penetrate through the big block of food I eat.
There are questions I have, basic questions about my life and my ministry, that I need to have answered. This fast is my ask, my seek, my knock.
Matthew 7:6-8 (NLT) says Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
I have done a lot of asking and seeking and knocking in the past couple of years. And I have not had a lot of answers. I need to hear from God.
And I may keep fasting until I do. fasting is a very biblical way of coming before God. Holy men of old did it again and again. If they did, I can.
Yes, it can be injurious in some ways to your body. However, Jesus went into the desert and fasted forty days at the beginning of his ministry. Moses fasted, others fasted and all were pleasing to God.
Therefore fasting is good before God. And I will.
Father God, I ask you for strength in this fast to continue. I also ask for answers to my questions, for verification for my ministry. I praise you. Amen.
Who has believed our messageIt is day two of my fast. Someone asked me what I was fasting toward. The best answer I can give them is that I am fasting toward to resurrection.
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
The last week of Jesus’ life was hard. He went through a lot. My own puny little fast is my attempt to share in his sufferings this week.
People do not understand that, and I accept the fact that they don’t. But it is something I feel I must do.
And it has been hard. I guess I lost my reserve during the 21 day fast I ended two months ago. Even though it has been two months, it feels like a short time. The hunger has come back more quickly than before.
I suppose that a fast is so abnormal that it stays with you. I still remember strongly the 30 day fast I undertook in 1997. In fact, it is hard to believe that it has been fourteen years since it happened.
When it comes down to it, it is not natural to deny yourself the basic needs of humanity. You can live without sex, without clothes, without shelter even. But to live long, you must have food and water. You can go a while without these, but sooner or later, if you do not eat or drink, you will die.
But, again, and I have said this during the last fast, there comes a time when you want to hear the voice of God more than you want to eat. It is almost as if his word cannot penetrate through the big block of food I eat.
There are questions I have, basic questions about my life and my ministry, that I need to have answered. This fast is my ask, my seek, my knock.
Matthew 7:6-8 (NLT) says Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
I have done a lot of asking and seeking and knocking in the past couple of years. And I have not had a lot of answers. I need to hear from God.
And I may keep fasting until I do. fasting is a very biblical way of coming before God. Holy men of old did it again and again. If they did, I can.
Yes, it can be injurious in some ways to your body. However, Jesus went into the desert and fasted forty days at the beginning of his ministry. Moses fasted, others fasted and all were pleasing to God.
Therefore fasting is good before God. And I will.
Father God, I ask you for strength in this fast to continue. I also ask for answers to my questions, for verification for my ministry. I praise you. Amen.
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