God is Good, All the Time

"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:16-18) So says our Lord. When this was spoken, Jesus was speaking to the crowds that had gathered to hear Him speak. He had just finished the Beatitudes and then had gone on to explain a few things. He talked of salt and light, the fulfillment of the Law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, eye for eye, love for enemies, giving to the needy, prayers and fasting and He went on the give His "take" on several more thoughts. He took common beliefs and practices and expanded on them to promote a clearer understanding of what they all meant and how we are supposed to conduct ourselves with each other. Everything written in the Ten Commandments and the entire Bible, for that matter, is relational. It deals with either our relationships with each other or our relationships with God. After finishing with these thoughts Jesus moves into the area I want to concentrate on today: Prayer and fasting.

The first thing you can't miss is the assumption of the practice of fasting. It doesn't say "if" you fast, but rather "when" you fast. It is automatically assumed that if you're a follower after God's own heart, you fast. And fast is always coupled with pray. Have you ever noticed that? I have to very quickly state that I don't know what it means to fast. Oh, I know it means to abstain from food. What I mean is that I don't fully understand why going without food is a good thing. What is there about denying ourselves that God finds so pleasing? I don't have the answer. The one thing I do know is that Jesus automatically assumed I would be fasting and praying. Quite honestly I've always thought of fasting as, well, old fashioned. Out of date. It is something that is no longer necessary. And while it isn't necessary for our salvation, it is something that the early Christians found binding to their spiritual nature. We don't need to fast to be saved but obviously it is a discipline that Jesus assumed would be part of our lives. And if Jesus "assumed" it would be, then perhaps I ought to give it a try. Maybe it's like journaling in that you have to do it for a period of time before you can begin to see the benefits of doing it.

Fasting was done both in the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes it was part of a religious ceremony or was done while mourning. Sometimes people did it as a group and sometimes it was done individually. The point is, it was done. And then here Jesus comes along and assumes it's a common practice. Truthfully, I don't know a single soul who has fasted for any purpose. No wait, that's not true any longer. My church did the 40 Days of Purpose campaign last fall and one of my friends fasted for a day during that but she had never fasted before and I don't know if she's done it since. I have never fasted. But I'm thinking that maybe I should. It just seems that the Lord is doing so many incredible things in my life in the last year or so. A year or so ago I decided to begin tithing my money. When I cash my check I immediately ask for the bills I need to slip inside my envelopes that add up to my percentage. I choose to give weekly so I put an equal amount in all four envelopes BEFORE I do anything else with my money. We just recently got a stimulus payment from the IRS and I took out my tithe before I did anything else. And while tithing is not required (because truth be told, ALL my money belongs to God) I have found a real peace over giving since I started tithing. In the past I was never at peace with what I gave. And now, even though I wish I could give more, I sense a real peace about what I give. It's almost as if the Lord pats me on the shoulder and says "you give out of your total, not out of your abundance, and you give first" and He gives me a real sense of peace about the entire issue. At first it was hard to tithe because I'd think about the things I could do with that money but I kept at it and suddenly I was at peace. I no longer felt like I was cheating God. Also over the last year or so I've had this real desire to go to church on Sundays. It's no longer something I think I should do. It's something that I don't feel satisfied without doing. And now my journaling. This is my journey; my walk with our Lord. These are the kind of changes the Lord desires for us to make and when we make up our minds then He steps in and gives us the strength and courage to do it. All that being said, I have decided to fast on Fridays. I won't eat until after 6:00 that evening. I will start out by allowing myself to have soft drinks during the day but then I will move on to denying myself anything but water from the time I get up Friday morning until after 6:00 that evening. I don't really expect to get anything out of it because I've never done it but I won't be the least bit surprised if the Lord blesses me for my efforts. Every time I feel a pang of hunger it will be like an internal alarm clock going off to remind me to pray. I wish I had a way of explaining to you how monumental some of these changes in my life have been over the past year or so. But the part I don't want you to miss is the fact that God blesses my efforts when I've made a commitment and held true to it. I'd like to challenge you to do the same thing. Let's just give fasting a try and see what happens? I'm going to do it. Every Friday.

As I've already said, I don't know what the value of fasting is but what I do know is that Jesus expects me to do it, to fast. That's a sobering thought when I consider that I've never once fasted unto the Lord. After all these years. I'm ashamed to say that I've never done it. But it's the ugly truth. So I'm going to try fasting and just see what happens. I anticipate being blessed. I don't know how or when but, judging by the differences in other disciplines over the past year or so, it ought to be a doozy. You know the Lord has done incredible things in my life. And I know He wants to do so much more. All I have to do is to be willing to give His way a try; to open my heart and my mind fully to Him and, well, just be willing. I'll let you know how my fasting habit progresses.

My study is going really well. I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm going to miss it when I have it completed. I may go right back through the book again. I'm seriously considering that. But I also want to go back and look at the prophets more closely and more thoroughly. And I want to paraphrase the Psalms in my own words (this one will probably be something I'll work on occasionally over a long period of time). Plus, yesterday when we went shopping I paid the Christian bookstore a visit and came away with a couple new things to study. I picked up a "Christianity 101" study of Philippians/Colossians: Experiencing the Joy of Knowing Christ. Also Warren Wiersbe's Be Right, his take on the book of Romans. If I had the money, I would buy every study aid in the store. I just can't seem to let a day go by without studying something. Which reminds me that I still have today's study to do. And I know this has been a very boring blog. I apologize for that. I really should have waited to write until I had something to write. But I've been thinking about fasting for a while now and I thought if I sat down and wrote out my feelings I'd have a better chance of being successful. You don't mind being my sounding board, do you? I didn't think so.

I promise next time to do a little research and write a devotional for you. Those at loveforliberia are doing better now. Stacy had malaria and was sick for a week and Dan had dysentery and was flat on his back for two days. Jakin is seeing a chiropractor for his hip injury and Ashton is not coming back from his malaria as quickly as he should be. Lazydranch8 is having a very good time on their trip and have had no more car trouble. She's a long way from home to have something go wrong. Keep her and her six kids in your prayers. And finally, womanoffaith1 seems to be doing better too. There has been so much illness around my blogging group. I hope I can't catch anything through the keyboard. LOL

Well, this has got to be the worst blog I've ever written. Sorry. Maybe I should just post it and put it out of its misery! Until next time...