“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night.” ― John Piper
“The supremacy of God in all things is the great reward we long for in fasting. His supremacy in our own affections and in all our life-choices. His supremacy in the purity of the church. His supremacy in the salvation of the lost. His supremacy in the establishing of righteousness and justice. And his supremacy for the joy of all peoples in the evangelization of the world.” ― John Piper
If you do not already know of the power and importance of fasting, here are some very important facts:
Fasting was an expected discipline in both the Old and New Testament eras. For example, Moses fasted at least two recorded forty-day periods. Jesus fasted 40 days and reminded His followers to fast, "when you fast," not if you fast.
Fasting and prayer can restore the loss of the "first love" for your Lord and result in a more intimate relationship with Christ.
Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God (Psalm 35:13; Ezra 8:21). King David said, "I humble myself through fasting."
Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life.
The Holy Spirit will quicken the Word of God in your heart and His truth will become more meaningful to you!
Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.
Fasting can result in a dynamic personal revival in your own life-and make you a channel of revival to others.
Fasting and prayer are the only disciplines that fulfill the requirements of II Chronicles 7:14:
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
If you fast, you will find yourself being humbled as I did. You will discover more time to pray and seek God's face. And as He leads you to recognize and repent of unconfessed sin, you will experience special blessings from God. HT
I was meditating on Nehemiah 8:10 recently, which says, "...the joy of the LORD is your strength."
In the midst of some crazy things going on with family and work I found strength in focusing not on how God can meet my needs for emotional strength in chaotic times but by focusing on where God finds His joy.
God finds joy in his own character! Joy originates from the Lord and joy has the Lord as its object!
Because He knows Himself...He is not wringing his hands over the chaos in the world.
Because He knows Himself...He is not sweating over the details.
Because He knows Himself...He is not flaying about trying to get things done.
Because He knows Himself...He is not ruffled by actions of men.
Because He knows Himself…He is not perturbed by the problems that plague humanity.
Because He knows Himself...He has perspective...He possesses contentment...He is in a continual state of joyful confidence and heavenly calm.
I can find strength in a God who possesses real, genuine, eternal, and finite joy!
His joy strengthens me spiritually, emotionally, and relationally:
Spiritual strength to enjoy the presence of God, to resist temptation and to stay on mission with God.
Emotional strength to respond and not react in a crisis, to maintain God’s perspective in chaos and to model the character of Jesus when under pressure.
Relational strength to give yourself in service to others, to carry the burdens of others and to courageously call others to holiness and fruitfulness.
Charles Hadden Spurgeon preached a powerful message on this text and offers this challenge and exhortation to us all to find our strength in the joy of the Lord.
"You shallow Christians who do but believe in Christ, and barely that, whose bibles are unread, whose closets are unfrequented, whose communion with God is a thing of spasms, you have not the joy of the Lord, neither are you strong. I beseech you, rest not as you are, but let your conscious feebleness provoke you to seek the means of strength: and that means of strength is to be found in a pleasant medicine, sweet as it is profitable—the delicious and effectual medicine of 'the joy of the Lord'."
Doing some research on "a constructive spirit of discontent" I discovered this post by John Piper on the Desiring God website. A holy dissatisfaction is intense desire to experience more and more of all the Father hae provide for us through Jesus. Jesus Himself said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Matthew 5:6
May this selection of scriptures give you a hunger and thirst for the character and desires of the Father (Ephesians 1:17), the spiritual blessings found in Son (Ephesians 1:3) and the deeper experience of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14: 5:18).
“We pray for you that you…increase in the knowledge of God.” “Grow in grace and in theknowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Colossians 1:10; 2 Peter 3:18)
“As you learned from us how you ought to…please God…do so more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1)
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
“Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit and make holinessperfect in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)
“[God] will cause the fruits of your righteousness to grow.” “Unless your righteousnessexceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (2 Corinthians 9:10; Matthew 5:20)
"There must be a true and actual abandonment of sin and a turning unto righteousness in real act and deed in every day life. Repentance, to be sure, must be entire. How many will say, Sir, I will renounce this sin and the other...but there are certain darling lusts which I must keep and hold? Oh, sirs, in God's name let me tell you, it is not the giving up of one sin, nor 50 sins which is true repentance. It is the solemn renunciation of every sin. If thou dost harbor one of those accursed vipers in thy heart and dost give up every other, that one lust like one leak in a ship will sink thy soul. Think it not sufficient to give up thy outward vices, fancy it not enough to cut off the more corrupt sins of thy life, it is all or none which God demands. Repent, says He, and when He bids you repent, He means repent of all thy sins otherwise He can never accept thy repentance as real and genuine. All sin must be given up or else you will never have Christ. All transgression must be renounced or else the gates of heaven must be barred against you. Let us remember then that for repentance to be sincere, it must be entire repentance. True repentance is a turning of the heart as well as of the life. It is the giving up of the whole soul to God to be His forever and ever. It is the renunciation of the sins of the heart as well as the crimes of the life." HT
"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity". Proverbs 28:13-12
May I, as I draw closer to the end of my earthly life, Be a man who loves Your Church more than I ever have, A man who prays for Your Church and Your leaders in the church, A man who shows his commitment to Your bride in all that I do.
Lord, strengthen me to finish well.
May I be a man of greater moral purity, So indwelled in Your Word and in prayer, That I am able to resist the temptations of the enemy, That my life shines as an example for You to the watching world.
Lord, strengthen me to finish well.
May I be a man who loves my family more with each passing day, A man more in love and dedicated to his wife, A man who loves his adult children even more than I did when they were younger, And a man who loves his grandchildren and generation to come.
Lord, strengthen me to finish well.
May I be a man who loves others more as I grow older, A man who is less judgmental and more giving of grace, A man who realizes that the plank in my own eye is large, And that I should forgive even as You forgive me.
Lord, strengthen me to finish well.
May my life have greater joy with each day. May I see the blessings of life and count them daily. May I not grow older and more bitter, But grow older rejoicing in You always.
Lord, strengthen me to finish well.
As the day draws closer when I meet You face to face, May I be a man who was already drawing closer to You, A man who eagerly anticipated that day, And a man who left behind a legacy and not regrets.
Lord, strengthen me to finish well.
And then, and only then, can I say that my life was not lived in vain.
Not that I have already reached the goal, or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I have been taken hold of it by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14, HCSB). HT
"One thing more, the soul winner must be a master of the art of prayer. You cannot bring souls to God if you do not go to God yourself. You must get your battle ax and your weapons of war from the armory of sacred communication with Christ. If you are much alone with Jesus, you will catch His Spirit. You will be fired with the flame that burned in His breast and consumed His life. You will weep with the tears that fell upon Jerusalem when He saw it perishing. And if you cannot speak so eloquently as He did, yet shall there be about what you say somewhat of the same power which in Him thrilled the hearts and awoke the consciences of men. My dear hearers, especially you members of the church, I am always so anxious lest any of you should begin to lie upon your oars and take things easy in the matters of God's Kingdom. There are some of you, I bless you and I bless God at the remembrance of you who are in season and out of season in earnest for winning souls. And you are the truly wise. But I fear there are others whose hands are slack, who are satisfied to let me preach but do not themselves preach, who take these seats and occupy these pews and hope the cause goes well but that is all they do." HT
Josh Wilson's song 'Before the Morning'. Really struck a cord with me this morning.
May be it will fill your mind and spirit with a great deal of perspective and goodness.
It was a fitting end to my study of Galatians this summer.
*Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.* ~ Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
Enjoy!
Do you wonder why you have to, feel the things that hurt you, if there's a God who loves you, where is He now?
Maybe, there are things you can't see and all those things are happening to bring a better ending some day, some how, you'll see, you'll see
Chorus: Would dare you, would you dare, to believe, that you still have a reason to sing, 'cause the pain you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming
so hold on, you got to wait for the light press on, just fight the good fight because the pain you've been feeling, it's just the dark before the morning
My friend, you know how this all ends and you know where you're going, you just don't know how you get there so just say a prayer. and hold on, cause there's good who love God, life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time, but you'll see the bigger picture
Would dare you, would you dare, to believe, that you still have a reason to sing, 'cause the pain you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming
so hold on, you got to wait for the light press on, just fight the good fight because the pain you've been feeling, it's just the dark before the morning yeah, yeah, before the morning, yeah, yeah
Once you feel the way of glory, all your pain will fade to memory once you feel the way of glory, all your pain will fade to memory memory, memory, yeah
Would dare you, would you dare, to believe, that you still have a reason to sing, 'cause the pain you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming
Would dare you, would you dare, to believe, that you still have a reason to sing, 'cause the pain you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming
com'n, you got to wait for the light press on, just fight the good fight because the pain you've been feeling, it's just the hurt before the healing the pain you've been feeling, just the dark before the morning before the morning, yeah, yeah before the morning
