"So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty" (Ezra 8:23, ESV)
Holding Fast
Are You Tired?
Saturday Feb 15, 2020
Congratulations on making it to day 6 of your fast. This will be my last post. We will enjoy rich fellowship as we meet together tomorrow in the house of the Lord for God's glory. As you return to eating on Monday, ease into it. A small breakfast and modest lunch will help your body adjust. As one of my friends recently reminded me, "are you gratifying your body's craving, or nourishing your need?"
How long is the list of reasons for weariness! Is you sleep off? How many stressors act upon you? Which relationships keep you up at night or make your blood boil? Where have your efforts at godliness been frustrated? Do you feel misunderstood? Beyond all this our bodily maladies give ready witness that we are not yet in glory. From a certain perspective, this appears to be a powerful incentive to quit.
Galatians 6:6-10 reminds us that we are all farmers of a sort. It doesn't take much imagination to think of the weariness and setbacks a farmer might suffer (here is one of many examples), let alone if that farmer plants the wrong crops! What have you been sowing in the garden of your life? Pause to consider what fruits the seeds of anger, resentment, bitterness, or worry might produce. How different might your garden be if cultivated with the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22ff).
Be not weary in well doing.
Why? Because you have a different perspective. You know how the story will end. You know what the results will be eternally, though there is great mystery temporally. The harvest is coming. It will arrive in due season, so learn to move Godspeed. However, the season of harvest is inseparably linked to the planting season and the interval of care between the two. Now is your time to plant and care for the tender shoots beginning to emerge. Now is the time to fast and pray and give enjoying the goodness of the Lord of the Harvest. Now is the time to take advantage of God-given opportunities to do good. Don't be deceived.
What kind of farmer are you?
Thank you for your labor and love for our Lord,
Pastor Paul
Fasting Is Not:
•A diet
•A way to bring attention to yourself (Mt 6)
•Inherently private and secretive (2 Chr 20)
•A way to manipulate God, to force Him to act (Is 58)
Biblical Fasting:
•Goes hand-in-hand with prayer
•Reminds us of our need for God
•Physically expresses our spiritual longing
•May be done individually or corporately
•Has no standard form
•Is a way to ask God to bless our desires and actions that align with His will
Our Need For God:
•Spiritual intimacy as revealed by the 7 churches in Revelation
•Financial Needs for Tabernacle
•$25,000 for TCA in February
Our Plan:
•Having prayed and fasted this last week,
•Continue to practice the spiritual disciplines including praying, fasting, and giving as God leads:
•What reminds you of your need for God and demonstrates it?
