JESUS SAID--BEWARE OF BECOMING ONE OF THOSE END OF DAY SPIRITUALLY DISABLED BELIEVERS

Are you incurably hungering after God or this world?

Are you incurably delighting in God's Word or trivial pursuits?

The greatest destroyers of intimate hunger for God may be things that are good and right in their place like coffee and lawns, hobbies and travel, retirement planning and mall walking, TV watching and computer mastering.

But any that take God's first place, and become easier to turn to than God and His Word and His intimate communion, they are then deadly destroyers of our hungering and thirsting after God.

In the Old Testament, we see Biblical Fasting as an urgent call to get serious about Knowing God.

In the Old Testament, Biblical fasting was part of SEEKING GOD'S DIRECTION AND PROTECTION BY PRAYER as noted in Ezra 8:21-23 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.

Biblical fasting was part of ACKNOWLEDGING SIN BEFORE GOD in Ezra 10:6.

Biblical fasting was part of INTENSE PRAYER in Nehemiah 1:4.

Biblical fasting was part of DAVID'S HUMBLING HIMSELF BEFORE THE LORD in Psalm 35:13.

Biblical fasting was part of GOD'S REQUIREMENT FOR THOSE GENUINELY REPENTING AND TURNING TO HIM WITH ALL THEIR HEART in Joel 2:12-13a.

In the New Testament, we see Biblical Fasting is an ancient spiritual discipline to reschedule my life with God at the center instead of dining, relaxing, amusing, accumulating, advancing, securing, and a multitude of other things that are not wrong - just deadly to intimacy with the Almighty.

Biblical fasting was part of A NORMAL LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN in Matthew 6:16 “Moreover, when you fast,

Biblical fasting was part of WORSHIPING THE LORD in Luke 2:36-37 … and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Biblical fasting was part of CHRIST'S METHOD OF PREPARATION FOR FACING THE DEVIL'S TEMPTATIONS in Luke 4:2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

Biblical fasting was part of SEEKING THE GUIDANCE OF THE LORD in Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Biblical fasting was part of SENDING OUT MISSIONARIES in Acts 13:3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Biblical fasting was part of APPOINTING SPIRITUAL LEADERS in Acts 14:23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Biblical fasting was part of THE REGULAR LIFE OF SPIRITUAL MINISTRY in Paul's account of his life in 2 Corinthians 11:27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—

So the Kingdom of God, the reign of God as Supreme over all of our lives is our goal in fasting. We want Him to rule our appetites, not us, we want Him to rule our affections, not us, we want Him to rule over our choices, not us. We want God's Rule in this church, not ours. His goals, not ours. That is the test, that is seeking 1st the Kingdom, the Glory, the Rule, the Supremacy of our Father in Heaven. Then we come before Him seeking His Glory, not ours praying, asking, and fasting--it changes how we pray.

 Now when we ask for Him to lead us into the conquest of those old habits that grip and enslave us, the roadblocks that stand in our path to spiritual maturity - it is so that He may rule in our lives and be glorified.
 When we cry out for wayward or unconverted children or spouses to come back to maturity - it is so that He may rule in our lives and be glorified.
 When we prepare for growth and plan for needs in our church as we fast and pray - it is so that He may rule in our church and be glorified.
(NR1-32; 000802AM)

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   • JESUS SAID--BEWARE OF BECOMING ONE OF THOS...