Fasting
Fasting is one of the most powerful "spiritual conditioners" a person can choose to enter into. Fasting was always intended to be "Christianity 101" once Jesus left earth in his resurrected body:
Matthew 9:14-15 One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Fasting is a necessary ingredient to a relationship of true desire for Jesus. Fasting is the voluntary act of setting aside comfort for pursuit of the kingdom of God. It is a prophetic act of declaring into heaven "I am not satisfied until I see more of your side of the veil." By forgoing some enjoyable aspect of life on this broken side, I seek a greater experience of life in God's presence. This is a symbolic act of dying to life here...where life is less than it is supposed to be, and choosing, by faith to live in some greater experience of life where my God is. Fasting is powerful.
The power of fasting also makes it quite dangerous. Most people do not readily see the danger in a casual or "wrongly directed" fast. Fasting isn't a diet. Fasting isn't something to play with. Fasting is one of the most powerful acts of consecration available to humans. It is basically screaming into heaven "I want more...."...but that sentence MUST be finished. More of what?
Christians aren't the only ones who fast. Every major religion incorporates fasting for spiritual breakthrough. It works. The muslim Ramadan fast is powerful for Muslims to get more Islam into creation. Fasting produces breakthrough in the spiritual realm. Period. But is it all good?!
Fasting produces spiritual breakthrough because all of creation is built on certain laws....gravity, motion, reaping and sowing...love. Love is the foundation of all of creation...if all of creation were a computer program, love is the programming language it would be written in. Love dictates everything:
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
It is all written on love. That means all of creation is written on the love of God readily available, but REQUIRING the choice to love back. Without free will, love simply cannot exist. That means that everyone GETS WHAT THEY WANT. How do you get what you want? By directing your desire to it...asking, seeking, knocking:
Matthew 7:7-11 “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. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
This is what makes fasting so powerful, and so dangerous. Fasting is expressing "mega desire"...screaming into heaven that you want SOMETHING. That something is whatever your heart is bent toward at the time. Fasting opens the gates of your heart to be filled in a powerful way. Fasting with a wrong desire opens your spirit just the same, but what you fill your heart with can be damaging. It all has to do with your desire.
The "eye" is the window to the soul. That means what you set your gaze on, is what directs your soul to desire. If desire was a powerful stallion (which it is) Your "eye" is really the reigns steering that stallion. Look at porn, and you will drive that stallion straight into lust. Look at wealth all the time...calculating how to fill your life with more, and that stallion stampedes towards greed. Gaze on what people think about you in your minds eye, that pony is running straight towards pride.
You really do get what you want. The reason many people feel frustrated is that God delays giving you what you want usually until you and He are both sure your heart is really settled on it. It is a dreadful thing for God to turn you over to any desire that is "less than" what He desires for you. But the truth remains, eventually, everyone gets the real consequences of what they direct their desire to:
Matthew 6:22-23 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
Many people think their desires are good, even though they are filled with darkness. They think God "wants them to have" certain things. There are some things God does want us to have, but there are many presumptuous ideas about what God wants for His people. Most wrong ideas are rooted in the false idea that God wants comfort for His people right now.
What God really wants is for His children to LONG FOR EDEN. Right now, God is in the middle of a plan to restore Eden...the reality of God face to face with mankind. When Eden is restored, life, as defined by God, with all the supernatural qualities necessary for real life to happen, is "re-started." The reality we are experiencing right now is less than life. We are supposed to want much more...to not settle for the dream of success in this broken place and time.
The plan God is implementing requires active participation on behalf of everyone who wants Eden restored. If you don't care that much about Eden restored, you won't get that much when Eden is restored. It really is that simple:
Luke 12:37-48 The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready....“And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
Right now, the eyes of Lord are searching for hearts loyal to Him to show Himself strong on their behalf. Fasting is a sacred way of expressing that desire. But fasting needs to be done with our eye on what agrees with God.
What agrees with God is a desire to die to ourselves, so that Jesus can have more of our heart to renew. It is giving away our strength so that we can get His strength in exchange. It is making it our top priority to love God with everything and actually SEE that made real in our love for people who are the most unlovable. If you fast with your eye on this, your whole life will suddenly fill with light.
If you fast with an eye on anything less, you will get much less. God wants Eden restored. Eden gets restored by holiness invading earth. Fast for holiness, and you will get all the rest in perfect measure. Fasting is serious business with God:
Isaiah 58:2-11 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord ? “
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am. ’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Matthew 9:14-15 One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Fasting is a necessary ingredient to a relationship of true desire for Jesus. Fasting is the voluntary act of setting aside comfort for pursuit of the kingdom of God. It is a prophetic act of declaring into heaven "I am not satisfied until I see more of your side of the veil." By forgoing some enjoyable aspect of life on this broken side, I seek a greater experience of life in God's presence. This is a symbolic act of dying to life here...where life is less than it is supposed to be, and choosing, by faith to live in some greater experience of life where my God is. Fasting is powerful.
The power of fasting also makes it quite dangerous. Most people do not readily see the danger in a casual or "wrongly directed" fast. Fasting isn't a diet. Fasting isn't something to play with. Fasting is one of the most powerful acts of consecration available to humans. It is basically screaming into heaven "I want more...."...but that sentence MUST be finished. More of what?
Christians aren't the only ones who fast. Every major religion incorporates fasting for spiritual breakthrough. It works. The muslim Ramadan fast is powerful for Muslims to get more Islam into creation. Fasting produces breakthrough in the spiritual realm. Period. But is it all good?!
Fasting produces spiritual breakthrough because all of creation is built on certain laws....gravity, motion, reaping and sowing...love. Love is the foundation of all of creation...if all of creation were a computer program, love is the programming language it would be written in. Love dictates everything:
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
It is all written on love. That means all of creation is written on the love of God readily available, but REQUIRING the choice to love back. Without free will, love simply cannot exist. That means that everyone GETS WHAT THEY WANT. How do you get what you want? By directing your desire to it...asking, seeking, knocking:
Matthew 7:7-11 “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. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
This is what makes fasting so powerful, and so dangerous. Fasting is expressing "mega desire"...screaming into heaven that you want SOMETHING. That something is whatever your heart is bent toward at the time. Fasting opens the gates of your heart to be filled in a powerful way. Fasting with a wrong desire opens your spirit just the same, but what you fill your heart with can be damaging. It all has to do with your desire.
The "eye" is the window to the soul. That means what you set your gaze on, is what directs your soul to desire. If desire was a powerful stallion (which it is) Your "eye" is really the reigns steering that stallion. Look at porn, and you will drive that stallion straight into lust. Look at wealth all the time...calculating how to fill your life with more, and that stallion stampedes towards greed. Gaze on what people think about you in your minds eye, that pony is running straight towards pride.
You really do get what you want. The reason many people feel frustrated is that God delays giving you what you want usually until you and He are both sure your heart is really settled on it. It is a dreadful thing for God to turn you over to any desire that is "less than" what He desires for you. But the truth remains, eventually, everyone gets the real consequences of what they direct their desire to:
Matthew 6:22-23 “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
Many people think their desires are good, even though they are filled with darkness. They think God "wants them to have" certain things. There are some things God does want us to have, but there are many presumptuous ideas about what God wants for His people. Most wrong ideas are rooted in the false idea that God wants comfort for His people right now.
What God really wants is for His children to LONG FOR EDEN. Right now, God is in the middle of a plan to restore Eden...the reality of God face to face with mankind. When Eden is restored, life, as defined by God, with all the supernatural qualities necessary for real life to happen, is "re-started." The reality we are experiencing right now is less than life. We are supposed to want much more...to not settle for the dream of success in this broken place and time.
The plan God is implementing requires active participation on behalf of everyone who wants Eden restored. If you don't care that much about Eden restored, you won't get that much when Eden is restored. It really is that simple:
Luke 12:37-48 The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready....“And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
Right now, the eyes of Lord are searching for hearts loyal to Him to show Himself strong on their behalf. Fasting is a sacred way of expressing that desire. But fasting needs to be done with our eye on what agrees with God.
What agrees with God is a desire to die to ourselves, so that Jesus can have more of our heart to renew. It is giving away our strength so that we can get His strength in exchange. It is making it our top priority to love God with everything and actually SEE that made real in our love for people who are the most unlovable. If you fast with your eye on this, your whole life will suddenly fill with light.
If you fast with an eye on anything less, you will get much less. God wants Eden restored. Eden gets restored by holiness invading earth. Fast for holiness, and you will get all the rest in perfect measure. Fasting is serious business with God:
Isaiah 58:2-11 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord ? “
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am. ’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
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