The Nature of Our Circumstances

God is looking for people that want a new nature, not new circumstances. The circumstances we are experiencing are a result of our fallen nature. Our circumstances will never change until our nature agrees with God's. This is a message to God's people in the way they deal with circumstances:

-lack

-broken relationship

-need

-enemies

-wrong doing

Isaiah 58:5-12 NKJV — 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. Those from among you

Shall build the old waste places;

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,

The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

If the church doesn't stop pointing the finger at everyone else who is wrong, it will find itself outside of the renewal God will surely bring.

You can fast and strive spiritually for debate... To win the arguments of who is Holy... Or you can fast and pray to be changed yourself into a person with the generous, meek, and powerful character of God. The choice is yours and mine, and we make it every time we approach God and man with our own efforts to be holy.

Both of these men in the parable below were believers. They both went up to the temple to pray. One walked away rejected and the other justified:

Luke 18:9-14 NKJV — Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The only question worth asking God is, "how do I need to change today?"

All powerful prayer, healing, evangelism, restoration, the witness of holiness that will reform the corruption all around you... Literally the kingdom coming... Will be answered in God's answer to that one question.

Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV — “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The kingdom isn't coming in a way seen... Its coming from within you, if it's coming to you at all. That means, the internal change is the only one that matters for you to impact the whole wide world with God!