CORAM DEO MONDAYS with MARISA September 30, 2013 “There was also a prophetess, Anna…She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” Lk. 2:37 “We are to fast from whatever fills our soul.” -Lisa Bevere Long after Jesus’ 40 day fast was over, He was still fasting. He lived in a state of “heart fasting” in that He never consumed anything that filled His soul other than His Father. We are to walk as Jesus did: we are to fast from whatever fills our soul. Scripture tells us that Anna “never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” Anna literally lived her life in the temple—before God’s face—coram Deo! God is longing for more Anna’s who have a fresh awareness that His temple is within us, and as such, we can stay in the temple worshiping night and day in state of heart fasting no matter what we are doing. Heart fasting is unhindered availability to God. It is the Romans 12:1 kind of worship that says, “I’m Yours and You’re mine whenever, whatever, with no however’s.” Some degree of fasting will be necessary for most people to fully comprehend coram Deo heart fasting. In order to fully grasp the coram Deo life, we must grasp heart fasting, which is scorning all things that would interrupt the continual communion of our heart with His. One of fasting’s greatest merits lies in the way it trains our hearts and minds to call on God. When the Lord took me through my 40-day fast, it required my heart’s eyes to be trained on God nearly every moment in order to make it. During high times and low, during wakeful hours and in my sleep, I had to stay so close to God that at times it seemed that I breathed God. He was my all in all. With no bread to sustain and comfort me, He became my “Bread of life” like never before. Ending the fast was sweet sorrow, for my body cried out for food, but my spirit cried desperately to remain feasting at God’s banqueting table. My soul had never been so plump! Then I read that it was possible to have a heart wholly prepared and focused even after the fast was over. (Towns 1996) If that was true, I wanted like nothing else to find out how to do it. I had tasted and seen what that kind of life was like since the completion of the fast, and the sole cry of my heart was to learn how to live in this state of “heart fasting.” Shortly after that God revealed the way to live like that was found in one simple 2-word phrase…Coram Deo. Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret marisarickerson/coram-deo.html
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 23:00:01 +0000
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