Our Bible Study will continue on Monday, January 5, 2015!!! 2015 New Year Fast A New Year…..Start Your Year with a Fast It is important to note that religious practices such as fasting are less important than doing God’s will. As Micah 6:8 points out, what the Lord truly requires of us is devotion to Himself: “To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Fasting is not an end in itself; it is a means by which we can worship the Lord and submit ourselves in humility to Him. We don’t make God love us any more than He already does if we fast, or if we fast longer. Galatians states, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (5:1). The goal of any discipline is freedom. If the results is not greater freedom, then something is wrong. We fast and pray for results, but the results are in God’s hands. One of the greatest spiritual benefits of fasting is becoming more attentive to God---becoming more aware of our own inadequacies and His adequacy, our own contingencies and His self-sufficiency---and listening to what He wants us to be and do. Many people chose to fast at the beginning of the year. Let me encourage you to make a choice that will fit your prayer needs, your physical limitations if you have any and don’t beat yourself up if you slip. Just pick yourself up and keep it moving. Fasting requires discipline, something that many of us are lacking :) I found this note over 4 years ago, it is simply titled, “A Different Approach to Fasting.” Fasts have a tendency to be oriented toward things like giving up food or television. But there are many other creative ways we can welcome Jesus’ healing touch. Consider fasting in a different light: 1. Fast from anger and hatred. Give your family an extra dose of love each day. Pray for your enemy daily. 2. Fast from judging others. Before making any judgments, recall how Jesus overlooks our faults. 3. Fast from discouragement. Hold on to Jesus’ promise that he has a perfect plan for your life. 4. Fast from complaining. When you find yourself about to complain, close your eyes and recall one reason to be joyful. Surely Jesus has given you joy. 5. Fast from resentment or bitterness. Work on forgiving those who may have hurt you. Pray for them. 6. Fast from spending too much money. Try to reduce your spending by 10% and tithe!!! Anger, hatred, judging, discouragement, complaining, resentment, bitterness, excessive spending are but a few things that displease God. If we are honest with ourselves, we probably do at least on one or more of these things on any given day. There are many other things we say and do that displease God. We know ourselves. Ask the Lord to mold us. Molding us is a process and it won’t necessarily be finished when you finish your fast, but rest assured the change will come. Being molded probably won’t be much fun, but the end result will be more than we could ever have imagined. Read Romans 5:3-5, pray and Trust the Lord, His Word is True!!!! Yes indeed….Go on to the Potter’s House and be transformed!!! Jeremiah 18:2-5 (NIV)At the Potter’s House 18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. Romans 9:20 (NIV) 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 23:50:00 +0000
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