We are approaching the completion of Day 13 of our fast and it's crucial that we maintain the right attitude when it comes to fasting.
This is IMPORTANT: a God-initiated, God-ordained, God-honoring FAST will always turn our hearts UPWARD to God in worship and OUTWARD to other people in love and ministry. That’s the message of Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58:6-7 (NIV),
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."
John Piper, in perhaps the best book I’ve ever read on Christian fasting, says it like this:
“The birthplace of Christian fasting is homesickness [or hunger] for God.”
Here's the question: Are you hungry for God? Is that what has motivation to take part in this 21 day journey?
Unfortunately, what Piper goes on to say is absolutely true…
“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20).” ~ Piper, A Hunger for God
Those words nailed me when I read them… You see, it’s critical that we understand that food in and of itself is not a bad thing… In fact, it’s a gift from God that is to be received with a thankful heart… But far too often I can anesthetize the hunger and ache in my soul and spirit for God with a bite of food or a can of soda, or any other number of substitutes…
Here’s what fasting is about… It’s about falling on your face before God and saying, “Oh God, I want you… I want you this much…”
It’s being able to speak the words of Psalm 42 with authenticity…
Psalm 42:1-2 (MSG), “I want God. I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I’m thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, ‘Will I ever make it-arrive and drink in God's presence?’”
The question becomes: Why are we so hungry for God? Haven’t we experienced the reality of being adopted into God’s family, filled with God’s Spirit and made alive in Christ?
Absolutely! But I love what Piper goes on to say…
“The aching and yearning and longing for Christ and his power that drive us to fasting are not the expression of emptiness… Hunger for God, yes. But not emptiness. The firstfruits of what we long for have already come…
“We have tasted the powers of the age to come, and our fasting is not because we are hungry for something we have not experienced but because the new wine of Christ’s presence is so real and so satisfying. We must have all that it is possible to have. The newness of our fasting is this: its intensity comes not because we have never tasted the wine of Christ’s presence, but because we have tasted it so wonderfully by His Spirit, and cannot now be satisfied until the consummation of joy arrives. …Christian fasting is a hunger for all the fullness of God…" ~ Piper, A Hunger for God
Final question: Are you hungry for God? Really hungry?
“The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ...the more homesick you get for heaven...the more you want ‘all the fullness of God’...the more you want to be done with sin...the more you want the Bridegroom to come again...the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus...the more you want a great awakening to God's reality in the cities...the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world...the more you want to see false worldviews yield to the force of Truth...the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed...the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea.” ~ Piper, A Hunger for God
A God-initiated, God-ordained, God-focused fast will always turn our hearts UPWARD TO GOD!
Tomorrow we'll talk about how fasting can turn our hearts OUTWARD TO PEOPLE.
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