This week we came to comprehend what a fast looks like through the eyes of God. We became aware of the declared fast that God has chosen for us as His people. We learned that there is an actual fast that God has chosen as opposed to the types we’ve chosen or decided ourselves. The word fast means to abstain from or to voluntarily go without for the purpose of accomplishing a particular goal.
Understand! God wants to heal and deliver us. He wants to lift us up and make us pure. He wants to restore us and make us whole again. However, there are things in us that need to be starved out. Things that we unintentionally feed and keep alive. This revelation led us to accept the reality that there are things we must stay away from for God to accomplish His particular goal in our lives hence, a fast.
We live in a world where evil’s influential agenda is aimed to push the people who live in it and rely on it further and further away from God without ever knowing. As those who follow Christ, we have been made aware of the reality that if we begin to walk and stay committed to this narrow road, not everyone we know or come to know will like or even accept us.
A carnal mentality, a worldly perspective, and the lifestyles that are derived from a fleshly outlook all clash with the thoughts and ways of God. Therefore, if we align our thoughts and our ways with God’s, those same mentalities will clash with us. On the other hand, if areas of our minds and our hearts are aligned with the world then we too will begin clashing with God. Whenever these types of problem areas are uncovered in our lives, we must present them to our Father and in humility ask for the help we need.
We have all been infected with worldliness because the spirit of the world has injected itself within our fleshly nature through everything the world has ever promoted to us since we were kids. God is spirit and those of us who will worship Him must worship in spirit and according to the truth. Right now is a very important time to clearly hear what God is saying to us. Every day across the globe satan’s plan to keep us disconnected from God is transmitted in many different forms. His most influential tool is the internet. So, for that reason, evil always finds its hand in somebody’s pocket or purse. All the things that so easily distract us are designed to cause static and interference so that we lose our connection with God. For us to establish a clear line of communication, we have to stay away from and go without those things that cause interference. If the ruler of the world we live in sends out signals meant to block or manipulate our connectivity with God then the world and how it is ran is rooted in rebellion towards God.
This is what sanctification is about. We have been called to separate ourselves as those who are led by the Holy Spirit, not the spirit of the world. To do so we must have an authentic, honest conversation with the Lord and ask Him according to the fast in Isaiah 58; “What is the fast You have chosen for me”? We then must begin to detach and disjoin ourselves from anything that can possibly influence us to move, think, respond, advise, or even pray from a fleshly or worldly perspective. We must abstain from those things that keep us open to the influences of evil through this human-developed, satan inspired system. A system that keeps us dependent on man and not God. A system that makes us trust in our own efforts and not the power of the Spirit. This is the world we live in but are called not to be a part of. The problem isn’t necessarily all the things but the intended influence behind the things. That is what we must abstain from.
Here is a request that Jesus made in a conversation He was having with His Father. “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” John 17:13-19
It is true that we have to live within certain systems. It also true that those systems should not have rule over us. If we are led by the Holy Spirit and directed by His truth we will automatically become set apart from those who are led by everything they can physically encounter and grab a hold of. Evil is here, God is not removing it from around us. He is making sure we don’t have to be affected by it. He does His part, we have to do ours. Remember, certain things are only removed by prayer and fasting.
**Audio for this recap can be listened to here
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Y5mTlAj1sN28Bae36hSB1?si=3f10c21175ee427b
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-true-fast/id1740279389?i=1000651871935
Scriptures from this week
Isaiah 58
Revelation 12:9
1 John 5:18-21
John 15:18-25
1 John 2:15-17
John 7:7
John 18:35-40
John 4:23-24
1 Corinthians 2:13-14
James 4:1-10
2 Corinthians 6:1-18
Mark 9:14-29
Ephesians 2:1-3
Isaiah 58:1-14
