We have had 2 snow days this week with the onslaught of between 8 and 10 inches of the wicked white stuff. Since Monday was our day off (Sabbath) that means we haven't met together for three days now. I miss my schedule and my fellow interns! I have been spending most of the time studying and working on assignments...I think I am about 2 weeks ahead of schedule now (lol). I feel blessed however, to be in a house full of people! It would have been a very lonely 3 days without my family! I am also blessed because I can tune into the Prayer Room anytime I want on the website IHOP.ORG. I highly recommend it because it provides an amazing backdrop to quiet time with the Lord and reading the Word.The book I just finished reading is called The Rewards of Fasting by Mike Bickle and Dana Candler. This book has challenged me deeply. One of the things that drew me here in the first place was the emphasis on living a fasted lifestyle before the Lord. Hunger - spiritual, emotional, physical - is an escort to deeper things with Jesus. My views of a fasted lifestyle included trying to break free of consumerism, media addiction, and skipping a few meals in pursuit of intimacy with my Creator. While that is a good start, I have discovered that it is much more than this.
Bickle and Candler lay out what it means to live a fasted lifestyle based on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5.
"What is this lifestyle? Jesus defined it as embracing godly attitudes (Matt. 5), as we give ourselves to prayer and the Word of God, with fasting, giving, and serving others Matt. 6)....What does this lifestyle look like in our day to day existence, and just how do we walk in voluntary weakness so that God's power my be perfected in our lives? There are five types of 'fasting' described in the Sermon on the Mount We fast food, time, energy, money and words (Matt. 6:1-18) ....By giving, we fast our money and financial strength. In serving and prayer, we are fasting our time and energy. Blessing our enemies requires that we fast our words and reputation. In giving up food, we are fasting our physical and emotional strength."
This is only a very brief synopsis of the heart of this message. There is more to chew on than I can possibly blog. But I can share some of things that are on my heart after having finished reading the book today. First of all, this is completely contradictory to our society. "Going without" is not a phrase most Americans are familiar with at all. And before I get too self-righteous about being a Christian (in the world but not OF the world, right?) I have to place myself in the same category as everyone else. Comfort is king. Food is a god. Media is is paramount. All of these things while being good gifts from a good Father, have been placed on a much higher shelf than they should be.
And let's talk about food for a minute...it's all we think about. During church we are trying to decide where we're going to lunch. At work we are trying to decide what new or favorite restaurants we are going to go to over the weekend. We need chocolate to get through a stressful day at work, alcohol to shake off a bad week, comfort food while we grieve, party food while we celebrate....the whole concept of live to eat vs. eat to live has really hit home in this moment. Fasting food is a Biblical principle that most of us choose to ignore or have never been taught to adhere to...the thought of denying ourselves anything is foreign to us. Let's be honest, the thought of giving up food a couple of days a week makes us angry! The tragic thing is that we are missing a key component to intimacy with Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In our weakness He is made strong in our lives, but we don't really want to test that theory, not for real. I am preaching to myself here!
Media and entertainment has lured us into a virtually comatose state. I always have music or TV on somewhere. How can I hear the Lord over all that? I give to financially my church and to great causes, but do I ever really give until it hurts? A woman in the inner city testified last week that she had $10 in her pocket and $750 in bills due that week. She was at church and met someone going to a mission field of some sort. She felt the Lord nudging her to give the last $10 she had to this person. With a prayer, she obeyed. The following morning someone in her church handed her a check for $750 and said that the Lord had told them that she needed it. THAT is the kind of miracle and blessing we are missing out on when we don't live a fasted lifestyle before the Lord, sacrificing what we have for the glory of His Kingdom. And let's not even talk right now about "fasting our words and reputation" which means not saying anything negative about our "enemies" and not defending or promoting ourselves. The Lord wants to reveal Himself and the mysteries and secrets of His heart to His children, but we aren't listening. We're too busy self-medicating with all of these things to hear His voice.
All that being said, this cannot be entered into in a religious or legalistic manner. Living a fasted lifestyle before the Lord is not a formula for self-righteousness or blessing. It needs to be entered into with a heart of lovesickness for more of Jesus, our Bridegroom. Our only motivation should be to see Him more clearly and to love Him more dearly. Just because I read this book and have been made aware of some things in my life that need some adjustment, doesn't mean that I know how to do this. It will only be by the grace and mercy of God that I can make the changes necessary to place myself at His feet like Mary of Bethany.
(If some of this sounded harsh, I apologize. Trust me, the harshness was me kicking myself. It is not indicative of how the Lord is dealing with me. He has shown nothing but loving kindness to me in my shortcomings.)
And so I pray, Lord, I will not be content until my heart is burning with revelation so that I may live differently.
