Fasting

Discipline Kills Self[ishness]

New Series - Spirit'l Disciplines

'Closer' to God? Need Breakthrough? Reset? Need a change heart/life?

Spiritual Disciplines slam brakes on bad habits & old paths; help create spirit'l-healthy

Connection between the physical and spiritual...

Standing, Laying on hands, lifting hands, closing eyes, coming to altar

Nothing innately MORE spiritual about them, but stir in US a mindset of reverence

Encourage divine action!

Faith AND works, working together!

Each week, examine one way that Discipline(s) help us...

Discipline Kills Self[ishness]

We live in world says, "You want it? Buy it. Pursue it. Live it. Do it. W pride!"

“Form your identity/personality around the stuff you like; who attracted to.”

Superfan; weeb; nerd; trekkie; gearhead. Badges of honor!

We live in a world of EXCESS:

Where stopping short or putting a product down (clearing your cart) is weird, counter-cultural; saving up for something is foolish!

Natural tendency; consume more, watch more, know more, eat more, etc.

Limits are old hat! Sacrifice is too painful; giving up too inconvenient.

BUT God calls us to a life of self-control

One way to attack the world's mindset is to do just that - keep your life under wraps

Set boundaries; life different; have upside down priorities, Jesus prior.

Fasting

Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Deny yourself. Your 'self', ur ego; your likes/wants; your desires.

Lay them down when they don't line up with Christ; When they don't look like bearing a cross for the sake of another.

Be prepared to set aside those things that are just 'fun', but not constructive at a moment's notice.

We all have selfishness - root of every sin is 'getting what's mine'

Jeremiah 17 - heart is wicked, who can know it?

Constant drive toward my own way; define good/bad; not do what I ought.

Nehemiah 9:1 “On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.”

Fasting assoc. with dust/dirt/earth on heads. Why?!

Burying self. Symbolized spirit of death on heads; low-ness...

Choosing put away happiness; our pleasure

Fasting...

...is not a Diet

Fast & pray about losing weight…

Psalm 69:10-13 “When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me. Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards. But I pray to you, Lord, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.”

"fasting"; Heb root: tsowm - root = "to close one's mouth"

interrupting a normal, biological process as statement to ourselves and God

An act of worship!

We sacrifice on the altar an activity near/dear to us

Denying yourself

Many of you have had to fast for a med. proced.?? Not suddenly holier... closer to God!

Laying down a key piece of your routine or life and giving it back to God! Asking Him to speak and act...

...is about what you REPLACE IT WITH.

Laying down food, social media, sports, video games, tv, TikTok, etc...

and instead spending that time with/for God!

Look at examples given in Script.

...in the Bible:

Mourning

2 Samuel 1:12 “They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.” x

ANE peoples would fast as a sign of grief over a calamity or death...

In Israel, a sign of grief over the selfish/sin in my life!

Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,”

“If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh…, we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Jesus' gift should transform us and compel us to put off the selfish things for Godly sacrifice.

Divine Revelation

Daniel 9:3 “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”

Fasting & prayer accompanied Daniel's direct encounter w/ Angel & future revealed

Proceeds to pray a humble, contrite prayer of repent!! (ties to last use)When we need direction & wisdom, see behind the curtain, we can fast....

Laying down 'self' and relying solely on God.

He wants our dependence/reliance!!

HE IS RELIABLE!

Divine Assistance

Ezra 8:21 “There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.”

Ezra instructed the people to come together bc they needed a BIG victory; needed YH to step in!

How many of you can relate to that today?

How many consider fasting when u need an impossible need met?

In Bible, when we take on post're of hum'ty and repent, see a dir. Word from YH, and dir. help from Him [victory] coming from a period of fasting.

...Pairs well with Good Works

Isaiah 58:4-7 NET 4 Look, your fasting is accompanied by arguments, brawls, and fistfights. Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven. 5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, bowing their heads like a reed and stretching out on sackcloth and ashes? Is this really what you call a fast, a day that is pleasing to the Lord? 6 No, this is the kind of fast I want: I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke.

YHWH scolds Israel for acting holy with a fast, but still falling short with actions!

Repenting or showing reverence to God, yet taking advantage of poor and lowly, selfishly squandering power/money.

What will you Fast?

Not IF, but WHAT?

7 Day fast. Annual, start year...

I challenge you join us again as we begin year praying for church, souls, for God's power to move.

Pray for your families! For the economy, the gov't (local, state, fed), soldiers, natural disasters, schools!

Fast Something that HURTS.

Leviticus 16 [Ps 35], ‘deny yourself’ = "afflict your soul"

Challenge yourself.

Set aside one habit or daily task - Something you'll notice

*** Replace it with prayer or reading or listening or good works…

…write a card, call a friend in need, write a check!