The Focus of the Fast

Resisting the Lord

Resisting the Lord

Joel Chapter 2 (12-13)

Return to the Lord

12 "Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Do you find yourself resisting the fast we are doing as a church? I know, I felt that I resisted it from the very beginning. I Heard the news about Pastor retiring on Sunday. To be honest with you, I did not want to fast, so I didn't fast on Sunday morning. Sunday, I was grieving. But then, as I started my fast, I began to feel that there was resistance within me about the fast, and I realized that I was more focused on the obedience part. The whole church is fasting. We have to fast as a family what we should do to show support. So I focused more on the sacrifice part of fasting than obedience.

In prayer, I asked the Lord why I felt so resistant and gave him space to guide me. I began to see that I was not giving Him space to speak, nor did I want to hear what he had to say to me. A lot is going on in my life, and I am sure many of you feel the same way. We must stop and ask ourselves, are we giving him the time and space to hear him, to hear what he has to say to us during this fast? I feel like sometimes we focus so much on the fast, and we know how to fast, right? We know what we can fast and what fast will look like for us, and we follow through for those 28 days. But we're not focusing on what the Lord wants to show us during this fast. I think that we often get so busy when we're fasting by reading scripture, praying, and listening to worship music. All those things are essential spiritual practices, but are we taking time to listen? Listen to what the Lord has to say to us during this fast. What does he want to communicate to you? What is his heart towards you and your situation in this fast? How about the person who carries a full-time job and full-time responsibilities? We fast, and we get so busy with our jobs and responsibilities that we do not give the Lord the space to speak and to listen to what he has to say to us. So I want to post the question that if you feel that you're resisting the fast that we're doing this year, I want to ask you. Have you placed your heart in a position to hear what the Lord may say to you? Now it might be that you have some tough questions in your heart that you just haven't asked the Lord, and you need to give yourself that time to have that conversation with God, and you need to provide Him with space to speak and answer those questions. He doesn't have to answer these questions, and He doesn't have to show up for you. We serve an amazing God that desires to show up for you. He wants to answer these questions. That is the beauty of being in a relationship with God. If you have not read Isaiah 58, I encourage you to do so. This passage of scripture is part of the focus of fasting. It shows the importance of the position of heart for ourselves, a position of heart for those around us, a position of heart for those in need, and a position of heart for God, which is the most crucial part. My question again is…Are you positioning your heart, time, and space to hear what God wants to say to you? If you are keep moving forward, but if the answer is no, I have not, then let me suggest to you that maybe that is where the resistance is. I encourage us to take some time and position our hearts and ask God, why are we resisting this fast? Let's give him time to answer because he will let us know. Maybe we already know? Sometimes there are things we already know we are dealing with In our hearts. By creating space and focus, we are giving ourselves time to face it and allowing God to work, reveal, and move in that area. It might be God wants to speak to us about the breakthrough we believe will come to pass. I want to encourage us not to focus so much on the sacrifice of the fast(religious practice) but let our focus be on the position of our heart that comes through the fast we are offering. More often than not, when we step back and take note of the status of our hearts, we can move forward, not resisting the Lord.

READ THIS AGAIN

Joel Chapter 2 (12-13)

Return to the Lord

12 "Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.