THE FAST THAT GOD ACCEPTS!
I wanted to write about fasting today and as a lead in, I want to
write about marriage for a moment. When a man and a woman are deeply in love with each other and have a good strong relationship;
both would do anything to avoid damage to their relationship.
A BRIEF ALLEGORY
If a woman who is the wife of a loving husband; has loving children; a great family and a good home; should suddenly fall
to a temptation and lie with another man, committing adultery: What would she do? If she came to her reason and realized
what she had done: What would she do? If she realized that she had put her relationship in jeopardy and that she was
in danger of losing her husband, her family, her home: What would she do?
If she truly loved them: she would throw herself
at the feet of her husband and beg for his mercy; his understanding, his forgiveness. And if it were the husband
who had failed; would he not do the same?
When there is much true love and one’s foot slips and the other
is offended; does it not immediately become our sole mission in life to effect reconciliation? Do we not focus all of
our efforts and attention on the one goal of repairing the relationship?
You who have loving and sound marriages
understand what I am talking about and others will just have to imagine this; but when anything at all threatens a good loving
marriage: both sides will not rest until the threat is past. I am talking about real genuine love here; something that
is badly lacking in the Church and in our society at large.
Let us understand that the Covenant we have
with Jesus Christ is a MARRIAGE COVENANT! We are espoused to our Lord as a wife undergoing a period of testing
to see if we will make a good wife for him. If our love for him should endure and we allow nothing to jeopardize our
relationship: If we always put our espoused husband first; before any other man or god: if we remain faithful to him
alone: then we shall be chosen at the resurrection to spirit and become fully at one in spirit with our Lord!
Like
a loving husband and wife; if we let absolutely nothing threaten that relationship. And if something does; if some sin
enters in. We must quickly repent, throwing ourselves on the mercy of our Lord; seeking reconciliation and a renewing
of the relationship. We must diligently seek his forgiveness until it is given: allowing absolutely NOTHING to interfere
with our goal until the relationship is restored. We must throw ourselves at his feet in the same way that an erring spouse
would repent and beg for mercy.
That is what fasting is all about! When there is a marital fight; a true
lover feels literally sick; he or she cannot eat; they cannot sleep, or think about anything else: Only about repairing the
breach between them. That is what fasting is all about!
Fasting is about turning from sin [which separates
us from our Lord]; it is about repenting from emotional and spiritual adultery: as we for a small moment desired to follow
someone else. As we for a moment followed some leader away from him.
Brethren; to follow men instead
of our Lord; is spiritual Adultery. As soon as it is recognized it MUST be repented of; and we MUST seek out our Lord
and seek to repair the breach with ALL our hearts. That is what fasting is all about! Fasting is the repentance
and the seeking of our God with all our hearts.
FASTING
We should NEVER fast to try
and get God to do something. Don’t fast that the church finances be replenished. Don’t fast that some
division be resolved. Rather let each person fast to repent and to seek God will all their hearts; then the sin which
is the fundamental cause of the problem; will be rooted out and forgiven. Only when each person has turned to our Lord
with all his strength and heart will the present divisions be resolved.
It is wrong to fast while continuing in
sin! It serves NO purpose; we are to fast in repentance of sin! We are not to fast so that we may feel righteous
as we continue in sin.
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and shew my people [God’s people are the “called Out, the Ekklesia, the church] their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. IS 58:1
Why
has no one answered this call from our Lord? Who am I that I should do this thing?
V2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as [as if they were righteous] a nation that did
righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in
approaching to God.
Yes the people take delight in speaking of the things of God, yet they
will NOT do them.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they,
and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your
fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your [demands, tributes] labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate [for division, fasting to be seen as more righteous
or better than others], and to smite with the fist of wickedness [you
fast for an advantage over others] : ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to
make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his
soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call
this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
6 Is
not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose [to repent] the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens [to lift the
burden of sin], and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke [of bondage to ungodly men]?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring
the poor that are cast out to thy house [to be merciful and do righteousness]?
When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh [that
you not neglect the families that God have blessed you with; that you not abuse your fellow servants, your brothers in the
faith]?
If you fast the fast of true repentance; and turn
to your Lord with a whole hearted zeal: if you fast to repair the breach between you and your Lord; if you truly turn to him
with all your heart and seek his will all your might:
8 Then shall
thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before
thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou
shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the
finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted
soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 And the LORD
shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of thee shall build
the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the
breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
If you repent of breaking the commandments of God;
if you start to keep those commandments with enthusiastic zeal; if you truly LOVE your Lord enough to obey him; and seek with
all your heart to please him: then take your foot off of his Holy Sabbath Day.
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will
cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of
the LORD hath spoken it.
Why are there divisions? Because we are doing what
is right in the eyes of every person and we are not keeping the commandments of our Lord! It’s as simple
as that. Fast the fast of true repentance; turn to your God. Respect his Sabbath, Holy days and commandments;
and God’s face will shine upon you!
It is reported to me that many engage in lengthy travel on the Sabbath;
that at a recent Feast, a cruise ship was in port on Sabbath and the minister hid away as the people went out to
play; parasailing. That many watch hours of cartoons and shows full of wickedness on the Sabbath; and that in a demonstration
of monumental hypocrisy [not being willing to work, but being willing to pay others to do so] some actually go out to buy
food and drink on God’s Holy Sabbath Day.
BRETHREN; THE SABBATH IS THE MAJOR TEST COMMANDMENT: AND
WE ARE FAILING THE TEST!
I have heard that some are now beginning to observe pagan festivals; twisting
the words of the apostle about idols being nothing; to justify their wickedness.
Brethren these divisions
have come upon us because we have strayed very far from our Lord. It is long past time for a true heartfelt repentance.
When you fast; forget about others, or your group and their problems: let every person start with himself and turn to his
Master; let each man repair the breach of sin that separates each from his Lord. If all people would turn to the Eternal;
he would pour his spirit down upon you, and you would all be filled with the spirit of power to obey your Lord and the
spirit of unity through a good understanding of the things of God; as that spirit guides his people into all truth.
FAITHFULNESS TO THE ETERNAL IS THE FOUNDATION OF UNITY!
TURN TO YOUR GOD; OH ISRAEL!
