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Fast Day 10: Surprising Delight
Delight might be hard to describe, but we know when we see it or when we feel it! It’s not just joy or happiness, but there is an element of surprise in it. It is an “all of a sudden” feeling. A spark of pleasure we didn’t expect. We are astonished in a positive way.…
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Fast Night 9: Thinking
If anything is worthy of praise — think about these things and put them into practice. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8-9 Nighttime during our fast is an excellent time to think about what is worthy of praise. Since we are tired and in a more relaxed frame of…
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Fast Day 9: Renewal
Sunrise is the herald of a new day. A day to freshly experience His compassion and faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23). Another day of life to experience His renewed physical creation. And a brand-new day to acknowledge His spiritual re-creation in us (2 Corinthians 5:17). And do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but…
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Fast Day 8: Freedom
As citizens we stand for the freedom and rights of humans. As Christians we stand for a different kind of freedom and responsibility. This is not a freedom to do whatever we want within the law, but a freedom to live life in the light of Christ. We have a firm confidence that we are…
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Fast Day 7: Fast as a Delight
God promises to satisfy the desires of your heart. Really? But what if my desires are a little off His path? What if my desires are selfish? What if the desires of my heart are not clear to me? What if the desires of my heart aren’t necessarily good for other people in my life?…
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Fast Night 6: Feast
Come to Me, all who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 The Sabbath is a whole day of rest that God arranged for us from the very beginning of time! We read in Genesis that He rested on the seventh day and I am so grateful for the freedom…
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Fast Day 6: Soul Rest
Who doesn’t feel weary and overburdened, like these oxen, at times? Spending time fasting and praying can feel like a rest, a respite, an intimate sojourn with the Lord of the Universe. Come to Me, all who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from…
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Fast Night 5: Rewarding
“Fast so that your fasting will not be noticed by others but only by your Father who is unseen. Your Father, who sees you in private, will reward you.” Matthew 6: 16-17 When I started this blog, this was an area of great concern for me. I have needed God’s encouragement and wisdom to present…
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Fast Day 5: Don’t Fast Like This
Isaiah 58 outlines the kind of fast or response that God wants from us. He doesn’t want what the Israelites had been giving Him: a stolid, pious, self-righteous, cold, calculating, look-at-me, tit-for-tat, complaining, religious attitude. You say, “Why have we fasted and You have not been impressed? Why have we been hard on ourselves and…
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Fast Night 4: Lying Down
Jesus said to him, “Do you want to get well? Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well and picked up his pallet and began to walk. John 5: 6, 8 God has transformed me and He transforms my whole day when I fast. When I say No! to the…
happy hunger
FIVE MARKS OF A DISCIPLE: OCTOBER 5 – NOVEMBER 2
Posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: Fasting builds intimacy with God, and encourages you to grow inwardly, upwardly, and outwardly. Explore five marks of a transformed disciple of Jesus and determine five actions that will allow God to change you. An action that applies to each mark is focus. Fasting and prayer is God’s way for us to find the kind of focus that builds intimacy within and actions without. Be with Him. Be like Him. Do what He wants.
COMING NEXT! MAKING SPACE: NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 27
Reflect on how to use fasting to make more space for God in your life. Make space in the moment and better reflect God to others. Make space in the morning and enjoy intimacy with Him. Make space in your conversations with others and learn how to listen like He does. Make space in your schedule to breathe and be refreshed by Him. Make space in your commitments so that you can say Yes! to the things He wants you to do. God made a space in this world for us. Let’s return the favor!
