Prayer and Fasting Jan 2014

We are in to day two of our week of prayer and fasting.  Although Fasting is never commanded in the Bible, it is continuously referenced as something that is good, beneficial and spiritually refreshing for us to do.  

From my experience, I also recommend that fasting be part of our regular routines.  For me, I'm fasting from food, eating only fruits and vegetables (Which, apparently, is a food group that I forgot existed)    

However, the spirit of fasting is to deny yourself something so you can listen to and hear God.    I like to think of it as reminding myself that my soul is what leads me, not my flesh.  You see, we eat to satisfy our bodily desire for food, so we choose the foods that satisfy our tastebuds and our immediate desire for sugar, salt or fat.   What if we ate to fuel our bodies so we could do the work God has set before us in the best way possible?  What if our motivation for life was listening to what our spirit was telling us to do, not just reacting to what our flesh is telling us it wants.    

The very nature of following Jesus is to deny yourself and pick up your cross.   (Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.)

This is the essence of what Jesus meant in Matthew 4:4  when he declared to His tempter. - "But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

We have a higher calling that just satisfying our flesh.  We have a calling to live Holy lives, completely submitted to God.  In that way we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.  As Paul says to the Romans in Chapter 12 verse 1:
I urge your Corvallis Church to come together tonight at 6pm at Crossroads Christian Fellowship on the corner of Highland and Walnut as we gather for a time of worship and guided prayer. 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship.

I hope to see you then, until then, let us rejoice in our fast as every moment of the fast we are declaring that God is truly calling the shots in our life.  As we lay down our own desires and selfish pursuits, we are placing God in the right place, as Lord.  

See you tonight!

Pastor Mike