What fast does the Lord require?

During the season of fasting, it’s important to remember what is actually required through the scripture, and what pleases the lord in our process to fast.

Recently- it has become a way to sell books, commercialize on the fact that people are fasting and create a new program or monetize content in order to receive followers.

So often we forget, the true meaning of what the Lord requires us.

let’s read Isaiah 58 together:

Isaiah 58

3`Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.

4

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

6

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

7

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness [1] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

11

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Are you loving and living radically?

If you are consciously and actively keeping your spiritual roots strong, you are living a radical life-

“The “origin of radical isn't at all radical, in the "very different from the usual or traditional" sense of the word. Radical was first an adjective, borrowed in the 14th century from the Late Latin radicalis, itself from Latin radic-, radix, meaning "root."

“None of this will surprise the botanists: they know that radical leaves grow from the base of a stem or from a rootlike stem, and radical tubers grow from a plant's root. And linguists know that a verb's radical form is its root form. In medicine, radical surgery is surgery that's designed to remove the root of a disease.“

-source: The History of 'Radical' | Merriam-Webster

Did you know that just by having a daily walk with Christ, a family that loves the Lord, and daily pursuing kingdom work is considered radical? It is so beyond what the worldly standards and norms today but yet is so needed for a rooted life.

You are living a radically different and peculiar life if you simply follow the way of Jesus.

1 Peter 2:9? The KJV says, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.”

If you continue to keep your root system deep in the foundations of God’s love, your family will have a great foundation of peace, strength and generational blessings will follow.

These two great radical Virtues, Faith and Love, are the two Pillars, as it were, upon which the fabric of our Salvation is built: for nothing makes us the Sons of God, but such Faith as is accompanied with Love and good Works … — John Godolphin, The Holy Arbor, Containing a Body of Divinity: Or, the Sum and Substance of Christian Religion, 1651

The word radical has only meant “extreme” or had any  political connotation only in the last few hundred years. Truly living radically has always been having a foundation or roots in something or someone. 

So how are you living radically this week? 

Look at the root of your life and have a root check. 

The fruit of your life can only be determined by what’s growing on your tree and how healthy your spiritual tree root system is. 

The love of the Father

The love of the father

I’ve heard 1000 sermons on the prodigal son, and even more on the attitude of his older brother, demanding a party, after all of his years of hard work .

Of course, I’ve seen my reflection in both, depending on what season of life I was in.

But we always forget about the third character of the story -The father.

His younger son basically wants him dead- to take his inheritance without thinking about how his father would feel.

His younger son, completely disowned the family and leaves, never to return again.

Then the son completely squanders all the money, landing up in a pigsty, and completely disrespects the family, and how he was raised.

If I was a father, I would be so upset- knowing that all my hard work and sacrifice would’ve been completely a slap in my face.

Certainly, the father would have justification to abandon his son, and write him off of any future inheritance or property.

But yet, the father waits and expectation for his son, to come home, to embrace him -donning him with treasures, rings, and honor.

How many times in our lives, have people betrayed us, taken from us, and hurt us, knowing that it would deeply wound us?

And yet, through the process of daily walking with Jesus, we should become more like the father - willing to forgive, being over-the-top-generous, embracing those that have betrayed us, and leaving no room for pettiness.

When the Holy Spirit revealed this to me this week, I was moved to tears.

I always thought the place of the father in the story was simply a reflection of God- waiting for us, looking for us, and being so loving- which, of course it is. But there’s another layer to this story.

Through my 20 years of walking with the Lord, I’ve seen myself as the prodigal son, in my early years of faith.

Then, in my teen in early adult years, I would see my attitude of religiosity in the younger brother, and picturing myself there.

Now, in my almost 40s, with three children and a husband- I am now, realizing that the ultimate test of my faith comes to being most like the attitude of the  father.

This is the area that I need the most help on, because that is a daily process of learning to work with others, learning to sacrifice and crucifying my flesh daily.

This means completely putting myself below everything else, and being completely submitted to the ultimate mission of the Kingdom.

So, which character do you see yourself as?

Do you see yourself as the product with son, running away from God?

Do you see yourself in the role of the older brother-wondering where your reward is?

Or do you see yourself in the role of the father, reflecting the will of God, and being completely forgiving and kind ?

Reflect on which character you see yourself as, and then ask the Holy Spirit to help you become more like Jesus every day .