Greetings, my Sisters in Christ!!
I thank God for His many blessings, and pray His continued blessings upon each one of you.
May His holy spirit rest upon us all, in our time together today, in Jesus name, Amen.
It's Official!
We are one full week into our corporate fast, and I must admit
This has been one of my most challenging 'Fast' yet!
Why?
I'm still figuring that out.
Perhaps, you can help me get an understanding, today?
At first, I thought it was the allowance of food after 6pm...
Because usually when I fast, I go ALL IN!
No.... food.... at..... All!
So to fast Now, but have food Later
Was somewhat of a distraction for me.
And during the first days of the fast,
it seemed I was subconsciously focusing SOLELY on the clock
ANTICIPATING, when it would be time for me to EAT! Lol
At least I'm honest.
But then I realized, this was merely mind over matter.
And as the old saying goes, 'If you don't mind, it don't matter"
So, I began to pray, to ask God to quicken me in my spirit
And He DID, of course.
But then this led to my next challenge...
PRAYER.
During our fast, we were instructed to pray every 3 hours
But I WORK, though?!
And I work in the community, so I am LITERALLY on the go
ALL.....DAY.....Long!
So, I DID pray....
when I had time?
In between visits, and once I got home.
But Every 3 hours? Not so much.
So of course the enemy began to slither in...
And I felt a spirit of condemnation settling on me,
And I'll admit,
I entertained the thought that I was failing this fast MISERABLY!
Briefly.
BUT GOD!
Who always has a ram in the bush...
He gave me a dream,
Which led to a call
Which led to my reading a devotion out of a book written by Freeda Bowers
Called "Give Me 40 Days"
In short, this is a prayer book.
One that 'challenges' the reading to spend the next 40 days in prayer
BUT!
Not just doing 'normal' prayers
But to actually pray for the specific needs of OTHERS, not YOURSELF!
And this my Sisters, was the answer I needed to get over the hump!
In John 14:16, Jesus says:
"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth..." (KJV)
And then it HIT me...
The WHY I was fasting, trumps
the WHAT I was doing while I fast.
Don't you see?
I already knew that fasting wasn't only about not eating food,
or about how many times I DID or DIDN'T pray in a day
But what God wanted me to learn is how to ABIDE with HIM!
Not just during the fast
But Period.
So I studied this word abide and found that it means :
'To continue without fading or being lost'
So let me see if I understand this...
GOD wants us to ABIDE in Him, so we GROW daily with Him,
seeking....learning....trusting.....
continuing in faith without wavering
doubting or fear, so we won't fade or be lost??
GIRL!
I had to do my holy ghost dance on that one!
Because it finally made sense!
Abide with Him, and He WILL abide with Me, duh!
In this chapter in John, Jesus is attempting to explain this to his disciples
And they didn't to understand
And I wonder if we Really do?
Jesus and the Father were ONE in spirit
because of this principle called ABIDING.
And because the spirit of God is so POWERFUL
Once Jesus tapped into it,
HE WALKED IN THE SAME POWER!
You following me, Sis?
Because I know we understand the words,
But do we understand that WE can have this SAME power?
And that is my reason for submitting to fast.
I've been a BELIEVER for a long time
But now, I want to tap into the POWER of God!
To become a vessel GOD can use
To demonstrate His power on this Earth.
Because the world NEEDS to SEE Him!
And the only way they'll see HIM is through US!!
So after 7 days
174 hours
and 29 minutes of fasting
I finally figured out the reason this week has been so challenging.
The enemy wants to keep me from tapping into the POWER.
Jesus confirms this in verses 11 & 12:
" Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, that works that I do shall he do also, and GREATER works that these shall he do..."
It's time to go to WORK Ladies.
No more church as usual.
No more prayer as usual.
No more fasting as directed.
ABIDE in God!
Now, Sis!
And He will not only ABIDE in you,
But He will manifest his POWER through you
And WE will ALL do EXPLOITS on this Earth
So that ALL that see might BELIEVE in the one who sent us!
AND to GOD be the POWER and GLORY FOREVER!
Amen.
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