It has been an amazing month. I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring. We just had a great picnic with the church and it was such a beautiful day. I don’t think it could have gotten much better then it was. Thanks to everyone who pulled together and helped out.
Well, the Caps were eliminated in the first round by the Philadelphia Flyers. Sad deal! But we won the division and made it to the playoffs. The Caps made history for the best turn around in one season. Let’s Go CAPS!!!! 5 months until the next season. I plan on going to watch them skate when they come back for summer training at Kettler – anyone interested???
The church has been experiencing a wonderful in breaking of the kingdom of God during our services. I have always felt his presence but it seems in the last couple weeks several people have been experiencing His presence in new and wonderful ways. This is always awesome.
Update on my fast: I ended up going for 7 days and it was great. I never experienced head aches or any other sick feelings after day 2. My hunger dropped off after day 2-3 and by the end I could have probably kept on going. My goal was 10 days but do to my schedule I had to cut it short. Again nothing huge to give testimony beyond the love and His wonderful presence I felt.
We must remember that fasting is not:
Physical Discipline -- We must remember that God never tells people to fast as purely for physical discipline. It is not a good diet plan. People have suggested that helps in resetting or possibly detoxing the body. We may gain discipline from fasting but this is not a good reason for fasting.
Manipulative -- Sometimes fasting is viewed as an attempt to twist God’s arm or to win His approval. In the book of Jeremiah people fasted with these wrong motives. “Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burn offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague” (Jeremiah 14:12).
A Hypocritical Religious Exercise -- By Jesus' time fasting had become a very important part of the Jewish life. Perhaps overly important would be a better way of saying it. Based on Luke 18:12a, we know the Pharisees fasted twice a week. The Talmud tells us that this was on the 2nd and 5th day (Monday and Thursday). Why those days? According to the Pharisees it was because Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to get the Law on the 5th day and returned on the 2nd. At least that's what they said. But if you look closely into Jewish history, you find another possible reason for the Pharisees fasting on Monday and Thursday. Market day in the city of Jerusalem was on the 2nd and 5th day! Everyone from the countryside came to town on those days. It was on these two days that the Pharisees chose to hold their fasts. They would walk through the streets with their hair disheveled; they would put on old clothes and cover themselves with dirt; they would cover their faces with white chalk in order to look pale; and they would dump ashes over their head as a sign of their humility!! Fasting had become a "look-at-how-spiritual-I-am" exercise. It was hypocrisy. Biblical fasting is not hypocrisy. It is not a manipulative tool. It is not a physical discipline.
What is Biblical Fasting? Biblical fasting is "not eating" with spiritual communication in mind. How do we know this? Because Biblical fasting always occurs together with prayer in the Bible - ALWAYS. You can pray without fasting, but you cannot fast (Biblically speaking) without praying. Biblical fasting is deliberately abstaining from food for a spiritual reason: communication and relationship with the Father.
We willing submit ourselves to weakness in the natural and place ourselves in the posture of drawing close to Jesus for the simple purpose of relationship – intimacy.
This is enough for today – draw close to God. You don’t have to fast. Just begin your day with talking to God… He is always listening.
Blessings,
Sean
Let’s go CAPS!!!!
REFERENCE: http://www.new-life.net/fasting.htm
Physical Discipline -- We must remember that God never tells people to fast as purely for physical discipline. It is not a good diet plan. People have suggested that helps in resetting or possibly detoxing the body. We may gain discipline from fasting but this is not a good reason for fasting.
Manipulative -- Sometimes fasting is viewed as an attempt to twist God’s arm or to win His approval. In the book of Jeremiah people fasted with these wrong motives. “Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burn offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague” (Jeremiah 14:12).
A Hypocritical Religious Exercise -- By Jesus' time fasting had become a very important part of the Jewish life. Perhaps overly important would be a better way of saying it. Based on Luke 18:12a, we know the Pharisees fasted twice a week. The Talmud tells us that this was on the 2nd and 5th day (Monday and Thursday). Why those days? According to the Pharisees it was because Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to get the Law on the 5th day and returned on the 2nd. At least that's what they said. But if you look closely into Jewish history, you find another possible reason for the Pharisees fasting on Monday and Thursday. Market day in the city of Jerusalem was on the 2nd and 5th day! Everyone from the countryside came to town on those days. It was on these two days that the Pharisees chose to hold their fasts. They would walk through the streets with their hair disheveled; they would put on old clothes and cover themselves with dirt; they would cover their faces with white chalk in order to look pale; and they would dump ashes over their head as a sign of their humility!! Fasting had become a "look-at-how-spiritual-I-am" exercise. It was hypocrisy. Biblical fasting is not hypocrisy. It is not a manipulative tool. It is not a physical discipline.
What is Biblical Fasting? Biblical fasting is "not eating" with spiritual communication in mind. How do we know this? Because Biblical fasting always occurs together with prayer in the Bible - ALWAYS. You can pray without fasting, but you cannot fast (Biblically speaking) without praying. Biblical fasting is deliberately abstaining from food for a spiritual reason: communication and relationship with the Father.
We willing submit ourselves to weakness in the natural and place ourselves in the posture of drawing close to Jesus for the simple purpose of relationship – intimacy.
This is enough for today – draw close to God. You don’t have to fast. Just begin your day with talking to God… He is always listening.
Blessings,
Sean
Let’s go CAPS!!!!
REFERENCE: http://www.new-life.net/fasting.htm
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