Most days, I fill my belly and I go on without thinking. Well, I do think, but only of myself and my next snack or meal. Comfort is what I desire. Safety. Protection. Blessing. How then, do I ever truly know hunger? Hunger for food, for change, for answers, for God?Fasting is an act of obedience it's not a popular practice, but Jesus said, "When you fast..." I've studied it's benefits, it's requirements and it wasn't until I actually began the practice that I realized why God invites us to experience Him in this way. I have found that it's only in meeting with the King in such a personal and focused way that we can grasp His will and His heart. Prayers are answered, yes, but it's this deep communion that He knows the invitation holds.
I want to live a fast, that is, to live in a daily communion so that I'm not guilty of the "one day fast" that Jesus talks about in Isaiah 58--one in which we resume our regular living in sin shortly after our fasting. I want to be obsessed with Jesus. I want to show my children a crazy love for a God who demonstrates an amazing love for me. I like how Francis Chan describes it in his book, Crazy Love: "People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress".
Hungering for God is the first step toward this communion and also the way in which I hunger for more. It's a beautiful cycle. Deliberate hunger--this fasting thing--along with the benefit of answers to prayer, it draws me closer to Him, and satisfies my famished soul.
I want to live a fast, that is, to live in a daily communion so that I'm not guilty of the "one day fast" that Jesus talks about in Isaiah 58--one in which we resume our regular living in sin shortly after our fasting. I want to be obsessed with Jesus. I want to show my children a crazy love for a God who demonstrates an amazing love for me. I like how Francis Chan describes it in his book, Crazy Love: "People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress".
Hungering for God is the first step toward this communion and also the way in which I hunger for more. It's a beautiful cycle. Deliberate hunger--this fasting thing--along with the benefit of answers to prayer, it draws me closer to Him, and satisfies my famished soul.
