In coordination with a fast called by a prominent believer, I started a fast (as of the writing of this) yesterday. I’ve fasted on many occasions and for a variety of lengths. I don’t always fast from food, but this time I felt led to do it that way. What I wasn’t expecting though, was exactly how difficult fasting would be this time.
Fasting is never necessarily easy, but this time was very “next level”. By the end of the day, as I was cooking dinner for my kids, I found myself collapsing emotionally and strangely felt like I needed to just go ahead and eat a bowl of soup and a small salad for dinner and begin the fast again in the morning. It was so interesting because I felt no shame at making this modification, only peace. It was a new level of freedom for me to be able to change this midstream and have no feelings of failure.
Then as I lay in bed that night, I talked to God about the fasting and my eating a small dinner. When I asked Him why it was so hard, and wondered if He was disappointed in me, He said, “I wanted to remind you of your weakness. Where you are weak, I am strong. I wanted to make sure you remembered I am strong enough for all of this.” Isn’t God good?!
In the middle of all the world’s uncertainty, as I asserted my union with, and focus on Him through fasting, He wanted to remind me that He is big enough to cover all of this. In fact, it’s through His strength that I can fast in the first place. So, I can feel assured that if He tells me to eat, then I can eat without worry, because He is the One Who directs my fasting. What a feeling of partnership! For those of you who know me well, partnership is a primary love language of mine. Isn’t He a loving God?!
Prayer Moment: How is God wanting to partner with you? Have you asked Him? Take some time today and ask Him for a partnership opportunity. He loves to work with us and through us. He loves you very much. He has prepared, in advance, places for you to walk nearer to Him, all you have to do is ask. He is good and He is faithful.
He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says, and He has invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-11
365 Days in the Presence 