Blog Archives - IRONSTRIKES

Sunday Meditation

5/31/2015

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Isaiah 55:1

Most of us have spent a lot of money and a lot of effort on things that do not satisfy. When our efforts do not result in serenity, we become more and more confused and more and more frantic. Into the middle of this chaos and desperation comes an invitation. God invites us to receive 'food' which is designed to delight our souls.

God's invitation is to people who are thirsty or hungry. It is to people who are working hard but finding little satisfaction. The invitation extends to those who have no money or assets of any kind. God is not sparing or stingy. God is an extravagant giver of good things. God wants us to delight in the richest of fare.

The nourishment at God's feast does more than please our taste-buds. This meal is more than mere esthetic pleasure. The nourishment from God's table feeds our souls with delight. It is nourishment that sinks down to the deepest places of our being. God seeds delight in the foundations of our soul. And from these seeds come serenity, peace and the courage to continue.

God, I'm thirsty.
I have spent my money and energy
on things that have not satisfied.
God, my soul is hungry.
I need food for my soul.

Help me to come to you, Lord.
You know my hesitation.
You know how suspicious I am
of such an extravagant invitation.
Help me to come as an eager child
to receive good things from you.
Feed my soul, Lord,
until it is full of delight.

Amen.

Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan
National Association for Christian Recovery

Creating a home together

5/30/2015

Many human relationships are like the interlocking fingers of two hands. Our loneliness makes us cling to each other, and this mutual clinging makes us suffer immensely because it does not take our loneliness away. But the harder we try, the more desperate we become. Many of these "interlocking" relationships fall apart because they become suffocating and oppressive. Human relationships are meant to be like two hands folded together. They can move away from each other while still touching with the fingertips. They can create space between themselves, a little tent, a home, a safe place to be.

True relationships among people point to God. They are like prayers in the world. Sometimes the hands that pray are fully touching, sometimes there is distance between them. They always move to and from each other, but they never lose touch. They keep praying to the One who brought them together.

For further reflection ...

"These are the [ones] who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts but do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt." - Jude 19-22 (NIV)

This post was written by Henri Nouwen. You can find his blog at: http://www.henrinouwen.org

6 things today's church is losing

5/29/2015

If you know me, you know that I am not a fan of articles or blog posts that berate the Church and point out all of her flaws. Sometimes, as I am reading these writings from well known authors, it breaks my heart that the bulk of their time on earth has been spent associating themselves with a movement that they can’t help but belittle on a regualr basis. I have never understood it really. From time to time, I think there are people who want to just sell books or get the attention of nonbelievers and pull the whole “bait and switch” when they get them to agree. I suppose some could even accuse me of doing that same thing right now, but know that is not my intention.

The Church as God describes it in His scriptures is meant to be the bride of Christ. This title implies union. I can imagine that any time Christian’s with good intentions slander His bride, there is some heartbreak. So, that is one way to look at the waves of negativity. It is wrong and if we are a cross-oriented people then one would think grace would season our talk. There are times, however, the body of Christ needs to huddle up and regroup. There are also times where we need to hear a challenging word and be moved to action. Not in a condescending way, but one that desires growth and stronger unity. The Bible is full of times where God needed to redirect and rebuke His own people. In fact, the Bible practically ends that way with the first third of the book of Revelation seeking to sternly guide the people of God. With that being said, as I look around and see the condition of His bride in current times, I have seen some things I think are becoming endangered in our Christian culture.

Here are 6 Things Today’s Church is Losing:

1. Desperation for the Gospel

I can’t help but think of the early church. The people were enamored by this new revelation. So much so, that they were willing to risk their lives simply to believe and proclaim. Certainly, there were plenty of times early Christians sinned against God, but the newness of the Gospel message swept them away. What about underdeveloped countries? We are hearing stories on a regular basis from missionaries all around the world giving testimonies of lives changed and churches planted, simply because the message of the cross was shared. Today, many people look at their faith as a hobby and the act of community worship as something they do when they have nothing else to do. Or even, something that fits well into their lives when everything is going well. Is this what Christ died for? The people, yes…but the apathetic attitude toward His body? I wonder if we have mentally conditioned ourselves to always look for the more exciting experience. Not sure what the answer is here. I think we need to pray for a huge awakening on this one.

2. Centrality of God’s work

Many people today can and do live a life full of busyness, good health, and plenty of money without God. They do great things, influence people, and leave powerful legacies without their Creator ever being acknowledged. This is because it is a very tempting idea to surround ourselves with security, resources, and knowledge so that the idea of God becomes unnecessary. Christians reading this blog today may think that I am describing sinners or people who do not believe in God, but I am actually describing Christ-followers. Unfortunately, for Christians, it is easy to lean toward a life that calls comfort “blessing” and the good that we do becomes the full expression of God’s word. Certainly, God wants us to be moved to action, but He also wants us to be moved to change and grow. His life and power will give us abundance. Not just temporal success.

3. Conflict Resolution

I will mention the early church again here, because it is pertinent. The fact is, back in the infancy of the Church, people did not leave their worship community because of hurt feelings, different political beliefs, music, preaching quality, lack of programming, stale communion wafers, uncomfortable seats, lack of air conditioning, not getting the part in the play, what someone commented on Facebook, the fact that the organ was moved two feet to the left, or the color of the carpet. People had the spirit in common and settled their conflict by arguing, finding common ground, and focusing on the mission once again. We have lost the art of healthy conflict resolution because we have taught ourselves that running away is better than growing. Let’s just grow up already. This doesn’t just involve church attendance but every edifying relationship.

4. A Hunger to be Less

No matter how humble we are as a body of believers, it is hard to resist making ourselves look great by displaying our spiritual wealth. We want to be the best Christian, going to the best church, reading the best books, and adhearing to the best doctrine…not so we can grow deeper, but so we can know and experience more than the next person. Christ calls us to a cross-like existence that compells us to abandon this mentality. The point of Christianity is to be the lowest, the servant, and those that wake up every morning hoping to die to self. In the immortal words of John the Baptist, “He must increase and I must decrease…” Enough said.

5. Prophetic Voice

The Church, in today’s culture, seems to want to have a voice of political power instead of prophecy. No, not the soothsaying definition that we are familiar with through fairy tales, but prophecy in the respect of God’s conveyed truth. The Church is meant to exist independent from the culture, understanding the culture, and speaking to the culture, not camouflaging itself within it waiting for the right moment to strike. Fellow believers…we live a life that is weird and doesn’t make much sense, and that is okay. This is nothing to apologize for, and nothing to run from. It is okay to be active in politics, and influential in business, but our goal should be to show others the nature of God through our lives.

6. Unity In the Body

There may be several congregations throughout the world but there is only one Church. Whatever your particular congregational brand may be, remember that our mission is shared and it will take all of us to fulfill it. I am so tired of people talking poorly about other communities of believers. Sure, we may not agree with their doctrinal slant, but even if they are driving people to Hell through their teachings, our treatment of them, and talk about them could drive the outsider looking in to Hell even faster. Just stop it. Pursue God and display love for Christ sake (see what I did there?). Preach the truth. Period. Healthy worship to God will draw people towards Him.

We are meant to make disciples, spread the gospel, and serve the world by the resourcing of the Spirit. Just do that. Let’s stick to the things that matter.

Don’t forget you are loved.

This post was written by Rev DeCrastos. For his blog, go to: http://other-words.net

Turning from God

5/28/2015

What is it to turn from God?

In the earlier stages of experience, we are apt (and perhaps it is difficult to do otherwise) to assign to God a form and locality. The term from, in its original meaning, involves the idea of place; and regarding God as having form and locality, we easily adjust the expression to our conceptions, and speak with a degree of propriety, relatively to our view of things, of turning our thoughts and feelings from God. But when, in a more advanced state of experience, the idea of a local God expands itself into the idea of God “un-local" and infinite, not only associating himself with all things as an attendant, but existing in all things as a living spirit; — what is meant by turning from God then?

In the experience of a truly sanctified mind, to turn from God, in one important sense at least, is to be out of harmony with his providences. For God, in being expanded, as it were, from the local and the finite to the un-local and infinite, can be found, as a God developing himself within the sphere of human knowledge, only in those things, acts and events, which constitute providences. To be out of harmony with these things, acts, and events, which God in his providence has seen fit to array around us, — that is to say, not to meet them in a humble, believing, and thankful spirit, — is to turn from God. And, on the other hand, to see in them the developments of God's presence, and of the divine will, and to accept that will with all the appropriate dispositions, is to turn in the opposite direction, and to be in union with him.

The man who is thus united with God in his providences, not only sees God in everything else, but he has God in himself. His soul is the "temple of the Holy Ghost." The God inward, or perhaps we should say the purified soul in the likeness of God, corresponds to the God outward. God manifests himself in his providences, sometimes in sending joy and sometimes in sending sorrow — and the life of Jesus in the heart, the God in miniature, if we may so express it, corresponds, with entire facility and perfection of movement, to the God that is manifested in the events and things around. And thus it is easy to understand, looking at the subject in these various points of view, and especially when we consider that God in his providences is the exact counterpart of God reestablished in the sanctified human heart, how man may be said, in the language of Scripture, "to walk" with his Maker, and that harmony with Providence is union with the Divinity.

This post was written by Dr Upham in 1851. You can find his writings at The Hidden Life blog: http://thomascupham.blogspot.com

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Making man friends

5/27/2015

. . . if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself—Galatians 6:3

When we men relent and finally accept that we’re designed for community with other men, we nearly always start with the wrong criteria for choosing which men. We often plot and single out guys that are cool or rich or connected or well-educated or who’d be good to know from a work perspective. And, if we don’t fall into those traps, we choose guys that are just a lot like us. We each think, subconsciously almost, “If I’ve got to devote myself to a handful of other men, I’m going to make sure they have some strategic value to me—worldly value, to my career or to my social standing—or, at the very least, they’re men who won’t challenge me or make me uncomfortable.”

Such plotting is a mistake. It’s driven by pride—that we somehow know better than God how these communities should come together. We must instead follow the blueprint given us by our King, Jesus Christ. He never once used this “strategic value” analysis. Throughout the Gospel, he spent time with people whom God the Father wanted him to—people with whom it made no sense to spend time, from a worldly perspective. Adopting this blueprint, the Apostle Paul wrote: “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16).

Okay, so what do we do?

Pray that God brings the right men. Allow him to connect you to men who are willing to commit and surrender, willing to be transparent, are desperate for him. Be forewarned, though, the group that comes together will probably look nothing like what you expect . . . and that’s good. Groups we create ourselves, based on worldly criteria, aren’t worth our time. Groups that God creates for us are worth everything.

This post was written and copyrighted by Justin Camp of Gaither Ministries. For more information go to: www.gaitherministries.com

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

A dangerous man

5/26/2015

That strength so essential to men is also what makes them heroes. If a neighborhood is safe, it's because of the strength of men.

Slavery was stopped by the strength of men, at a terrible price to them and their families.

The Nazis were stopped by men.

Apartheid wasn't defeated by women.

Who gave their seats up on the lifeboats leaving the Titanic, so that women and children would be saved?

And have we forgotten--it was a Man who let himself be nailed to Calvary's Cross.

This isn't to say women can't be heroic. I know many heroic women.

It's simply to remind us that God made men the way they are because we desperately need them to be the way they are.

Yes, a man is a dangerous thing.

So is a scalpel. It can wound or it can save your life. You don't make it safe by making it dull; you put it in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing.

If you've spent any time around horses, you know a stallion can be a major problem. They're strong, very strong, and they've got a mind of their own. Stallions typically don't like to be bridled, and they can get downright aggressive-especially if there are mares around. A stallion is hard to tame. If you want a safer, quieter animal, there's an easy solution: castrate him. A gelding is much more compliant. You can lead him around by the nose; he'll do what he's told without putting up a fuss. There's only one problem: Geldings don't give life. They can't come through for you the way a stallion can. A stallion is dangerous all right, but if you want the life he offers, you have to have the danger too. They go together.

This post was taken from the book, Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

To the broken (male) heart

5/25/2015

Women are not the only species that experience a broken heart. There are hurting men in the world at this very moment -- men who have been betrayed, abandoned, disillusioned and misled. Though men do not typically wear their hearts on their sleeves, nor do they always grieve in the same exact way as do women, men still hurt when their hearts are broken by mistrust, neglect, and emotionally (or physically) deserted by someone they love -- even someone to whom they spoke vows and was striving daily to lovingly and faithfully preserve those vows.

First, you should realize that feeling hurt, grief and distraught by your circumstance is part of the human experience. In other words, you should in no sense feel strange or weak because you are hurting. Allow yourself to hurt. Work through the grief. We are never instructed to shun grief but to learn how to grieve well. Your inner strength is in no way diminished merely because you are hurting. No one has ever healed without first feeling the pain.

Second, just because one person failed you does not mean that everyone else in the world will fail you. You are not the lone ranger. You still need people even though you may not at this time want to be around people. By shutting people out of your life you are denying yourself a healthy avenue toward your own healing. Do not deprive yourself of the very element that can bring about your progress toward healing and wholeness and well-being.

Third, God has not failed you, even though this person failed you and betrayed your trust. "Why does God allow these situations?" Well, what exactly would we have God do -- control all of us like robots, always doing what we should do, not from the heart but because God is manipulating our every decision? He does not work like that. He allows each of us to render our own decisions, meaning that we are each responsible for those decisions, and He will hold us each accountable for our decisions. So He allows people to hurt us, betray us, and desert us.

You are most uncomfortable in this state of mind because you are vulnerable. Do not fear your vulnerability. As a matter of fact, by embracing your vulnerability -- your weaknesses, flaws, challenges, bad habits, and inner struggles -- you are actually gaining the upper hand in your particular situation. Only when you fear your weaknesses do you lose control to them. You do not want to be controlled by your grief and challenges. You want to control them, make them serve you, mold you into a better man. You do this by embracing them. What does that mean?

That means that you acknowledge and own your fears, your flaws, your deficiencies. You do not deny them, reject them, or deflect their reality by distracting yourself from their presence. You look them squarely in the eye and confess: "That's right, you belong to me as part of my flawed nature, but you will not control my life. You will not have the last say. I, by God's help and grace, will make healthy choices for my life, not detached from you, but with you by my side." Too many people try to deny and reject their weaknesses, their pain, their vulnerability. That leads to further failure, further problems, and a more powerful grip of fear over their life.

More importantly, in the words and thoughts of Henri Nouwen, you must learn not to live your life by the standards of fickle people. You have to live this life God gave you, not someone else's life, not by someone else's opinions for your life. You have to firmly grasp the wine of life already given to you and drink it to the last drop. You have to be bold enough to say:

This is my life, the life that is given to me, and it is this life that I have to live, as well as I can. My life is unique. Nobody else will ever live it. I have my own history, my own family, my own body, my own character, my own friends, my own way of thinking, speaking, and acting -- yes, I have my own life to live. No one else has the same challenge. I am alone, because I am unique. Many people can help me to live my life, but after all is said and done, I have to make my own choices about how to live. (1)

Even now you sense a glimmer of hope, though it startles you a bit, and you are not sure you are ready for a new beginning. That is fine. Take your time. Healing takes time. Growing takes time. You have to live in order to heal, to grow, to gain a new perspective for a new way of living. But do not fear a new way of living. You have a new normal into which you must now trust yourself and the Lord to live, day to day, trusting that His hand will, by some mysterious way, guide you.

When painful memories visit you -- and they will -- do not push them away. "You have to live through your pain gradually and thus deprive it of its power over you." (2) The more you push that pain away the longer your healing will take and the more power it will have over you. You might sense that grieving or crying is not healthy. Just the opposite is true. You have to learn to grieve in a healthy manner. Do not resist grieving.

This grief feels like a death and in certain ways it is like a death. Some wonderful life-experiences that you had gained have been taken away from you. Refusing to grieve makes you feel strong, like "a real man," but it is actually weakening you further. Do not fear the place of grief. "You are so afraid of that place that you think of it as a place of death. Your instinct for survival makes you run away and go looking for something else that can give you a sense of at-homeness, even though you know full well that it can't be found out in the world." (3) But perhaps the real issue here is that the grief reminds you that the pain is so very real.

Yes, you are still alive, and so is the pain. "You cannot mourn something that has not died. Still, the old pains, attachments, and desires that once meant so much to you need to be buried." That in itself is painful. "You have to weep over your lost pains so that they can gradually leave you and you can become free to live fully in the new place without melancholy or homesickness." (4) This you fear, as well.

Know this: you hurt and you grieve because something that was once alive is now gone, dead, not returning. Though you must grieve, you must also learn to let go, and to do so without bitterness and anger. These elements can destroy you. Take the reality you have been dealt and absorb it into your being. Make it serve you; form it into a tool that can help you, strengthen you, both now and for the future. Whatever seems blurry now will become crystal clear later.

__________

(1) Henri J.M. Nouwen, Can You Drink the Cup? (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2008), 31-32.

(2) Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom(New York: Image Books, 1998), 26.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Ibid., 27.

This post was written by WW Birch. You can find his original post with comments at: http://jacobarminius.blogspot.com/2015/05/to-broken-male-heart.html

Sunday Meditation

5/24/2015

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' Luke 15:4-5

It is easy for us to lose our way. We may start off with confidence. We think we know where we are and where we are headed. And, then, somewhere along the way in life we get lost. We find ourselves alone and we don't know where we are. We get confused and disoriented. We don't know how to find our way back, how to get 'on track' again.

Fortunately, God pays attention. God notices that we are lost. And, because of the great value God sees in us, God sets out to find us. God searches for us. God pursues us until we are found.

When God finds us, most of us expect God to say: 'Where have you been? I have been looking all over for you! Can't you follow directions? What's wrong with you? I don't want to have to come back out here again to find you. Try to pay attention from now on!'

But there is no hint of scolding, shaming, yelling or blaming in this text. When God finds us, God is full of joy. God picks us up and carries us home. God celebrates.

God pays attention. God notices when we are lost. God searches for us. And God celebrates when we are found. Recovery is the gift of being found by God.

I was lost, Lord.
Alone..
Disoriented. Confused. Afraid.
You found me.
I expected blame and rejection when you found me.
I expected you to be full of rage.
I expected you to see me as an inconvenience.
But you greeted me with joy.
With celebration!
Thank you for finding me.

Amen.

Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan
National Association for Christian Recovery

We're the best church in town!!

5/23/2015

“Our church has the best youth ministry in town.”

“Everybody knows we offer the best children’s ministry in the city.”

“Our vision is to be the best church in the area.”

Over the last ten years I’ve heard statements like these with increasing frequency. Is this a good thing? Does our desire to serve God with excellence naturally lead us to want to be the best in town? Is the “best” classification the most honorable way to measure our success and effectiveness?

Most people probably view the quest for best as a helpful ambition. Driving to be better and better, at any endeavor, raises the level of quality for all. Right? Competition makes everyone better. Right? In many ways, that’s true.

But what’s necessary to be “best”? In any competitive field, in order to have winners you must have losers. In order to be best, you must conquer the others.

And that’s where the quest for best begins to turn ugly, especially in the church.

In the church, this spirit of bestfulness and competitiveness leads to pridefulness. This has not gone unnoticed by the public. A non-churched mom I interviewed said, “Churches today just want to be bigger and better than the next one. That’s not what church is supposed to be about.”

Yet, the quest for best seems intoxicating. Church gurus advise congregations to find something they can be best at in the community. “What makes you stand out among the others?” they ask. The trouble is, we’re not called to stand out. We’re called to stand behind.

In Mark 9 we see the disciples arguing about who stood out as the best disciple. Jesus confronted their quest for best. He said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” In other words, we’re not called to stand out. We’re called to stand behind those we’re called to serve.

If a church is not called to be the best in town, what is it called to be? It’s called to serve. Humbly. It’s called to touch lives with God’s love, one by one. It’s called to be faithful where God has placed it.

No disciple is called to conquer the other disciples in a quest to be best.

Jesus illustrated and summed up his lesson on humble servanthood by picking up one small child and urging his disciples to do the same, to faithfully welcome the small.

It’s not the kind of pursuit that will jetison a church to anybody’s Best 100 list.

This post was written by Thom Schultz. You can find the original post here: http://holysoup.com/2013/05/01/to-become-the-best-church-in-town/

Why fast?

5/22/2015

Yesterday I explained some of what fasting is not. So today I want to show you some of what fasting is.

Fasting is doing without something—usually food—for spiritual purposes. Biblical fasting is a private matter between an individual and God. While it is important in the Christian life and service, it is not something that is commanded, nor can it be used to judge the spirituality of others. Spirituality comes only from an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Fasting is a time to focus on God. Prayer and fasting go together like an RC Cola and a Moon Pie. Fasting is more than just denying ourselves of things that we want and need. It is also a time when we focus more on God, and less on us. When we fast we seek to center our attention on God so that we can put Him first in every area of our lives. When we fast we get hungry. What we need to do is let our hunger focus our attention on God. This is a good time for us to say a “breath prayer”. A breath prayer is not an extended period of prayer. More like a single sentence about what I’m fasting for or just a prayer of praise to God.

One of the hardest things to do during a fast is to be sure we are focusing on this primary purpose. If we are skipping lunch it is easy to use this time to get some extra work done, get a nap in or watch some more TV. We have to guard against this and make sure that we use this time to focus on God through prayer or reading our Bible. Satan would love to hinder our fast by taking our focus off of the primary purpose of the fast.

If fasting is not directly commanded in Scripture and isn’t really an accurate gauge of our spirituality then we may wonder why we should do it? Let me give you several reasons.

Jesus expected that we would fast. “Moreover, when you fast…But you, when you fast…” Matthew 6:16-17 (NKJV)

Did you catch what Jesus said there? He said WHEN you fast not IF you fast. Jesus fasted, His disciples fasted and He expected that we would fast.

Fasting demonstrates our faith and sincerity. When those in the Bible fasted the right ways with the right attitude they were seeking to demonstrate to God that they were depending on Him and were sincere about wanting Him to work in their situation. One place that shows this is Ezra.

“Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.” Ezra 8:21-23 (NKJV)

Instead of asking the king to give them guards to protect them as the traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem Ezra decided to trust God to protect them. To show that they were really trusting God and sincerely wanting His help Ezra declared a fast for a period of time. The great thing we see here is that God honored their faith and sincerity. Fasting demonstrates our faith and sincerity probably more than anything else we can do.

Jesus promises to honor fasting. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew 6:17-18 (NKJV)

Jesus tells us that if we fast in the right way with the right motives we will be rewarded for it. The God who sees what we do will reward us. From this passage I am convinced that anytime we fast in the right way with the right motives we can expect that God will bless us for it. Now we aren’t specifically given any ideas of what these rewards will be. However I can tell you some I’ve experienced in my life.

Fasting improves my relationship with God. Any relationship will be improved with you spend a period of time focusing on the other person. Our relationship with God will be no different. I have never completed a fast without my relationship to God being better than what it was before I started. This has been true when I was close to God and when I wasn’t so close to God. I heard a pastor say once, “Fasting is only effective in as much as it brings me closer to God.”

Fasting reveals what controls me. At various points in our lives we all tend to let things other than God and His Spirit control us. When I have fasted God has used this increased time with Him to reveal to me what is controlling my life. Sometimes I already know what this is and other times I am surprised by what is revealed during my fast. Fasting has helped me remove these non-essential things so that my most essential relationship—with Him—can be put in the place it’s supposed to be.

Fasting makes me more sensitive to God’s voice. The more focused I am on God the more sensitive and receptive I am to His voice. The Bible teaches that through His Holy Spirit God wants to guide us in every area of our lives (Galatians 5:25). Rarely is the problem God’s unwillingness to lead us as much as it is our lack of sensitivity to His leading. It has been my experience that when I fast and focus on God I am much more sensitive when He wants to speak to me through His Word and more sensitive to general “impressions” from the Holy Spirit.

This post was written by Rev Ross. You can find his post here: https://stacyjross.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/why-fast/