Some of our preparations for our week of fasting January 2-8 have already begun. We have talked about the kinds of fasts and I pray you have sensed what God is asking of you. We have written out our goals and praises to pray with next week. But, what more is there to do to prepare for a fast.
Today I want to share a story with you from the word of God. It's about emptying…
Jesus Questioned About Fasting Mark 20: 18-22
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.
22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
In his book, Fasting, Jentezen Franklin, says, “Fasting is what prepares you for a new anointing. God can’t put that kind of wine in old skins. If you want new wine, new miracles, new closeness, new intimacy with Him, then it’s time to call a fast and shed that old skin for the new.”
It’s about emptying….
I don’t think I have understood this passage before now. Have you heard the saying, “If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got.”
Well, duh!
It’s time to do something different, something God speaks of a great deal throughout His Word. It’s time to cast of the old wineskins, do something new, and then EXPECT, the new anointing. The miracles, the closeness, to expect Jesus to show up and astound us.
So prepare for this fasting. Reach for your Bible in the morning: Read this passage in Mark, then Read Isaiah 58.
Also read: How to Make Your Spiritual Experience the Best It Can Be. by Campus Crusade.
Today I have a question. Do you believe that fasting is offering our body as a living sacrifice?
Be blessed, Lynn
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Fasting: Opening the Door to a Deeper, More Intimate, More Powerful Relationship with God By Jentezen Franklin |
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