7 reasons why fasting matters!
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From the moment you were born - God was there. With you. In that moment God was madly in love with you. Every since that moment, God has been with you. In every step he has been present and through it all, he has loved you.
The reality is that you probably haven’t felt or known his love in every step of your journey. This is because we have a problem. Sin. Sin is where we put ourselves first and live in control of our own lives.
All of us our born into sin. We grow up to be selfish and with a desire to please our own wants and desires. When we live for ourselves, then we live outside of the design for how God created us to live.
Very often, we actually try and live good lives. We do kind things and we help people. But our own efforts leave us confused and empty. The Bible says that without knowing God in our lives, we are living in darkness.
Our sin separates us from knowing God’s love and his true nature as a loving father.
There is hope. Into our darkness and mess came Jesus.
Jesus came and showed us what God is like. It was Jesus who revealed that God is a loving father who has always loved you and I.
Jesus showed us that God was happy to get close to sinners and eat with them and at the same time Jesus showed us that God is holy, just and good.
Jesus then died on the cross in order to remove all of the sin that would get in the way of you knowing God’s love. Jesus then rose again and defeated sin once and for all.
Now you can give your rubbish to Jesus. Now you can put your trust in Jesus and step from a life of darkness to light.
When you trust in Jesus and turn away from living life in your strength then Jesus absorbs all your rubbish, insecurities, shame, fear, failure into himself, through his death on the cross.
You can give Jesus your life. You can let go of doing life your own way.
When you put your trust in Jesus you can then get baptised in water. Water baptism is where you sink into the reality that Jesus has removed all your rubbish. You then arise out of the water into the reality of being totally at one with God.
You are now a new creation.
You are now able to freely access and live in God’s love and peace and joy.
Most of all you are now in unbroken union and communion with the God who has always been there for you.
No longer can sin separate you from God.
We now enter into a life long journey of learning to trust in Jesus and live a life of love.
The life of trusting in Jesus is a life of adventure. You will face trouble and hardship. You will also know Gods powerful love and feel alive as you live the life of love that you were designed to live.
The reality is that each day is also a battle, as we learn to say no to our flesh and we learn to change how we think and act and we learn to live a life of discipline.
Discipline is the process that God uses to help mature us so that we live and love like Jesus. The Bible says that God disciplines those he loves. Discipline is a healthy structure that helps grow and develop us.
Through the Bible, God gives to us a number of disciplines. Meditation on the Bible and prayer are two examples.
One of the disciplines God gives to us is fasting.
Fasting is the process of denying your flesh so that you are free to enjoy God’s love and presence.
Fasting is the process of saying no to your flesh so that you can pray and commune with God and enjoy a deeper and richer experience with him.
Fasting is a process that develops God’s love, power and freedom in your life.
Fasting does not get you closer to God. Jesus died to remove your sin and connect you with God. Fasting is the process of stepping away from the distractions of life and the wants and desires of our flesh, so that we can spend time with God.
Through fasting we grow in our relationship with God as we become more aware of his love and presence. We also know that fasting with prayer always precedes God moving in power.
We want to see salvation as a local church. We want to see the miracle of salvation in and around the Hil centre in Toxteth. We are asking God to do what only he can do. We know that prayer and fasting is key for this to happen.
There are a number of things that happen through the process of prayer and fasting. Below are seven powerful blessings that we can have through prayer and fasting.
1 We prepare ourselves for what God wants to do in and through our life.
2 We are able to more easily connect with God and receive forgiveness and freedom from our sin.
3 We come into a place of unity with God’s people. A unity in the Holy Spirit where God can more easily move in and through us.
4 We catch God’s heart of compassion for a people and a place.
5 We grow in the power that we need for the work that God has for us.
6 We grow in our experience and understanding of who God is and his love for us.
7 We help prepare the way for what God is going to do.
