God Fast?

Originally Published: January 18, 2008

Like many believers, I strongly believe in the spiritual benefits of fasting. Though, admittedly, like many other Christians, I find this a very difficult spiritual discipline.

Recently, I learned that sometimes a fast can be God-initiated.

If you read this blog regularly, then you know that I haven’t written anything for a couple of months. It was during this period that I was introduced to this type of fast. Couldn’t eat, didn’t want to eat–no explanation. However, prior to this “fast” I had pleaded with the Lord to show me His purity so sin would be less appealing to me.

It was 8-10 days into this “God-fast” that I came under unbelievable spiritual attack. I tell you, it drove me to my knees and straight into the Cleft of the Rock–Jesus Christ!

I remember having come through this attack (purely by the grace of Almighty God), that it hit me one morning that I could eat again. I smiled up knowingly to God. Yes, eating again was okay.

I’m not sure all that this spiritual attack was meant to divinely produce in my life, but I can tell you I did get an answer to my previous prayer!

No, God didn’t “show” me his purity. Instead, He showed me my sinfulness!

When that happens, all you can do is call out to God and cry, “Lord! Save me!”

Thank God He did, He does, and I am confident He always will!

And, yes, I can write again, too!

Your Concept of God Just Might Be the Problem!

Originally Published: October 4, 2007

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. `Master,’ he said, `I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. “`Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 25:24-30

Whoa! I hope you are reading all there is to be read into this parable. You see, Jesus is speaking of His kingdom and His servants. This man was a chosen believer and follower of Jesus Christ! Saved, sanctified and gifted like all believers. Sadly, this man did not recognize the heart and intent of His Master. Indeed, his skewed perception of the very character and the person of his Master got him into the worst of all places–utter darkness!

Now, one simply can’t use this parable to support the claim that a believer can “lose” his salvation. Salvation is a free gift of God–brought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ! God is not an liar, and He is called Faithful!

However, when we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ any work or works done in our flesh that bring honor and glory to our Lord will be justly rewarded. Yes, some will receive greater honor and position, but all are saved and gloriously freed to enter into the glory of our Lord–even if it were as by fire! (1 Corinthians 3:9-15 and 2 Corinthians 5:10)

Oh, we are witness to a bitter lesson hard-learned by the poor servant in this parable! The sad result of coming to His Lord emptied-handed was that this servant was cast or positioned to ”exoteros skotos”, an exterior place of obscurity in God’s kingdom. Now, if you have ever been in a place where you have pondered your own “what if’s” or your own “what could have been’s” then you can fully understand why this servant and others like him find themselves in a place of weeping and gnashing their teeth. A place of–”if only”!

If we are not careful this is exactly where our own misconceptions toward God and His plans and purposes for our lives can lead us–stumbling around in total darkness–completely oblivious to the goodness, mercy and faithfulness of our God! Yes, even when it stares us right in the face!

This man, this servant thought his Master hard–a harsh taskmaster. Demanding, unmerciful, quick to judge and quick with retribution. He viewed his Master as One to be feared! His view was sorely tainted because he attributed to his Master the earthly characteristics of mere humanity. Yes, it may be true that this servant may have learned these ”earthly” or “human” attributes under the most dire of circumstances, or, worse through his own sin nature! Oh, beloved, this is never, ever going to wash, or hold up under the judgment of Christ! Why? Because it was Jesus Christ, the God-Man Who came to this earth, took on flesh, suffered and died upon a hated cross to reveal the true heart of the Father to us!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!” (John 3:16)

God loved this servant and meant him only good! Why else give him any gift? This servant failed to move past his misconceptions of God to the truth about God–God is love and God loves us! He never grew up in the Lord.

Misunderstanding God’s intent can cause us to try to hide or ”bury” many things; our gifts, our talents, even our sin. Sound familiar? It should because this is just what happened to Adam and Eve once satan tricked them and their eyes were opened to the “knowledge of good and evil.” They, too, tried to hide their sin from God–with just about as much success!

Come on. You and I can relate. How often have we waited for that frying pan, that jackhammer, boulder or mountain to come crashing down upon our heads? How many times have we accused God of evil towards us, even if only in the deepest recesses of our hearts? Okay, maybe it’s just me!

Anyway, for me, I think this “hard” concept of Almighty God developed in my early childhood years. Parents too often fail to realize that they play a major role in demonstrating the attributes of God to their children. Heavy responsibility I know, but so true. As children we learn the Godly characteristics of unconditional love, nuturing, and acceptance, We learn to develop a God-sense of value and worth. Our parents teach us the concept of right and wrong as well as the probable consequences of wrong choices. We learn the value of correction and discipline all within the family environment. In learning these early attributes of God, we develop the ability to readily respond first to the God-given authority of our parents, then to our Almighty God in reverent fear, obedience, respect, honor and love.

Apparently, this servant had not learn these vital truths about God! Thank goodness, this is only a parable–an illustrative story. A story that portrays truth–truth with a warning! Oh, dear one, a warning not to miss your blessing–your reward! A warning not to distrust or accuse your God!

Unfortunately we also have to touch on the fact that for too many of us, our early “church” experiences can help mis-shape our concept of God. For me, “church” only reinforced what I was already learning in my home environment. Sadly, the concept of God’s harsh retribution was reinforced–Sunday after Sunday!

Now, I could stop right there and place the blame for any misconceptions I may have about God on the shoulders of my parents and the “church”. Wrong! Again, that is just what Adam and Eve tried to do. They didn’t get away with that one either! (Genesis 3)

Beloved, once the idea of God has entered our thought process and seed has been “planted” in our hearts, we have to accept the responsibility to ever move forward to discover Biblical truth for ourselves! Caution: Just because you choose to believe something doesn’t necessary constitute that belief as being “truth”! “Study to show thyself approved”! Makes sure your “beliefs” line up with the Word of God!

An example of this is that this servant stated that his Master “…harvested where he had not sown and gathered where he had not scattered seed.” Wrong!

God introduced the concept of sowing and reaping! We have only to go back to the book of Genesis to see this God-given concept laid out for us and for all creation.

“Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” (Genesis 1:11)

“So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” (Genesis 1:21-22)

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:27-28)

If you know anything about reproduction, then you know that every plant and living thing reproduces either through a seed or egg. A seed is sown and reaps of its own kind! The egg is fertilized and reproduces of its own kind.

Oh, God is the great ”Sower” of the universe and everything in it! Beloved, He fully intends to “reap” or bring forth a mighty harvest–reaped from the blood, sweat and tears of His own dear Son, Jesus the Christ! Count on it!

We can’t miss another great truth in this parable. I was recently listening to someone explaining sowing and reaping. He stated that a farmer plants a seed (sows) and is responsible to make sure that he does everything within his ability to ensure that he reaps a crop. However, this is never a guarantee because it is always God who brings forth the harvest! A farmer cannot reap without God and we cannot increase our abilities, gifts and talents without God! Like Jesus said, sometimes tenfold, sometimes a hundred fold. This servant probably understood that concept of reaping and sowing, but he failed to believe that God would love him enough to perform that great miracle for him. Pity!

Oh, let’s not make the same mistake. Fear not! Trust in your God! He is Faithful Who has called you!

Jesus Christ revealed through the study of God’s Word!

Our All Merciful God!`

If you are a believer who has experienced the merciful saving power and grace of Almighty God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, then your heart just naturally bleds for all lost sinners. Perhaps, like me, your heart bleds even more profusely for those young, foolish souls who leave this earth without any indication that they have ever called upon the name of Jesus. It is far worse if they perish having committed gross sins against the laws of man, or the commandments of God. That piercing of the heart is even more searing if such a foolish one happens to be particularly close to you--an acquaintance, a friend or a dear beloved one.

Shortly after moving back to my hometown the Lord permitted satan to "sift" me like wheat. I experienced a time of "walking through that valley of the shadow of death." Many of you will know what I mean by that phrase. The Lord used satan's plans against me to "refine" me. As some may know, the refining process is quite often by fire, and believe me, fire burns! I know I have mentioned this before I know, but, beloved, fire can also heal and cleanse. Yes, the Lord gave His permission for me to pass through this valley of fire, but praise God, He did not leave me there. And, yes, He was there with me--always!

It was during that two year period I came face to face with the reality of sin's consequences in a way I would have never otherwise understood. God gave me the bitter, but at the same time praiseworthy "grace gift" of a tasting of the horrors hell holds for the lost.

Shortly after this experience, a young man in our area died while trying to escape the police. He tried to hide out in a pond behind the jewelry store he and a friend or friends had attempted to rob. He was later found by the police but, unfortunately, he perished in that pond.

I did not know this young man, but I can tell you his untimely death has haunted me. He was barely 16. That may sound like a responsible age to some of you, but when I look back at my own children at that age, I can remember full well how at times they were very foolish. No, they never did anything as drastic or desperate as robbery, thank God, but yes, kids do stupid things. I did, and so did you.

This tragic event brought to mind a close friend and neighbor who perished at the age of 17-18 many long years ago. His was probably the first person I knew who died at such a young age. Then, a year later, almost to the date, the girl he was with (who had been hospitalized for months as the result of that accident that killed this young boy) was later killed in an automobile accident of the same nature (drinking and driving) almost in the exact place the first accident had taken place!

Another such tragedy was that of a lovely young woman who died of breast cancer in her late twenties or early thirties. I was told that she cursed God on her death bed. Oh, I grieved because I loved her. No, we weren't close, she was a bit older, but, yes, I loved her and I knew she and her family very well. I know her last words must have wounded them to the very core.
Did God see my grief and pain? Does God see yours? Yes, Yes, Yes!

I just have to tell you about the loving mercy of our God. A couple of days ago, I was listening to Real Family Life with Dennis Rainey (October 15, 16?). He and his guest were speaking on the brain development of a child to that of a full grown adult. His guest stated that doctors have now found that a person's brain does not reach full development until their early to mid twenties.

I can personally attest to this truth. I clearly remember hitting age 21-22 and suddenly getting it! My parents weren't complete morons! True, it was around that time that I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but I definitely think this brain development thing had something to do with it, too!

As I pondered this new information I remembered God's commands regarding offerings and those who could enter into the Promised Land. These passages can be found in Exodus 30:11-14:

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord."

Exodus 38:22-26:"And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. All the gold that was occupied for the work in all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men."

and Numbers 14, especially verses 27-32:

"And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah."

Again, just this past Wednesday night in church our pastor spoke of a time long ago when he, by mere chance, (As if there were such a thing!) visited a Christian family who was so deeply grieved, believing their aged Christian relative was going straight to hell because on her death bed she was cursing like a sailor. Oh, God is so good, because just a few days prior to visiting this family my pastor had just finished reading an article in a Christian magazine that explained that many cancers and the resulting chemotherapies (especially those that were first used years ago) somehow effected a part of the brain that caused cursing, even if that person had never uttered a curse who before. My dear pastor went back to his room and brought that magazine and article to that grieving family. He was also able to share with them that God does not retract His free gift of salvation! Every sin--past, present and future that dear woman had ever committed or would commit until she drew her last breath had been nailed with Jesus Christ on that cross! Glory!

I rejoice that God was so precious in letting me hear these truths through very reliable sources. I rejoice, not because I know that my young friends will be in heaven or, in hell for that matter, but because I know God is good, full of compassion and mercy. I can rest and know the peace the surpasseth all understanding because I trust that He Who judges--judges justly and fairly, always taking every single detail in account!

Oh, I pray you will call on Him and trust Him with all your cares. He is so Faithful!


Jesus Christ Revealed Through the Study of God's Word!