Fasting

January 6, 2014

Feeling Empty?


“The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

We must grasp the concept that it is not until we are truly broken and spilled out that we can be filled to overflowing.

Brokenness is so precious in the eyes of the Lord. One of the things that I deeply desire for God to do in my own life and in the life of everyone at Free Chapel is to bring a true spirit of brokenness to our worship. Most of us struggle with the concept that it is our own strength that draws God’s attention, when our strength is the very last thing God notices. Brokenness makes room for Him to release His strength through our weakness in order to accomplish His plans.

When God sent Samuel to anoint a new king to replace Saul as the leader of Israel, He guided Samuel past all the older, stronger, more experienced sons of Jesse, young men who by all appearances seemed well suited to be king. But God refused them, saying, “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).

It wasn’t strength or stature that God required. None of those boys spent hours alone with God the way that their little brother David did; none of them sang to God in the dark hours of the night with no one to listen but a few restless sheep … and heaven. Samuel was instructed to call for David and anoint him as the king He had chosen for Himself because he had a heart for God; a brokenness that God could fill.

Will you and I interrupt our lives and our routines enough to regain the edge and truly become broken before the Lord? Fasting is supposed to break the routine, not become another passionless performance. Isaiah 58 actually begins with God rebuking the people who were fasting because their form of fasting was merely an outward display to demonstrate their religiosity.

Fasting without prayer, without time spent humbling yourself before the Lord, will just leave you empty. But a heart poured out before God will be full.

The Fasting Edge

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