Text: Isaiah 58:1-3
Memory text:
“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.”
I Corinthians 10:23 NKJV
We don’t only control our appetite for conventional foods during fasting but other foods. Anything that satisfies your craving or hunger is food to you. What may be food to someone else may not be food to another. For example, some people have uncontrollable appetite for sports, and they can give up anything, including their meal or their sleep, to watch a match. To them, that is food. To some, it’s watching movies or going to the cinema or just obsessed with social media. Rather than praying or studying the Bible, they can watch movies or just be on social media till 2am in the night. Thus, they wake up late, tired and unable to pray, and the cycle continues day after day. To others, it is marital intimacy (1 Cor 7:5). They become weak and unable to concentrate in prayer. Some others, it is just about social matters, attending parties and having ‘fun’! They are so crazy about it, such that not even prayer and fasting can take it away from them. If you really desire to have a divine encounter and to experience the hand of God, you must, by the power of the Holy Spirit control your appetite, not only in conventional foods but in all things that give you pleasure to seek God through prayer and fasting.
“The people ask, “Why should we fast if the LORD never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?” The LORD says to them, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers” (Isa 58:3 NLT). The NKJV says, “…In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure..”.
Fasting is abstaining from food, all forms of pleasures, and the things that naturally draw your attention so you can use that time with undivided attention to seek God. The purpose of the fast is defeated, if it’s all about your pleasure rather than His pleasure. When you set aside other things that are important to you, you declare that God is the priority of your life and you desire to be with Him more than you want to spend time with any other person or thing. In this way, you have more time to spend with God in worship, prayer, and studying the scriptures. Fasting without prayer, worship, and studying the word is mere hunger strike.
Friends, though, not a sin to give yourself to pleasure during fasting, but it won’t help you if you do. Rather, spend more time to worship, study the scriptures, and pray, instead of seeking your own interest.
Prayer points
1. Father, please help me to give up all forms of self pleasure to seek You through prayer and fasting, in Jesus’ name.
2. I receive grace to control my appetite for all foods and not to misuse my liberty during my fast, in Jesus’ name.
Today’s declarations
1. I set aside food and all forms of pleasure to make God the priority of my life as I seek Him through prayer and fasting.
2. I don’t only control my appetite for conventional foods but all types of foods during fast.
Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng