And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast
and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours
eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the
bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will
come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in
those days.” And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of
cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both
tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one
puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins
and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be
put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new;
for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”
Luke 5:33-39 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The practice of fasting is established throughout the
scriptures. In the time in which Jesus walked the Earth, the religious
Pharisees fasted two or three days a week. Jesus exposed their hearts when He
told them that they only fasted to be seen by men. Their religious act of
fasting did nothing to bring to their hearts a revelation of who Jesus really was.
There was a prophetess by the name of Anna who spent forty years fasting and
praying in the temple for the reconciliation of Israel.
When Joseph and Mary brought in the baby Jesus, she
received a revelation of who He was in her heart.
So you can see there were two different types of
fasting taking place with two different motivations and ultimately two
different outcomes. Jesus told the Pharisees that they had missed the day in
which He had visited them and their religious activities had done nothing to
soften their heart towards Him. He exposed to them that they love their
traditions and acts of worship more than they love God himself.
Think about it, we can have a church program or
ministry that we love more than Him. The Lord reminded me recently as I went on
a fast of the scripture, Isaiah 58, the fast that God chooses. He spoke to my heart that it’s
easier for me to fast for a short season than to live a “fasted” life. It’s
easier for me to bring my body into subjection for a few days than to live
differently on a daily basis. Bringing our flesh under subjection to the Spirit
man day by day is much more challenging.
The judgement against the people of God in the book of
Jeremiah was that they would not obey God’s voice.
Thinking back to Luke
chapter 5 where Jesus talked about the wine and the wine skins is eye opening.
God is not looking to reform us, He wants to make us new creations. If your
trying to reform your life by religion eventually the “new wine,” in the “old
bottle,” will burst. The two are just not going to fit together. Your life is
not going to fit until you let the sword of the Spirit, God’s word, put the old
man to death. You have to make a choice to let Him do a new work in you.
We would rather live by precepts, rules and regulations
than relationship with God.
In the book of Genesis there were two trees in the
garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The
tree of the knowledge of good and evil worked off of rules and principles, such
as, do this, don’t do that. The tree of life operates in the moment, hearing
the Spirit of God as you make decisions.
Living in relationship instead of rules brings peace
and rest. Listen for God’s voice and don’t confine Him to a rule. Stop and
really listen to what He is saying to you. Begin to depend upon relationship,
living by the Spirit. Cultivate in your heart, your relationship with the Lord.
The Children of Israel knew God’s acts but Moses knew
His ways because there was a relationship there. We are learning to hear His
voice and be sensitive to it. God’s heartbeat from Genesis to Revelation has
been for the purpose of having relationship with you. The very thing that would
separate you from Him, sin, he took upon Himself. He made a way for you through
you through the cross, to be able to boldly come to His throne of grace.
Stop
and reflect upon this amazing truth and choose today within yourself, a heart of
thanksgiving.
“I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is for me.
And his desire is for me.
Song of Solomon 7:10
For further study, consider our podcast. You can stream it here:
No comments:
Post a Comment