Hey everyone.... how's the fasting going? Lost any pounds yet? Hahahhaa.

Anyway, let's reflect a little on what fasting really is today. Isaiah 58 speaks about true fasting, and verse 2 to 5 says this

v2 For day after day, they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
v3 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it?'
'Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
v4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
v5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

Phew... a powerful passage aye... Sometimes we fast and pray, and we don't see anything happening. There's no breakthrough in our situations, and God doesn't seem to be listening to us. And so we wonder and question God; we get annoyed and angry because we seem to be fasting and praying but God doesn't even bother to take notice.

Perhaps, the problem is with us. As you fast, how does your day go? Are you easily angered? Do you take offense over little things? Are the words that you use aimed at slicing people into two? That's just not how it should be....

As you fast this month, make sure that you're not just doing it because your cell leaders have asked you too, or because everyone else at Infuse is doing it. If we're doing it just because everyone else is doing it, and we're not bothered about what we do and how we behave, then it's not going to get us anywhere. Rather, lets offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, as a spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).

And... today's verse Romans 12:2 tells us 'Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.'

:D