ZEC 7:4 Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: "Ask all the people of the land and the priests, `When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?' "
ZEC 7:8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: `Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
Many times when we fast the temptation is to make sure we get it right. Did we make a mistake and eat during the day. Did we pray just the right way. Did we start and stop at the right time. When God was addressing the people He reminded them that while they had fasted for seventy years and followed all the rules and laws about the fasting, they had forgotten why they were fasting in the first place. As you fast today rememeber why it is you fast. Are we doing it for ourselves, so we can lose weight, so we can feel we did our duty or were spiritually fit, or are we fasting for God. All that we do needs to be done as to the Lord. As you fast today remind yourself and God that you are doing this for Him. And as you fast, hear His words that cry out for the results of fasting: Christlikeness. As we fast we ask God to help us become more like Christ. The expression of that is to administer true justic, showing mercy and compassion and helping the widow and fatherless and disadvantaged. It is in these expressions that we can measure the success of our fasts.
This Week's Fast Focus:
Pray that God would open doors for you to help with providing true justice to someone that needs someone to stand in their corner.
Pray that God would help you to show mercy and compassion to others.
Pray that God would enable you to see and help the disadvangtaged.
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