Embrace the Within no. 101

"The highest honor in the church is not government but service."

John Calvin

I can not testify enough about the importance of fasting. I think in all my years of attending services and talking with Christians, fasting is probably one of the most overlooked and understated actions a faithful servant to the Lord can undertake. We talk a lot about study and prayer and fellowship and how important those things are for our spiritual health, BUT fasting is important to both our spiritual and physical health.

When I started my journey nearly three years ago, it was because I knew my physical and mental health were off the rails. I didn’t walk around wearing my mess like a badge BUT it was still there. I was not in alignment with what I believed. And one of the things that helped me before I even came to God was intermittent fasting. I never really paid attention to the idea of fasting before that. Sure, I had always heard about exercise and diet shouted all over the place, however, very few people were talking about the importance of simply not eating. And in a society where food is constantly available, the simple act of not eating for a certain amount of time is radical yet still simple.

Then, while reading the Bible from cover to cover, I rediscovered the importance of fasting in the Word. So, as I have been moving forward in my walk with the Lord, I found that not just intermittent fasting for physical health BUT fasting for spiritual health was just as an important use of the practice. And I am working on keeping that practice of fasting as part of my weekly walk.

“Then Marie said, Behold the seruant of the Lord: be it vnto me according to thy woorde. So the Angel departed from her.”

Luke 1:38 GNV

I hear folks talk a lot about reading, study, prayer, and fellowship. I think those things are vitally important to discovering what we believe. I just want to add the importance of fasting especially in a society that is hyper-focused on consumption. One way to set ourselves in alignment with the Lord is to separate from what the world values and follow more of what the Word says.

I encourage you to read and study about fasting and its physical and spiritual benefits. And if you have a story about fasting you would like to share, then please feel at liberty to share here and with others. The more we celebrate the benefits of fasting, then I think the more we can normalize a practice that I feel is often marginalized in the church.

Grace and Shalom to your week. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of the Lord is now. Be a blessing to the Lord and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #NoKingButChrist #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows

Embrace the Within no. 100

"If you will but rejoice, God will give power."

A. B. Simpson

You don’t have to be very smart to be a Christian. That is the great consolation for many and a stumbling block for a few. For a long time it was my stumbling block. I liked to fancy myself as one of the smartest people in the room. I studied and read and meditated on a lot of different things. And the idea that salvation takes very little to no intelligence at all was a hindrance to me.

I would look around at the folks in churches and think that I was smarter than them. That I knew a lot more than them and that made me better than them. I would look at all they believed and their feeble understanding and consider how foolish they were acting. All the time, I had it all reversed.

“And the Angel went in vnto her, and said, Haile thou that art freely beloued: the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and thought what maner of salutation that should be. Then the Angel saide vnto her, Feare not, Marie: for thou hast found fauour with God. For loe, thou shalt conceiue in thy wobe, and beare a sonne, and shalt call his name Iesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Sonne of the most High, and the Lord God shall giue vnto him the throne of his father Dauid.3And hee shall reigne ouer the house of Iacob for euer, and of his kingdome shall bee none ende.”

Luke 1:28-33 GNV

And after leaving that life of having to be better than others behind and accepting Christ, I still see that mindset in friends, colleagues, and strangers. How can these stupid people be right? They’re just being indoctrinated and misled. They’re too dumb to understand philosophy and psychology and history. They’re just a bunch of sheep.

I hear and see and have said all those things before as well. Because it doesn’t take a genius to believe in Christ. You don’t need to graduate from high school, you don’t need to know how to read, you don’t even need to know history to believe in Christ. Belief in Christ takes no special knowledge at all. And thank God for that. If it took anything extraordinary on my part, then I wouldn’t be able to do it. God did the extraordinary part. All I have to do is listen and act.

“Feare thou not, for I am with thee: be not afraide, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, and helpe thee, and will susteine thee with the right hand of my iustice.”

Isaiah 41:10 GNV

I used to think it took some special knowledge to get life figured out. There has to be some secret. And I see some folks in the churches seeking all sorts of hidden truths in the Bible like it’s an Easter egg hunt. The simple fact is that the most rudimentary and basic knowledge is all that is required. I just have to know that Christ died for me to grant grace and forgiveness. Everything else is obedience.

I used to look at the meager amount of knowledge it takes to become a Christian as a stumbling block. It used to make me think I was better than Christians. It used to make me question their understanding. BUT now I see that it can’t be too difficult because we are all rather dumb in comparison to the great knowledge and wisdom of God.

So, rather than relying on my own understanding, I now rely on God to teach me how to understand. I am an easily fooled person despite all the reading and studying and meditation. And the sooner we come to that realization, the sooner we understand that we are not the smartest person in the room, then the sooner we can get out of our own way and into the Lord’s Way.

“Reioyce in the Lord alway, againe I say, reioyce.”

Philippians 4:4 GNV

Grace and Shalom to your week. Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of the Lord is now. Be a blessing to the Lord and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #NoKingButChrist #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows