Alrighty, if you got a Bible, I'm gonna talk about fasting. Isn't that a
glorious thought, fasting? Us Americans like food. But, Beins, we kind of called
for a fast and obviously Steve mentioning us being on life support. You
know, as I look back and you know just hearing all the all the stuff, you know,
you hear from both camps, Republicans, Democrats. But I do have to say that for
me, what I've seen in the last four years from this administration is the most
pathetic thing that I've ever, most pathetic style or place of leadership
that I've ever seen in my life. I mean it is pathetic. The two of the biggest
things are the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It turned my stomach. I mean
to leave all of our billions of dollars worth of equipment over there and just
pull out like it was absolutely sickening. And then to
pull back the restrictions on our borders and to let people flood in. It's
almost like it was a declaration of war on America. What other country would let
that happen? Nobody would do that. In fact, my daughter and I were talking the other
day and because of what we see Israel going through, I said, "What would happen
if Israel pulled back and just let anybody come across the border they
wanted to? How long would they be a nation?" And Cheyenne said, yeah, Cheyenne said,
"They wouldn't last a day." And so I think they should be held
personally accountable for the deaths of Americans that were murdered at the
hands of people who came into this country illegally. So yes, we're in
trouble. Yes, we need to fast and pray as a country. Now individually, I'm
cool. I mean I have to agree with the Apostle Paul when he says,
"Whatever state I find myself in, I need to learn to therefore be content."
If I'm in the deep, possibly gonna die from a shark attack or if I'm
gone broke or if I'm having, you know, if my family is
killed or whatever, no matter what state I find myself in, in my relationship with
God, I'm comfortable with that. But what I'm not comfortable with is the
the future that I'm gonna leave my grandkids. And I'm just like, "Oh, Lord." So we gotta fast,
we gotta pray, we gotta vote. And if that fails, I'll pick up that subject later.
I've seen this little voter guide. I gotta credit Dave Kirby for posting it.
And because, listen folks, we need to vote. It was shocking to me the
amount of Christians that don't vote. But this says, "How I will
vote in November." Some of you saw this. It's pretty good. It says, "I will vote for
the most pro-life candidate because God hates the shedding of innocent blood."
Right? He also says, "The nation that does that will not go unpunished." Proverbs 6
17. "I will vote for the most pro-Israel candidate because God blesses those who
bless Israel and curses those who don't." That's a good idea, right? Genesis 12 3.
"I will vote the most pro-debt reduction candidate because the borrower is servant
to the lender." Proverbs 22 7. "I will vote for the most pro-work candidate because
God says if a man don't work, he don't eat." Yes. 2 Thessalonians 3 10. "I will
vote for the most pro-marriage candidate," that, may I clarify, man and woman,
"because God is for marriage as defined in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24. I will
vote for the candidate who most closely believes government's purpose is to
reward good and punish evil." Romans 13. "I will vote based as close as I can on
God's Word." 2 Timothy 3 16. So, yes, do we vote for the lesser of two evils? Yes. In
most cases, yes, because the Bible says, "Let God be true in every man a liar," and
that colludes politicians. And that is a true, true saying. But we've called for
this fast thing, and in one of our staff meetings we kind of got to talking
about it, and I thought, you know, that is it's a good idea to maybe just talk
about this. And this passage that I'm going to look at is found in Isaiah
chapter 58, and it talks about fasting and why we should fast. Because it's
really something that the scripture talks about, though we don't see it much
in the law. The only fast that we see in the law is on the Day of Atonement, and
they just were just coming off of that feast there in Israel, and they would
afflict their souls. And so we're just going to kind of jump into this. I
don't know if I'll get through the whole chapter, it's just 14 verses, but we'll
read, we'll start by reading the first five verses. Would you pray with me?
Father, thank you for your Word, and God that it brings clarity to things that
we have questions about, Lord, in our lives and concerning spiritual
things. Lord, I pray that you would, Lord, that you would just take us to a level
maybe that some of us have never been before, and I know, Lord, I need to go
deeper with you, and just pray that you would somehow do that, Lord. Show
me as if Psalm has said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead us in the way everlasting." And so I pray that
you would do that as we look at these verses here about fasting, and
what seems to always be coupled with that is prayer. Prayer and fasting,
seeking the face of our God, and realizing, Lord, that this life isn't
about us, but it's about others, and it's about your will for our
lives. And so teach us, Lord, as we look at this, and Lord, we just humbly
ask for the presence of your wonderful Holy Spirit that can show us
marvelous things from your Word. In Jesus' name, amen. And so he says, the
book of Isaiah is...he's a prophet. Shortly before, Israel is taken captive by
Nebuchadnezzar. There in 585 BC, Nebuchadnezzar comes in and begins to
take the known world, a very powerful man, seemed to be a pretty wicked man as you
read through the book of Daniel and get some insight into who he is, and so
he comes in and he takes Israel, and Isaiah gives some serious warnings to
Israel that this is coming, and it's because they refused to heed many of the
warnings of the prophets, and they were worshipping idols, and they were doing
things that God had promised them. If you do this, I'm kicking your hind ends out
of the land, right? You're gonna be spread throughout the whole world, and I'm not
gonna put up with it. And so that's what he did, and so he's kind of
with that in mind as we read this, it says, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your
voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression and the house of
Jacob their sins, yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways. As a nation,
they did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They
ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching God. Why have
we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls and you
take no notice? In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and
exploit all your labors. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate, to strike with the
fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard
on earth. It is a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul. It
is to bow—is it to bow down his head like a bull rush and to spread out sackcloth
and ashes? Would you call this a fast?" And so the Lord right off the bat, he's
checking these people, their spiritual condition, right? That they're just
hypocrites. He, it's like he exposes it and Isaiah, he tells Isaiah, "Cry with a
loud voice, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people there's
transgression, there's sin. This is what you're doing and it's wrong." Those of you
in the basement playing video games. But, but their sin seems to be gross
hypocrisy, right? They have got hypocrisy down to a science. Now, Jesus talks about
this in Matthew chapter 15, right? In verse 8, he says, "These people draw near
me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
Right? So this is, this is really nothing new, but their religiosity, they connected
it to their relationship with God. I have a relationship with God because I go to
church, because I have a dollar bill in my pocket that says, "In God we trust." I
mean, people think that. They think that they're okay with God because of that.
Right? I know people that think they're okay with God because they've never had
a drink in their life. That means I'm right with God. Now, they cheat on their
wives, they commit adultery, but because they've never had a drink of alcohol,
they think they're right with God. That God looks at them and sees this goodness.
Not. And so he's saying here, you know, "Yet they seek me daily." Right? They were into
the daily sacrifices, they were doing the letter of the law, so to speak. You
remember the Apostle Paul? He thought he was all that, and began to persecute the
church. And this is the Pharisees that Jesus is talking about here, and
Matthew. But God first described the appearance of their spiritual life on
the surface. It seemed that God's people loved him and were devoted to him, and
they had the reputation of a nation that did righteousness. They had this
reputation that God had... A lot of the countries, when they had crossed over,
right, the Red Sea, and later, and when they crossed the Jordan, and the
nations had heard the works that God had done in this nation, and many of
them feared. But there was nothing to fear in these guys, because they were so...
They were so wicked, and yet they showed up every Sabbath. And how many people do
that? Right? They go to church, it's just something they check the box. Not really
to really hear anything, maybe hear a cool song, or maybe see a pretty girl. I
don't even know why some people come to church. They'd be maybe better off if
they didn't at all. But he's saying here, he says, "For they seek me daily," verse 2.
Right? Seems to... It seems to, as he goes on, and he says, "And delight to know my ways.
As a nation, they did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their
God. They ask of me ordinances of justice. They take to light in approaching God."
It's almost like, because we know that the hypocrisy is so terrible, it's like
they think that God is their boy. How many people, even Christians I have met,
that think God is their boy? You know what I mean by that, right? That God is
their slave. That God is bound to do what they tell him to do. For me, that's just
like, "Are you serious? This God with the breath of his mouth, he could like turn
you into a little ash heap?" You know? And yet they treat him like he is bound,
right? There's just arrogance in all of it. "And delight to know my
ways as a nation, and did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinances of
their God," or so they thought. They went through the motions, but their hearts... I'm
gonna start preaching here in a minute. Fly off my stool, sorry. This is, you know,
this is expressed also in the first part there of verse 3, where it says, "We have
fasted, they say, and you have not seen. Why have we afflicted our souls? And you
take no notice." What are you doing, God? You're not listening to us! You're supposed to be
doing what we tell you to do! Is that ridiculous? That is ridiculous, but that
is what people think. I know people in church think that. And God is not bound
by us in the slightest, right? God rewards faith, but our faith is in Him. It's not
in us. My faith isn't in my faith. My faith is in Him, right? And so God is
not bound to agree with us. We are bound, listen, to agree with Him, right? We
are bound to agree with Him, not the other way around. And that's the idea
that Isaiah comes at these people, clear back in chapter 1 of Isaiah, where it
says in Isaiah 1 18-20, "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord,
though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, and though
they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient,"
right? To who? To God, right? That's us agreeing. "You shall eat the good of
the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the
mouth of the Lord has spoken." Right? So I heard this one time that the word
"repent" means to agree with God. Agree with God about yourself. And I hope you're
agreeing with God today, right? Please don't expect Him to agree with you. I
mentioned it, that scripture, right? That "let God be true in every man a liar." So
we need to agree with Him about ourselves. And so the second part there
of verse 3, it says, "In fact, in the day of your..." This is actually God's
rebuttal. "In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and you exploit
all your labors. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate and to strike
with the fists of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your
voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict
his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bull rush and to spread his sackcloth
and ashes? Would you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?" God's
sin. Your religious, you know, show is nothing, is absolutely nothing. He really
lets them have it. He says you exploit, right? That means to drive hard or to
overwork. You're driving hard, you're overworking your people, you debate and
argue. You just, all you want to do, you're fasting because all you want to do is
prove somebody wrong. What kind of hard is that? Or they're just wanting to or
actually were punching people in the face with your fists, there's fist
fighting. I haven't been in a fist fight in a long time, it's not that I'm totally
opposed to that. But it's not something I should do on a regular basis or try to
get my way. And he says you have struck with the fists of wickedness.
You put on this religious show by bowing down in sackcloth and ashes and you
think it's acceptable? It's not. It's not acceptable. These are those that Paul
mentions in Titus chapter 1 where he says, "They profess to know God but in works
they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient and disqualified for every
good work." Hypocrisy on steroids. And who doesn't hate hypocrisy, right? Ought not
we all hate hypocrisy even in our own selves? I don't know about you but my
hypocrisy is nasty. It's ugly. And this is what Isaiah is pointing out to
these people. He said, "This isn't a fast that I require of you. This
isn't a fast that I'm gonna bless and do a work." So and then the Lord tells them a
fast, talks about a fasting, a fast that He's chosen. Now before we get there a
few points I want to make about fasting. We see it throughout Scripture, right? In
fact if you want to look at the so-called heroes of the faith, here's a
list of some of them who fasted. Moses the lawgiver, David the king, Elijah the
prophet, Esther the queen, Daniel the seer, Anna the prophetess, prophetitist. I get
a little tongue-tied on that one. Jesus the son of God and Paul the apostle.
These are people who fasted, right? They went without food. And a fast is usually
without food. That's what it's, people try to say, "Well you can do this or you can
know we're in our world you can fast from electronics." And yes you can do that.
But primarily a fast is talking about starving your flesh from food. That's
what it's talking about. And so there were occasions throughout Scripture for
fasting. Some of those were, they fasted when loved ones died, right? They would
fast when a war or a threat was coming their way. Possible. They would fast when
they sought God's forgiveness, right? We see them there. Ahab fasted and prayed.
Ahab. And God honored it. He repented. He fasted about his sin and he was
forgiven, to be forgiven. Now he went on and did some pretty hideous things after
that. I don't know if we'll see Ahab in heaven or not. His choice of a woman was
not very good. Jezebel. Fasted when loved ones were sick. You remember David fasted
when his little one was sick and then died. And they fasted, and this would
probably apply to us, they fasted when there was impending danger. I think these
elections could pose maybe some impending danger. And so I think it's
an occasion to fast and pray. Not this coming week, the following week. And so
the nature, thirdly, the nature of fasting, right, it means abstaining from all food
but not water except for in a couple cases, right? And that was Elijah and Moses.
Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights from food and water. But it had to have
been supernatural, right? God divinely protected those two as they did this, but
Moses received the Word of God. And what does Jesus say? "Man shall not live by
bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." The very
presence of God kept Moses alive those 40 days and 40 nights. And he kept Elijah
alive because he had to talk to him at the end of the 40 days. And so that we
see partial fasts. How long do you fast? Some people have never fasted. Some
people maybe can't fast because of for health reasons. I don't know. But there
were partial fasts. We see Daniel, right? He purposed in his heart not to
defile himself with the delicacies of the king. So he ate vegetables and
water for ten days. And the overseer there of the eunuch said, "You can't do
that, dude. The king sees your countenance and sees that I haven't
been feeding you right, man. He's gonna kill me." And Daniel said, "Well, let's
test it. We'll do it for ten days. And if we look like we're all drawed down and
all ganted up, right, then whatever. But let's put it to the test." And what did
it say? They were more fatter. God honored, God blessed that fast of Daniel
and his cronies. And so we see Queen Esther, right? She fasts on behalf of the
nation of Israel and called others to do so. The length of fasts, some fast for one
day, some fast for three days. We got occasions of a seven-day fast. We got an
occasion of a 21-day fast and a couple of 40-day fasts. Three, actually.
Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. I personally know two men who have fasted for 40 days and
40 nights. Interesting. It was a good weight loss program. But people just
wanting to seek the Lord, denying themselves, right? It's a great practice.
It's a great discipline because Jesus said when he calls us to himself, what
does he say? "Deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow me." That's just a
great way to practice that. Just some practical ways of fasting. And
notice, it's like a law. No, if you got to do a fast, you got to do it
for three days. If you got to do a fast, you, sorry, 40 days or you're not a
true faster. No. Now some people fast meals. Some people fast morning and
noon and eat at the evening. They'll break their fast and that's okay.
But I think to get the full effect of it, and years ago when we were in the
school we did what they call the 30-hour famine, right? That you would fast for 30
hours. Go 30 hours without eating. Have you done that? You ever done that?
A lot of people, "Well no, why would I do that? That's stupid. We're in America. We got
all kinds of food. Why should we go without?" Well the Lord talks about it
here. Check this out. Verse 6, it says, "Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To
loose the bonds of wickedness? To undo heavy burdens? To let the oppressed go
free? And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out when you see the
naked that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" This is
what it's talking about. This is what the Lord is saying that you should do.
The reason you should fast. And really it's to be victorious.
And not only that, but to be free. To have freedom. Notice the first thing, freedom
from. Freedom from. You want to be set free from something? Get serious with the
Lord. Get on your face, right? Go without food. Seek Him. And you want to be set
free from something? God will. That's part of what Isaiah says. Come, let us reason.
Let's talk about this. How serious are you? How serious are you about your
relationship with God, right? Can you not do this? So the first thing is a freedom
from. Freedom from wickedness. Freedom from burdens. Freedom from oppression.
Every yoke broken.
And so it kind of is reminding me of Acts chapter 15 verses 8 through 11 when it
says, "So God who knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the
Holy Spirit just as He did to us and made no distinction between us and them
purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you test God by putting
a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were
able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we
shall be saved in the same manner as they." This yoke, this heaviness that you
can never measure up. You're never gonna be good enough. And that's,
he's speaking specifically about the yoke of the law. That the yoke of the law
was never to be born because we can't bear it. It's too much. I've sinned and I
fall short of God's glory. I can't attain to that. That's why the grace of the Lord
is what I trust in and I put my faith in Him. But yoke, the idea of a yoke
means you're tied to something, right? You're tied to something. I used to work
a team of horses and in the morning I would get them. It was Leo and Lucy was
our names. And I would yoke them together. Leo was kind of a lazy dog. He was a lot
bigger than Lucy but he never pulled near as hard as she did, right? He'd always
kind of lagged back. But they were tied together, right? Wherever she went he had
to go even when it was hard. And that's the idea is being tied to
something. And the Bible says that here when you enter a fast, something
that's probably tied to you that is not healthy, it can be broken. To break it. Get
it away from you. Or like Paul told Timothy, "Flee youthful lusts." Break it off.
Maybe you got things in your life you want broken off. They control you. What
controls you? Technology controls our society in a big way. A really big way.
And to me it's a fearful thing. But if you want to be set free from that,
if you want to have the freedom from these things, right? Then draw near to God.
Enter a time of prayer and fasting. A day, two days, a week. You're not gonna die. You
might feel like you're gonna die, right? But it's a great discipline. Actually the
health benefits that people are coming out with now with fasting is
pretty interesting. The studies they've done if someone will fast three days a
month, three days a month, it's amazing the health benefits from that. But that's
not why we do it. We want to see more to be purposeful, right? We want to
seek the Lord. So secondly, it was a freedom for something. So first it's a
freedom from wickedness, burdens, oppression, every yoke. And secondly it's a
freedom for, for what? For others. It frees you up to minister to others, right? It
helps free you up from your own selfishness. You're freed to minister.
Notice he says, "To feed the hungry, to house the poor, to clothe the naked."
God's, when we purpose in our heart to seek the Lord in this way, it's like, "Oh, I
can work with that. That's some pliable clay in my hands that I can
mold into what I want you to be." And then God will present those things that
He'll set you free for. And I don't know about you, but notice it says, "And not hide
yourself from your own flesh." In other words, when you see people in need, you
don't ignore them, the needs of the people around you. Does this ring a bell?
Right? Jesus, in Matthew chapter 25, where He says, "Then He will also say to
those on His left," this is talking about the sheep and the goat judgments, and it
says, "Then He will also say to those on the left, 'Apart from Me, you cursed
into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was
hungry and you gave Me no food. I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink. I was a
stranger and you did not take Me in naked and you did not clothe Me sick and
in prison and you did not visit Me.'" So here's some people with a, maybe a very
religious, or the thing that people like to say that, "I'm a very spiritual person."
Really, have you been born again? Then your spirit's dead. If you haven't been
born again, your spirit's dead. You need to be quickened and made alive by the
Holy Spirit of God. So God says this fast, it should free you from something
and for something. Verse 8, it says, "Then your light shall break forth like the
morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily and your righteousness shall go
before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." Your relationship
with the Lord, it's right. You're right. You're experiencing true freedom. The
Christians that I've talked to who have really got a taste of this lately, just
it's just so refreshing to my soul. They're going, "I'm free! I mean, I thought I was
free before to do all these things, these bad things that I was doing, but I wasn't
free at all. I was a slave to them." Right? And Jesus says that, "Whoever sins is a
slave to sin." And yet, true freedom is found in that place of communion at
konia with God's Holy Spirit. You're just not going through the motions
anymore, but it's actually real to you, this relationship with God. That's
what this country needs, you guys. Right? They need to be quickened. They need to
have an experience like the Ninevites did and be broken before the Lord
and realize that God has a plan and He wants our light to shine. Notice, "Your
healing shall spring forth speedily." When there's no hindrances between you and
the God of heaven. You don't have any pent-up sinfulness in your heart that
you haven't brought before Him to be forgiven of, and God goes, "Yes, I can bless
you now."
Your righteousness will go before you. Matthew 5 16, right? Jesus says, "Let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven." It reminds me we have access to the Father through the Son. "Let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4 16. Have you come before the Lord?
You let Him know you're serious.
You can do that by maybe just implementing your own little personal
fast. And that's why we're gonna do this week coming up here in a week from
Monday. Just to give you an opportunity. I don't monitor that. I'm not
gonna call you, "All right, I was looking through your window. I saw you eat that
biscuit. Sinner!" Like we're hiding anything from the Lord. You know how
hungry you get sometimes when you're fasting.
But when we come to that place, right, and we're free from those things and we
fast and we pray and we seek the Lord and we're released from those things, God
hears us. He hears that prayer of repentance. But Psalm 66 18 says, "If we
regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear." How many people is God not
listening to? Because you refuse to repent of something in your life that's
got its hooks in you. God doesn't hear you, "I'm sorry." You feel like your prayers
are just bouncing off the ceiling. It's because they are. The first prayer that
God's gonna hear is a prayer of repentance. "Forgive me, Lord, a sinner."
Isaiah 59 1 through 3 says, "Behold, the Lord hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor
his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from
your God, and your sins have has hidden his face from you, so that he will not
hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity.
Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue has muttered perversity." The United
States of America, that is us right there.
But God is so drawn to somebody who will humble themselves, right? And when you
fast you get low. But Jesus said, "Listen, don't let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing. Wash your face. Don't tell people you're fasting." It's like you
got your reward. Oh well, aren't you spiritual? There's your reward right
there. No, don't tell people you're fasting, right? But wash your face, the
Bible says. Let your light shine, be cheerful, and the Lord who sees in secret
will reward you openly. I want to just remind you of a story in Luke
chapter 18. I love this story about two men, right? And I'm just gonna read it
to you. It's found in Luke 18 verses 9 through about 14, and it's about the two
men that came before the Lord to pray. Because fasting, folks, is almost always
coupled with prayer. It's fasting and prayer, right? Why? Because you're
drawn near the Lord. You talk to the God of heaven when you fast. And so it
says this, it says, "He also," this is Jesus talking about Jesus, "He also spoke this
peril to some who trusted in themselves." How many times have you heard that phrase?
"You gotta believe in yourself!" I hear coaches tell kids that all the time. No,
they don't! They gotta believe in Jesus, right? Now, there is something to have
confidence with the giftings that God's given you and recognizes that it's God
that's done it. Good gracious, don't believe in yourself. That is pathetic.
God's so much bigger than us. He's so much better to believe in than ourselves.
Those who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others.
Doesn't that just sound like the people we just read about? Two men went up to the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other tax collector. The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank you that I'm not like other men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a
week. I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector standing far off
would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be
merciful to me, a sinner." I tell you, this man went down to his house justified,
rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he
who humbles himself will be exalted." This week coming up is just, it's just an
opportunity to just be hummable for the Lord, right? And he so loves humility. God
loves it. And so then we question, "Does God love us? Because I know I don't have
much humility. So I have to constantly humble myself before him and realize on
Sunday mornings I get up and I say this little prayer. It's a little too weird
prayer. It's profound. You ready for it?
Excuse me. I don't count very good. It's three words. "Jesus, help me." I pray that
earnestly every Sunday morning when I get out of bed. The last weeks or so I've
added another word. "Lord, Jesus, help me walk." But notice this man would not even
lift his eyes up. He knew what he was, but he was humble before the Lord. "Lord,
forgive me a sinner." And he said he went, he went down to his home. He was justified.
You ever broke that word down? Such a cool word. Justified. Just if I'd never
sinned. Just if I'd never sinned. So I'm gonna finish reading this this chapter
real quick. There's only a few more verses. But it's such a powerful
passage of Scripture and just the results of somebody who would humble
themselves before the Lord and be blessed and be set free. True, bonafide
freedom. Verse 9 says, "Then you shall call and I the Lord will answer. You shall cry
and will say, you shall cry and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke
from your midst, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wittiness, if
you could extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your
light shall dawn in the darkness and your dark shall be as the noonday. The
Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and
strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of
water whose waters do not fail." Didn't it just make your mouth water? "Those from
among you shall shall build the old waste places and they shall raise up the
foundations of many generations and you shall be called the repairer of the
breach, the restorer of the streets to dwell in. If you turn away your foot from
the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor him, not
doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words,
then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the
high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken this." Amen? Amen. We just need to do this prayer
and fasting thing with the right heart this week. Just do it with the right
heart. Lord, I just want to seek you. You know, start with with a prayer of
repentance. Oh Lord, you can even pound on your chest. That's when it's
acceptable for the Lord. Not in the end zone. It's like, "God, oh you got your
reward, dude. You just pounded your chest in the end zone. You think you're cool?"
Whatever, right? But we just need to do it with the right heart. Let's pray. Father,
I pray that you would have your way in us and just knowing that when we humble
ourselves before you, Lord, we own our own wickedness, our own sin, our own falling
short of your glory. You can work with that, Lord, then so as you have your way
in us and we yield to you, Lord, and we we do what you've called us to do, just
knowing that the the rest is going to take care of itself. So Lord, may we find
ourselves walking in your ways, Lord, as we prepare for this week of fasting, just
lifting up our country to you. I'm so concerned, Lord, for the future
generations. I know my generation is going fast, Lord, but these generations coming
after us, Lord, I pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit, Lord, that you would
empower them to be these who let their light shine and shall break forth
like the morning, Lord, that your healing shall spring forth speedily in these
young people's lives, Lord, and your righteousness shall go before for them,
Lord, for truly it's your righteousness and that you would be their rear guard.
Lord, we love you. Thank you for the hope that you give us as we read these things
and, Lord, they're so simple to apply to our own lives as we humble ourselves
before you. Have your way, Lord. Pray that you would be right in the middle of all
the crazy stuff going on in our country and in our world, praying for the
peace of Jerusalem, Lord, and your hand upon your people. Lord, we just
have great confidence in our God, Lord, and that we can actually sleep at
night because of who you are. And so, Lord, give us your spirit and give us a boldness,
Lord, in these days to speak in the name of Jesus to a lost and dying world that
needs to hear the truth of who you are. In Jesus' name, amen.
Let's all stand.
you