By Christine Shipengrover
Almost every day I drive on a small bridge that spans a winding canal –simply known as “The Canal” in Delaware. This time of year as I look down the tree-lined canal, and the variegated hues of yellow, orange, red, green and purple radiate as far as you can see. The trees stand at attention as they guard the canal, without fault, without blame. These trees didn’t have to fill out an application for their position, they’re not worried about education or health care, whether or not we’re in a recession, or if they’ll have enough money in a 401(k) to retire. They don’t compare themselves to other trees or wonder if they’re good enough. They didn’t need to change their clocks back or set a reminder in their Blackberry to change the colors of their leaves. They don’t whine and complain when the brilliance of their foliage falls to the ground or that they have to endure the cold, dreary winter in their seemingly under-clad, lifeless state. They exist and go through the changes in season simply because that’s part of their purpose on this earth.
We endure the seasons, but unlike the trees that line the canal, we have distractions. We worry if we measure up, we’re apprehensive about making the move, and our future doesn’t always feel secure. The Journey is going through a season of prayer and fasting: Fall 40 (I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now). How does abstinence from food, beverage, sweets or media enable God’s power to work in us and through us and give us the confidence and assurance we need?
Why is it, when I hear the word “fasting” I immediately get hunger pangs and crave off-the-wall foods like I’m seven months pregnant with triplets? When I fast coffee and sweets, why does the leftover Halloween candy call to me in the midnight hour and the need/desire for caffeine mock me like a little gremlin inside my head? Most importantly, why does fasting draw me closer to God?
While the things we are fasting are not sin, they can create a dam in our lives that hinder the flow of God’s spirit. Fasting (with prayer) disciplines the flesh and removes the clutter that dams our lives and allows God’s spirit to move and communicate freely. If our attention is purposefully focused on what God has for our lives, He will show us things in the spirit, and we can then act on them in the flesh without hesitation, because we know it was revealed by God.
There are only a couple more weeks left in Fall 40. If you haven’t joined the Fall 40 train, it’s not too late. If you’ve been diligent in your Fall 40 commitment, be encouraged, not because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but because there is an undercurrent of God’s spirit that is shaking things up in our lives and in lives around us. Lives are being changed; we’re praying it forward and God is responding.
O LORD, our Lord How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. Psalm 8:1-6
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