The main difference between personal fasting and God’s chosen fast is that when you fast it changes your personal wineskin to receive new wine. When you apply God’s chosen fast it is for other to benefit as the passage in Isaiah 58 reveals. Also note that the first priority of God’s fast is spiritual and then it goes onto to meet the physical and emotional needs of other like sharing food and clothing. We are not a charity in the traditional sense of the word. We go to the core of the human being and meet the most pressing spiritual need first. From there the inward reformation will ensure that we can also train someone to fish for life, versus creating an unsustainable relationship that requires us to provide fish forever! In Africa three are stockpiles of food and support from the West that warlords often sell to the poverty stricken masses. What is needed is not more support, but a reformation of this continent, one mind set at a time. Our work is spiritual.

Isa 58:6  “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

Isa 58:7  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?

Isa 58:8  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.

Isa 58:9  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; 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 speaking wickedness,

Isa 58:10  If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.

Isa 58:11  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.

SO the initial spiritual disciplines of God’s chosen fast include:

Aim through the cross. Jesus crucifixion released us from the bond of wickedness forever. Repentance is a key to loosen people from wickedness. Acknowledge your sin before God in Jesus name and start the loosening from years of habitual sin and addiction, neglect and abuse. The Lord is able and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. See also

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:14

Photo by Johannes Plenio

The main difference between personal fasting and God’s chosen fast is that when you fast it changes your personal wineskin to receive new wine. When you apply God’s chosen fast it is for other to benefit as the passage in Isaiah 58 reveals. Also note that the first priority of God’s fast is spiritual and then it goes onto to meet the physical and emotional needs of other like sharing food and clothing. We are not a charity in the traditional sense of the word. We go to the core of the human being and meet the most pressing spiritual need first. From there the inward reformation will ensure that we can also train someone to fish for life, versus creating an unsustainable relationship that requires us to provide fish forever! In Africa three are stockpiles of food and support from the West that warlords often sell to the poverty stricken masses. What is needed is not more support, but a reformation of this continent, one mind set at a time. Our work is spiritual.

Isa 58:6  “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

Isa 58:7  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?

Isa 58:8  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.

Isa 58:9  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; 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 speaking wickedness,

Isa 58:10  If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.

Isa 58:11  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.

SO the initial spiritual disciplines of God’s chosen fast include:

Aim through the cross. Jesus crucifixion released us from the bond of wickedness forever. Repentance is a key to loosen people from wickedness. Acknowledge your sin before God in Jesus name and start the loosening from years of habitual sin and addiction, neglect and abuse. The Lord is able and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. See also

‘You are all fair, my love, And there is no spot in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions’ dens, From the mountains of the leopards. You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse; You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes, With one link of your necklace. How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices! Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon. A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices— A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.’ Song of Solomon 4:7-16

Photo by vahid asadi

Here are some ways that we can disappear and reveal more of Jesus’ glory to our generation.

The early revivalist churches had a note on the pulpit for the new preacher: “Sir we would see Jesus.”

John the Baptist said: “He must increase and I must decrease.”

John 3:30

Baptism is a great way to disappear the old self nature of sin. Romans 6:1-14. When our old nature disappears, the new life can emerge in a new creation the way God wanted it to be in the first place. If we lose our life we find it.

Jesus required us to disappear – if anyone desires to come after Him: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow.”

Matthew 16:24

Jesus said “not My will but Yours be done.” Matt. 26:39

If our will disappears and His will remains, then we can ask in pray according to His will and He hears us and we will have what we have asked!

1Jn 5:14  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1Jn 5:15  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

To increase the rate of the reaction between two elements, you need to do the following:

Add heat – baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire

Increase the surface area of the reactants – brokenness of heart before God

Insert a catalyst of Jesus – the Gospel of Jesus crucified speeds up the change in our lives.

A catalyst gets things to work together to create something new and disappears in the process.

We also thank God for the people He uses as catalyst in our lives to bring out the best and worst in us, and in that way help us disappear and release more of His glorious presence through our lives!

As we disappear with Him, we will also reappear with Him when He comes for His church in glory!

But every time Jesus appears through our lives, people also see our inner spiritual self on with Jesus and they get to know us according to the Spirit. It is a very interesting topic worth further meditation.

Photo by Paula Vermeulen